Start getting leads from LinkedIn

Hey everyone!

It’s me, Dana - your LinkedIn data fellow, who tries to share valuable LinkedIn insights with you.

I know a lot of people cringe at the LinkedIn guru’s mantra about “getting leads”.

Here’s how I reframe this: You’re on the platform anyway. Why not utilize it to get some extra business?

In all transparency, LinkedIn is not my main source of bacon. And that’s fine. Maybe it will become bigger at some point, but for now I’m happy with the outcome of the equation “efforts I put into it = result I’m getting”.

I’m a data scientist, and I work as one. I’m also a data analytics tutor. LinkedIn is a part of my business, but it’s not the centerpiece.

Before we go on, let’s get something straight:

I’ve written about this before in my content, but you should never rely on one platform, especially if it’s a platform you don’t own. Our hosts can ban you, restrict you, and banish your business - without you ever knowing why it happened.

If you want to go full gas on LinkedIn, here’s my advice:

• Learn how it works → get on another social media too (X, TikTok)

• Start creating an email list as early as you can

Now, let’s get to it, shall we?

I began creating content in June ‘23.

In the first few months, I wrote about what I know: data.

Not trying to sell anything, not having an offer—just trying out how it works and learning from others.

What I did for 3 months:

• Experimented with formats

• Improved my copywriting

• Created connections in my industry

• Found creators to look up to and learn from

Did I get some traction?

Sure, lots of followers and impressions.

Did it make any difference to my livelihood?

Absolutely none.

There are 2 groups of people who get into the LinkedIn creator rat race:

1. People who already have their own business

2. People who want to escape their job and build their own thing

Logically, things are going to be way harder for the second group:

I didn’t plan on monetizing LinkedIn, but I had a great idea:

Why not use my data skills to analyze quantitatively what works and what doesn’t?

In my case, the idea grew organically.

I separated it into 2 streams:

• Data-driven content strategy coaching

• Analytics tool to power all LinkedIn decisions and track progress

These products are interlinked: to analyze my own performance I’ve scraped the inside out on LinkedIn, informed my decisions and I use that same approach for my clients.

Then, all this work gets poured into the tool, which aims to offer to a wider reach to people who like to have an analytical overview.

Why it works:

It’s because of the uniqueness of the offer: who many people offer a data-driven content strategy?

I’m not pushing this very hard - mainly because I don’t have all the time in the world to take on many clients. I also don’t have time to go all-in into LinkedIn. This means I’m relying on inbound leads only.

How to apply this approach when you’re starting out?

Don’t sell for the sakes of selling. It’s obvious.

Be sure you can actually solve a problem.

If you’re already running your own business, you know what the pain points of your clients are: focus on those and show how your service solves them. Then rinse and repeat for months. While adding some personality content.

If you’re trying to become solo just now, you need to do the whole exercise from scratch:

1. List your skills

2. What problems could be solved by your skills?

3. Find the people who have these problems

4. Work for free to get experience and testimonials

5. Now write about your experience

6. Find your differentiation

That’s a wrap…

Does it sound simple?

It’s a hell of a lot of work.

The main part of this is figuring out:

• What problem are you best at solving

• How to write about it so that people get curious

• How to differentiate yourself from competitors

• How to actually find the people who need your solution to their problem

Some mistakes I’ve seen along the way:

• No clear offer

This is often a problem caused by not wanting to sound salesy.

Or a misalignment between your offer and your content.

• Bad copy 

At this point I sound like a broken record. But you need to learn how to write well. Writing well means being clear, clever, aligned and on point - all at the same time. If you’re in doubt about your copywriting ask a friend (who’s also your ICP) to give you feedback on your copy.

• Not analyzing past performance

I know, LinkedIn doesn’t make this easy. If you want a better solution, my analytics product launches in February. You can get on the Early Bird waitlist here:

• Thinking content is all

It’s not. It’s about 10% of the work.

I hope this was a helpful read! See you all next week!

Dana

Next week’s topic:

I mentioned my upcoming LinkedIn analytics tool that I use for my own performance and for clients. Next week I’ll tell you all about the metrics I use to gauge performance and get real results.

P.S. If I wasted your time with this newsletter, please unsubscribe. And then tell me on LinkedIn why you did. I want to improve.