My LinkedIn impressions are up 40,000% in the last 7 days. I’m clearly amazing at engagement.
Someone should hire me.
Fun Numbers
The reality behind the metric is that I rarely posted on LinkedIn before I was laid off last Friday. Since then, I’ve been posting daily.
It doesn’t take much to increase 40,000% from a handful of impressions per week to a couple thousand per day. However, it DOES show what consistency and storytelling can do.
I know I’m not reaching “influencer” levels here. Maybe I never will, and that’s okay, because I don’t actually need influencer levels of views, engagements, and conversions.
I just need one.
Ideally, one really good one. One that fits with my experience, interest, and preferred salary range. One that recognizes the value I bring to the team, and one that will provide mutual benefit to our relationship.
To get that one, of course, I need to reach a bunch of other people, in the hopes that the right person will see what I’ve been sharing and say, “I need that guy on the team.”
This is marketing.
It’s All About Strategy
When I first started writing about my joblessness journey on Saturday, I wanted to share what I was going through. I was looking for some commiseration, a little bit of release from venting, and even a bit of the dopamine rush that comes with people reacting and replying to my posts.
But I’ve been doing strategy for a long time, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that even that first post was strategic.
Every job I’ve held in marketing, content creation, copywriting, communications, and learning and development has required an understanding of how people read, absorb, and retain information. My goal, my job, right now is to make sure people read, absorb, and retain information about ME.
As an introvert, this is way out of my comfort zone…
When it comes to marketing—including marketing one’s self—I know that people like a good story. I also know that they like to take it in chunks. If this were a novel, we’d call them chapters. Really short chapters. Even shorter than James Patterson chapters.
So the story I’m trying to share here is the story of me. It’s a story of downfall, of struggle, and even conflict. But I it’s also a story about perseverance, hope, and ultimately I believe, success.
If the growth in my impressions and views is any indication, some of you are enjoying reading it.
I’m telling my story in a way that highlights what I can do. I’ll be talking more about my strategy and the tactics I’m using to achieve it, punctuated with the ups and downs of navigating my Jobless Era.
That’s for future chapters, though. For today, I just want to thank everyone reading this for being part of the story.