This is What I Learnt After Writing 175+ Content Pieces In 9 Months!
It has been a crazy journey when I look back!
I have been writing on LinkedIn for 9 months now!
It has been a proper roller-coaster ride!
Like most things in life, it always is very difficult to start building your audience on a social media platform from scratch.
Initially, I had a ton of self-doubt, which I found difficult to overcome.
But, overcome I did, somehow! Well, that is a story for another day.
To say I have done well on Linkedin might be a fair deal.
In my 9 months of content creation on LinkedIn, I have garnered 23,000+ followers and 10,000,000+ Content Impressions.
However, writing 175+ content pieces was a journey of perseverance, constant learning, and above all the desire to deliver value-driven content.
This is what writing consistently for 9 months on Linkedin taught me:
Initially, you will be embarrassed!
Make peace with the fact that your first few content pieces will be stunningly poor (read crap!).
But that is how life on the Internet works, you are bad at everything you attempt for the first time.
I remember my initial few content pieces, I used to write about anything and everything that would cross my mind right from philosophical posts to cringy memes (yes, that is how unprofessional I was!)
9 months later, when I look back at those content pieces and go through them I always end up cracking up!
But there is a sense of having achieved something,
“Woah! How far have I come”
Don’t try too hard!
This might seem to be a counterintuitive learning but hold your horses, let me clarify my position.
At different junctures throughout my LinkedIn journey, I found myself trying too hard:
- To use just the right Headline.
- To use just the right sentence to hook the reader.
- To use just the right CTA (Call to action)
It is while pondering or brainstorming too hard that we lose the real sense of enjoyment and contentment that we derive from writing.
You need to understand that nothing ever has been ‘just right’ and nothing ever will be!
Relatability and emotionality is the key to the reader’s heart.
If you have decided to write on a social platform, be like an open book. It helps in more ways than you can imagine.
If you always try to sound like someone high and mighty who has hit the home run on every attempt you just won’t be able to connect with your readers!
This is because such hunky-dory stories look very fabricated and artificial.
Remember, your audience is seeking some sort of inspiration and thoughtfulness from your journey, they don’t want to be condescended to by your recurring high and mighty stories.
Therefore, talk about your vulnerabilities, setbacks, self-doubt, or career slump! And then, following it up with “How did I overcome ABC” makes it even more powerful.
Become a synthesizer!
To curate your own content it is very important to consume a lot of content simultaneously!
Once you start consuming content it opens a lot of avenues for you as a creator.
You learn about new topics you could share your two cents on.
You learn about the structure of content that generally goes viral.
You learn the tone used by all the big writers. All of them have a very distinct tone, observe carefully!
Once you start consuming content you become a ‘student of the process’, subsequently when you create you become an imparter of wisdom and knowledge!
Consistency and community go hand in hand!
I know, I know this is the most cliche line on our planet, but it is so because it is effective. As simple as that.
Consistency and perseverance will get you to places where talent and start-stop hustle won’t.
“Discipline comes from within, skills are trainable”
Lack of consistency is the reason why 90% of the world doesn’t make it beyond their basic living They just don’t want to stick in there and keep chipping away!
Trust me my 9-month stint on Linkedin has actually been the most consistent phase of my life, before this I too struggled with it big time.
The key is to just show up, come what may.
You don’t feel well, show up!
You have a meeting and don’t wanna feel tired, still show up!
You don’t feel in the zone today, still show up!
You will only be able to build a loyal community if you are consistent because once your readers start liking your content they will definitely come back for more and you have to deliver!
Besides, don’t just act as if you are privileged, engage with other creators as well.
Engagement is the key to putting yourself out there when you are fairly new because practically nobody is seeking your content (it’s tough to accept but you have to deal with this)
Once you start following or inculcating these learnings for a month or so, you will definitely begin to see the spurt in numbers (whatever stat you are fond of)
After you implement all of the above don’t forget to take feedback from your friends, colleagues, and family members!
The third person’s perspective is always better in content creation. Ask for an unfiltered and no-holds-barred criticism of your content piece!
I have done this and trust me you, it is quite a fun activity too!
If you liked this article, you will definitely love the content pieces I regularly upload on LinkedIn. Check out my profile from here.
