A reflection on my journey to LinkedIn Top Voice [Storytime Saturdays]
A look back at my learnings about generating attention on LinkedIn
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Recently, I was added to the Top Voice program on LinkedIn. While it is too early for me to fully quantify what impact (if any) this will have on my career, the act of sharing my work/thoughts on the platform has benefitted me tremendously. In an economic world with loosening worker protections, an increasing reliance on one’s networks, and increasing misinformation- being regarded as a reliable source of high-quality information can be very beneficial to your career.
In this article, I will discuss some of my reflections about building up my presence on LinkedIn. I will be focusing on that specifically b/c in my experience, every social media platform has its nuance and meta (this is based heavily on their design and focuses). While general principles carry over, I’ve found it best to approach each platform individually (as a practical example, my Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn all have very different strategies, despite having very similar content).
Here is my no-nonsense guide to building your presence on LinkedIn
My learnings from 3.5 years on LinkedIn
The journey- I have been writing on LinkedIn for 3.5 years. In the beginning, my focus was exclusively on research. In the beginning, I felt like a nobody, so I my focus on research/ideas was avoiding accountability. In my mind, if I got something wrong, I could always pawn the responsibility off to the research I was analyzing (the way kids rely on the “my parents told me …”). As I’ve gotten more comfortable in my skin, I’ve switched focus from what the research said, to why I think the research is important. I believe that this switch has been a big reason for my growth on all platforms, but this is especially important on LinkedIn. A large chunk of my LinkedIn audience is not deeply technical. They utilize AI for their work but don’t spend extended periods reading papers and sharpening their theoretical knowledge (even though my writing self-selects for people inclined towards research). The switch in focus has enabled them to engage more with my posts, which has been critical to some work opportunities that I was able to generate from the platform.
People monitor your work, even when they don’t engage- I’ve gotten multiple messages from people who said they’d been following my posts for months before they reached out. These people hadn’t engaged with any posts of mine, so I didn’t know it, but they were consistently reading whatever I put out. This has been true since I got started. If you’re trying to use LinkedIn for an end goal, it can be very frustrating when things don’t go well. Keeping this in mind has allowed me to play my own game. Speaking of which-
There is still space for originality in social media- A while back, I wrote about how social media puts pressure on creators to conform to a specific meta. Write a certain way, focus on trending topics, etc. As a creator, you might feel compelled to follow what successful creators in your niche are doing. Many writers now reach out to me for feedback. While there is something to learn from others, and you mustn’t lose yourself. Just like how Haaland, Thomas Muller, and Mbappe are all great strikers despite being very different players, there are many ways you can stand out. The key is to experiment with styles and information to find your own. Doing your own thing will allow you to stay consistent for longer (time in the market often beats everything else), will serve as your blue ocean, and can help you best discover your strengths.
SEO is bullshit- You will see “Don’t have external links, post every day at a consistent time, follow my growth template…” posts all the time. As someone who spent hours trying to hack the algorithms, I will promise you that none of them work. One of my favorite YouTubers Super Eyepatch Wolf has a great video on why Courses on how to become an influencer are garbage, in which he breaks down why a social media platform will immediately crack down on any hacks that actually work. Would highly recommend it checking it out (even though it’s 2 hours).
Business Bros rules the world- Technical stuff is great for street cred, but it’s the business/social-oriented content that draws a crowd. Most people don’t care about the technical developments, just how something is relevant to them (as the saying goes, “Don’t sell the mattress, sell a good night’s sleep”). I’m pretty sure that my writing’s appeal amongst executives is why I got the top voice-over creators with more followers, higher engagement, and equally informative posts. The difference is that they indexed heavily on technical information while I’ve switched towards using the technical information to speculate about the future. The latter is more appealing to many managers/executives, which are the people who dominate LinkedIn.
Social Media acceptance is luck- Being noticed by the right people is 99% luck. Especially when you’re just starting. I worked hard on my content, sure, but getting noticed by a LinkedIn exec who batted for my work? That was a lucky break. Many others, just as deserving, didn’t get this chance. Hard work is key, but sometimes, it’s about being in the right place at the right time. Posting more high-quality posts will increase the number of chances you get to be lucky. Networking will increase the probability of standing out. But this is all fundamentally random. Sometimes donkeys become kings. Sometimes geniuses die hungry because they never got the opportunity to stand out. You can do everything right and still fail. Don’t take anything personally- whether it’s your lack of followers or viral post. Neither means anything.
In my experience, people have been a lot more forgiving and encouraging than I was expecting. People have been gracious enough to give me lots of feedback, recommend additional research materials, and helped me fill in the gaps of my knowledge. In my experience, people often exaggerate the downsides of sharing your work on these platforms. Spending 1 hour a week on it can be one of the best things you invest into.
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Go kill all,
Devansh <3
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