Write content that gets you visible

I’ve analysed my best-performing LinkedIn posts in the last month. 2 posts stood out without a discussion, and I know exactly why. 

See, I don’t want to be the person who is going to show you viral techniques to hack the algorithm (ewwww). But if you’ve been feeling a bit stuck with your content, ready to throw in the towel, this is for you. As I said, I’m not big on chasing dopamine hits from metrics, but every now and then it’s nice to know your hard work has paid off. 

The first post has 2,373 impressions as I write this.

The second post has 10,430 impressions as I write this.

(which would still not be considered ‘viral post’, but given my average right now, they outperformed any content massively in the last 28 days)

I’ll add both links to the posts below, but first, I want you to understand why they did so well, so when you read them, you can look at both through an analytical lens, knowing what I’ve done in each.

1. Triggering hook

Both of the posts start by triggering a strong emotion in the reader’s mind. If we look at a scale of 1-10, they would both sit on the 9 or above mark (if I saw so myself). 

2. Relatable topic

Both posts are emotional. And they both reflect a feeling that a big proportion of my audience feels. A strong feeling, may I add and/or beliefs they hold. It’s also an experience they probably went through at some point in their life. So they know what I’m talking about, and their mind takes them to that exact moment when they went in that position. 

3. No sales reference 

I’m sorry, promotional posts or posts about your services won’t work if your goal is eyeballs on your content. This is the main reason why I don’t believe virality should be your strategy if you’re a business owner, but we’re going to forget that for a moment. The service you offer is automatically targeted at a smaller proportion of your audience. That’s because not everyone in your audience is your buyer. It’s natural and completely normal. This is why your promotional content talking about your services reaches fewer people automatically (FYI, this was always the case even before the LinkedIn algorithm shifted and reach went down overall). 

This is also the reason why one post has done so much better than the other. The post with a smaller reach targeted business owners only. The post that got over 10k impressions targeted ALL LinkedIn users. 

4. Engaging CTA

I only did this in one of the posts (the one with higher reach). I asked a question about the experiences of others. Since I ticked all the boxes above (1-3), engaging with the post felt non-threatening. I made people WANT to answer the question and share their experience and express their feelings, without the fear and doubt on whether there was a sales pitch coming their way. 

5. Make it personal

The best way I can explain the 1st part is that I literally spoke from the heart. I said what I felt. I didn’t overexplain and justify my feelings, and wrote raw thoughts. Often, I see some great posts from people, but they explain their stands so much that their posts lose their punch. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we need to add context, but again, if your goal is visibility, you need to take a stand.

The second part is the photos I used. The one with higher reach has a very personal photo that was captured in the moment and goes perfectly with the post I shared. It’s raw, it’s me, and it’s also playful in a way. 

Now, I know you’re itching to see the actual posts and compare the two, so here they are:

👉🏻 Post 1 with 2,373 impressions.

👉🏻 Post 2 with 10,430 impressions.

How to apply this to your content

Step 1: Think about what your audience is going through right now? What conversations have you been having, and what’s one thing that people repeat over and over to you? What do they feel or believe about that topic? And what is YOUR experience with that? 

Step 2: Start writing. Forget the formatting, the polishing, the overthinking and the doubts. Write your first draft, only then go in and structure the post. Don’t overedit it and resist the urge to justify every single thing you say. Remember, we want raw thoughts and your personality. 

Step 3: Read your hook out loud. Cover the rest of the post and imagine you see only the hook on your feed. Then ask yourself - would I feel propelled to click the “see more” button if I were the reader? If the answer is no, spend a bit more time thinking about what would make you take that action. 

Step 4: Pick a personal photo that would align with the post. Don’t be afraid to be a bit silly or “unprofessional”. Make it YOU. Just as if you were sending your thoughts to your friend with a photo.

Step 5: Hit post. And please don’t forget to respond to the people who take their time to meaningfully engage with your post. 

Will you be trying this strategy?

And if you’d like my help growing your personal brand on LinkedIn, click here to book your chat.

Connect with me on LinkedIn - Viktoria Jancurova, and if you have any questions at all, feel free to message me!