Welcome, Networkers, to my deep dives with top LinkedIn voices—how they grew, what’s working now, and what it looks like to achieve meaningful goals as a personal brand.

This week, hear from Andy Foote. He’s strategically using LinkedIn audio content to build his network beyond his 54,000 followers, and wants you to experiment on LinkedIn, with audio or anything else.

Welcome, Andy!

Please tell us about yourself.

I'm a guy who helps people to navigate LinkedIn. 

It used to be primarily the profile page that everyone sought help with. Then five or six years ago, people realized the best way to get people coming to you was to put content out there. So I switched to helping clients with the content journey.

The fun thing about LinkedIn is that it changes. [Some people] pay for someone like me, who is obsessed with the platform and paying a lot of attention to everything that's going on.

What’s your industry?

LinkedIn, content, publishing.

What does LinkedIn do for you?

1. I help clients with LinkedIn content, primarily through coaching

2. I run a paid cohort called Optima Blue—a community of folks who are really focused on educating themselves about LinkedIn and sharing that knowledge amongst themselves, supporting each other

3. I host live audio shows on LinkedIn, which drive interest in my other services

What are your main goals for using LinkedIn:

• Gaining presence and visibility for my audio shows

• New members for Optima Blue

• Attract new coaching and consulting clients

Andy’s content strategy

Who’s your target audience on LinkedIn?

Anyone who is curious and already doing LinkedIn in some way is perfect for me because I'm looking to give advanced LinkedIn advice. And that really doesn't work unless folks have been on LinkedIn a year or so and have played around with a few things.

They've got a certain amount of experience under their belt, then they come to me to help them to take it up to the next level. 

How do you decide what content to create and share on LinkedIn?

In October of 2023, I saw what was happening to written content on LinkedIn. The algorithm essentially wasn't giving you the distribution that we were used to. It seems to drop by at least 30% seemingly overnight. So I pivoted nearly all of my content to audio.

Now, I put out content that’s really unusual, different, creative. If it's instructive, that’s what gets me clients. So anything that is sort of teaching, anything that is going under the hood, anything that's, I think, just fundamentally helpful, that tends to build interest in me.

How do you differentiate your content from others on LinkedIn?

First off, it’s almost all audio. I don’t know anyone else on LinkedIn who’s as all-in as I am in audio at the moment.

I love everything about audio: having spontaneous conversations with real people, getting them to think on their feet, allowing them to show their personality. It's such an effective way to build new connections and to build an understanding of people.

I think I'm also unique in the sense that I'm able to write and I'm also a broadcaster. In terms of creativity, you'd be hard pressed to come across anyone else who has tried so many different ways to engage.

What makes your content successful with your audience?

My approach to LinkedIn has always been about the why. A lot of people report the news on LinkedIn and simply say, “okay, this has changed.” And to me, that's insufficient. I want to know why it's changed or what LinkedIn is doing. 

People look at my content and say, “This Andy Foote character, you know, he tends to go deeper than others.” My curiosity is insatiable, and I think that’s helpful to people.

What are the processes you use to create content? 

• Schedule in advance ✅

• Batch create content ✅

• Optimize for SEO/keywords ❌

• Follow an editorial calendar ❌

• Have specific content pillars/themes ❌

• Repurpose content to/from LinkedIn or reuse on LinkedIn ❌

• Use AI in any part of the content writing process ❌

• Have team/human support for any part of your LI process ❌

• Keep a list of potential topics somewhere (Notes, Notion, etc.) ✅

• Design or source visuals including infographics and carousels and video ✅

What types of content do you post to LinkedIn?

• Polls ✅

• Audio ✅

• Video ❌

• Carousels ✅

• Text only ✅

• Photos of yourself (selfies) ✅

• Photos of other people or things ❌

• AI generated images ❌

• Infographics (single image) ✅

• Other people’s graphics ❌

• Links to your company content ❌

• Links to other content ❌

• Reposts of others’ content (repost only) ❌

• Reposts of others’ content (with your thoughts) ❌

How much time does it take?

How much time do you spend each weekday on LinkedIn on comments or Direct Messages (DMs), outside of content creation?

The short answer is: Far too much. I’ve been obsessed about LinkedIn for a decade. I'm endlessly fascinated by the platform. And to me, spending three or four hours on the platform, just looking at stuff, thinking about ideas—that's not a job. That's just what I do. 

Are you active on LinkedIn on the weekends, either posting or commenting or both?

I’m not as obsessive on the weekends.

How do you use DMs (direct messages) in the service of your goals?

I don’t. People come to me, I rarely reach out to them. I’m fortunate in that I can wait for people to contact me.

Andy’s biggest growth levers

What has contributed most to your growth?

At a high level, if you want to get something out of LinkedIn, then you obviously have to commit to it and have a work ethic and some consistency.

I often say, I’ve become an overnight success in 10 years. So people think, wow, you've got 54,000 followers and you get a certain amount of engagement every time you post. That's fantastic. How did you do that? Well, it took a long, long time to get where I am.

How do you track what’s working and know what to change?

There's no other way to do it as far as I'm concerned than putting in the work and being consistent and then being very analytical about why I think that worked? Why do I think this didn't work? And how do I adjust accordingly? You have to be quite scientific in your approach. 

The neat thing about anything you put out on LinkedIn is that you get immediate feedback, and can tell when you're on the right track and if you're doing something right. For me that’s an audio session where I’m getting people to tune in on a regular basis, and they're engaging and following up. That’s when I know things are working.

How Andy makes money

How do you generate revenue in your business?

From my content on LinkedIn, there's a pipeline of people that come to me. My clients come mainly from LinkedIn, and 20-30% from referrals. 

My audio shows have guest co-hosts, and then other people come up on stage. If people are involved in multiple shows, I may ask them if they want to join Optima Blue, my paid cohort. 

How do you quantify your success on LinkedIn?

My business can be boom or bust. So I can have amazing months where I have five new clients, then the next month I might have zero or one. 

There are 75 members in the Optima Blue cohort right now, and that builds consistently as well.

What challenges have you faced on LinkedIn? What’s made you almost—or actually—quit? What got you back on track?

Last summer [2023], when the algorithm changed, it was tough, and that’s when I decided to pivot to audio.

I’ve never thought about quitting. I've genuinely enjoyed everything that I do on LinkedIn.

Andy’s top tips

What advice would you give other Networkers who want to build and leverage their LinkedIn presence?

• Dig your well before you're thirsty: Don’t wait until you’re job seeking or client seeking to build your LinkedIn presence.

• Figure out what you can put out there that’s different or unusual, as well as adds value.

• Have a helper mindset, build a community of people who support you and you support.

• Try new things, be an experimenter. 

Is there anything else you want to tell me that I haven’t asked you?

I’ve been fiercely independent and often critical of LinkedIn, which is a risk. The downside is that LinkedIn might not help me if they view me as a thorn in their side. On the other hand, people know they’re going to get the straight, unvarnished truth from me about LinkedIn.

Andy’s best post

Stephanie’s note: I’ve asked each Networker to give me one “best post,” based on their own criteria.

Why Andy considers this his best post.

My "best content" was my long-running audio show, The Curious AF Show. I enjoyed everything about it and I think it tapped into a desire for something totally different than the usual LinkedIn post.

LinkedIn Audio is the best of both worlds - it encourages real (i.e., human) interaction, gives people the opportunity to shine and doesn't require a visual component (no need to be 'camera ready').

How to network with Andy

• Andy Foote on LinkedIn

What’s new on LinkedIn? Here’s what caught my eye this week.

B2C ads coming to a LinkedIn near you? Maybe. (Digiday)

Chipotle is definitely testing B2C on LinkedIn, with a VIP card giveaway (enter through July 2!). (Chain Store Age)

Another day, another backlash against someone doing something that LinkedIn-ers don’t like. (Fast Company)

Good news for HubSpot users: LinkedIn now has an integration with their CRM. (Martech)

I’m always on the lookout for something that changes the way I use LinkedIn. It could be an idea, a tool, a process, or something strategic. 

Have a tip I should consider? Hit reply to this email and let me know!

Naim Ahmed is great at breaking down concepts into useful, do-able steps. This carousel on getting clients on LinkedIn is no exception. I especially like his “Dream 100” concept to identify your perfect clients.

Read this post on LinkedIn

That’s all for now—I look forward to seeing you again next week for another Networker interview.