Joe Gannon x Pragya from Shield
Everyone is looking to strike gold with that viral post to grow their audience off the back of it. But viral posts don’t happen by chance, it’s the outcome of consistent and valuable work.
But as you and I both know, the competition is rife. There are more than 50 million people in the forever-growing creator economy. That is a lot of people to stand out from. How do you get your content ahead of the game?
In this blog, you will learn 5 ways to get noticed and supercharge your content in 2022 ↓
Invest time in your personal brand
Be different
Write a scroll-stopping hook
Follow successful creators
Be visual
1. Invest time in your personal brand
We live in a world where an online reputation is as cemented as an offline reputation.
What is it?
Times have changed, earlier it was a choice whether you wanted to invest the time in personal branding, now it’s more of a requirement.
Investing time in your personal brand is critical for you if ↓
You are trying to get a new job
Looking to move up in your career
Starting your own business
Looking for the right customers to sell to
Positioning yourself as an expert
Building an audience
Personal branding not only helps supercharge your reputation, but it gives you an opportunity to stand out and communicate who you are.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, famously said,
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Look at the classic example of Nike or Coca Cola. They use consistent brand colours, brand voice and content, which makes them memorable. The same applies to you. The more consistently you show up the more recognizable you become. And in many cases, it’s even more powerful than the company you represent.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of a personal brand. Following his consistency, authenticity and passion he has established a solid personal brand, recognisable globally.
You can even learn from the King himself here.
Gary V.
The impact that Gary V has is clear if we look at his audience and compare it with his company’s.
Gary V Personal Profile with +4M followers
Gary V Business Profile with +12k followers
2. Be different
It’s cliché, but one of the best ways to ensure your content stands out from the crowd is to ensure your content is unique.
When they zig, you don't zag... you zoink! And I understand, it’s all well and good telling you to be different, but how do you actually do it?
Here are 4 ways you can stand out by being different from the crowd.
1. Writing style
Maybe most people in your industry post content that is more corporate in writing style? Switch to a write as you talk style and see the difference.
Write as you talk
2. Point of view
Ask yourself: Is there a different tangent you could take on a topic compared to other creators? This is your chance to leverage your creativity and create a difference with your point of view.
3. Content type
On LinkedIn one has the option of creating many different kinds of original content. You could write a text post, add an image to a post, write an Article, create a carousel or run a poll. Maybe others share links to articles or text posts that are too long to read. Try different content formats to create posts that stand out or record a quick off-the-cuff video to share your personality.
Create content that you are passionate about
4. Add humour
Keeping things light and adding humour can be a great way to differentiate yourself. Dave Harland is a master of keeping things light and driving a point home.
Make things interesting to consume and easy to make.
If you're different, it's another tick in the box for why people will follow your content!
3. Write a scroll-stopping hook
In the world of short attention spans, first impressions rarely get a second chance. Your opening line or as we call them the hook will either make the reader stop and read your content or just keep scrolling.
Your hook needs to jump out and capture the reader's attention, as it is the first thing your audience will read. This line’s purpose is to get them to stop scrolling and want to click on the see more.
In the below example of this post by Justin Welsh, he directly addresses people who are thinking of being entrepreneurs. He goes on to list 4 things but since in the preview one can only see one item, it builds curiosity and makes the reader click the “see more”.
Justin Welsh implements tactics
Let's look at Amelia Sordell’s post below. She starts her post with great storytelling with a strong hook and builds up in lines 2 and 3 so the reader cannot resist but click the see more to continue the story.
Amelia Sordell using the see more hook
The hook is the first step to getting more people to read our content.
Here are some top tips to remember when writing your hook opening lines:
Write as you talk: Don’t write using complicated words or jargons. Keep it simple and use as few words as are needed. But you must make sure you are using the right words.
Catch attention: Write the most value-adding part of your message upfront. Get people’s attention first and then explain how.
Challenge: A good way to write a catchy hook can be by asking a challenging question or making a bold statement that is contrary to common belief. Even in the above example with Amelia’s post, she starts with “I got fired at 17.” A bold statement that invokes the contrast between professional success and getting fired. Try this approach and see your engagement fly.
4. Follow successful creators
Being more active on LinkedIn will supercharge your results.
But where should you begin? There are lots of creators out there who inspire millions, and if you are looking for more here are some of our favourites.
Here is what you should do:
Identify 20 top creators who are doing LinkedIn well.
Navigate to their profile and turn on notifications. This will notify you when they post new content and ensure you don’t miss anything valuable. Just hit the notification bell as featured here ↓
Turn notification on for your favorite creators
Once you have notifications on, you will be notified as soon as they post content. Spend 5 minutes engaging with their content. This will educate you in tactics, strategy and writing style! Take advantage of their content and use it to learn the way they structure their posts - engaging in their community will allow you to get noticed.
If you do a great job, LinkedIn might show your comment to be the ‘most relevant’ and will be shown first in the comments section, this gets you new eyes on your comment and on your profile.
By doing this with a creator who the spotlight is on will gain your personal brand significant traction.
By doing this you are opening the door to opportunities and audiences by engaging with people who you have similar interests with. You might say “Hey, I’m also a huge fan of X work. Check this out. I would love to connect and talk about XYZ!”
These tactics are building towards long lasting relationships by providing value and engaging on a personal level.
5. Get noticed on LinkedIn by being visual!
As the digital world has evolved, the attention span of humans has reduced. A study by Microsoft found that a human's attention span was around 8 second, 1 second less than a goldfish…
Attention span of humans
And with the most recent study being in 2013, I would expect it to be even less by now.
In fact, Facebook found that only 45% of viewers who watch the first 3 seconds of a video will keep watching for at least 30 seconds, so you must be quick with making an impact and hooking your audience.
Communicate and hold the attention of your audience by supplementing your content with more visual elements.
We’ve waved goodbye to lengthy content and adopted short choppy copy, images, infographics, and emojis.
Here in Pragya’s Post she adds a graphic from Liz and Mollie to communicate the idea of work-life balance.
Graphics to communicate the message
Take a look at visuals like below from Visualize Value which convey so much with beautiful images.
Visualize Value graphics to convey a message
And here are some tactics you can adopt into your content strategy to retain your audience's attention:
Hammer home points or sentences with emojis.
Post infographics for easily digestible facts and info.
Use more images to stop users scrolling.
Use short, snappy video
And remember, keep things visual and consistent with your brand.
These are just some ways to stand pout and get noticed. The more you invest in your personal brand the more your audience will come to expect a certain quality from your content and keep coming back for it.
As you can see, getting noticed on LinkedIn is more than just posting daily. There are many strategies and tactics you can adopt to get your name out there in the feed. It’s a competitive market, but the key to standing out and getting noticed is by being different in your content, whether it be by format types or writing styles. But don’t let it overwhelm you. If you are currently doing none of the above, try out one tactic this week and analyse the performance, and gradually introduce each of the above strategies. the best part? You could measure the impact with Shield and see which ones are working best for you.
Remember, there isn't one size fits all (unfortunately). It will take time, consistency and effort, but you will reap the rewards.
If you’re yet to start your LinkedIn journey, here are some tips to help you get started.
See you in the feed!
Joe Gannon x Pragya from Shield
