I Blew Up My LinkedIn Following As Fast As I Could!

Summary

This video outlines a seven-step strategy for growing a LinkedIn following from zero to 100,000 without a team, ads, or prior experience. The presenter shares personal tactics, including digital detoxing, curating a 'dream 100' list, optimizing profile visuals, and engaging in meaningful comments to build trust and connections. The focus is on micro-niching, high-performance content that educates, inspires, and entertains, and leveraging social proof to gain credibility. The key takeaway is the importance of genuine connection and networking to build a strong personal brand.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Start with a Clean Slate: The speaker emphasizes the importance of starting fresh on LinkedIn to avoid self-consciousness and focus on building a relevant network.
• 🔄 Digital Detox: Remove connections that don't add value to your professional growth, to minimize irrelevant noise and self-comparison.
• 📝 Create a Dream 100 List: Identify 100 people you aspire to connect with, including those in the networks of your ideal contacts, to strategically grow your network.
• 🤳 Prioritize High-Impact Elements: Focus on the most impactful elements for your profile, such as a clear headshot, a compelling headline, and a simple banner.
• 📈 Invest Time Wisely: Since the speaker was an unemployed entrepreneur, they invested time instead of money, focusing on making a strong first impression and building connections.
• 🗣️ Engage Through Comments: Active commenting on relevant posts can build trust and visibility, acting as a conversation starter and a way to stand out.
• 🎯 Micro-Niche Down: Specialize in a specific area within your broader field to become a leader and gain authority in that niche quickly.
• 📚 Focus on Educational and Inspirational Content: Post content that educates, inspires, or entertains, ensuring it links back to your main expertise.
• 🔗 Build Connections: Actively seek coffee chats and calls to build meaningful connections, which can lead to mentorship and collaboration opportunities.
• 📊 Visual Rhythm: Use visual elements and good text formatting to improve readability and engagement, as people skim more than they read.
• 🔄 Consistent Iteration: Continuously test and iterate your content strategy based on feedback and data to refine your approach and grow your audience.

Q & A

What was the speaker's situation in 2022 before implementing the growth strategy?

In 2022, the speaker had no job, was living at their parents' house, had zero LinkedIn followers, and was not recognized as an entrepreneur on the platform.

What is the speaker's claim about their growth on LinkedIn within a year?

The speaker claims to have become one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurs on LinkedIn, achieving 100,000 followers within a year.

What is the 'digital detox' strategy suggested by the speaker for LinkedIn growth?

The 'digital detox' strategy involves removing connections that no longer benefit you or cause irrelevant noise and self-comparison, which may prevent consistent posting.

Why did the speaker choose to start a new LinkedIn account?

The speaker chose to start a new account for a clean slate and to avoid the fear of being seen trying something new by old work friends.

What is the 'Dream 100' list mentioned by the speaker?

The 'Dream 100' list is a concept where you list 100 people you'd like to connect with, including those who have your ideal people in their networks, to increase your chances of reaching them.

What are the three main things the speaker suggests focusing on for a strong LinkedIn profile?

The three main things to focus on are a high-quality headshot, a compelling headline, and a simple banner that matches your brand.

What is the significance of having 500+ connections on LinkedIn according to the speaker?

Having 500+ connections is significant as it is the maximum number LinkedIn will show, and it serves as a form of social proof, indicating trustworthiness and credibility.

How does the speaker suggest building trust and connections through commenting on LinkedIn?

The speaker suggests commenting on posts early, focusing on personal takes, motivational quotes, or humor, and doing so consistently to build trust and connections.

What is the 'rule of one' in content creation as mentioned by the speaker?

The 'rule of one' in content creation refers to focusing on one problem, one solution, or one topic to become a leader in a specific micro-niche quickly.

How does the speaker describe the importance of visual content in LinkedIn posts?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of visual content by stating that it can help grow quicker by using elements like infographics, carousels, screenshots, or well-designed graphics, as they create visual harmony with the writing.

What is the final point the speaker makes about building connections on LinkedIn?

The final point is about the importance of building connections through coffee chats, zoom calls, and personal interactions, which can lead to valuable mentorships and collaborations.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 From Zero to 100K LinkedIn Followers: A Seven-Step Strategy

This paragraph introduces a personal journey from unemployment and social media obscurity to being recognized as a rapidly growing entrepreneur on LinkedIn. The speaker promises to share a seven-step strategy that was used to amass 100,000 LinkedIn followers in record time, without a team, paid ads, or prior platform experience. The strategy involves a digital detox to remove irrelevant connections, creating a new account for a fresh start, and building a targeted network of CEOs, founders, and like-minded individuals. The importance of a high-quality headshot, a compelling headline, and a simple banner is emphasized to establish a strong online presence.

05:00

🔄 The Power of Time Investment and First Impressions on LinkedIn

The speaker discusses the concept of 'time hacking' as a form of investment on LinkedIn, especially for those without financial resources. They highlight the importance of making a strong first impression, akin to attending the world's largest business conference. The strategy includes building a network of 500+ connections to establish trust and credibility. The speaker suggests engaging with 20-30 active accounts in one's niche, commenting early on their posts to increase visibility and foster trust. They also advise against generic or automated comments, instead advocating for personal, motivational, and humorous remarks to stand out and build a community.

10:01

🎯 Micro-Niche Down to Dominate: The Rule of One in Content Creation

The paragraph delves into the importance of focusing on a micro-niche to become a leader in a specific area quickly. The speaker shares their experience of narrowing down their expertise in personal branding to writing, content creation, PR, and social media strategy. They emphasize the 'rule of one': one problem, one solution, and one thing at a time. The speaker encourages consistent posting, experimentation with different content formats, and learning from feedback loops to improve and grow. They also introduce a free course on personal branding and audience growth through writing.

15:01

📈 High-Performance Content: Educate, Inspire, and Entertain

This paragraph outlines the three key elements of high-performance content on LinkedIn: educate, inspire, and entertain. The speaker suggests focusing on educational and inspirational content for the first 90 days, posting 3-5 times a week, with a strong link to one's main expertise. They provide examples of how to create engaging posts that share personal stories or offer tactical advice, while ensuring the content is relevant and adds value to the audience. The importance of visual content and good text formatting for better engagement is also highlighted.

🤝 The Importance of Building Genuine Connections for Long-Term Growth

The final paragraph emphasizes the significance of building genuine connections on LinkedIn for sustained growth. The speaker recounts their journey from having zero connections to engaging in numerous coffee chats and zoom calls, which eventually led to meeting influential mentors. They stress the value of offering help, solving problems, and becoming an asset in the industry to build personal leverage. The paragraph concludes with the idea that social media, including LinkedIn, is fundamentally about connections and that building these relationships is key to standing out and growing one's network and personal brand.

Keywords

💡Digital Detox

Digital detox refers to the practice of taking a break from digital devices and online platforms to reduce stress and improve mental health. In the video's context, it's about removing oneself from irrelevant online noise and self-comparison to focus on meaningful connections and consistent posting on LinkedIn. The script mentions this as the first step in the strategy to grow one's LinkedIn presence.

💡Connections

Connections on LinkedIn represent the network of professionals one is linked with. The video emphasizes the importance of curating one's connections by removing irrelevant ones and focusing on building a network with CEOs, founders, and likeminded individuals. It's part of the strategy to create a conducive environment for posting and growing one's personal brand on the platform.

💡Dream 100 List

The Dream 100 List is a concept coined by Russell Bronson, where one lists 100 people they aspire to connect with, including those who have their ideal audience in their networks. The video uses this as a method to strategically grow one's network by identifying key individuals and aiming to connect with them for long-term growth.

💡Headshot

A headshot in the context of LinkedIn is a professional portrait used as a profile picture. The video stresses the importance of having a clear, high-quality headshot that represents one's personal brand. It's one of the three essential elements to start growing on LinkedIn without a team or paid ads.

💡Headline

The headline on a LinkedIn profile is a brief description that appears under one's name and is crucial for making a first impression. The video provides templates for crafting a headline that either promotes an offer or shares one's mission and journey, which helps in attracting the right audience to one's profile.

💡Banner

The banner on a LinkedIn profile is the large image at the top of the page that sets the visual tone for one's brand. Contrary to common advice, the video suggests using a solid color banner that matches one's brand for simplicity and quick setup, emphasizing the importance of speed over perfection in the initial growth phase.

💡First Impressions

First impressions, both online and offline, are critical in establishing credibility and trust. The video discusses the importance of making a good first impression on LinkedIn by having a complete profile, a high number of connections, and engaging comments, which act as conversations and build trust with potential connections.

💡Commenting

Commenting on LinkedIn is a strategy to engage with others' content and build relationships. The video outlines a method of commenting on active accounts within one's niche to increase visibility and reciprocity. It emphasizes the importance of leaving meaningful, personalized comments rather than generic or spammy ones.

💡Micro Niching

Micro niching is the process of focusing on a very specific area of expertise within a broader field. The video suggests narrowing down one's content to a micro niche to become a leader in that area quickly, which helps in gaining authority and credibility on LinkedIn.

💡High-Performance Content

High-performance content on LinkedIn is content that educates, inspires, or entertains. The video explains that successful content should do at least one of these three things to grow an audience. It provides examples of different types of content that can be used to engage the audience and build a strong personal brand.

💡Visual Rhythm

Visual rhythm refers to the harmonious arrangement of text and visuals in a post to make it more engaging and easier to read. The video mentions the importance of creating visual harmony in posts to improve engagement and establish one's brand as credible and clear in communication.

💡Connection

Connection, in the context of social media and particularly LinkedIn, is about building meaningful relationships with others in one's industry. The video highlights the importance of connections as the foundation of social media success, emphasizing the need for networking, coffee chats, and zoom calls to build personal leverage and a supportive community.

Highlights

Achieved rapid growth from zero to 100,000 LinkedIn followers within a year without a team, paid ads, or prior experience.

Outlined a seven-step strategy for growing a personal brand on LinkedIn.

Emphasized the importance of a digital detox to remove irrelevant connections and noise for consistent posting.

Suggested starting with a clean slate or removing connections to avoid self-comparison and fear of judgment.

Introduced the concept of a 'dream 100 list' to strategically connect with desired individuals and their networks.

Highlighted the necessity of a high-quality headshot for a professional first impression.

Provided headline templates for LinkedIn profiles to clearly communicate one's value proposition.

Advocated for simplicity in profile banners, recommending a solid color matching the brand.

Stressed the importance of time investment over financial investment for growth on LinkedIn.

Described the process of building trust and connections through active commenting on relevant posts.

Offered a method to identify and engage with active accounts in one's niche for increased visibility.

Warned against generic comments and recommended personal, motivational, and humorous comments instead.

Discussed the significance of micro-niching to establish expertise and authority in a specific area.

Shared the 'rule of one' for content creation, focusing on one problem, one solution, and one thing at a time.

Explained the three key elements of high-performance content: educate, inspire, and entertain.

Suggested a content strategy focusing on educational and inspirational posts for the first 90 days.

Highlighted the importance of visual rhythm and text formatting for better engagement and readability.

Encouraged building personal connections through coffee chats and zoom calls to foster a supportive network.

Shared a personal story of mentorship and networking that led to significant professional growth.

Transcripts

this is me in 2022 no job living at my

parents house and zero LinkedIn

followers and this is me 12 months later

featuring involves as I just been named

one of the fastest growing entrepreneurs

on the platform so how did I do it well

in this video I'm going to break down

the exact seven step strategy I use to

go from zero to 100,000 followers in

record time without a team without paid

ads and without any previous experience

on the platform and to prove it wasn't

just luck I've used this exact same

strategy with hundreds of clients to

help them grow scale and monetize the

personal Brands too let me explain in

its most simple form if you want to grow

on LinkedIn you first need to do a

digital detox and no I don't mean

locking your phone away fasting and

reading 50 bucks but more about removing

what no longer benefits you and what is

rubbing you from your potential success

by this I mean removing connections on

LinkedIn all bosses classmate or

colleagues anything that is filling your

feet with irrelevant noise and

self-comparison that is preventing you

from posting consistently I've literally

been there feeling so cringe about

posting We all do so I started from zero

now there's two ways you can do this one

removing connections and unfollow as

many people as possible or two start

from zero with a brand new account I

went with the second option Clean Slate

new new start and no old work friends

peeping at what I was up to I had no

excuse to not post because I feared of

being seen trying something new by other

people and I had all the reason to get

out there and look for the right people

who would fit into my the side Network

CEOs Founders and likeminded people I

made my dream 100 list a term coin by

Russell Bronson the idea is that you

list 100 people you'd like to connect

with and people who have your ideal

people in their networks as well so if

you wanted to connect with with someone

like Steven bartett or Simon synic for

example you try to connect with their

marketing staff or co-founders who are

more likely to be seeing their

connections personally increasing your

chances of reaching them in the long

term today 100% of my connections are my

dream hundred list not just a mix of

random people I'd met over the last 8

years but since I started from zero I

had to give people a good reason to even

look at me or my profile and I had to do

it quickly so instead of sending spammy

into the DMS 100 times a day saying hi

very interested in what you're doing at

inside company let's exchange synergies

I identify the three main things that

would make anyone else notice me you

should focus on the 8020 rule where you

prioritize the thing with the highest

impact then you optimize for Speed and

not Perfection to grow as fast as

possible on LinkedIn from zero you only

need three things to start first the

head shot it needs to be clear and high

quality you need to look approachable

and have a Sol solid background or at

least not too distracting this means no

photos from your Spain trip with your

friends or an outdated selfie you took

on your Android 10 years ago it needs to

be a direct representation of who you

are but most importantly the person that

you're trying to become so set up your

iPhone timer with a clear background and

take a bunch of up close photos then

drop it into Cana and add a clear

background is that simple you can even

use tools like seales to create a high

quality Prof professional photo too if

you can't take professional photos right

now secondly your headline I've covered

this before so I leave the video

somewhere here but here are two headline

templates you can use immediately right

this second if you have an offer you can

say what you do who you do it for and

how you help so for example I help

business coaches get more sales through

DM now if you don't have an offer you

can use on a mission to do cool thing

with cool outcome sharing content and in

about the thing about your journey so

for example on a mission to help

entrepreneurs grow their social media

sharing content about marketing and Ai

and posting about the journey super

simple you don't need to over complicate

it just use those two templates to start

and then you can tweak as you go along

before we move on to the third you need

to understand that your profile and

headline are the two most visible

elements about your profile it's showing

in your profile on the Main feed and in

your comments so those two need to be

great but don't overthink it you can

always go back and tweak it like I said

and adjust as you go along the third is

your banner and this is about to

contradict like 99% of LinkedIn advice

and even mine but if you want to grow as

fast as

possible just pick a solid color that

matches your brand and move on look this

is the B I had from Z to 20,000

followers and this is the B that I had

from 20 to 50,000 followers I still use

that one on my Twitter look a dashing

profile with cool logos an optimized

banner and Graphics isn't going to get

you seen at the start the next step I'm

about to show you well it's the biggest

investment I made but the ROI 10x is for

me every single day and no I don't mean

cash investment I was an unemployed

entrepreneur at the time and I didn't

have too much money to invest but I did

have one thing to give time hacking

growth on LinkedIn is a pay-to-play game

and you have two currencies money and

time and I went all in on time

investment and allocated to one thing

first impressions see in real life and

online first impressions are insanely

important imagine LinkedIn as the

world's largest non-stop business

conference you've got CEOs investors

industry leaders and potential clients

all on the One Roof

247 now with steps one and two you're

dressed apart but not many people know

you they sure they know me so how do you

make their best first impression one

number 500 plus that's the maximum

number of connections LinkedIn will show

you have and it's the one thing people

look at to see where they can trust you

one thing that helps is mutual

connections there is a massive trust

point on LinkedIn and it's a form of

social proof for example when you see

two videos on the YouTube comp page one

of them has your favorite entrepreneurs

face and more views and the other one

doesn't have either you're more likely

to click on the video that has more

views because it's more interesting to

you align to your interest and it's

validated by the number of views

subconsciously you think that the video

with more views and familiar faces is

better it has credibility well LinkedIn

is the same it's one of those undeniable

LinkedIn checkboxes too you needed to

mark your profile as complete to get 500

plus connections you don't need to rush

to Post 100 pieces of content a day but

you actually need to rush to comment

because they act as conversations and

people on LinkedIn love talking about

interesting topics it's kind of one of

the purposes of the platform too so

here's how to get 500 plus relevant

connections and beyond that two using

commenting first find 20 to 30 active

accounts in your Niche or adjacent ones

so if it's business you can look at

marketing entrepreneurship and

Leadership accounts make sure that there

is a range of following from 0 to 5K

then 5 to 20K then 20K plus 0 to 5K is

usually people in the same boat as you

and most likely to reciprocate the

interactions 5 to 20K are usually steps

ahead and and they may reciprocate but

you get more visibility as more people

follow them and they may see your

comment and then 20,000 followers plus

maybe harder to stand out but if you do

you get a double win as there are so

many more eyeballs on you just look at

this coming with nearly 200 likes this

got him like three leads as well by the

way so list their name URL and posting

time and try to comment as early as

possible on their post the earlier you

are the most likely people are to know

you trust me I did this for months and

what happened was that due to the

beautiful nature of reciprocity bias the

more you give the more you can take in

the end when it comes to actually

commenting though here's exactly what

you don't do you don't leave great post

or 100% ask comments you don't use AI

tools to comment and you don't use

single emergis ass comments to stand out

without looking like a fan or a groupy

you need to leave three types of

comments a personal take on what the

post you're commenting on was about a

motivational mic drop where you share a

quote that matches the tone of the post

or if you're like me a meme use your

humor you can gamify this as well doing

commenting Sprint throughout your day

that's the easiest way to build a habit

and practice your commenting you can use

this strategy to comment on people's

content in your feed or reply to your

own comments on your own post this

strategy works it's even being featured

by link LED in themselves shout out to

my friend Yasmin Alec for creating it to

me commenting is the biggest way to

build leverage when you don't have any

you're guaranteed thousands of new

eyeballs when you do this at least 20

times a day without even posting you

build trust connections and friendships

just through commenting alone and for

all the technical people looking to

understand why this is important if you

look at the standard marketing funnel

you can see that nurture is a key point

for long-term success your LinkedIn is

the same you nurture your orings from

awareness level to consideration and

purchase and you retain them by

nurturing them to stay and turning them

into not just followers but a true

community of people who want to support

your mission and today having real

conversations is what's making personal

Brands win literally no one comments on

your post no one likes them and yes it

helps to get people into your door but

now you need to get them to stay I for

example was posting a variety of Life

updates marketing Trends memes and

fluffy value it wasn't getting me the

virality engagement and opportunities I

was promised so I did the complete

opposite I focused on micro niching down

my first Niche on LinkedIn was marketing

good enough but too broad because in

that I was competing with SEO influencer

marketing smas copywriters and so on my

content was scattered then I learned

about the single biggest business hack

to grow even if you don't have any

experience it's the rule of one one

problem one solution one thing I spoke

about this before when it comes to offer

creation but it's insanely important in

content creation too so to find the one

thing you need find the topic or topics

you're best at for me it was personal

branding so then I broke down what

pastal branding actually meant to me and

overall it was a combination of writing

content creation PR and social media

strategy I narrow it down to my

expertise so I could become a leader in

those specific micro niches quickly so

then I could climb on lava gaining more

Authority more leverage and way more

credibility and the more I did it

because of the nature of repetition the

better I got here's a post from 2 years

ago of me getting double and triple

likes and here's a post from this week

getting over 1,000 likes and over 500

comments this wouldn't have been

possible though if I didn't force myself

to post content and followed the rule of

one the more I posted the more feedback

loops I created through data and the

better I got and I also learned a ton

more through experimentation text post

carousels infographics hooks re hooks

short post and long post different calls

to action everything became a test and

to become a top 0.1 Creator you learn

you test and you iterate every single

day this to me is truly where the magic

happens because it feels like a game

find the gap between your interest and

the demand and again if you speak to a

broad topic like entrepreneurship or

business you're competing with everyone

gar ve borrow business meme Pages people

with 100K followers but if you speak

about an insanely Micron Niche thing

like conversion on LinkedIn or AI

automations for B2B then you're so in

you don't need to change your Niche

entirely but you do need to Niche down

to where your expertise truly lies that

needs and I can't emphasize enough to be

your main focus with your content don't

over complicated it you don't need more

systems you need more focus on your

content when in doubt think about the

rule of one so just before we move on to

the fifth step in this strategy I've

created an entirely free course on

personal branding and how to grow an

online audience fast through writing

Link in the description oh and also

don't forget to subscribe to this

channel so I can keep on providing you

with free value and resources like this

one now we've hits a light bulb moment

but to grow in LinkedIn you need to

understand how high performance content

is born and it all comes down to three

things educate Inspire and entertain if

you look across the board for recent

long form and short form content you've

liked they all do one of those three

things Justin Welsh educates heavily

online Mr the Beast entertains to a mass

scale and people like David gorgens

Inspire if your content isn't doing at

least one of them then you won't grow

and after studying thousands of accounts

in a variety of Industries I noticed

that those who do at least two of them

win the educational content brings them

in the inspirational content makes them

stay and the entertainment element makes

them love you but before anyone proposes

to you you need to nail the fast two

educational and inspirational content

for the next 90 days your focus should

be posting 3 to five times a week 80%

educational content and 20%

inspirational content and all of it

needs to link back to your pillars we

talked about on step five to educate you

need to be given tactical advice for

example this post breaks down LinkedIn

using listicles and examples concisely

Post Number Two does the exact same

thing but leveraging carousels and

examples to inspire you need to be

sharing your story in this post I shared

an incredibly personal story about my

dad but it linked back to

entrepreneurship and how I got started

this post takes us through an entire

journey in less than 60 seconds and this

post breaks up belief and tells us the

story immediately the big Nuance here is

that it all needs to link back to your

main expertise and why the story was

relevant so if you're in B2B sales

talking about your engagement in what

you learned isn't what you want to be

doing although it is a very lengthen

thing to do and I am honestly all here

for it but if you are in B2B sales and

you just got engaged and your new fiance

set front row after you practice your

speech 20 times in front of her and your

post talks about having a life partner

who makes the world of a difference in

your career then there's potential

because it links your personal life and

your professional life just don't overdo

it with the Emojis okay now being

serious a good tip here is to leverage

visual content while doing this good

written content is the vehicle but you

can also grow quicker by using visual

elements this can be in the form of

infographics carousels Twitter

screenshots or nicely designed graphics

and a bonus step to anyone who made it

this far into the video if you look at

the examples I showed you there is one

thing they all have in common visual

Rhythm or good text formatting with skim

more than we read and creating visual

harmony with your writing can improve

your chances of getting more engagement

in growing your brand and credibility as

it puts emphasis on your ability to

explain things in a clear and concise

way as a good rule of thumb of Mind

always try to make your sentences 8 to

10 words Max use bullet points rather

than a dragged out long ass paragraph

and always optimized for mobile these

personally are the best tools as the

market has shift to heavily visual

content due to the Tik toic of social

media notice how I didn't say video

content though but that's an Easter egg

for another day or you can follow me on

LinkedIn or X where I'm always dropping

updates Trends and my unpopular opinions

now the thing that ties this entire

strategy together is this final point

point and you might have heard the

saying if you want to go fast go alone

but if you want to go far go together

social media including LinkedIn is

rooted in one thing connection it's

truly how you stand out from everyone

who doesn't care enough people repeat

the same cycle of creating content

posting and then forgetting to build the

one thing that is going to keep on

pushing them up their Network when I

started on LinkedIn I had zero

connections and I don't mean just

literally asking just LinkedIn

connections but I knew no one in the

industry so to build from the ground up

I committed to have as many coffee chats

and zoom calls as possible for months

and I mean months my calendar was packed

with 50-minute coffee chats with people

who were just starting out just like me

or people two steps in front of me and

people two steps behind me and

eventually I reached those miles ahead

and in fact it's actually how I met my

fast Mentor Richard Mo I connected with

someone via their comment section that

someone then liked my post and my now

Mentor saw the post connected with me on

LinkedIn when I had like 1,000 followers

I asked for a coffee chat and he accept

it and now he's helped me understand how

to price my services build my offer

close thousands in sales positioning and

endless ways to skip the line learning

from him if you want to replicate that

follow steps 1 to six in this video to

attract like-minded people and stand out

give value in every new conversation you

have you can offer to help someone out

or solve a problem for them become an

asset for people build personal leverage

slowly your efforts will compound and

you will become a magnet you can also

collaborate with people or start getting

referrals and with time you also make

friends in your industry crazy huh over

time I got invited to iners events which

made connections even more meaningful

and this is truly how I built my own

luck by showing up every single day now

my friends this is exactly how to grow

your audience as fast as possible now if

you want to make leads through it I

check out this video too I'll see you

there