LinkedIn: A Growth Strategy That Works

24 Feb

The Initial Excitement—and the Plateau

When a professional services firm first sets up its LinkedIn presence, there’s often an initial wave of excitement. A few posts go up, a handful of followers trickle in, and there’s an expectation that momentum will build.

But after a few months, engagement starts to plateau. The company page has a small but stagnant audience, and the posts seem to reach the same people over and over.

So, what’s missing?

The Real Power of LinkedIn

For many firms, the answer lies not in the quality of their content, but in the way they use LinkedIn as a network. The real power of LinkedIn doesn’t come from a single company page—it comes from the collective influence of its people.

Every employee, partner, and stakeholder connected to the firm has their own network, and when engaged strategically, these connections can:

Amplify reach
Build credibility
Bring in new opportunities

If you do the maths: if every employee has 500 followers and you have 10 employees, that gives you a reach of 5,000. With 50 employees, your potential reach grows exponentially. To achieve this same level of visibility through paid ads would cost thousands of dollars.

Marketing expert Mark Ritson has argued that businesses have no inherent right to market their company on social media—because people connect with people, not faceless brands. While we don’t entirely agree with this stance on LinkedIn, as having a company page is crucial for sharing company-oriented content, providing employees with a branded presence, and enabling paid advertising, we do acknowledge that people receive vastly more attention than companies on the platform. A Forbes article reinforces this, showing that:

Brand messages shared by employees on social media earn 561% more reach than the same messages shared by the brand’s social media channels—and generate eight times more engagement.

A Case Study: The Shift That Made a Difference

A mid-sized consulting firm learned this firsthand. They had:

Invested in professional branding
Created a content calendar
Published weekly posts highlighting industry insights

Yet, their follower count remained low, and engagement was lacking.

After a closer look, they realised:

Most employees weren’t connected to the company page
They weren’t engaging with posts
They weren’t actively using LinkedIn to build relationships

The Transformation: A Simple But Effective Approach

Once they shifted their focus, things changed. Employees updated their profiles to clearly connect with the company page, ensuring a stronger link between individual and brand presence. Team members became more active in engaging with content—liking, sharing, and commenting—to extend the firm's reach organically. They also started sharing their own experiences, adding authenticity and making their interactions more meaningful.

The Results

Content reach tripled
Inbound inquiries increased
Job applicants referenced LinkedIn as a key factor in their decision-making

How Firms Can Achieve This Transformation

Want to replicate these results? Here’s where to start:

Strengthen Employee Connections Ensure all employees follow the company page. List the company as their employer. Actively participate in discussions.
Shift the Content Strategy Move away from corporate announcements. Focus on valuable, shareable insights. Encourage team members to contribute their perspectives.
Encourage Meaningful Engagement Promote genuine interactions, not just likes. Create a culture of sharing and commenting—this starts with education and a spark to start the fire. Foster conversations that drive long-term business growth.

The Key Takeaway

A firm’s LinkedIn following isn’t just a number—it’s a reflection of how engaged its people are in the broader professional conversation. When approached with a network-driven mindset, LinkedIn becomes not just a platform for promotion, but a dynamic tool for:

Growth
Collaboration
Influence

With my having nearly 100 LinkedIn testimonials demonstrating the impact of these strategies, the results speak for themselves. If you’re ready to strengthen your firm’s LinkedIn presence and see tangible results, take the first step—start engaging your team today.

Andrew Ford

Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.

http://www.andrewford.com.au/