I hit 20,000 followers on LinkedIn in August 2025. The quantity itself is value 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 purpose to pause and ask: What really 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 part.
Let’s get into it.
Hitting 20,000 followers wasn’t the plan (at first)
Once I first began actively posting on LinkedIn, numbers have been the very last thing on my thoughts. At first, I used to be on the lookout for neighborhood after dropping 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 individuals within the content material advertising and marketing area. However I used to be extra centered 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 function. My profile grew to become a proof-of-concept lab, and each piece 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 will 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 proper 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, ahead of I anticipated.
Nonetheless, I’ve by no means seen followers as the one measure of success. On LinkedIn, progress appears like considerate feedback, individuals referencing my work in their very own posts, and conversations that carry past a single replace. The milestone issues, however these indicators matter extra.
What really drove my progress
The one behavior that’s continuously reaped rewards all through my LinkedIn journey is consistency. Not thrilling, however very true. Organising a sustainable posting cadence has at all times been on the basis of my LinkedIn technique, and it’s a tactic that Buffer’s information on consistency backs up repeatedly.
Past displaying up, progress got here from experimenting. I examined every little thing 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 chatting with early to mid-career professionals who needed to construct worldwide careers in advertising and marketing 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 typically traveled additional than I anticipated. And from 2020 to 2025, my progress has seemed roughly like this:
From 0 to 10K: 5 or 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 muse of all the teachings I had discovered
Exterior of my very own actions, there have been exterior turning factors too. Creator Camp was a giant one — the primary time I dedicated to a transparent posting cadence (seven days straight in the beginning).
It’s proof that intentionality compounds. As soon as I knew what labored and who I used to be chatting with, my progress accelerated.
What progress unlocked for me
Constructing an viewers has straight formed my profession. In the beginning of 2025, I began touchdown model partnerships — one thing I by no means would’ve thought attainable again after I was posting out of necessity. That solely occurred as a result of I dedicated to LinkedIn, set a objective, and confirmed up constantly. Now, partnerships really feel like an choice I can select to faucet into, not only a fortunate break I can’t management the movement of.
Past partnerships, visibility modified how individuals 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 individuals I care about most: early to mid-career professionals making an attempt to construct worldwide careers.
What I didn’t anticipate about hitting 20K
All this most likely sounds nice — constant progress, model partnerships, new alternatives. And it’s. But when I’m trustworthy, I additionally really feel bizarre about it. Right here’s why.
LinkedIn feels narrower at scale. In contrast to different platforms, individuals come right here with particular targets: 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 anticipate progress to really feel constraining, but it surely does.
Steadiness will get tougher, not simpler. An excessive amount of life-style content material dangers credibility. An excessive amount of “recommendation” dangers sounding generic. I’ve gone too far in each instructions earlier than — posts which might be 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 larger the viewers, the tougher I’ve discovered it to carry that center floor.
Visibility creates stress. With 200 followers, I might put up freely. At 20K, each draft feels heavier. I catch myself over-editing or shelving concepts completely. Satirically, the experimentation that fueled my progress is tougher to carry onto now. That’s been essentially the most sudden 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 by means of the skilled lens. That filter retains my content material related, but it surely 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 how one can carry with out dropping the curiosity and trial-and-error spirit that acquired 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 might use for Buffer experiments, join with our viewers, and show that the methods we beneficial really labored. I’ve finished 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 means of testing concepts and sharing classes. However I’m prepared for a brand new part — one the place the main target shifts from proving the system to experimenting extra freely. For the second, I’ve determined that that may imply loosening up on LinkedIn itself, and shifting 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 sequence the place I’ll share what occurs after I check totally different progress methods throughout platforms and codecs.
Threads is the proper place to start out as a result of the playbook continues 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 have 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 succeed in particular communities.Posting a number of instances a day (as a substitute of 4 instances per week, like I do on LinkedIn).Sharing a mixture of text-first posts with the occasional picture 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 after I deal with content material as an experiment once more?
