Jim Louderback reveals the secrets behind his 25,000 followers: optimizing your profile, being selective with connections, and refining your publishing strategy.
Many speculate that LinkedIn will be the next platform journalists flock to given the current state of Twitter (now X). The professional networking site has become important for content creators to build their presencesocial. But according to Jim Louderback who spoke at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia
Summary
Louderback has completed the LinkedIn Creator accelerator and is a “top voice” on the platform (the official LinkedIn influencer equivalent, but by invitation only). He has 25,000 followers on the platform, which is crucial for building and monetizing his newsletter Inside the Creator Economy.
In Perugia, he provided firsthand best practices and tips on how to grow your profile.
Optimize your profile
Make people want to connect or follow you with a compelling profile.
Turn on creator mode. This means anyone you don’t accept as a connection can still follow you. It shows your follower count and the hashtag topics you post about.
Have a good photo and don’t change it often
Be concise and straightforward with your professional experience in the “About” section
Be selective with the services and features you display
Perfect your LinkedIn headline by selling yourself in a few words. Use keywords that summarize your chosen industry, key skills, and job description. Include numbers or standout data to earn extra points
Include a clear call to action, such as “Visit my website”
Build followers, not connections
Be picky about the people you accept as connections. And be picky about the connection requests you send. It’s better to have a smaller but relevant community. Try connecting with:
Other top voices in your field or locally.
Hiring managers at companies you like
Thought leaders and experts in their field: Sara Fischer of Axios is a must.
Active posters and LinkedIn recommendations
Bonus tip
Instead of immediately sending a connection request, follow people and enable notifications to see their posts. Comment on their posts a few times before sending the invitation. Look at the top commenters and repeat the process for them.
Posting strategy
LinkedIn rewards a slower and more detailed posting frequency.
Post once a day, three times a week. A rough guide: 10:00 am (local time) from Monday to Thursday, 1:00 pm from Friday to Sunday.
Avoid external links in the post, especially for articles behind a paywall.
Tag carefully: only one or two people who are likely to respond.
Keep it up. If you stay inactive for more than a month, the algorithm will reset. You’ll have to start over.
Post in your own voice: avoid copying from ChatGPT or a hired professional.
Create the post for the audience. Remove the word “I” in the first paragraph.
Focus on content that helps others do their jobs better or advance their careers. Share your wisdom—what contributed to your success (milestones, opportunities, relationships), what junior professionals should know, helpful resources, or productivity tips.
Offer your two cents: innovation to watch, what clients keep asking you, or how curious things work.
Write conference takeaways.
Leverage trending news and share your opinion: be timely and concise, encourage conversation, and include hashtags. #litrendingnews is a must, but also use three to six hashtags: one or two broad topics and two to four more specific ones.
Take advantage of different platform features, such as photos, carousels, newsletters, or videos.
In video: use a square video of one or two minutes, with captions, that puts your personality front and center. Edit well.
On newsletters: choose a clear title, publish regularly, and make your first newsletter extraordinary. Thumbnails are key to drawing attention, so change them up. And make sure you look like an expert.
After publishing
Stay engaged and comment there or on four other posts
Avoid editing for the first 10-20 minutes unless you make a typo.
Avoid being the first to comment.
Reply to comments within an hour and keep replying for the next 8-12 hours.
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