Step-by-step guide to become a thought-leader on LinkedIn.

I jumped into entrepreneurship in 2010.

Fast forward 13 years:

I started creating my personal brand online (LinkedIn specifically) in October 2023.

If I had only known the power of organic lead generation through content! I’ll share my learnings from the last 3 months from my LinkedIn journey.

Let’s dive in.

Corporate brands DO NOT create connection. People do.

In B2B, we are still selling to people. We buy from people we like and trust. That will never change.

Due to this, corporations are now selling the majority of their products through personalities online. The Joe Rogan podcast, Dr. Peter Attia, Dr. Huberman to name a few.

Imagine what this means for you, your business and your brand.

Here is how you can get started building a personal brand on LinkedIn.

1. Select your target audience and their pain points.

2. Set up your offers (in your profile)

3. Create a magnetic profile

4. Post scroll stopping content

5. Analyze and iterate.

1. TARGET AUDIENCE

Decide on who you want to target. Go broad at first, than niche down.

Entrepreneurs = broad

Mom Entrepreneurs = niche

Now choose 3 topics, your audience cares about. This is usually related to their pain points.

In my example this could be: Burnout, Productivity, Business Growth.

2. OFFERS

Next set up your clear offers. Newsletter, Services or Products.

You add these to your banner, about section, featured section and as CTA to all of your posts.

You will be creating content to act as “traffic” for your top of funnel to bring people to your profile “landing page” so they can convert to your offers.

3. PROFILE

Check out my profile as an example.

3.1 Headline

→ Refine Your Headline and use this template

e.g. Excellent example headline

I help { target audience }

achieve { ideal outcome }

without { want to avoid}

3.2 Brand Your Banner with a clear CTA

3.3 Update Your Headshot

3.4 Polish Your About Section (who you help your target audience)

Optional but recommended.

→ Get Verified

→ Get LinkedIn Premium

4. CONTENT

Before you start creating content, commit to posting 3-5/week at the same time each day.

Prepare a few pieces of content to have ready for the following few days or even a week.

4.1 Select your topic

This should be from one of your content pillars.

For example if you are targeting Mom entrepreneurs, you could choose burnout as your topic.

4.2 Content type

Select how you will convey your message.

• How to guide

• Frameworks

• Contrarian

• Debunk

• Story

• List

e.g. HOW TO: 3 tips to deal with burnout.

4.3 Post format

What type of format will you post?

• Short form (with/without image)

• Long form (with/without image)

• Carousel

• Video

e.g. Let’s make our example a short form text.

4.4 Let’s create the Hook.

What will make people stop scrolling to read your post?

If your topic is “3 tips to prevent burnout”

e.g. your hook could be:

The 3 surprising strategies to prevent burnout (even if you have a newborn and running a full time business)

Excellent book on creating your hook for your brand and content. (How to stand out in a 3 second world)

4.5 Now write your content.

Make sure it’s clear, visually beautiful text, no paragraphs longer than 3 lines with bullets and organized sections.

I recommend this book if you are wanting to write better. Just finished it and loved it.

4.6 Call to Action

Add your CTA at the bottom of your post. Example:

Do you want people to 1. Follow you 2. join your newsletter 3. get your free e-book?

Here is the flow in visual form:

Now you are ready to create scroll stopping content!

5. ANALYZE AND ITERATE

Track follower count, and engagement as a measure of how much your content is resonating with your target audience.

Double down on what’s working.

The beauty of social media (and having a small following) is that you can test and build in public.

Your audience will vote (likes, comments, reposts and DM’s) and if you listen, you’ll iterate and grow.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today“ Chinese Proverb.

Go for it. Start today.

Till next week,

Noemi

P.S. I can help you in 2 more ways

1. I offer 1:1 coaching to transition from 9-5 to your own business.

2. I offer LinkedIn coaching to create your personal brand.