This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Charlie Hills, a 27-year-old marketing and AI professional whose company helps brands grow LinkedIn followers, based in London. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
When I started posting content about the latest AI news on LinkedIn in January 2024, I posted six times a week, gave out every bit of knowledge I had, and hardly got any likes.
Then, I altered my approach, and everything changed.
In a year and a half, I grew to 132,000 followers and even quit my corporate marketing job to go all in on an agency I founded through my LinkedIn success. Here’s how I carefully use AI to set my content apart and post effectively.
I made the mistake of posting and ghosting
My interest in AI started around 2019 when Elon Musk made predictions about its trajectory to surpass human intelligence. Even though I had a full-time job, I’d post about AI on my LinkedIn whenever I had time, largely out of passion for the subject.
For the first three months, I posted and ghosted, meaning I shared content without sticking around to interact with anyone else’s posts or join conversations. I assumed my posts, which ranged from insights on new AI developments to breakdowns of practical applications of AI tools, would perform well simply because of their content. I was wrong.
Building relationships and authority was my key to getting 100,000 followers
I realized that, at the end of the day, LinkedIn is a social media platform, and I wasn’t actually socializing or building a community.
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I began commenting on posts, celebrating other creators’ wins, and starting conversations out of genuine admiration and curiosity. I even DMed creators whose content I enjoyed, whether or not they were in my AI niche, just to say hi or even ask for posting tips.
One creator suggested I change my profile picture to a zoomed-in photo of my smiling face, and another advised me to treat my LinkedIn as a landing page.
The people I connected with started to engage with my LinkedIn profile
People who I connected with started reposting, liking, and sharing my posts, and my engagement started to shoot up.
I grew to about 30,000 followers in six months, which inspired me to start posting LinkedIn growth tips and launch my agency, where I help clients scale personal brands on LinkedIn.
I quit my full-time job in September 2024 when I began to see tangible opportunities coming from my LinkedIn, such as agency clients and brand deals. I primarily make money on LinkedIn through sponsored posts and by converting viewers into customers of my agency.
I outsource help and use AI as a tool
One of the best things I did for myself and my business was to hire professional designers to improve my graphics. My current process is that I create the content strategy and design briefs, and my freelance designers create the graphics for $30 to $50 per design. I feel like strong graphics grab the reader’s attention and add elements of professionalism and authority to my words.
I also put my graphic into AI with a detailed prompt to refine my captions. I start by giving the GPT as much information about me as possible, including my name, expertise, and even the way I speak. Then I feed it the graphic and provide detailed instructions to follow.
I tell the GPT exactly how to format my captions
The first line of the caption should be attention-grabbing, and the second line should be a contrast.
I prompt GPT to build reader intrigue, break down the key points, and give a power ending. For each line of the prompt, I give the AI specific character limits to adhere to.
Systemizing my process as much as possible has cleared up time for me to focus on strategy, brand growth, and building essential relationships.
Anyone can make good content with AI. Here’s how I set myself apart.
I think posting seven times a week solidified me as a reliable point of authority in my niche. In this particular niche, I find that my audience consistently responds well to LinkedIn growth tips or anything related to ChatGPT
But above all, my content resonates with people most when I pull in my personal experiences and create something unique to me. For example, I might use the phrase “here’s how I” instead of “here’s how to.”
Showing my humanity in my content and truly connecting with people on LinkedIn is the key to successful content.
If you have a unique strategy that helped you grow your business and would like to share your story, please contact the editor, Manseen Logan, at mlogan@businessinsider.com.
