3 Harsh Lessons I Learnt After Building 13K Audience on LinkedIn
That was the cost I paid.
In 2022, I hit the first post on LinkedIn.
For the last 2 years, I gained:
- International leads
- 3 writing jobs
- Made passionate creators my friends
But I didn’t get this all easily when I wasn’t even aware of
- How to write on the Internet.
- What to write that gets you leads/sales.
- What actually audience-building is.
This blog isn’t about how to write (you’ll get tons of content on this.)
But it’s about what makes the content journey hard when it is not in reality.
When you write to build an audience, it gets tough because we take it wrong. We misunderstand what the process of audience-building is.
For so many months, I posted content 4 to 5 times a week, engaged in 20 profiles daily, and stayed consistent. But I hear only crickets in my DMs.
Numbers are so fascinating for us. So, I limited myself to numbers only and measured growth through vain metrics like followers, views, post impressions, and comments.
It eroded all of my efforts like flood tides dissolve things at the river’s bank.
So, here are the harsh lessons I learnt after building an audience of 13 K on LinkedIn:
1) No one remembers you
No one remembers you until you build genuine relationships.
Those 1000s of post impressions and growing followers are nothing. These metrics are worthless in the long term. Nobody cares if you stop posting all of a sudden.
Why?
Audience who has the problem (related to your offerings), pay you for solving it. That’s done here in the exchange of money and value.
Second, it’s about people above the numbers. Always.
You stop posting today. And it will be nothing for you, your career, and your business.
People you exchanged words with — they’ll be up, support you and show up for you.
So, prioritize people if you’re creating and building your audience. Initiate conversations in DMs and build genuine connections.
2) Obsess about the outcome will not get you the results
Here’s what happens:
You are desperate about the upshots and dream about the end goal now and then.
You put in hours daily, think about the outcome, and fall apart after months when you see nothing coming to you.
You quit it.
The scenario I’ve explained above is the same one I’ve gone through.
Why’s this problem?
It happens when your focus is distracted from considering the inputs to assessing results. When in reality, your inputs are in control which are worth pondering.
Your thinking shrinks. Inputs reduced. The process is disturbed. You end up being disappointed. Burn out after pushing rigorously and not getting any results.
So, have the right focus on:
- What’s the direction of your process?
- What are you delivering to the audience?
- What and why you’re doing something there?
3) Not every shine is gold.
If you believe everything you see online, you screw yourself.
As I did.
I believed in every two-month success story and thought I was dumb for the failures.
But the truth is that online content comes with so many filters that hide behind-the-scenes things.
What to do?
- Be conscious of what you’re feeding your mind.
- Choose people who align with you.
- Connect with people who are real and raw in their words.
Online success is about the quality of the audience you build. Some will buy from you, help you, and support you in exchange for the value you offer to them.
Consider KPIs as not only numbers but also human elements, like messages sent, friends made, and people you helped.
The right focus matters for this.
In the world of putting effort, take actions with passion from your heart.
Then, this writing journey becomes a pleasing, joyful, and growth route.
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