Building a following on LinkedIn has the power to change your business and career.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Devin Reed was the content mastermind behind Gong's explosive growth. He helped drive the company from $20M to $200M ARR, and later created a LinkedIn strategy for Clari's CEO that generated 6.1 million views in just 12 months.

Tommy Clark started his B2B social media agency as a side hustle while working full-time at Triple Whale. His LinkedIn expertise became so sought after that he eventually had to choose between his day job and his growing client roster (take a wild guess which he chose to pursue).

And Kait Stephens, CEO of Brij, saw her company's revenue grow 7x in just one year and inbound jump from 0 to 40%+ of their pipeline. All thanks to LinkedIn.

You’ll learn exactly:

• How they decide what to write about
• When to post and how often
• How to get buy in
• How to build an audience for someone else on the team (like your CEO)

This expert-approved playbook will help you build your LinkedIn following immediately.

Who is your audience?

If you’re stuck on this, Devin Reed has two suggestions:

1. Pretend you have a booth at a conference and it’s absolutely packed. What is the main persona there?
2. If you had one persona clicking “Book a Demo” who would your sales team want it to be?

This doesn’t mean other people aren’t going to be reading your content or booking demos, it just means a single persona is your bullseye and everyone else fills in other rings outside that. They’re still really important. You still want to be creating content that’s relevant to them, but the main focus should be the bullseye. 

What should you write about?

Start with one word you want to be known for. Devin does this with everyone he works with. Because without this, you won’t be known for anything. You won’t earn mindshare.

This is your North Star. It keeps you focused. So ask yourself:

• Does your audience care about this thing? 
• Do you have expertise in this word?
• Are you selling this thing? 

There has to be a throughline. Creating an audience that is relevant to your product means you don’t need a massive following to see drive results. 

Because when you choose a word that attracts the right audience, they will want to know what you’re seeing, thinking and doing.

Then, it’s time to define your content pillars. 

Here’s an example of the pillars Devin put together for Clari’s CEO, Andy Byrne:

When you have a system like this, it takes the guesswork out of it. Because you have a formula for exactly what to share.

But this isn’t the only system that works. Tommy Clark suggests breaking down your content like this:

• Top of funnel: Business, entrepreneurship, personal content (once a week is fine)
• Middle of funnel: Industry-specific content (bulk of your content should be this, whatever you want to be known for)
• Bottom of funnel: New product features, book a demo, sign up, etc. (no more than once a week)

Timely content (like current events) should definitely be incorporated into your strategy, but it should be supplemental. Treat those as bonus posts when you can.

You can also break your content down by persona. For Kait Stephens, who is focused on omnichannel, this looked like sharing content for brands, partners, investors, and agencies (this is also what Dan Cmeijla did at Apollo.io).

But the most important thing is that you give so much value that people pay attention when you have an ask for them. Because if you’re constantly promoting yourself or making asks of others, you’re going to lose trust before you even begin. 

How to never run out of content ideas

If you’ve posted for months, you’re never going to run out of material again. Because you’re going to start to notice common themes around what resonates with your audience.

Tommy suggests looking back at your calendar at the end of every week to see if anything stands out. Be especially on the lookout for anything that elicits an emotional response: something you loved, was interesting, that annoyed you, or surprised you, for example.

You can also create a running list and add to it in the moment. Because topics can come from anywhere. Sales calls, customer calls, product meetings, events, the news. 

For Kait, this looks like a shared Slack channel called #founder-brand where she shares everything that comes to mind with a little blurb about it. Then whenever she’s feeling stuck, she already has tons of topics to go back to.

Once you know that inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere, it’s going to be easy to come up with constant content ideas. 

When and how often should you post?

More reps = more learning. Here’s the exact playbook Tommy Clark recommends:

When to post: In the morning, somewhere between 9-11am, during work hours, works best. Keep in mind that weekends (especially Sundays) can be sneaky good for engagement.

How often to post: Once a day. Ideally you’re posting 7 days/week, but 5 days works, too. The bare minimum you should target is 3 posts/week.

Should you schedule your posts? Tommy has seen better results posting natively vs. scheduling out, but the difference isn’t going to be massive. So if scheduling means you’re going to be more consistent, prioritize that.

At the end of the day, consistency is what matters the most here. You have to be dedicated to see results. So pick a cadence and stick to it. 

What types of content should you lean into?

If you’re starting from scratch, Tommy recommends leaning into text first. Like anything, if you make it too hard up front, your chances of sticking with it are slim.

Once you’ve nailed text, lean into other formats like video clips. These can accelerate trust-building massively since they help viewers put a face and personality (not just a photo of you) to your name and get to know you better.

And when you’re ready, pay special attention to new features that are launched. These are often given preferential treatment since they want users to adopt the features. 

But at the very beginning, keep it simple for yourself. Focus on text above all else.

How to engage with others

A huge part of the value comes with commenting on and engaging with other people’s posts. 

Treat your LinkedIn strategy like any relationship that matters. You get what you give. So to get the results you’re dreaming about, first you have to focus on providing value for others.

Tommy suggests spending 5-10 minutes throughout your day liking and commenting on posts. Keep in mind your responses don’t have to be anything crazy. Something as simple as “Good stuff” or “love this” can be perfect.

It helps to build a list of interesting people to follow. For Kait, “We have a list of what we call influencers in the space that we kind of make our way through that we're actively commenting on, if not daily, then at least a couple times a week.”  This has been a really important piece of their strategy.

They also have a list of prospects and would max out Kait’s connection requests using that. Upcoming events or highlighting the person’s engagement with another post in the feed (“I saw you commended on this too!”)  have proven to be amazing connection strategies for them.

It’s also really important to respond to every single comment you get. Kait’s strategy here is pretty straightforward: “We'll do ten comments. We'll do the post, we'll comment on ten more, and then we'll respond to the comments. And we try to respond within the first hour because technically it's supposed to help the post get a little more juice from the algorithm.” 

You cannot simply log on, post and bounce. You have to make engaging with others part of your strategy from the get go to reap the rewards of any social platform, but especially LinkedIn.

How to do this for someone else on the team

If you’re taking this on for someone else at your company (like the CEO), interviews are an incredible way to get potential video clips and nail their tone.

Put together a list of prompts (these should be conversational and ideally get the other person to have an emotional response) and record their responses.

Take a first pass at turning the responses into posts. Then, have the person whose account it is edit for tone. Keep in mind that really personal posts should typically just be written by the other person.

Here’s a sample timeline of Devin’s process:

Writing the content for someone else is one thing, but commenting on their behalf is totally different. Ideally, they’ll tackle this piece on their own. And if they need a little nudge, you can always send them any comments that come through and encourage them to engage.

The more wins they see (hires, comments from prospects, deals) the more posting and engaging will become a nonnegotiable part of their routine. Be LOUD about the wins. Both with the person you’re posting for and with the rest of the company. The more buy in and excitement you can build internally around this, the better.

How to know if it’s working

Measuring LinkedIn success requires looking beyond vanity metrics to understand true business impact. Here's what the experts recommend:

Kait Stephens found her early indicators were likes and comments, but the real breakthrough came when she attended industry events and people knew who she was. This was clear evidence people were consuming her content and recognizing both her and her business.

Key signals to track:

1. Recognition at events - When strangers approach saying they follow your content
2. Inbound pipeline - Kait's company went from having no inbound funnel to over 40% of their leads coming inbound, many directly referencing LinkedIn
3. Direct business impact - "Our business seven-x'd last year in terms of revenue," which Kait attributes "to our LinkedIn, like, 100%"
4. Qualitative feedback - Screenshots of texts and LinkedIn messages from people appreciating your content

Tommy recommends checking if new follower titles and companies match your target audience. Be patient. While social metrics trend up quickly, "it might take a month, two months, three months" to see actual inbound demos or sales calls.

The most powerful signal? When prospects mention your LinkedIn content during sales calls. 

But remember that LinkedIn influence builds through multiple touchpoints. Someone sees your content repeatedly, recognizes your name across platforms, and eventually converts. For every person who mentions your content, many more have seen it but don't bring it up. It’s a long term play that takes real commitment.

Getting the rest of your company on board

Once you’ve started to see success on LinkedIn it’s going to be so much easier to get the rest of the team on board. Because you have the receipts to prove how powerful it can be.

But if you’re having a hard time getting leadership excited (psst The #1 objection you’re going to hear is “I don’t have enough time.”), you can start by showing them examples of others who are nailing thought leadership on LinkedIn and driving real results for their businesses. Or send them a copy of Founder Brand. That’s what got Kait bought in.

Or just show them this (thanks Devin!):

The more individual voices your company has, the better. You don’t want to rely on a single person to carry the torch for you (what happens if they leave?!). So you have to make this a shift in your culture. And it starts from the top down.

Start building your LinkedIn following ASAP

LinkedIn remains the most powerful platform for B2B marketers because it combines simplicity with incredible reach to decision-makers. 

Whether you're a founder looking to build your personal brand or a marketing leader trying to amplify your company's voice, the formula is clear: 

• Identify your one word
• Narrow your audience
• Commit to consistent posting
• Engage authentically with others
• Measure what matters

You don't need a million followers for this to work. Start today, give it 6 months, and you'll wonder why you didn't make LinkedIn a priority sooner.

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