Over 1 million followers! Who wouldn’t want that? Robynn Storey has it, and she’s still one of the most humble LinkedIn-ers I’ve interviewed yet.

When every post gets thousands of views, you’d think the methodology behind posting would be super complex, but Robynn just writes from the heart and hopes it hits.

I love this approach and think you’ll really enjoy hearing about the rest of Robynn’s LinkedIn process. Read on for this week’s interview.

Welcome, Robynn. Please tell us about yourself.

I am the CEO of Storyline Resumes. We're one of the largest professional and senior-level and executive resume-writing firms in the US.

What’s your industry?

Resumes and career coaching.

What does LinkedIn do for you?

LinkedIn is where we communicate with our audience. We are advocates for job seekers. If you follow me, you know my posts are about the job search process; I’m a huge advocate for treating people well in the process and beyond. It's where a lot of people find us that need resume services. And it's also where I spend a lot of my time, doling out a lot of free advice to folks that send me messages.

What are your main goals for using LinkedIn?

My goals for using LinkedIn are to influence change, both in hiring practices, influence change and how people are treated in their jobs, and to be a voice for people suffering from toxic work situations, being treated unfairly, and unfair pay. 

We have accidentally built this very large following of a million followers, and over 250 million people a year view my posts on LinkedIn. Somebody is listening to what it is that we have to say. And what we really have to say is that we need much more human empathy, human sympathy, understanding of the human condition, how people want to work, which has changed tremendously since the pandemic, and to be a voice of advocacy for balance.

Robynn’s content strategy

Who’s your target audience on LinkedIn?

Our target audience is job seekers who need help telling their professional stories, really at the senior and executive levels. That is our niche.

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

Universally, people like feel-good stories. They like stories of success and overcoming obstacles and challenges, whether it’s ageism in the hiring practice, a spotty career history, or a job search littered with constantly coming in second place. My content is all very genuine.

We get tons of feedback from our clients and from other people on LinkedIn. It’s all to inspire folks to keep going, to keep trying, to keep being their own advocate, and to hold out for job offers and salaries that pay them what they're worth instead of just taking the first thing that comes their way.

How do you differentiate your content from others on LinkedIn?

I rarely talk about resumes, which is kind of ironic: I own a resume company but rarely talk about resumes. I'm much more interested in talking about humans, where they're struggling, how they're succeeding, and sharing that with an audience that seems to be desperate for positivity. 

I don't share stuff I see on other social media. I don't share news articles or recycled content. I'm a storyteller. I still write in long form, and I know we all have short attention spans and people love videos, but my posts get a lot of views. I also share a lot about my personal life. I think people appreciate that. I think there are so many lessons we can glean from things that happen to us.

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?

• Text only ✅

• Polls ✅

• Audio ❌

• Video ❌

• Carousels ❌

• 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) ❌

• LinkedIn newsletters ❌

• LinkedIn Live events ✅

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?

I spend a few hours a day. I usually get into my office at about four o'clock in the morning. I go through all of the previous evening's emails. We get a lot of emails overnight. Then I'm on [LinkedIn] until about 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. I usually come back for maybe an hour later.

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

Yes, I am on LinkedIn on the weekends. That’s usually from my couch. I do post and comment, definitely. Probably an hour on Saturday, maybe an hour on Sunday.

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

We get a lot of LinkedIn messages from people from around the globe about everything from how to get an H1 visa, to “I'm about to lose my house,” to positive stories.

I got one a couple of days ago from a lady who said she's been interviewing for months and she's never used our services, but she follows me on LinkedIn. She said every interview, I just kept hearing your voice saying, don't settle, don't settle. She told me she had accepted a job, at something like $65,000 more than her old job. And she just wanted to say thank you. We're immensely thrilled for people.

Robynn’s biggest growth levers

What has contributed most to your growth?

LinkedIn is filled with a lot of people that are sort of putting on a show. I tend to let it all hang out and I think that resonates with people. I am a real person and I have ideas and thoughts.

I have this wonderful luxury of having followers and people that might be interested in what I have to say. One of my favorite sayings is use your powers for good, not evil. So anywhere that I can influence change or anywhere that I can bring attention to how hiring happens and how people are treated in the workplace, that is my passion.

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

LinkedIn is an algorithm, right? And it's also what resonates. You might be writing a post and think people are going to love this, and it gets no engagement. Or you might just be zipping a thought off the top of your head and pretty soon 10 million people have seen it. There's really no rhyme or reason. 

I know people say it needs to be a certain time of day, or it needs to be this, or it needs to be that. I haven't found that at all. I post at all times. I'm here to have conversations and start a dialogue. I answer a lot of questions in those comments, and I comment back. I’ve met some great friends and gained new customers from doing that, and that's the funniest part.

How Robynn makes money

How do you generate revenue in your business?

Through the sale of resume services. We have five levels of packages, and we offer some career coaching services. That's our wheelhouse. We stay in it. 

I would say that maybe 75% of our sales come from LinkedIn, and we get a lot of referral business.

How do you quantify your success on LinkedIn?

We're a $10 million a year company. Maybe $7 or $8 million comes from LinkedIn. The other comes from referrals or other platforms where people might have seen us. But we've built our business on LinkedIn, and that's where we're likely to stay.

Robynn’s top tips

What advice would you give others who are looking to grow and, ideally monetize their LinkedIn platform?

Don't try to sell anything. Be yourself. Tell a story.

When you're constantly promoting yourself, people fatigue from that. But if you have a message and want to influence change or think your products and services can help people, give an example of someone they've helped.

Again, I own a resume company and rarely talk about resumes. I think people relate to genuine people, and that's really been the cornerstone of our success.

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

I think that my journey is sort of unique because I never really set out to own a business. I left corporate America to get my kids on and off the bus.

I said to my husband, this isn't the life that I want to live. I don't want to chase dollars. I don't want to be beholden to corporate America. I want to do something that I love, I think I can do a little business with this.

My husband's an accountant, a corporate controller now. Back then, he didn't make anything. I was the breadwinner. He was just fresh off his CPA. And he said, if you can make enough money to pay for groceries every week, I can float us for a year until we figure this thing out. I said, “deal.” And here we are 24 years later, and I still pay for all the groceries.

Robynn’s best post

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

Read this post on LinkedIn

Why Robynn considers this her best post.

I just think this resonates, at the core, about what people really want.  A nice job, with nice people, who pay well, and the ability to have the time to live their lives.

How to network with Robynn

• Follow Robynn (Roberta) Storey on LinkedIn

• Learn more about Robynn’s business, Storeyline Resumes

What’s new related to LinkedIn? Here’s what caught my eye this week - pretty quiet in LinkedIn news.

• Love this Threads post from actor Simu Liu (Barbie, Kim’s Convenience) about radical honesty on LinkedIn.

• And here’s an Inc. article about whether we can all use this kind of radical honesty, or not. (Inc.com via Apple News)

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This week’s tip, from Shoaib Ahmed, breaks down 7 key techniques for strong LinkedIn posts. The best part: He gives concrete examples of each.

This post in and of itself is a great example of show, don’t tell—one of my key concepts for LinkedIn.

Read this post on LinkedIn

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!

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