With fame, clout, and connections becoming increasingly important in the attention economy, and
over 80% of B2B buying decisions now influenced by
creator content, more and more people are
looking to raise their prominence on the world's second-most important
social media platform (as
rated by marketers),
LinkedIn.
We've All Gotta Start Somewhere
When I launched
Jewel Content Marketing Agency a few years ago, I also decided to get serious about
building my own
LinkedIn footprint.
I started out very ordinary. About 4,000 LinkedIn followers. I wrote occasional blog articles,
but I wasn't in the habit of regular LinkedIn posting at all.
At first, I struggled to post regularly. Ideas often eluded me.
If I posted more than two to three times per week, it was a busy week.
But things are very different today.
At the start of 2026, I had 17,000 LinkedIn followers. And I've got content coming out of my ears.
Months of posts scheduled, with more ideas always coming.
As measured
by Favikon, I ranked No. 1 in Taiwan in Marketing & Sales creators on LinkedIn, in the Top 10 in Taiwan
in any category, in the Top 200 worldwide in Content Marketing & Copywriting, and in the Top 200
worldwide in Growth & Lead Gen.
I could probably achieve this faster if I started today, since now I better understand how.
Let's talk about what you can do to achieve something similar.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
The LinkedIn algorithm (and the AI that presently runs it) shares your content with more people
if it thinks you're an expert in the topic.
If you're
a copywriter, and your LinkedIn profile clearly indicates you are one, posts about
copywriting will generally travel farther than posts about gardening.
If you want to get serious about posting, optimize your LinkedIn profile to reflect your experiences,
achievements, and expertise in the topic or topics you intend to post about.
Plenty of people will tell you the "right" way to optimize your profile, but I see little evidence
there is a right or best way. Especially since different people have different personal and
professional strengths.
But I will say two things.
One, your
LinkedIn headline, which is the text that appears directly below your name on your
LinkedIn profile, is very important, because it's what people see when they first encounter your
profile, or when you send them a connection request (besides your name and picture), so it must be
clear, relevant, and attractive to your target audience.
And two, fill out as much information (relevant to what you're posting about) in as many places on
your LinkedIn profile as possible. Because the more you fill out, the more "surface exposure" you
have to the algorithm.
And I'm not just talking about your profile's About section or where your job responsibilities are
listed. Spend some time at the bottom of your profile. Honors and awards. Certifications.
Publications. These sorts of things.
Post Regularly
Do try to post regularly, not because it "trains the algorithm" (which I'm not convinced is a thing
anymore), but because a regular deadline helps train your brain to generate ideas.
At first, you'll probably need to push yourself for ideas (I did), but with enough time and repetition,
ideas will come more naturally.
And don't start out trying to post every day.
The single biggest mistake I see new LinkedIn creators make is trying to do too much too soon. They
post every day and burn themselves out after a few weeks or months.
Why does this happen? Oh, a couple of reasons.
One, training your brain to generate LinkedIn ideas takes time. If you sprint out of the gate, you end
up running out of good ideas before you've trained your brain to generate more, so you end up posting
bad ideas, which turns off audiences while demoralizing you.
And two, when you start out, the audience for your content (even if you have a lot of connections) will
be small and won't pay much attention. If you push yourself too hard during those early days where few
respond, frustration can burn you out.
Even if you're working with a ghostwriter or using a post generator, regular posting can be draining at
first.
And if you're a writer, don't assume this will be easy.
There's a difference between knowing how to write and generating ideas for writing.
Posting once a week is fine at first, but I suggest aiming for two to three times. As with exercising,
you need to push yourself to get your creative mind in better shape.
Once you get comfy with two to three times per week, and you have plenty of posts scheduled in advance
(LinkedIn's native capabilities give you three months of runway), you can think about increasing to
five times a week or more.
Choose a Bucket or a Few
There's nothing wrong with occasionally posting about something completely different from your usual
programming, but don't do it often.
Your audience follows you for certain things. Offer them something else, and many won't appreciate it.
I know that's an ugly fact, but it's true. People rarely follow you for you (at least on LinkedIn).
And the LinkedIn algorithm rewards
sticking to your knitting, so choose a bucket or a few and stick to
them.
As far as the algorithm is concerned, the more repetitive you are, the better.
Know Why You're There
There are two general reasons for raising your LinkedIn profile: winning fame and winning business.
Winning fame can also indirectly win business, but here I'm talking about directly.
The distinction matters because winning fans wins fame, while winning customers wins business.
Fans and customers are mostly
different people.
Fans are mostly peers and tend to be the ones who openly engage with your content, while customers
tend to be lurkers.
Because of this, customers often get ignored on
social media because
content targeting them doesn't get
engaged as much or travel as far.
And yes, content targeting them can be quite different from what plays best with fans.
On LinkedIn, fans can mostly be thought of as students, and the way to please them is to teach them
things, while customers want their questions answered.
Send Out Cold Connection Requests, Smartly
Having a big follower count is not as important as it used to be, because the LinkedIn algorithm sends
your content to people because it thinks they're interested in it (not just because they follow you),
but you'll still need some headcount, especially with organic reach's generally tendency to decline.
Sending out connection requests to total strangers can seem weird at first, but you get used to it. And you
don't need to personalize your connection requests (this can seem creepy).
If you're seeking fame on LinkedIn, connect with fans.
If you're seeking customers, connect with a mix of fans and customers (and post a mix of content for each).
Fans generate buzz, and their engagement with your content makes it travel farther, thereby reaching more
customers.
If you're wondering how to tell fans from customers, let me put it this way.
Customers tend to look like customers. Fans tend to look like you.
And another thing, the more shared connections you have with someone, the more likely they are to connect.
Post Timing Matters
The first two hours matter most to a LinkedIn post's success or failure, so timing matters.
Your audience's
breakfast and lunchtime are your most-likely windows. And if you have a global audience,
I find that UK lunch, which is also US breakfast, gets the best results.
However, everyone's audience is different, so....
Do Experiment
Here, I'm not just talking about post times, I also mean content formats.
Sure, you may have one format you're best at or feel most comfortable with (like text or video), but
don't be afraid to try new things.
Because audience tastes and algorithmic preferences evolve.
Don't Use Engagement Pods
Linkedin has been making
strong statements lately implying they're taking actions against those who use
engagement pods. And influencer management software can rank creators lower if pod activity is suspected.
Be Careful With AI
LinkedIn has also said that they algorithmically penalize content made with
AI.
And I've seen signs (though I can't prove this) that they might even penalize content that's a
mixture of human and AI.
I'm not telling you not to use
AI. I'm just saying be
careful regarding the telltale signs.
You generally want your content to look human, even if AI made.
Do Respond to Comments
The LinkedIn algorithm prefers content that generates comments and conversation (it looks more
authoritative), so try to respond to comments, preferably quickly.
I'm not saying you should always respond (I don't), but try to keep the conversation going.
You Don't Have to Ramble
A few years ago, very long LinkedIn posts (long enough to hit the character limit) were all the rage,
becoming something of a cliche. But you don't have to do that anymore.
The algorithm now prefers content you
scroll to completion (as opposed to quitting halfway through).
And LinkedIn users seem to be becoming increasingly reluctant to engage with very long posts, probably
because they know AI can make a long post as easily as a short one, leaving users more likely to roll
their attentional dice on shorter ones.
You Don't Have to Be a Canva Wizard
All things being equal, posts with beautiful original visuals perform better.
And posts with visuals outperform posts without them.
But the inherent differences are modest, and the substance of what you're communicating matters a lot
more.
Plenty of LinkedIn influencers and Top Voices do fine with text-only posts and simple visuals.
Do Show Your Face Sometimes
Some LinkedIn creators include a selfie (or video featuring themselves) with almost every post. And yes,
these people are usually pretty.
But you don't have to do this. I don't show my face much, but I do occasionally.
Personal branding does play a part in LinkedIn success, and most people have faces.
Show yours sometimes, even if it isn't that pretty.
Don't Hide the Link
"Link in the comments" is a phrase you've probably seen a lot on LinkedIn.
Having a link in a post used to matter, but it
doesn't anymore.
All that matters is whether the
social media preview card shows up.
Don't let one of those appear.
And if you're wondering how to keep them from appearing, add your own visual to the post.
You Can Win Business on LinkedIn, But....
Raising your LinkedIn prominence can certainly attract opportunities.
However, LinkedIn is more an amplifier of success than creator of it.
If you're winning business on LinkedIn, you're probably also winning business in the real world.
But if you're not, LinkedIn won't necessarily make it happen.
You Don't Always Have To Follow Best Practices
If you get serious about LinkedIn publishing, you'll encounter a lot of advice about hooks, hacks, and
other best practices to maximize your reach, engagement, and whatnot.
Some will be true and some not.
But most of it won't matter, because the differences with and without are usually only a few percentage
points.
You can follow all the LinkedIn rules in the book and still attract crickets.
And you can follow none and see that post blow up.
While I'm sure many best practices can make a difference in reach and engagement on the scale of
thousands or millions of posts, individuals don't post nearly that much, with individual post success
too random and too influenced by factors outside your control.
And when you try to be a pro about everything on LinkedIn, it's not as much fun.
You put yourself in a box and lose some of your spontaneity.
Maybe after a thousand posts you can be a pro, since your LinkedIn game will already be disciplined.
But before that, I wouldn't recommend it.
You want to be comfortable. You want this to be enjoyable.
The best performing LinkedIn posts tend to be a little raw.
And any collective benefit from doing everything by the book probably won't be worth it.
About Working With a Pro
Many big names on LinkedIn post nothing but statements of the obvious and AI-generated nothingspeak.
If you're looking to raise your LinkedIn profile, you may wonder whether you really need to work with a
LinkedIn pro, especially since Marty McTopvoice gets 3,000 likes and 300 comments every time by saying
nothing more profound than
water is wet.
If you want results fast, the answer is yes.
Big names can get away with banality because they're already big.
But if you start out posting banality, it'll get you nowhere.
Building an engaged LinkedIn following requires posting something special your followers value.
Nothing I've seen from a post generator has ever been special or valuable.
A pro probably won't be able to post special and valuable things immediately (there will be a learning
curve regarding your industry and audience), but they'll get there a lot faster, in a much more organized
and systematic manner, than a newbie would on their own.
And a pro can write and generate ideas, fast.
And also knows what not to do.
If you're ready to elevate your game on LinkedIn, you know what
to do.
