Turning LinkedIn Posts to Money in the Bank

Today, I want to share 3 things with you…

1: How to find your key differentiator on LinkedIn

2: Taking advantage of micro-communities

3: Posting for conversions (to get clients and make money)

Let’s get into it.

Finding Your Key Differentiator

I found mine by accident. Or you could say by rigorous testing.

First, what is a key differentiator?

Let’s take me for an example. I am a content and marketing person. What makes me different from all the other content and marketing people on LinkedIn?

I spend around 3 hours on LinkedIn every weekday. I have seen all kinds of headlines.

Among marketing people, you often see the “I help clients with xyz” a lot. And many people think this is their key differentiator. But it isn’t.

For every kind of client you help and every problem you solve, there are at least 20 other people who do the same. Some are doing more business than you. Some are doing less.

And by the way, when I mean key differentiator, I mean what is in your profile headline. That one or two lines under your name.

This part I underlined in red:

That is where your key differentiator is.

Whenever you write any post that someone feels is great, they will glance at your headline to see what to really make of it (if they don’t know you prior).

If you have noticed my LinkedIn account, I have tried a lot of things. I have changed the headline a lot. Especially when I get a DM from someone that completely misunderstands what I do, that is my cue that the headline doesn’t work well.

There are things that sound accurate from your perspective. But to another person, they mean something completely different. This is why there are two ways to get the key differentiator right.

• The first is trial and error (like I have been doing)

• The second is to let someone who understands the art help you figure it out

You can’t exactly listen to your audience for this too. Just because it sounds one way for one person doesn’t mean it will sound right to another person. It is (kind of) an art.

However, here are some general things I have learned from my experiments:

• “I help abc people get xyz” is not an automatic differentiator. In fact, in many cases, it is noise. Anybody can say that. If anybody can say it, it is not a key differentiator

• “7+ years working remotely” is my key differentiator. Positions me as an authority on remote work (which is my niche). No other thing I tried came close. Not even “remote work advocate”

• Keep your headline short and coherent. Avoid sentences. If too long, it will cut off when appearing on posts

• Don’t be fancy. Say what people call what you do. If you are in doubt, go to LinkedIn jobs and try to search the kind of job you do. What are those job posts calling it? I have settled with “copywriter” (in my own case) for now

• Lean into stereotypes. What is the 1 or 2 words you have to say about yourself that makes people consider you an authority in your niche? I wrote this article about making your profile desirable, you should read it

• Finally, if someone else in your industry can say the same thing (just by copying you), it is not a key differentiator

Taking Advantage of Micro-Communities

Every major niche on LinkedIn has a micro-community.

This means there are people who actively react and engage to posts around the subject. If nobody is, then you should find a neighboring niche.

Don’t talk into the void. Engage in an active discussion that is within your niche.

If nobody is talking about what you want to talk about, it is not a good sign. It is never a good sign.

Make it easy for the LinkedIn algorithm to understand you. When it can understand you, then it would send your posts to the right people.

Always remember, those who buy rarely engage. And those who engage rarely buy.

If you pick the right niche and you are going viral, never say “My post is not reaching the right people”. Your post is, it is just that those people don’t engage.

When you are getting a lot of reach, they you can start worrying about conversions. If you are not getting any reach, fix that part of the problem first. Go re-read some of the articles I have shared here on reach.

The conversion problem is a very different one. And let’s see how that works.

Posting for Conversions

There are two ways to play the game for conversions from what I have seen thus far.

You either play it by the books or you disregard all rules and go rogue. Any of the two styles will work, but not both.

To try to do both at the same time will lead to confusion (for your ideal clients).

Here I am not talking about brand partnerships. And getting paid to promote something. That is definitely a path and lots of creators are making money from it right now.

This is about making posts that get you clients and put money in your bank account.

The path is often like this:

1. They see your post

2. They check your profile

3. They see your lead magnet

4. They try to get it

5. They get into your pipeline

6. They pay you money to solve a problem

This is the path that you optimize for. This is the path that has made me money online. And I am very confident it will for you too, if well executed.

Now, I am just going to debunk a few things I have seen along these lines that doesn’t work. I have experimented a lot. And I still keep experimenting. So, take my words with a bit of seriousness (at least).

“Book a call with me” is NOT a viable CTA or lead magnet. People actually hate calls, especially people with money. Those who don’t have money and want to waste your time might love calls though.

The goal of your post is to get people to check out your profile. Don’t make it complicated. People will rarely open links. Plus, the LinkedIn algorithm hates links in post.

“I can help you” is not a CTA. That is a fancy statement of promise. Unless the person knows you personally, that statement often means nothing.

A true CTA tells people to come get something for next to nothing. Give something valuable away for free. You would be surprised how much it works.

I have asked people to DM me and no one ever does. However, when people find this newsletter and read some articles, they send me a DM without me asking.

This means you may ask people to DM you but they probably wouldn’t. The only thing that matters in your profile is your lead magnet. They get your lead magnet and they enter your pipeline.

This path may be slightly different if you sell a SaaS product. Most people selling SaaS like to book calls. But I would still insist that having a lead magnet (that leads into pipeline) works way better.

When people get into your pipeline, sell them something as soon as possible.

There are two kinds of people - those who buy impulsively and those who have to be nurtured for a long time before they buy.

You cannot tell which is which at face value. So, you assume everyone is an impulsive buyer and put a “no-brainer” offer in front of them as soon as you can.

Do that a few times. And then, you know for sure that those who don’t buy immediately are the nurture kinds.

Someone can be an impulsive buyer on some things and a nurtured buyer on other things. Don’t assume you know anybody for sure.

If you want to make a lot of money very fast, put a “no-brainer” offer in front of your new leads as soon as you can. Make them pay for something as soon as possible. It makes them emotionally invested.

What is an example of a good lead magnet? Think with this template, “Get X without Y”

This is the path of playing by the books.

The other path is to disregard all of this and shamelessly post your offers directly on your posts without any pattern. Just sell directly. This has worked for some, although I have not figured out why it did.

If this has been helpful or you have a question, do drop a comment