How to Get More LinkedIn Followers
Discover proven strategies to organically grow your LinkedIn following as a recruiter. Build your brand, attract top talent, and position yourself as an industry leader.
Are you looking to grow your LinkedIn presence to boost your personal brand, generate business opportunities, or establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry? While it may be tempting to chase vanity metrics and try flashy "growth hacks" promising overnight success, building a thriving network requires a more thoughtful, authentic approach.
I'll expose some of the questionable tactics used to rapidly inflate follower counts and reveal why they ultimately do more harm than good. More importantly, I'll share proven strategies to genuinely grow your LinkedIn audience and cultivate an engaged community that supports your professional goals.
How to Get More LinkedIn Followers
Building a LinkedIn following takes time and dedication, but the payoff of a relevant, engaged network is well worth the effort.
Post High-Quality Content Regularly
One of the most effective ways to grow your LinkedIn following is to consistently share valuable content that resonates with your target audience. By posting thoughtful insights, practical advice, and engaging stories related to your industry, you'll attract like-minded professionals and establish yourself as a go-to resource in your field.
Aim to publish a new piece of content at least once a week to keep your profile fresh and your audience engaged. This might feel challenging at first, but remember that not every post needs to be a 2,000-word article. Experiment with a variety of formats like quick tips, lessons learned, opinion pieces, and curated content to keep your feed dynamic.
The key is to focus on quality over quantity. Before hitting "post," ask yourself:
Is this relevant and useful to my ideal audience?
Does it offer a unique perspective or go beyond surface-level advice?
Is it written in an engaging, conversational style?
Would I find this valuable enough to comment on or share with my network?
Content that sparks an emotional response tends to perform well on LinkedIn. Don't be afraid to take a stand on industry issues, share personal anecdotes, or inject some humor into your posts. Showing your human side helps you form deeper connections with your audience.
As you plan your content mix, aim to include a blend of original insights and curated third-party resources. Sharing relevant articles, infographics, and videos from other respected sources helps position you as a well-informed leader while also providing value to your busy followers who appreciate having the best content surfaced for them.
Consistently publishing quality posts takes planning and discipline, but it's one of the most powerful ways to expand your reach and influence on LinkedIn. Focus on being helpful, interesting, and authentic, and your audience will grow organically over time.
Actively Engage With Your Network
Publishing great content is just the first step in growing your LinkedIn following. To build real momentum and form lasting connections, it's essential to engage proactively with your network. Thoughtful comments, conversations, and personal messages help you stand out from the noise and show that you're invested in adding value to the community.
Start by dedicating time each day to reading and commenting on other people's posts. Look for opportunities to share your unique insights, ask thought-provoking questions, or offer words of support. When you consistently show up with meaningful contributions, you'll naturally spark conversations and attract new followers who appreciate your perspective.
Crucially, monitor and respond to comments on your own posts, too. When someone takes the time to engage with your content, they're signaling that they find your ideas valuable. By responding promptly and thoughtfully, you'll make them feel heard and encourage them to keep coming back to your content. Plus, the more you reply to comments, the more "viral" juice LinkedIn's algorithm gives your post, expanding its reach to new audiences.
By coupling compelling content with proactive relationship-building, you'll be well on your way to growing an engaged LinkedIn audience. But to maximize your results, you'll also want to tap into your other online channels to draw new followers to your LinkedIn presence. Let's explore some smart cross-promotion strategies next.
Promote Your LinkedIn Presence on Other Channels
While publishing great content and engaging with your LinkedIn network are essential, you can significantly accelerate your audience growth by promoting your LinkedIn presence on your other online channels. By inviting your existing fans and followers on other platforms to connect with you on LinkedIn, you'll expand your reach and attract new segments of your target audience.
Start by regularly sharing your LinkedIn content on other social networks like X (Twitter) or Facebook. When you publish a new post, article, or video on LinkedIn, craft a compelling social media update that teases the key insights or value proposition and include a link back to the original content on your LinkedIn profile.
Beyond sharing individual pieces of content, be sure to prominently feature your LinkedIn profile link in your social media bios, email signature, website, and any other online properties you control. Make it easy for people who discover you through other channels to learn more about your professional background and thought leadership by connecting with you on LinkedIn.
If you have an email list, consider sending a dedicated message inviting your subscribers to follow you on LinkedIn. Explain the unique value your LinkedIn content offers and paint a picture of the insights and conversations they can expect by joining your community there.
These were three strategies for increasing your follower count on LinkedIn. Since I'm frequently asked about the rapid growth of major influencer accounts, I've decided to share the blueprint that many of them seem to follow based on my observations and insights gathered from others.
Create Viral LinkedIn Posts with AI: Insider Secrets
Growth "Hacks" Some Influencers Are Using
While there's no shortage of online courses and "growth hacking" frameworks that promise explosive follower growth, the truth is that building a genuinely engaged LinkedIn audience requires a focus on creating high-quality, valuable content above all else.
It may be tempting to chase vanity metrics and try to reach arbitrary milestones like "100K followers in 6 months," but prioritizing quantity over quality is a shortsighted approach that ultimately undermines your credibility and influence.
Unfortunately, some large accounts that seem to achieve rapid growth are often relying on questionable tactics that may work in the short term but damage their reputation in the long run.
Here's how these schemes typically work (I do not recommend them):
Niche selection: The account owner chooses a target audience to pursue (AI, Leadership, etc.)
Seed audience: They leverage their existing followers on other platforms, asking them to connect on LinkedIn to create an initial base.
Buying engagement: As they publish new content, they purchase LinkedIn likes and comments from questionable services or bot networks to artificially inflate their engagement numbers. This manufactured social proof creates the illusion of popularity and expertise, even though the engagement is from fake accounts.
Follower bait: When they have their initial engagement, they shift their connection settings to "Follow" mode and launch campaigns promising exclusive content or resources in exchange for likes, comments, and follows. The goal is to rapidly gain followers, but most of these new connections are only interested in the freebie, not the account's actual insights.
These factors promote engagement, and even when content isn't shared with everyone, it often leads to people forgetting it or reaching out to that “influencer”, which in turn helps them grow their network.
Emotionally charged content: To boost engagement, they share controversial opinions or emotionally provocative posts that get people riled up and commenting, even if the discussions are often superficial and unproductive.
Engagement pods: Once they reach a certain threshold, like 50-100K followers, they often join forces with other large accounts in their niche to form "pods" where they agree to automatically like and comment on each other's posts. You can spot this inauthentic engagement in the first hour after posting. Having multiple 100K+ accounts engage with your content provides a major visibility boost, even if the engagement itself is manufactured.
The process they are using is quite straightforward: User A consistently comments on and likes the content shared by users B and C. Similarly, user B reciprocates by engaging with users A and C's posts, while user C does the same for users A and B. You can typically observe this pattern within the first 60 minutes of their posts.
While these tactics might lead to an impressive-looking follower count, the reality is that the audience isn't truly invested in the account's expertise or offerings, and when you stop doing that, the drop in engagement is significant. Worse, relying on these schemes puts the account at risk of losing credibility, damaging their professional reputation, and even getting banned from LinkedIn for violating terms of service.
Why They Are Doing That?
Short answer, money! Let's break down the economics behind this thinking.
Say you buy 1,000 likes for $108. Not only does this manufacture social proof, but it also manipulates the LinkedIn algorithm in the crucial first hours after posting. These purchased likes are often delivered in waves over an hour or two, creating the appearance of organic virality.
The more you grow and the higher your engagement climbs, the more attractive you become to potential partners and sponsors. Hitting certain milestones, like 50K or 100K followers, also lends an air of credibility and authority.
But is this artificial growth actually worth the investment? The answer depends on your goals and values. In purely financial terms, the ROI can seem compelling at first glance:
Buying 500 likes per post at $55 each, posting 4 times per week, comes to $880 per month or $3,520 over 4 months.
During this time, your account grows to 50-70K followers, which could attract sponsored post deals at $500+ each.
Accounts with 200K+ followers can command even higher rates, often $2K or more per post.
You might also launch an affiliate program, earning $1-10 per signup. That is why so many influencers are promoting resume services or anything that job seekers need. Driving just 100 signups per post, four times a month, would cover your initial investment.
Note: It's common to notice individuals who share posts alongside a hashtag partner.
As your profile grows, you may start receiving invitations to speak at events, sell courses, or offer consulting services, creating additional revenue streams. Viewed through this lens, "buying" rapid growth can seem like a smart investment.
However, this perspective overlooks the significant downsides and risks of relying on purchased engagement. Your perceived credibility is built on a house of cards, and getting caught buying likes or gaming the algorithm can quickly erode trust with your real audience and potential partners.
You may attract more sponsored opportunities in the short term, but if your following is disengaged or irrelevant, those deals are unlikely to convert into real results for advertisers, damaging your long-term revenue potential.
There's also the risk of sinking time and money into creating offers for an audience that was never genuinely interested in your expertise in the first place. If a large portion of your following only connected with you in pursuit of gimmicks and giveaways, they're unlikely to meaningfully engage with or purchase your products and services.
Bill Gates Vs Influencer
Bill Gates has 35,734,095 followers, and his posts average between 2,000 and 6,000 likes. Interestingly, a random LinkedIn influencer with 305,443 followers is achieving similar engagement figures.
While some might argue that Bill's content lacks appeal, it's worth noting that he is not involved in any LinkedIn pods that could artificially inflate his numbers. As you can guess, several people shared proof that the LinkedIn influencer is part of a LinkedIn pod.
Last Thoughts
Building a thriving LinkedIn following takes patience, consistency, and a commitment to delivering genuine value to your audience. While it may be tempting to chase quick wins and flashy growth metrics, sustainable success comes from focusing on quality over quantity and playing the long game.
To grow your audience the right way, prioritize creating truly helpful and engaging content that showcases your unique voice and expertise. Share your insights generously, and look for opportunities to uplift others in your industry. Engage proactively with your network by starting thoughtful conversations, offering support and encouragement, and building real relationships rooted in mutual value.
As you grow your presence, keep it real and stick to your brand values. Don't fall for fake engagement or gimmicky tricks that might give you a quick lift but can knock down your credibility in the long run. Focus on drawing in real fans and followers who are genuinely into what you're doing and excited to be part of the community you're creating!
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