How I Got 30,000 LinkedIn Followers in Two Years

This article originally appeared on AdvisorPerspectives on November 10th, 2022, and can be found here.

There is no shortage of information from “experts” on how to be successful on social media. But when I was starting out using LinkedIn a few years ago, there was a shortage of tactics to quickly grow the number of my connections (when you follow someone and they follow you back) and followers (someone follows you, but you don’t follow them).

I am about to hit the 30,000-follower mark on Linkedin. I thought it would be helpful to share the four easy-to-do tactics that I employed each week for the last two years to help me grow. The best part about this strategy is that it should take you no more than 10 minutes a day!

1. Follow the 80-20 comment rule

Here's the most important thing no one tells you about how to grow an account on social media: Replying to others' content should make up 80-90% of your activity.

I've seen this work firsthand in growing my following to almost 30,000 in two years, as well as through examining some of the highest-performing accounts across all social channels.

What does this look like in practice?

For everything you post, you need to leave comments on five others' posts.

Don't neglect the "social" part of "social media."

But you can’t just run through your feed commenting, “Great post!” There needs to be substance to your comments. Ask a question, share a compelling stat, tell a story that relates to the post, etc. Add to the conversation or bring more value.

2. Get those replies flowing

It’s great to comment on other people’s posts because it expands your social media presence. But it’s not the only place you should be interacting with users. Reply to comments on your own posts. Not only does this engage your followers, but it tells the algorithm that “this post is creating conversations,” and social media sites like that a lot.

The more conversations you can generate, the better. Like the last tip, don’t just make a quick reply. Try adding to the conversation and probe for more. If someone comments on your post with “This is great!” or “Thanks for sharing!” reply with a question like, “Thank you for the feedback – which part specifically was most impactful to you?” Again, ask questions and get the reply thread going. If you’re lucky, a whole discussion between multiple people will break out, which is amazing for engagement and growing your audience. It also alerts LinkedIn that your post is driving conversation and will prompt its algorithm to show your post to even more people.

3. Mingle with “strangers”

The main goal of most social media sites is to connect you with friends, family, colleagues, clients, etc. But what most people don’t tell you is that growth doesn’t happen by connecting with those you already know. It happens when you connect with strangers.

How do you do this? Easy.

Choose people with whom you haven’t connected already but would like to be – and comment on their posts. Turn them into one of your connections. If you’re able to keep connecting with new people, you’ll be reaching a new audience and continuing to grow your current one.

For instance, if you target local business owners, click on the profile of one of your current clients who is a business owner, and look at their first-degree connections – then click on those folks and leave a comment on a recent post of theirs.

4. The calendar connection

his one is a great way to connect with people you’ve met and extend a hand to them. Every Friday, go through your calendar and pull up every meeting from that week. Go through everyone who was invited or attended those meetings and invite them to connect on LinkedIn.

Just think about all those people you met who you wouldn’t have connected with otherwise.

It could be anyone from a center of influence (COI), a fellow business owner, or a prospect who just wasn’t ready to make a decision. This is an amazing way to stay connected with them so they can continue to see your content. When they are ready, you’ll be the first person they remember. If you can, add a little note when sending them an invite.

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5. Email connection tactic

Much like the calendar connection, an email connection is a great way to see who you’ve connected with outside of social media. These are people who you are already corresponding with within your email inbox, so it makes sense to connect with them on LinkedIn as well.

Every Monday and Friday, go through your emails and connect with anyone with whom you have exchanged emails.

Growing your social media account is a long game, but if you spend just 10 minutes every day taking these steps, you’ll be shocked at how quickly you can grow your account in the next year. In fact, I challenge you to write down how many followers you have today. Then take these steps over the next year and compare where you’re at 365 days from now. You’ll be delighted!