LinkedIn's Unbeatable Viral Combo

Today, you will learn 3 important things here:

1: The one thing that never misses

2: LinkedIn’s unbeatable viral combo

3: The place of connection requests

Let’s get into it.

The One Thing That Never Misses

I hate to admit this, but it is true. Selfies work.

Selfies never misses. But there are some conditions tied to it. Let’s discuss that.

First, try as much as you can to make the selfie relate to the message of your text. For example, if you take a smiling selfie in front of an Amazon office, talk about something relating to Amazon making you smile (of course, it must be connected to your niche).

There are two things here - the background of your selfie and your facial expression. The background of your selfie must give context to your message. If you are talking about working from home, then show your home office setup.

For facial expression, smiling is universal. But sometimes, your message requires a different emotion expressed. So, go with the flow. Avoid the crying emotion though, because people consider it BS that you would take a selfie when you are really crying (and post it on LinkedIn). That feels too cringe. Might hurt long term.

Pretty privilege exists. What that means is that people who look according to the modern standards of beauty perpetuated by celebrities will usually get more impressions. I’m seeing a lot of young ladies on LinkedIn get huge impression numbers with the “Kylie Jenner” pose.

Most people who see that will just see the “prettiness” and they won’t be able to track why they find it so attractive. But it didn’t take me long before I noticed. (Perks of being a marketing person lol).

So, this is not about being beautiful or handsome. This is about resonance with a conventional beauty standards that is currently making waves. You should take advantage of this if you want to use selfies on LinkedIn.

For example, my LinkedIn profile picture pose was something I copied from Steve Jobs and Bob Proctor. If you are posing for a selfie, think about a well-known public figure that you (kind of) look quite close to and copy their iconic pose. It works.

Another thing about selfies is that too much of them diminishes your credibility unless…

Unless you have decided to go all in (and all the way) with selfies. So, you either do it all the time or you do it occasionally.

But you must know that when people have heard of you and your service and your product, seeing your face is just a real change of pace for them. Seeing your face accelerates trust.

If you sell B2B, you should post a selfie, at least once in 2 weeks. Let people see who will appear in front of them on Zoom calls.

LinkedIn’s Unbeatable Viral Combo

The most important part of your LinkedIn post is…

Your first two lines.

That is what people will see before they click on “see more”. The major reason your LinkedIn post is doing high impression numbers is because a lot of people are clicking “see more” and they are not disappointed by what they are seeing.

So, your first two lines must really hit. You already know about the viral content framework. But I want to put a more specific emphasis on one of them.

And that is emotional trigger. Your first two lines must trigger emotions.

What emotions? Well, I’ll tell you. And this should be your benchmark going forward:

• First line - shock, jaw drop

• Second line - OMG, “For real?!?”

In other words, your first line must be shocking in some way. If it is not shocking, it is not strong enough.

Of course, not every post will have that mind-blowing jaw drop. But there must be a shock reaction, no matter how small. And if you can’t feel it as the writer, it is non-existent.

If you feel it a little bit, people wouldn’t notice it. If you are thinking it is too much or too dramatic, then that is just right (as long as it is real).

The second line must offer some context to the first line. The second line makes the first line believable. Think of it like a headline and a subhead. Here is an example:

First line - We made $57,349.01 in exactly 28 days after launch

Second line - But 79% of that came from 2 clients. Here is what happened

If you are in sales, never be afraid to flaunt numbers. LinkedIn loves numbers. But be sure those numbers are things your target prospects would also be interested in.

The Place of Connections Request

I heard from some of the LinkedIn guru’s that sending connection requests helps growth. One advised 10 per day. Another one just suggested making a list of 300 ideal prospect and sending all of them a connections request.

I tried the 10 connections per day thing and found it to be taking backward steps. Let me explain…

Right now, I love my LinkedIn feed. Of course, it is not perfect and I am also experiencing the current glitch that is giving more visibility to posts that are 2 weeks and 3 weeks old. But that would be fixed soon.

But my feed is now a wonderful place because I see posts that are in my niche that I love to engage with. And when you connect with someone new, their posts flood your feed for the first few days.

If you send let’s say 20 connection requests and 12 of them gets accepted, your feed is going to be flooded with posts from these new 12 people. And that is nice if they are in your niche.

But if they are not, or if they post random things that you don’t necessarily like, your LinkedIn feed quickly becomes a mess. And you have to start all over with spring cleaning again.

For example, I accepted a connection request that came by recommendation (and not really in my niche). And it disrupted my feed for a bit. I want to see posts I can comment on, not random stuffs people are doing. And I have a limited time to spend on LinkedIn.

You should think this way too. Having a LinkedIn feed that is tailored to your interest is super important. Therefore, you shouldn’t joke with your connections.

My rule here is that I only connect with peers (in my niche), (potential) business partners (or people I might need one way or the other for a business thing), and recommended people.

As of now, I send less than 5 connection requests per week. Only when I find someone that fits. I have over 300 requests sent to me that I haven’t accepted and probably wouldn’t.

Your LinkedIn account is your real estate. It is your world. Build it around what is beneficial to you and your business interests.

And finally, always remember that you are playing the long game. Here is a great post I saw this week that is a keen reminder of that:

Play the long game.

I rest my case.

P.S. If you are ready to take LinkedIn seriously but don’t know where to start, book a consultation with me here