*dramatic music starts*
The year is 2017. I’m a fresh college grad ready to take on the corporate world. I create a LinkedIn account. It only takes a few moments of scrolling to see that LinkedIn is a bro brag fest. I say, “no thanks,” and log off.
Fast-forward three years. It’s 2020. I’m a burned-out 9-5 employee ready to take on the freelancer world. ‘They’ say you need to use LinkedIn to build your business, so I log in to give it another go.
The bros are still running the place. But I stay and lurk. And lurk and lurk and lurk…
Fast-forward three more years. It’s 2023. I still haven’t used LinkedIn to grow my freelance business, but I have built a strong network of clients and referrals in other ways.
⬆️ Dear reader, that’s a snapshot of my LinkedIn relationship before 2024.
This year, I wanted to start taking LinkedIn more seriously to see what the hype was all about.
Everywhere I looked, coaches preached about the importance of building a personal brand to become an expert in your field. So, after freelancing full-time for three years, I wanted to give LinkedIn a real go.
What my results were after six months of (mostly) consistent engagement
*Mostly, because… life. I took a break for the summer to unplug a bit.
These numbers are for the last 365 days of LinkedIn. I didn’t start getting consistently active until March/April 2024. As of September 15th:
- Impressions: 299,813
- Members Reached: 106,261
- New Followers: ~3,000
- Posts: Averaged 3.6 posts per week
Is posting on LinkedIn all that it’s cracked up to be?
Well, yes and no.
No, because my posts on LinkedIn led to zero paid gigs. 😂
[Moment of silence for the Z E R O O O]
A huge caveat here, though: I am fully booked with retainer work, so I’m not actively looking for more clients. Which means my profile also isn’t/wasn’t optimized to be hired.
Perhaps that would’ve changed things, but as of the last six months, I have attracted zero clients based purely on my writing skills.
Ouch.
All that said, I do think the time I spent posting and engaging on LinkedIn was worth it and will continue to be worth it.
Why?
Because f i n a l l y for the first time in all my years writing online, I feel confident in creating my own content. Forcing myself to post regularly on LinkedIn sharpened my social writing skills, grew my interest to keep creating, and gave me a ton of helpful insights into my network.
And my favorite takeaway so far: it led to some really great connections with other freelancers. I have LinkedIn friends now, and I’m genuinely enjoying the ride.
 |
But hold up.
I need to take a moment to acknowledge this reality: If I were a new freelancer in the trenches of trying to get clients, I’d be really unenthused right now.
Because making friends on LinkedIn doesn’t pay the bills.
And to be honest, I doubt there’s any approach on LinkedIn that will lead to an overnight influx of clients. Not one I’ve seen, anyway.
Unless you’re Taylor Swift and decide to ditch the whole billionaire music thing to become a freelance B2B writer, you’re probably never going to get a massive influx of new clients after a few posts on LinkedIn.
For the rest of us, LinkedIn requires showing up every week over a long period of time.
So, if I had to go back and focus on getting client and not just make friends, here’s what I’d do:
Prioritize building connections over building a personal brand
I built a successful freelance business without having a personal brand because I knew how to build connections with potential clients in other places. (I wrote about it here.)
Coaches and gurus are building personal brands on places like LinkedIn because they rely on a different business model. They need to attract larger groups of people to purchase one-to-many products.
But you don’t need thousands of followers to do one-to-one service. You just need a few warm leads, and you can grow from there.
At the end of the day, freelancing is all about networking and meeting the right people.
How I’d start on LinkedIn: Engage → Connect → Converse
This engage-connect-converse approach is based on dozens (maybe even hundreds) of conversations I’ve had in comments, DMs, emails, and Zoom calls with other freelancers.
Here’s the gist:
- First, I’d make it clear on my LinkedIn profile that I am, in fact, available for hire. Here’s a great example of a freelance profile doing that well: Chris Collins
- Then, I’d search for people on LinkedIn who fit my ICP and follow them. Two important things to note here: I’d follow them, not send a connection request right away. And, I’d make sure they’re people who make hiring decisions. In the B2B space, that’s usually heads of content and marketing managers.
- From there, I’d meaningfully engage with their content. For example, if they make a post about SME interviews for SaaS articles, I’d comment with my two cents on the topic and try to show my expertise by adding another insight or angle to the conversation.
- After a couple weeks of meaningful engagement with their content, I’d venture to send a connection request. The hope is that by then, they’d recognize my name in the feed and be more likely to want to connect.
- If they accept my connection request, then I’d send a DM using language as if I were meeting up at a coffee shop. (i.e. I’d be a HUMAN 😉)
Here’s a convo starter example:
“Hey (first name)! Thanks for the connection! I’ve been enjoying your content lately. Especially that last post about XXX. [Question related to X post or content they share about.]”
The key here is to start a conversation that two humans would have in a natural setting.
I would not pitch-slap them with a “HI IM ERIKA AND IM A FREELANCE WRITER HERE’S MY PORTFOLIO CAN YOU HIRE ME?”
⬆️ If you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger at a coffee shop and say that, don’t do that in the DMs either. 🖤
(You’d be surprised what kind of messages I get like that on LinkedIn.)
If the person replies and seems willing to have a DM conversation, cool! From there, I’d keep the goal to be genuine, and if the conversation has a natural moment to add in a soft pitch for my services, that’s where I’d go for it.
If the person never replies, I personally wouldn’t send a follow-up. They’re probably just busy, and that’s okay.
The reality is, this approach won’t work every time. It might not even work 10% of the time.
But the reason why I think this is way more effective than a) doing nothing at all or b) sending hundreds of cold, soulless messages every day to random people is because I’m currently on the other side of sending pitches.
Every day, I get DMs from freelancers pitching their services. I don’t have time to reply to everyone, but I’m way more inclined to notice a freelancer who has been active on my feed, engaging meaningfully, and opens up with a conversation vs. pitch-slapping me.
A posting pep talk (if you want to start building a personal brand)
If your goal is in fact to start building a personal brand and start positioning yourself as a niche expert, I have a few ideas to spark inspiration.
These are based on the kind of posts that make me do a double-take to freelancers as a (now) Head of Content who works with freelancers and hires freelancers:
Posts that prove you’re current with B2B trends: Learn something cool in a podcast? Read a good book that breaks down a new content strategy. Write about it and show your network that you know your stuff.
Posts that show why I should trust you: Did you get cool results for a client? Did a client give you a raving testimonial? Share it.
Posts that show what it’s like to work with you: Give a behind-the-scenes of your process. Break down one of your systems. Show potential clients what it would be like to work with you.
Posts that show who you are: LinkedIn has personal profiles for a reason! Show glimpses of who you are. What do you think is funny? What’s your career journey been like? Why do you do what you do? What’s a story you love to tell?
Posts that are spiky: Take a stance on something in your industry and share your unique point of view on it.
Alright, it’s time to wrap up
I’ll leave you with this final thought that Erika Schneider told me when I was trying to find the courage to post on LinkedIn:
“The best part about posting something that totally bombs on LinkedIn is that literally no one will see it.”
Harsh but true (and freeing, isn’t it?) 😅 As weird as it sounds, that gave me the final push I needed to start getting active on LinkedIn.
I hope this has been helpful for you. Let me know what you think!
My motto is always to take what’s helpful and leave the rest. 🖤
We all get to build a freelance business that works for us, not what someone told us to do. Isn’t that the best part??
Talk soon,
Erika
About the author
I’m Erika Musser, a freelance writer turned fractional Head of Content. I share honest stories that I wish people had shared back when I was starting out. And most importantly, I write everything from my perspective as a content lead who hires freelancers.
Are we connected on LinkedIn yet? Hit reply and send me your profile URL so I can say hey. 😊