By Jonathan Javier (Be sure to follow us on Social Media: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter!)
In 2016 when I was still a student at the University of California Riverside and I didn’t even have a job yet, I remember I first started making LinkedIn Content. My first post during that time had 7 likes; it was about “The Day in the Life of a 5AMer”, an article dedicated to a philosophy that Kobe Bryant deemed in “Because of 4AM”.
I started to write content throughout the upcoming months, posting about 2-3 times a month just to update my friends on what I’d been up to when I was in school. I wrote my first article about my summer internship at Kohl’s; it had only 30+ likes.
I would question myself regarding the following: Why didn’t I get a lot of engagement on my posts? Am I posting too much? What would my friends think of me for posting everyday? What happens if someone said something negative/bad about me?
It was after this challenge of self-rejection and being so critical of different & negative perceptions that made me into the content creator I am today: someone who loves to give back to his community and share words of wisdom which is what we do at Wonsulting. In this article, I breakdown how I was able to gain 100k+ followers within 12 months and some of the best tips so you can do the same.
Tip #1: Being Consistent With Content
Starting to make LinkedIn content is more said than done; however, it’s all about starting and being consistent with making content. In the beginning, I would only post a few times a month because I thought I was “filling my followers feeds” too much with my content; when I ramped it up to once a week and then almost everyday for the past 12 months, this is when I saw an increase of followers because I was providing value to my audience.
Jerry Lee (120k+ Followers & LinkedIn Top Voice 2020) and Austin Belcak (800K+ Followers) both agree that consistency is the key to any new content creator. Jerry posts almost everyday either motivational content or ones that share a story of his personal life. Coming from a low-income household, first generation background, Jerry shares a similar story to many when getting into their dream career which makes his content relatable to his audience.
For Austin, he was able to grow his content to now almost 800K+ by setting an expectation with his audience, having them know that they can show up on his profile at certain times to see a new piece of valuable content. He posts consistently every weekday regarding job search tips or resources; when I’m on LinkedIn, he’s usually the first person that pops up onto my feed!
Tip #2: Not Self-Rejecting and Comparing Yourself To Others
When I was first creating LinkedIn content, I would be scared of what outside perspectives would think of me. It’s nerve-wrecking to put yourself out there, especially in a world where there are millions of people who may not have the same point-of-view as you.
However, this comes with any topic, whether regarding the Job Search, political opinions, or just life in general; not everyone will always agree with you.
Let’s breakdown an example with Job Search in landing your dream career:
Person A) Landed a job by applying on a company website; they attend a target school like an Ivy League school
Person B) Landed a job without applying by networking and reaching out to hiring managers; they utilized job search strategies and Wonsulting services to learn how to; they attend a non-target school
Person A would have a different perspective than person B because companies would come recruit at the target school which sometimes merits a “apply = interview” rather than Person B who would use unconventional methods to get to where they want to be, especially job search strategies from an International Background.
Always remember this: When creating content, there will always be others who will agree and disagree with your content. Embrace it.
Tip #3: Share Insights and Connect With Your Audience
The next tips is always showing value to your followers depending on your niche. Your niche can be defined in many different ways: it can be something you’re passionate about, what your company exhibits, or based on topics of interest. For example, my niche is for Job Search: I share job search strategies on all my social media platforms that not many have heard of as well as free Wonsulting resources. This shows my audience that I’m giving them value for free and am willing to help them land jobs in 2021.
Another important part of LinkedIn content is engaging with your audience. When people make content, they’ll usually post and not respond to comments; however, I believe that you should at least respond to 90%+ of them because if they took 30 seconds to make an insightful comment on your post, they should at least receive a response back. Elizabeth Morgan (57k+ Followers) echoes this statement; she believes that you should at least thank people for their perspective if they comment on your post and also like/comment on posts that you’re tagged in. This creates a stronger community between you and your followers.
Connecting with your audience doesn’t always have to do with your own post; you can also reach out and connect with your followers/others on a daily basis. Basant Shenouda (44k+ Followers) best advice is to connect with 10 people a day with a personalized message; you’ll be surprised how many people will see your content because it has a ripple effect.
Tip #4: Creating Your Own Personal Brand Through A Hashtag
One of the most important concepts about growing your following on LinkedIn is creating your own personal brand; the easiest way to do this is through your hashtag. For my hashtag (#JWoW), when people search or follow it, they can easily find my content for the week. For your posts, you should always put your hashtag at the end of your post so it can build off your brand and people will know you from it!
For Stephanie Nuesi (28k+ Followers), she echoes this statement. With her hashtag #StephSynergy, it shows a combination of tips and her audience knows her based on that hashtag. By creating your own hashtag, you’ll be able to gain more reach and build a brand where people will remember you from.
Conclusion
Creating LinkedIn content should be natural and not forced; many people post just to post, but I believe you should post if you have something insightful to say that will benefit your audience. If your post goes viral, amazing; if it doesn’t, it’s okay as well. Not every post will get a lot of engagement, but we should not base our content based on the amount of like; rather, we should base it on the impact we’re able to create.
Share your story, and you’ll see that many people will follow so you can get your first 100K followers on LinkedIn.
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Jonathan Javier is the CEO/Founder of Wonsulting, which mission is to “turn underdogs into winners”. He’s also worked in Operations at Snap, Google, and Cisco coming from a non-target school/non-traditional background. He works on many initiatives, providing advice and words of wisdom on LinkedIn and through speaking engagements. In total, he has led 220+ workshops in 9 different countries including the Mena ICT Forum in Jordan, Resume/Personal Branding at Cisco, LinkedIn Strategy & Operations Offsite, Great Place To Work, Talks at Google, TEDx, and more. He’s also been featured as a Top Job Search Expert in articles from Forbes, Business Insider, DailyMail, Yahoo News, LinkedIn News, Jobscan, Brainz Magazine, and more. He’s amassed 800K+ followers on LinkedIn, Instagram,& TikTok as well as 30+ million impressions monthly on his content.
Check out his Social Media links here:
Interested in working together? Check out wonsulting.com or email us at hello@wonsulting.com (reference this article too)!
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