How I Leverage LinkedIn to Grow My Creator Business.

Read time: 4 minutes and 28 seconds

Hey friend,

Most people misunderstand monetization through LinkedIn.

They think you publish a few posts, grow a brand there, and money flows in.

Well, they can’t be more wrong.

In this article, I break down the complete strategy that allows me to leverage LinkedIn and turn followers into customers and clients.

Important to understand: this strategy is pretty high-level, and takes time to implement properly. I added the necessary resources with each step.

Why does it matter so much what you’re about to learn?

Well, making money on the Internet is life-changing.

It allowed me to travel the world while writing content and helping others do the same.

Unfortunately, so many aspiring creators heavily miss out on the opportunity that are presented to them.

Simply because they don’t take the time to study LinkedIn..

I said this many times before and will repeat it:

• LinkedIn isn’t the job board only, it’s a full-blown content platform.
• LinkedIn houses 90 million executives and 65 million decision-makers.
• LinkedIn is the fastest-growing platform for writers, even after 20 years.
• LinkedIn has a business-oriented audience which makes monetization easier.

Good news for you:

I did the heavy lifting for you:

This article literally breaks down the complete strategy I use to go from impressions to followers, from followers to subscribers, and subscribers to customers and clients.

Let’s go.

Step 1: Publish content

Your content is the magnet you put out to attract like-minded people.

It’s the driving force behind your brand.

You can create content to:

1. Educate your audience
2. Inspire your audience
3. Motivate your audience
4. Makes your audience think

In essence, your content does two things:

1. It helps your audience solve their problem(s)
2. It positions you as the expert you are to help them solve their problem(s).

I’m not going to discuss content creation in-depth here, I spoke about this topic at length here and here.

Step 2: Grow your audience

As a direct result of your publishing content, you will grow your follower count.

Everyone is always looking for secrets to grow their followers really fast, but there’s no sexy answer here:

It’s a consistency game.

You can’t expect to publish content for 2 weeks and expect to grow a 10K audience.

That’s why you want to write about a topic you enjoy writing about, instead of trying to write about trends.

However, there are a few things you can

• Add a CTA to your post (for your audience to follow you)
• Optimize your LinkedIn Profile (read this here and here)
• Engage with the content of other creators (read this here)

Step 3: Convert followers to subscribers

LinkedIn is a great place to build your brand and grow your audience.

But..

You don’t want to keep all your eggs in one basket.

LinkedIn is a rented platform, which means that your audience there isn’t really yours. The moment they decide your show is over, it’s - well - over. That’s why you want to diversify your audience. The best way to do that is by growing an email list.

It’s an extremely powerful asset you can build:

• It's your censorship-free channel.
• It's easier to build trust and credibility
• It's your direct line of communication with your audience

To be honest, the technical part of creating an email list isn't that complicated.

You can create an account on either:

• Substack (free)
• Ghost (free/paid)
• ​​ConvertKit (free/paid - my favorite)

One is not necessarily better than another, it is just a case of preference.

Pro-tip: Make sure to set up your LinkedIn Profile like a landing page. You read here how that works.

Step 4: Turn followers into friends and peers

(This step is closely related to step 2.)

Audience-building through engagement isn’t a linear process but one that happens all the time, basically at every level.

The key to audience-building is to find and connect with the right people first.

You want to tap into their audiences.

These processes are broken down here and here how this works.

Once you've found your ideal audience, your job is to engage with them and build those connections.

If you're unsure how to get started, the LinkedIn Networking Playbook might be exactly what you need.

Step 5: Turn subscribers into customers or clients

“Monetization becomes easy when you have an engaged audience.”

Why?

Because you know your audience, you understand their challenges and they trust you and your capabilities to help them solve their problems.

That could be done in a few different ways:

• Physical products – Merchandise or books
• Ads – advertisements (basically selling your audience to a third party)
• Info products – eBooks, courses, webinars, or templates
• Deals – partnerships with other brands or companies
• Services – using your time and expertise to solve a problem (often 1-1)

Most creators will either start with info products or services as these are the ‘easiest’ to get started with.

Pro-tip: make sure to validate your product or service ideas before you start building. Here’s the 11-step process to go from idea to money in your bank account.​

Step 6: Transform customers into ambassadors (retention)

Once you’re successfully solving the problems of your audience, you can

Positive word-of-mouth is the strongest form of leverage you can have on your brand.

One person who had a successful interaction with you tells two, those two people tell four, and on it goes.

How do you know what people think of your product or service?

You have two options:

1. They tell you (“OMG, I loved XYZ”)
2. You ask them (the best option)

You can do this by asking people who bought your product or received a service from you for a testimonial.

• What was their motivation to buy from you/work with you?
• How did your product/service help them solve their problem?
• How would they recommend you to the rest of the world?

A few examples from The Creator Academy:

Yes, I know it’s a lot, so here’s the recap:

1. Publish content to gain exposure on LinkedIn. (attention)
2. Harvest attention into followers (audience-building)
3. Convert followers into email subscribers (audience-building)
4. Make followers into friends and peers (audience-building)
5. Turn subscribers into customers or clients (monetization)
6. Transform customers into ambassadors (retention)

Don't expect yourself to have all these elements in place in a matter of weeks.

It took me 2.5 years to get to this point and I'm still improving on a daily.

Lucky for you, you have access to my lessons and insights, so I expect you to get here faster 👀.

If this is strategy sounds exciting to you, but you struggle to get to the next level, I'm here for you.

I've got room for 2 experts starting this year.. (serious inquiries only)

That's it for this week.

See you next week.

Till then, keep being awesome.

Much love,

Your Personal Creator Guide,

Jessie

Also: when you're ready, here are four ways I can help you...

1. Get the FREE Content Management System.
   ​More clarity, more focus, and better performing content. Click here.​
2. Find high-quality connections to grow a valuable network on LinkedIn.
   ​Get access to the 5-step strategy. Click here.
3. Unlock the LinkedIn Growth System.
   ​Transform your LinkedIn Profile into a Lead Generator. Click here.​
4. Hire me for your copywriting and brand strategy.
   ​Give your brand the voice it deserves. Click here.