How I grew 100k followers on LinkedIn in 10 Months

Wow. It’s been about 10 months since I started posting regularly on LinkedIn as one of my new year’s resolutions for 2024. 

And let me tell you, it’s been one wild ride! 

I’ve made so many new connections, new opportunities, and speaking engagements that I never would have imagined. 

LinkedIn is 100% THE best platform to grow on, especially if you want to focus on growing your career and your network as well. 

So, let’s get right into it! Here’re the 3 BIGGEST things that made an impact on my growth on LinkedIn. 

1. Post 2x QUALITY posts a week. 

Honestly, everyone’s looking for a magic bullet to grow on LinkedIn, but there is no secret. It’s really just to create good quality content that people want to read and engage with. 

I have a to-do on my calendar every Sunday to write out my LinkedIn posts for the week. 

Your best work happens when it’s intentional and planned out, don’t just write a random post 10 minutes before posting and expect it to do well. 

For brainstorming ideas, you might get random creative post ideas or see post inspo from another source throughout the week - WRITE THESE DOWN. 

I draft all my LinkedIn posts in a doc and that’s also where I will jot down 1-2 liners for post topic ideas as they come as I’m just scrolling online or working. 

Creativity comes at random times and it’s not something you can just pull out when you need it, so you should always be writing down good ideas when you have them. 

I stick to 250-300 word posts, I’ve also made a previous post on the types of topics that perform well on LinkedIn (and have really boosted my growth) linked here: https://tech-opinion-leaders.beehiiv.com/p/top-performing-posts-linkedin 

ALSO - don’t just type a blurb into ChatGPT to write your posts. It’s very easy to tell when creators AI-generate their posts and it will feel ingenuine. 

I’ll use AI-tools to help with fixing wording or general information style blurbs, but the post needs to be written in your own words to resonate with the audience you want to grow!

2. Start a newsletter. 

If you’ve seen my LI posts, you’ll know I have a small “call-to-action” or CTA at the end of each post, which links to my newsletter. 

The best thing about newsletters is that you’re not relying on a social media platform to reach your audience. You can reach them directly in their inbox.

If LinkedIn or YouTube or any other platform were to disappear one day, you still have your email list and that is a key differentiator in those treating content creation as a hobby vs a business (if that’s your goal)!

I use Beehiiv as my newsletter platform because it has the features I need, makes it easy to monetize, and costs less than most competitor platforms. 

Shameless plug - You can sign up and try it out with a 30-day free trial + 20% off for 3 months using my sign-up link: https://www.beehiiv.com?via=Sandra-Liu 

3. Create strong branding “cues” 

No matter what topic I’m writing about, I’ll always keep certain things consistent across all of my posts. 

This includes: A simple 1-2 liner intro hook + same emoji on every post, using a photo of myself, as well as a general outro of my newsletter sign-up freebie + CTA and asking for my audiences’ thoughts on the post. 

By doing this, your audience will know that this is a post from you. Sure, the topic could be ranging from sharing a resource, an accomplishment, a lesson learned, etc. - but there should be cues that tell the audience this is written by you before they even read your name. 

This can also be referred to as “branding”, but it’s subtle and meant to be a way for your posts to be recognized within the sea of hundreds of thousands of other posts made everyday. 

4. (Extra) Stay consistent and don’t give up!

It can be discouraging to have a post that does not perform well or to get negative feedback or not enough engagement, but the only way to get to where you want to go is to take one step at a time. 

The only way to climb a mountain is to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking. So learn from it and keep going 🙂 

You got this. I’m rooting for you! 

 - Sandra