Now that you understand the types of content that perform well on LinkedIn, let's walk through the step-by-step process of building a strategy that will help you achieve your professional goals.

Following these eight steps will give you a clear roadmap for creating and maintaining an effective LinkedIn presence.

Step 1 — Analyze Your Current LinkedIn Presence

Before diving into creating new content, you need to take a good look at where you stand right now.

We recommend to start by auditing your current LinkedIn profile and content performance.

This involves looking at your past posts and finding out:

• Which ones generated the most engagement?

• What topics resonated with your audience?

• Which posts fell flat?

You need to keep track of these insights in a simple spreadsheet – this will become your baseline for measuring future success.

When analyzing your profile, think like a first-time visitor. What's the first impression when someone lands on your page?

Your profile picture, banner image, and headline create an immediate impact. You might think your profile looks fine, but small details like an outdated work history or a missing profile picture can hurt your credibility.

So, it is important to update everything and ensure each section tells a cohesive story about your professional journey.

Step 2 — Define Clear Strategic Goals

Setting goals for your LinkedIn presence goes beyond just wanting more followers or engagement.

You need to tie your LinkedIn activities to real professional outcomes.

To get started, you need to ask yourself:

• What does success really look like to you?

• Do you want to establish yourself as a thought leader?

• Generate leads for your business?

• Land your dream job?

Each of these goals requires a different approach.

So, you need to break down your big goals into smaller, measurable objectives.

Instead of saying "I want to be a thought leader," set specific targets like "I want to be invited to speak at two industry conferences this year" or "I want to grow my newsletter subscriber base to 1,000 readers in six months."

These concrete goals give you something tangible to work toward.

Remember that your goals might evolve as you grow your presence. That's perfectly fine – just make sure to document these changes and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Step 3 — Identify Your Target Audience

Understanding your audience goes beyond basic demographics.

Ideally, you need to find out:

• What keeps them up at night?

• What challenges do they face at work?

• What kind of content would make them stop scrolling and pay attention?

Based on your answers, you need to create detailed persona profiles that capture not just job titles, but also professional aspirations, pain points, and content preferences.

If you're in sales technology, for example, your content might resonate with both sales managers and CEOs – but they have different needs and interests. This is why you need to choose your primary audience first.

This focus will help you create more targeted, effective content.

We even recommend spending time where your target audience hangs out on LinkedIn. For instance, you can join groups they're in, follow the thought leaders they follow, and pay attention to the conversations they're having.

This research will give you valuable insights into the topics and types of content that capture their attention.

Step 4 — Develop Your Content Strategy Framework

Your content strategy framework is like your game plan for LinkedIn success.

In order to win big on the LinkedIn platform, you need to have a clear structure for your content. This process begins with identifying 3-5 main topics or themes that align perfectly with your expertise and interest of your target audience.

For example, if you're in human resources, your pillars might include employee engagement, talent acquisition, workplace culture, and leadership development.

After identifying the main topics, you also need to think about your brand voice. It matters more than you think. While maintaining professionalism is important, don't forget to show the real side of you. After all, your audience wants to connect with a real person, not just a professional facade.

So, make up your mind whether you want to be formal & professional or causal or conversational. You can consider sharing personal stories and experiences that relate to your professional insights.

For instance, you might share a challenging leadership moment you faced, or how you balanced work and personal life during a major project. These authentic glimpses into your journey help your audience relate to you on a human level.

There's no right or wrong answer, but you need to stay consistent. Your audience should recognize your content even before they see your name.

Remember, authenticity builds trust, and trust builds engagement. So, you should consider sharing your challenges, celebrate your wins, and let your audience join you on your professional journey.

Step 5 — Create Your Content Mix

Creating a balanced content mix is like planning a well-rounded meal – you need different ingredients to make it perfect.

After all, you don't want to share the same kind of posts all the time, or your audience might get bored.

Let's break down how to mix up your content in a way that keeps people coming back for more.

Start with your educational content – this should be about 60% of what you post. These are posts where you teach your audience something useful. You can even share tips from your own work experience, explain how to solve common problems, or break down complex topics into simple steps.

For example, if you're in sales, you might write about "How to Handle Customer Objections" or "Three Simple Ways to Follow Up with Leads."

Next, you can look for good content from others to share — this should be about 25% of your posts.

But don't just click "share" and move on. When you share someone else's post, tell your audience why you think it's important.

• What did you learn from it?

• How can they use this information?

This shows you're not just copying others but adding your own valuable thoughts.

Finally, for the remaining 15% of your posts, you can promote yourself of your business. But here's the trick – don't just say "Buy my product!" or "Look how great we are!" Instead, share success stories that show how you helped solve real problems.

If your company launched a new service, explain how it makes your customers' lives easier.

Most importantly, remember to keep your language simple and approachable. Write like you're explaining things to a friend over coffee. People connect better with content that feels real and honest rather than stiff and formal.

Step 6 — Build Your Content Calendar

Your content calendar is more than just a schedule – it's your game plan for consistency.

Besides, it’s better to post three thoughtful pieces per week than to share low-quality content daily.

To keep it simple, you can consider creating themed days to make planning easier.

Maybe Monday is for industry insights, Wednesday is for how-to content, and Friday is for success stories or case studies. This structure helps you stay organized while giving your audience a sense of what to expect.

Most importantly, make sure that you plan for major industry events, holidays, and company milestones well in advance. These provide natural opportunities for content that feels timely and relevant.

Step 7 — Set Up Content Creation & Publishing Workflow

Creating a smooth workflow saves you time and helps maintain consistency.

To get started, you need to build a content bank — a place where you store your LinkedIn post ideas, draft posts, and useful resources. This could be as simple as a Google Doc or as sophisticated as a project management tool.

Next, you need to break down your content creation process into manageable steps.

First, you can spend some time brainstorming and researching topics. After that, you can create your content as per your ideas. If you're creating visual content, make sure you have templates ready to maintain consistent branding.

Furthermore, you can even consider batching similar tasks together. You might spend one-morning writing several posts, another day creating visuals, and another to schedule LinkedIn posts in one go. This approach is often more efficient than creating posts one at a time.

Last but not least, it is recommended to create a review system that works for you. Even if you're a one-person team, let posts sit for a day before publishing them. Fresh eyes can catch errors or identify ways to make your content stronger.

If you're part of a larger organization, document who needs to review and approve content before it goes live.

Step 8 — Implement an Engagement Strategy

Engagement isn't something that happens after you post – it should be an integral part of your strategy.

This is why we suggest planning to spend at least 30 minutes each day interacting with your network. This includes responding to comments on your posts, engaging with others' content, and participating in relevant discussions.

You can even create guidelines for how you'll engage.

• Will you respond to every comment?

• How will you handle negative feedback?

• What types of conversations do you want to start?

Having these guidelines helps you maintain professionalism and consistency in your interactions.

Remember that meaningful engagement takes time. So, don’t always leave generic comments like "Great post!"

Instead, share thoughtful insights that add to the conversation. Ask questions that encourage discussion. Or share relevant examples from your experience.

The key to successful engagement is authenticity. So, focus on adding real value to conversations and building genuine professional relationships. Your network will grow naturally when people see you as a thoughtful, engaged member of the community.