11 steps how you can grow your LinkedIn following by 5771 in 8 months.

I can be precise in this newsletter because it is precisely what I did in the past 8 months. It is one of the few things I have visual proof that it works (building websites, sales, marketing efforts, etc., are always trickier to proof to you that it works).

I promise you this won't be a brag show to celebrate myself. Instead, I want to help you to get your voice heard. Because Biodiversity Heroes like you should get more attention.

The first thousands of people are the hardest to reach because you don't benefit from the compounding effects. Later on, it gets much easier.

I know how tricky this LinkedIn adventure can be, so I wanted to create a quick starting guide with some first steps on how you can grow your following.

So let's go!

If you want to know why personal branding is essential in general, I created this post some weeks ago: Personal Branding: 10 Reasons Why You Should Have Started Yesterday.

11 steps how to grow your LinkedIn following

1. Dedicate time

The hardest step that most LinkedIn voices constantly forget is that you need to dedicate time for this new adventure. Posting on Linkedin is free, but your time isn't.

First you need to decide if you want to outsource this work to someone like me, or if you want to tackle this yourself.

Now you need to decide how much time per day you can invest into your Linkedin. Personal recommendation: Start with 15 minutes per day and go from there. The faster you want to grow the more time is needed.

How I do it: I spend 1.5 hours daily engaging, creating posts, personal messages etc.

2. Precise who you want to talk to

Before doing anything else, you must reflect on the people you want to connect with. Who should ideally see your posts?

Do you want to talk to your customers?

Do you want to get the attention of donors?

Do you want to connect with like-minded nature business founders?

Being precise here will help you massively in the following steps. Rather than speaking to everyone, you talk to those who will benefit the most from you being on Linkedin.

How I do it: The audience I want to reach are people that are concerned about nature, but struggle to take action.

3. Choose some topics

Of course you can start posting about everything that comes to your mind, but it will be tricky for people to understand what you are about.

I highly recommend you stick to a maximum of 3 topics initially. Ideally those topics should solve a pain for your target audience.

How I do it: I write about biodiversity, mental fitness, and ecopreneurship. For me all these 3 are interconnected.

4. Pimp your profile

Now that you know who you want to talk to and what you want to write about it is time to design your profile.

Quick checklist:

• good profile picture

• enable creator mode

• up to-date work and education experience

• matching headline

• fill the "talks about" section with the 3 topics

• call to action to link to your nature venture

• good about text

• fill featured area with more call to actions (your website, a great post, etc.)

• make use of the header image

How I do it: Feel free to get inspired by how I designed my profile. Adapt to find your angle.

5. Engage with others

You don't have to post immediately because engaging with others can grow your audience.

Why should people like, comment and share your stuff, if you don't give anything back in return?

Be authentic and join the conversation that other people started. Share your opinion and thoughts.

Engage especially with those that reflect your target audience or those that have the attention of your target audience.

How I do it: I comment and like posts from big to small accounts as long as I genuinely find them interesting. I am not forcing myself to create pseudo-comments.

If a LinkedIn voice inspires you, hit their bell button, so you always get notified when they post something. Like this you can be sure to comment first, which help you to gain visibility.

6. Set up an inspiration database

One of the biggest challenges people share with me is that they don't know what to post. To combat that create a Notion database, excel sheet, word doc etc., to keep your ideas.

Whenever you see something interesting, just put it into the database. Like this you are never running out of ideas.

How I do it:

I use Notion and this is my setup.

7. Use your strengths

Work with the cards you have been dealt with. Reflect on your best strengths.

Are you a good writer? -> write longer posts

Do you like to speak in public? -> set up carousels similar to a PowerPoint

Are you good on camera? -> create videos

Do you have a good eye for design? -> design pictures, frameworks, carousels & co.

Rather than forcing it, work first with your strengths and create content that comes easy to you.

How I do it: I started with writing and moved from there into the other fields. Now I do a mix.

My best posts so far were designed with Canva.

8. Post regularly

I can't stress enough how important this step is. It is my biggest "secret" for my growth. I just show up daily.

Your posts will compound with time and people will better understand who you are and what you are about.

Even if it is only once a week, you have to show up regularly. Otherwise, it will be impossible to grow.

How I do it: I post every single day of the week at 10:45 a.m. (the best time that works for me).

9. Diversify posts

After a while it will become quickly dry for your followers if you always use the same format for your posts. So try to mix things up constantly.

Your voice and topics should stay the same, but the format should change.

Linkedin formats:

• written post

• picture

• documents

• carousels

• videos

• newsletter

• article

• polls

How I do it: I constantly rotate my posts so it doesn't get boring.

10. Professionalize your posts

If you managed to get until this step, you seem serious about this. So, the next step you need to climb is to go the extra mile regarding the quality of your content.

Learn how to copywrite, use Canva for designs, structure your posts for easier reading, etc.

This will set you apart, because the vast majority on Linkedin doesn't put in this time.

How I do it: I learned Canva first, because they have easy templates. Afterwards I learned more about copywriting.

11. Learn algorithm hacks

Okay, last step. I could and probably will write an entire post just about this. Like other Social Media networks, LinkedIn has algorithm hacks you should explore.

They will make it much easier to grow your biodiversity hero voice.

Few examples:

• don't share links in the post but in the comments

• always ask a question at the end of each post

• provide more value in the comment section

• provide additional valuable comments after the post starts to take off

• use hashtags strategically (max. 5, start with the biggest topic)

• tag people if relevant! (you don't want to spam people)

• stay around for the first moments after you posted to react to incoming comments quickly

How I do it: I do all those above and a couple more, but let's tackle those another time.

Your turn: Let's start growing your LinkedIn following

Here are 4 Actions you can take to grow on Linkedin:

1. Take 30 minutes next week to reflect if you want to go down that LinkedIn route and if the answer is yes start with step one.

2. Stick to the allocated time you gave yourself. Block a time slot in your calendar and don't work more or less on it.

3. Go through the steps and put them into action.

4. Contact me ([email protected]) if that is too overwhelming here and you would prefer to have someone to co-design or take over your LinkedIn. The first 30-minute intro call is for free.

Cheat sheet to grow your Linkedin

In a nutshell: Growing on Linkedin, is not as hard as often claimed. By implementing these steps you will see a difference quite fast.

Tools:

Notion for inspiration database

Canva for designs

Loom for videos

Learn more:

Taplio to get inspired, find the right time to post etc.

Shield Academy to learn more

Before you go.

If you think this newsletter is helpful, please share it with 1 ecopreneur in your network.

This will help me massively to keep these tips free.

LinkedIn is a great way to connect with like-minded biodiversity heroes and a powerful tool to get more attention for your nature venture.

Yes, you will need to invest time into LinkedIn to see results, but these steps will get you on track.

The most important tip is to stay yourself. We don't need more fake people on Linkedin. We need inspiring ones, and I feel you could be one of them.

See you next week. Have a wild one!

Best,

Oliver

🦧 Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways Wild Business Mates can help you grow and double your impact:

1. 1-to-1 business consulting. Detailed and personalized consulting to double the impact of your biodiversity organization in the shortest possible time. Not sure how to grow on Linkedin? Let's jump into a call.

2. Wild Business Mates in Action. Wild Business Mates help you execute in areas you are struggling with. Tech, Marketing, Sales, Communication, etc. We can realize all the steps I mentioned above.