How I Doubled My Linkedin Followers in the Last 12 Months

I just crossed 40,000 followers on LinkedIn last week. Here’s how I doubled my followers last year with 5.3 million post impressions–and, more importantly, why.

I’m not recommending you do these things. You may find an insight you can use.

1. I take time to write thoughtful posts on LinkedIn to be helpful to the serious software startup entrepreneurs I care about.I don’t write useful posts to sell something. I write to share useful insights and make each post interesting enough so they can hear it.That’s what LinkedIn followers want: useful business insights just for them. You can’t get that on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok like this.Why would I do that? After a successful 30+ year career as an entrepreneur and software company builder, part of my purpose is to share useful insights with new entrepreneurs.Being useful to software entrepreneurs is an end in itself for me. It’s how I keep score. Of course, you can have other goals.
2. I only write text posts. No images, videos, carousels, or links with social share images that are visible.Every time I don’t do text, I see engagement drop drastically. My senior pals at LinkedIn tell me it’s not the algorithm and I believe them. It’s you.Every LinkedIn reader is hyper-sensitive to being sold something, so if your post contains ANY pitching, selling, links, hyping, or self-interest, it will get less engagement.More selling = less engagement = fewer followers. Sorry.
3. I post 2-3 times a week, mostly at times when I know entrepreneurs have little time to read and think. I have done this for 5+ years.I write about things that just came up in real conversations I had with SaaS entrepreneurs that week. I talk to 20 or so SaaS founders a week, so when they are concerned about something and ask me about it, I know that others will have the same “search intent.” Every post comes from a real conversation I have had dozens of times.
4. I create active discussions so I can learn from others and share deeper insights.The discussion comments add reach, but that’s not why I do it. I’m here to talk to serious founders all over the world about important things. How cool is that?
5. I am very targeted in who I’m talking to, and I make that clear in my post’s headline. I am talking to serious SaaS founders who are creating valuable software companies without big funding. And to the people who help those founders.Despite narrowing into a very focused audience, my posts get an average of 30K impressions, often 100K impressions. My declared focus creates more traction.
6. I have a point of view that isn’t common, but it’s not hype. My audience wants some contrast and tension in the post, but not conflict or BS hype.My underserviced audience also wants authentic validation and support for their chosen path.
7. No GenAI is used to create my posts. But I do use Grammarly.