Michaela Alexis’ 100,000 followers on LinkedIn

How to reach out to Michaela Alexis:

When Michaela Alexis changed her approach to sharing content on LinkedIn, her following grew from around 500 to over 120,000 connections. Today, her articles receive between 100,000 and 1 million views on average, and she can expect to network with at least 2 or 3 new leads each day.

The LinkedIn Article Breakthrough

It all began when Michaela wrote and shared a LinkedIn article detailing her personal experience as a job-seeker. In her search, recruiters had advised Michaela to distribute her resume broadly and wait in hopes of an interview.

Suspicious that the recruiters’ apply-and-wait method might not be the most efficient way to land a job, Michaela conducted a controlled experiment. Using HubSpot email tracking, Michaela sent her resume to 10 companies. If the recruiters were right about applying indiscriminately and hoping, Michaela would expect to see that most of her emails were opened and her resume considered for the open position.

Frustratingly, Michaela’s tracking codes revealed that only one of these job-seeking emails was opened and that none of her contacts were willing to respond to her application. With the data to back up her original hunch, Michaela officially recognized the apply-and-wait method as a total waste of time. Hoping to help others struggling with their own job searches, Michaela wrote up her findings to share with the LinkedIn job seeker community.

Viral On Accident

Michaela hoped she was posting something useful to other LinkedIn job seekers, but she did not expect for her article go viral. The piece was viewed over 150,000 times and shared by thousands more.

Michaela was happily taken by surprise at her post’s popularity. To her, the article was nothing special, having been completed in less than an hour. Hoping to replicate her success in future LinkedIn articles, Michaela began dissecting the viral post to understand what about her article had resonated with so many LinkedIn users.

Michaela identified three key aspects she believes contributed to her article’s success:

The article is written conversationally
The content was helpful to readers
The experiences described were relatable

Regardless of industry or position, LinkedIn readers want to consume content that is easily digestible, that is purposeful, and that resonates. This led Michaela to experiment with her LinkedIn article topics. She would publish personal stories about real experiences that readers could learn from. Michaela had found the key to promoting herself through LinkedIn: share stories and experiences others are too hesitant to write about.

LinkedIn for Businesses

With over half a billion users, LinkedIn has become the ideal platform for content marketers like Michaela who are seeking to gain exposure and establish a following. Of course, merely creating a LinkedIn profile is not enough to drive engagement. To make conversions and achieve meaningful results, businesses need to focus on providing audiences with content that resonates.

Since uncovering the core elements driving her LinkedIn followers to engage with her content, Michaela has certainly profited from her use of LinkedIn. “LinkedIn profiles have so much potential to convert directly through the platform. It happens to me on a daily basis.” She now uses her LinkedIn skills to help others become LinkedIn influencers.

How To Grow Your LinkedIn

Michaela’s LinkedIn strategy can be summarized in three broad steps:

Optimize the client’s LinkedIn profile
Construct a content strategy
Execute the content strategy with consistency

1. LinkedIn Profile Optimization

For every client she helps, she advises that they first evaluate their LinkedIn profile page. Michaela shares some of her favorite LinkedIn tips with Tom. Bottom line, your company’s LinkedIn profile should be easy to navigate and understand, and your brand’s personality should always shine through.

Other LinkedIn tips Michaela reveals include pairing an approachable profile picture with a very professional image in the background. In fact, Michaela points out that the background images in LinkedIn are very impactful and often underrated.

2. LinkedIn Strategy Creation

When it is time for clients to choose the topics they wish to post about on LinkedIn, Michaela suggests writing out a list to separate company and personal brand topic ideas. She reminds Tom that the audience subscribing to personal brand posts may differ from those who follow the corporate brand updates.

3. Execute

According to Michaela, strong brands exemplify competence, confidence, and consistency. For this reason, Michaela always recommends that brands follow a realistic LinkedIn strategy. It is more important to post consistently than to post often.

Inspiring Philosophy

Michaela might have stumbled onto her LinkedIn success, but today she is a renowned LinkedIn expert. She now travels the world sharing her knowledge with budding businesses and solopreneurs. With so many accomplishments in her repertoire, you may be surprised to learn that Michaela battles fear and agoraphobia every day.

Her unique situation and diverse background have allowed Michaela to develop a strong sense of empathy, a trait people are often drawn to. Michaela’s life experiences have given her a unique and positively inspiring outlook on business and personal development.

KEY INSIGHTS

Before posting LinkedIn articles, be sure to optimize your LinkedIn profile based on LinkedIn best practices
Be patient and willing to experiment while building up your loyal LinkedIn following and encouraging engagement
Be picky about who you let into your community, prioritizing those who hold similar values to your own