How to grow your brand on LinkedIn (from someone who actually uses it)
By Niraj Kapur, 15th November 2024
Search Google for advice on growing your LinkedIn brand and you'll be buried in articles from people who haven't posted in two years, companies recycling the same generic tips, and "gurus" with 300 followers telling you how to get thousands.
I'm an official LinkedIn Top Voice. I visit LinkedIn HQs. I run a business where LinkedIn is a genuine source of clients and income. So when I say something works, it's because I've tested it on my own profile, not just read about it somewhere.
I'm also not going to give you a list of 20 things to do. Most people can't implement more than three to five changes at once, and a list of 20 just becomes an excuse to do nothing. Here are the three things that matter most.
Play the long game on LinkedIn
Most of the enquiries I receive come from people who have been following me for years. Not weeks. Years. They've watched how I show up, what I talk about, how I respond to people - and when they're ready to invest in training, I'm already the person they trust.
I get it - when you have financial targets to hit before the end of the quarter, the long game feels like a luxury. So people turn to automation software and cheap tools that promise to do the hard work for them. And they get zero results, because the people on the other end can tell. Here's how to generate leads on LinkedIn in a way that actually works.
Building a brand on LinkedIn means showing up consistently, saying things that are genuinely useful, and letting people work out over time who you are and what you stand for. That's what builds trust. And trust is what builds a brand.
Being human is your biggest advantage on LinkedIn
AI tools have their uses - research, drafting, summarising. But content written entirely by AI tends to read like content written entirely by AI. There's no texture to it. No specific detail. No emotion.
People buy from people. And they buy for very human reasons. When you're writing content or reaching out to prospects, think about what's actually driving them. The reasons people make purchasing decisions include things like:
- Wanting to make more money or save it
- Needing to reduce stress or simplify how they operate
- Wanting to stay ahead of their competitors
- Needing to feel confident in a decision they're about to make
- Wanting to be part of something that matters
Your content and your outreach will land better when it speaks to one of those things directly, rather than just describing what you do.
Develop the right mindset before anything else
Almost everyone who succeeds on LinkedIn has had to deal with rejection along the way. Posts that flopped. Outreach that was ignored. Opportunities that didn't come off. I've had all of those, and I still do.
What separates the people who build something from the people who give up is not talent or luck. It's how they deal with rejection in their own head. That's why the first sessions in my sales training always deal with mindset and imposter syndrome - because if you don't sort that out first, the tactics don't stick.
Imposter syndrome is particularly common among people who are genuinely good at what they do. The doubt isn't a sign that you're not ready. It's usually a sign that you care about getting it right.
If you want to work on your LinkedIn presence properly - your content, your outreach, your mindset, and your results - take a look at my LinkedIn training or get in touch to talk through what would work best for you.
As a LinkedIn Top Voice who's spent years building my own presence on the platform, I practice what I preach - read more about my LinkedIn journey here.
