I had 4000+ LinkedIn connections in mid-2022. But despite the very low competition then, my posts just didn’t have the engagement it should. So, as usual, I did a deep-dive. And an interesting statistic hit me.

About 90% of my network was built on my 14 years of corporate experience across Wipro, SAP, IBM & GBM in Dubai. And even though I had undertaken the entrepreneurship journey from 2017, I wasn’t using LinkedIn as a sales channel. For example, I used Quora extensively for my refurbished mobile startup (where I had over 100 Mn views on my answers!) For selling the nail salon franchises, we used Instagram extensively.

But now I wanted to fix my LinkedIn profile, so I could get leads. And let me be very clear - I still say that ‘just’ having a high number of LinkedIn connections is a vanity metric. So I did what a few people around me thought was insane.

I removed 80% of my connections to go sub-1000!

And then I was very selective on who I added on my way to scaling to the magic number of 11,111 in 3 years. Let me be honest - that number could have been much higher, but I repeat - I was very careful on who I connect. WHY?

1. There’s a cap of 30,000 first-degree connections for any individual on LinkedIn. SO even if you’re a Sales Navigator license holder, you can’t directly connect with more than 30,000. You can have unlimited followers, but you’ll need tor emove connections to accept or send any 1st degree connections!
2. More than 90% of our 250+ leads for our PR & Personal Branding Agency (& now even AI trainings) come directly from LinkedIn (which funnels them into our newsletter).

I’ve posted daily through 2022, 2023 & 2024. And since we handle 50+ Personal Branding clients, here’s the list of 11 hooks that we use quite often to have got them over 1 Billion views in just the past 6 months!

And here’s a quick note. The most important part of ANY social media post today is the HOOK. It’s the first 3 lines on LinkedIn, the first 1 seconds in an Instagram reel, the thumbnail in the YouTube video etc. So here are the Top 11, you can start using today which gets the best traction.

• Hook 1: The mistake I made for “A” years that cost me “B.”
• Hook 2: Everyone talks about “X”. Nobody talks about “Y”.
• Hook 3: I didn’t do “A”, but I built “B” and that’s why I grew.
• Hook 4: If you’re doing “X”, but still not getting “Y”, do this.
• Hook 5: Your “A” is not a “B”. It’s a “C”.
• Hook 6: Here’s what “X” taught me about “Y”.
• Hook 7: The “A” that changed everything for me.
• Hook 8: If you’re an “X” trying to do “Y”, do this.
• Hook 9: You don’t need a “A”. You need a “B”.
• Hook 10: Here’s how I turn “X” into clients.
• Hook 11: If I had to start from scratch in “A” today, I’d do this.