Previous to launching my very own advertising and marketing enterprise, I labored at athletic attire firm Gymshark, driving our advertising and marketing technique round group. I knew that bringing folks collectively was highly effective. I simply needed to transfer that idea out of the health house and into enterprise. How exhausting might it’s?
So, after I launched my group advertising and marketing company, Butterfly Impact, I took a brand new method. I placed on my “skilled” voice. I attempted to stay to enterprise speak and maintain interactions transactional. However as I constructed extra genuine relationships with decision-makers, I seen that behind each company electronic mail tackle was a human being going through actual challenges.
That’s after I had my greatest perception: B2B isn’t simply business-to-business — it is human-to-human. The method didn’t must be chilly and calculated. I needed to take the community-building playbook I knew properly and adapt it to a brand new platform: LinkedIn. Right here’s how I did it.
How LinkedIn Reworked Our Enterprise
I seen that regardless of having over a billion customers, only one% actively submit on LinkedIn. But, that 1% drives 99% of all attain and engagement. By persistently exhibiting up there, I not solely constructed affect however created one of the vital engaged private manufacturers on the platform.
So, as an alternative of treating LinkedIn as a digital CV or occasional broadcasting channel, I made it the middle of my enterprise growth technique. This method wasn’t simply marginally profitable — it reworked my profession and enterprise trajectory fully.
After we launched Butterfly Impact, we weren’t ranging from zero — we had some funding. However as an alternative of spending it on a gross sales staff or aggressive advertising and marketing, we poured it into the service expertise. Our cash went into constructing the sort of company we’d wish to work with. We needed to be rooted in worth, creativity, and group — not chilly calls and shutting scripts.
So we decided that scared most individuals within the room: No gross sales staff. No chilly outreach. No funnels. No efficiency adverts. Simply group.
We believed that if we confirmed up with actual worth, constructed belief in public, and put folks earlier than pitches, the best shoppers would come to us. Everybody instructed us we have been mad. However, because the momentum constructed, our group did the promoting for us.
Inside 12 months, we hit £2 million ($2.6 million U.S.) in income. All inbound. No outbound.
So, I decided: LinkedIn wouldn’t be a billboard. It could be the heartbeat of the enterprise.
Three Methods You Can Use LinkedIn to Construct Connection
1. Bear in mind: LinkedIn isn’t for company updates — it’s for constructing credibility.
Most B2B manufacturers deal with LinkedIn as an afterthought, posting company updates that nobody engages with. I’ve fallen into that entice too.
My mild bulb second was after I realized that behind each brand was somebody attempting to unravel one thing. Behind each inquiry was an actual particular person with an issue, a purpose, or a dream. LinkedIn was the place these folks have been gathering, listening, and in search of readability.
So, I moved away from “look-how-great-we-are” updates. As an alternative, I wrote open playbooks and helpful insights. Each submit turned a dialog starter, and each remark turned a connection. Our messages have been open doorways, not pitches.
This method allowed the staff to construct credibility. Every submit constructed on the final, compounding visibility into popularity. When folks have been able to work with us, they already felt like they knew who we have been and what we stood for.
Motion you’ll be able to take right this moment: Audit your final 10 LinkedIn posts. What number of present real worth versus speaking about your organization? Decide to an 80/20 cut up — 80% priceless insights, 20% enterprise updates — and watch your engagement rework.
2. Leverage your individual LinkedIn, not simply your organization web page.
When you solely focus in your firm’s LinkedIn web page, you’re lacking out. My enterprise blossomed after I acknowledged that patrons belief folks greater than logos. To seize that belief, I wanted to leverage my LinkedIn presence.
Because the CEO, I gained credibility as an professional in my area, constructed direct relationships with companions, and turned my private model right into a enterprise development engine.
From there, I stored a detailed eye on who was interacting with my posts. I knew my perfect buyer personas (ICPs) and tracked their engagement intently. If I noticed an ICP who is perhaps excited about our work, I might then attain out whereas I used to be nonetheless top-of-mind.
As an alternative of generic gross sales pitches, I used DMs strategically, participating in heat, high-intent conversations that felt pure and priceless. Essentially the most highly effective shift got here after I constructed real inbound demand. My content material offered a lot worth that prospects began coming to me, eliminating the necessity for conventional outbound gross sales completely.
This method went past simply me. My complete staff engaged actively. They didn’t have to turn out to be creators. They turned contributors otherwise. Whether or not it was leaping into remark threads, sharing POVs in DMs, or amplifying the conversations occurring on our posts, their presence helped prolong the belief we have been constructing.
Motion you’ll be able to take right this moment: Have a look at your corporation objectives for the subsequent quarter. For each, ask: “How might group connection assist obtain this quicker or higher?” Then, implement no less than one community-driven method to your most necessary goal.
3. Rework your LinkedIn right into a hub to your ecosystem.
Once I seen the ability of LinkedIn, I dedicated to exhibiting up daily — sharing concepts, telling tales, asking questions, and most significantly being myself.
That consistency modified the whole lot. Over time, my private LinkedIn advanced into our greatest development engine. It powered my private model and ensured our firm web page wasn’t only a static placeholder — it functioned like a residing, respiration homepage.
Folks returned to our LinkedIn to grasp who we have been and the way we thought. We turned a cease for actual collaboration, not simply networking. LinkedIn was a city sq. — the place the place we proved our considering earlier than anybody crammed out a type.
With that popularity, we have been capable of develop past the digital realm. We launched Catalyst, a collection of occasions bringing collectively advertising and marketing professionals to deal with business challenges. The purpose? Construct belief, alternate information, and forge actual connections.
From that basis, I took a good bolder step with Butterfly Impact — a devoted house the place companies going through comparable challenges might come collectively to unravel issues collectively. This wasn’t simply one other networking group or shallow discussion board. It turned an area the place collaboration led to actual outcomes, not simply conversations.
Motion you’ll be able to take right this moment: Establish the highest drawback your prospects or business faces proper now. Submit your method, then create a easy collaborative house (even a primary LinkedIn Group) particularly centered on fixing that drawback collectively. Do not promote — facilitate options.
Driving Success By way of Neighborhood
The outdated methods of utilizing LinkedIn, protecting information proprietary, and sustaining synthetic distance are falling behind. The trail ahead requires:
- Being your self overtly so folks belief you.
- Constructing a group of people that share your values.
- Sharing what to assist everybody develop.
- Working collectively to make progress that lifts your complete business.
The second enterprise turned private for me was the second the whole lot modified. By embracing genuine human connection in each facet of my work, I did not simply discover a aggressive edge — I discovered that means, affect, and sustainable development that advantages everybody concerned.
And, all of that occurred on LinkedIn.
