Just hit 20k on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is weird because it gives you NEGATIVE clout. Like imagine telling someone you were a big LinkedIn creator… they’d instantly think you were 10x less cool.

So I’ve probably sealed my fate as being terminally uncool, because I hit 20,000 followers on LinkedIn over the weekend 💀

And if you want to be as uncool as I am, here’s a few suggestions on how to grow YOUR audience:

Add people every day (but ONLY THE RIGHT ONES)

One of the best things about LinkedIn is that you can build the exact audience you want, unlike other apps where you just post content and hope that they find you.

Want an audience of, say, frontend software engineers? Just add 5-10 of them a day. 30-50% will typically accept, so if you do that for 6 months you’ll have 250-500 new connections that are exactly who you want in your audience.

That doesn’t sound like much compared to MrBeast 100 million subscribers, but think about it: having 250 new, highly qualified people in your network is actually a LOT! Most agencies only need a couple new clients to hit their growth goals.

The best way to do this is with Sales Navigator, which comes with some of the LinkedIn Premium packages (not sure which ones, their pricing is a mess).

Search by title, industry, location, etc - I like to limit it to 2nd degree connections because that means it’s more likely we’ll vibe (they’re a friend of a friend).

Look at their profile, and if they seem like a fit, send them a connection request. I usually add some kind of lightweight personalized note with it, especially a reference to something deep in their profile that an AI wouldn’t choose (eg “I’m also a fan of triceratops”).

Important: DON’T just blindly send requests to anyone… be INTENTIONAL! The whole point here is to create the ideal audience, not just hit a number.

“But Finn, I’m a brokie without premium!”

Not a problem. Find someone who’s your ICP, go to their profile and look at the “more profiles for you” section— it should be populated with similar people. It’s essentially like a Meta lookalike audience.

Comments and DMs > posting

People seem to assume that posting content is the only way to get business on LinkedIn, probably because they see that work for a lot of high-visibility creators.

Zooming out, marketing has essentially two goals:

• AWARENESS: Make the right people know that you exist, and the basics of what you do

• CONVERSION: Turn that awareness into deals

Posting content and waiting for inbound is awesome, and it works for me, but it's definitely not the only way to achieve those two goals.

So if you don’t have the time or interest in creating a lot of content, try this:

Post once a week. Doesn’t have to be anything amazing - just enough to show that you’re active. With the rest of your time:

• Leave THOUGHTFUL, genuine comments on other people’s content

• DM people who seem cool, and if it feels like they’re open to it, set up call

Don’t think of them all as “prospects” and these don’t have to be “sales calls” (although it’s OK if they are sales calls!).

Your objective here is just to make friends with as many people as you can. Some of them will naturally turn into clients, others into collaborators, friends, etc… you never know.

BTW, if you want more specifics, check out my 3-part outreach framework

Focus on PEOPLE, not numbers

Most importantly, followers, likes, etc are just a number. They really don’t mean anything aside from optics.

Getting to know 1 person on a genuine level is worth more than 100 shallow followers (who are probably just pitching each other back and forth).

Find cool, interesting people. Try your best to help them.

Everything else will fall into place after that.

PS - If you like my emails, reply to this one and tell me about yourself!