I hit 20,000 followers on LinkedIn in August 2025. The quantity itself is price celebrating. In any case, who doesn’t love a milestone quantity?
Nonetheless, it has additionally led to a lot reflection about the place and why I began on the platform. This was the primary yr I set a transparent progress objective for LinkedIn, and reaching it gave me a motive to pause and ask: What truly drove this progress? What modified alongside the best way? And what comes subsequent?
On this article, I’ll share the methods that fueled my progress, the alternatives that got here with hitting 20K, and the challenges I’ve needed to navigate alongside the best way. I’ll additionally share how I plan to method LinkedIn (and content material extra broadly) on this subsequent section.
Let’s get into it.
Hitting 20,000 followers wasn’t the plan (at first)
Once I first began actively posting on LinkedIn, numbers had been the very last thing on my thoughts. At first, I used to be on the lookout for neighborhood after shedding my job in 2020.
As soon as I discovered work once more, my focus shifted. I went again to utilizing LinkedIn to attach with different professionals and study from folks within the content material advertising area. However I used to be extra targeted on work and neighborhood than content material. I solely shared about 10 LinkedIn posts between 2020 and 2022.
Nonetheless, in 2022, after becoming a member of Buffer, posting took on a brand new goal. My profile grew to become a proof-of-concept lab, and every bit of recommendation I wrote for Buffer (like discovering your area of interest or setting content material pillars), I examined alone account first. If it labored for me, I knew it might resonate with our readers.
A few of these experiments labored higher than I anticipated. They helped me outline my area of interest, join with the correct viewers, and construct a platform that unlocked alternatives I couldn’t have imagined again in 2020.
Reaching 20K wasn’t on my radar then. It wasn’t till early 2025, after crossing 15K, that I set a transparent objective: show that Buffer’s methods actually work by making use of them myself. I assumed hitting 20K would validate the recommendation we share and perhaps even open the door to model partnerships — which it did, before I anticipated.
My follower depend in January 2025
Nonetheless, I’ve by no means seen followers as the one measure of success. On LinkedIn, progress appears to be like like considerate feedback, folks referencing my work in their very own posts, and conversations that carry past a single replace. The milestone issues, however these alerts matter extra.
What truly drove my progress
The one behavior that’s consistently reaped rewards all through my LinkedIn journey is consistency. Not thrilling, however very true. Establishing a sustainable posting cadence has all the time been on the basis of my LinkedIn technique, and it’s a tactic that Buffer’s information on consistency backs up many times.
Past displaying up, progress got here from experimenting. I examined all the things I used to be writing about at Buffer alone account: discovering a distinct segment, selecting content material pillars, after which narrowing into that “Venn diagram center” the place what I loved overlapped with what my viewers wanted. That overlap grew to become my content material candy spot.
Defining my viewers made all of the distinction. Over time, it grew to become clear that I used to be talking to early to mid-career professionals who wished to construct worldwide careers in advertising and inventive industries. As soon as I leaned into that, my content material began connecting in a extra intentional manner.
Sharing extra private reflections additionally helped; these posts usually traveled additional than I anticipated. And from 2020 to 2025, my progress has regarded roughly like this:
- From 0 to 10K: 5 – 6 years between touchdown my first distant job and becoming a member of Buffer in 2022.
- 10K to 15K: a a lot quicker two years.
- 15K to 20K: the quickest milestone at 9 months, constructed on the inspiration of all the teachings I had discovered
Exterior of my very own actions, there have been exterior turning factors too. Creator Camp was an enormous one — the primary time I dedicated to a transparent posting cadence (seven days straight at first).
It’s proof that intentionality compounds. As soon as I knew what labored and who I used to be talking to, my progress accelerated.
What progress unlocked for me
Constructing an viewers has immediately formed my profession. In the beginning of 2025, I began touchdown model partnerships — one thing I by no means would’ve thought potential again once I was posting out of necessity. That solely occurred as a result of I dedicated to LinkedIn, set a objective, and confirmed up persistently. Now, partnerships really feel like an possibility I can select to faucet into, not only a fortunate break I can’t management the circulate of.
Past partnerships, visibility modified how folks see me within the trade. I’ve been invited onto podcasts, YouTube channels, and into articles as a contributor. The popularity has been validating, however extra importantly, it’s helped me attain the folks I care about most: early to mid-career professionals attempting to construct worldwide careers.
What I didn’t count on about hitting 20K
All this in all probability sounds nice — constant progress, model partnerships, new alternatives. And it’s. But when I’m sincere, I additionally really feel bizarre about it. Right here’s why.
LinkedIn feels narrower at scale. In contrast to different platforms, folks come right here with particular objectives: discovering jobs, constructing networks, or studying one thing tied to their careers. Which means my content material has to suit these lanes to carry out. I didn’t count on progress to really feel constraining, however it does.
Steadiness will get more durable, not simpler. An excessive amount of way of life content material dangers credibility. An excessive amount of “recommendation” dangers sounding generic. I’ve gone too far in each instructions earlier than — posts which are so polished that they really feel sterile, and others so private or “on the market” that they confuse my viewers. The candy spot is the place private reflections join again to skilled classes. However the greater the viewers, the more durable I’ve discovered it to carry that center floor.
Visibility creates strain. With 200 followers, I may put up freely. At 20K, each draft feels heavier. I catch myself over-editing or shelving concepts solely. Sarcastically, the experimentation that fueled my progress is more durable to carry onto now. That’s been probably the most surprising a part of hitting this milestone.
I’m not only a skilled. This has been the toughest half to articulate. My life encompasses way more than my work, however on LinkedIn, each a part of me has to come back via the skilled lens. That filter retains my content material related, however it additionally flattens me and my private model.
So sure, visibility is a privilege. But it surely’s additionally a accountability and one I’m nonetheless determining carry with out shedding the curiosity and trial-and-error spirit that bought me right here within the first place.
What’s subsequent
Hitting 20K ought to really feel like a end line. As a substitute, it feels just like the beginning line for one thing new. For years, my objective on LinkedIn was clear — construct a platform I may use for Buffer experiments, join with our viewers, and show that the methods we beneficial truly labored. I’ve accomplished that. Now the query is: what comes subsequent?
I’m not leaving LinkedIn. Folks depend on my content material there, and I nonetheless benefit from the technique of testing concepts and sharing classes. However I’m prepared for a brand new section — one the place the main target shifts from proving the system to experimenting extra freely. For the second, I’ve determined that that can imply loosening up on LinkedIn itself, and transferring into new areas the place the stakes really feel decrease and I’ve a bit extra freedom.
That’s why I’m kicking issues off with a brand new problem: rising to 1,000 followers on Threads. It’s the primary experiment in Proof of Idea, a brand new collection the place I’ll share what occurs once I take a look at totally different progress methods throughout platforms and codecs.
Threads is the proper place to start out as a result of the playbook remains to be being written. In a previous 30-day experiment, I discovered that open-ended questions, well timed replies, and becoming a member of conversations had been far simpler than polished one-off posts. This time, I’ll be layering these classes with methods we have recognized, like:
- Utilizing tags to achieve particular communities.
- Posting a number of occasions a day (as an alternative of 4 occasions per week, like I do on LinkedIn).
- Sharing a mixture of text-first posts with the occasional photograph to remain true to the platform’s vibe.
So whereas 20K on LinkedIn is a milestone, it’s simply the beginning of my journey as a creator. It’s the purpose the place I get to ask: what else is feasible once I deal with content material as an experiment once more?
