7 Tips for LinkedIn Growth That Don’t Involve Going Viral

Person wearing sunglasses peeking out from behind trimmed bushes decorated with Hamburger Helper boxes, with large gold balloons spelling ‘5K’ and a giant inflatable Hamburger Helper hand mascot displayed on the lawn.

Let’s get one thing straight: LinkedIn is not high school. Stop treating it like a cafeteria where you’re waiting for someone to invite you to sit at their table. You’re a grown adult on the internet. Pull up your own chair.

I’ve been on LinkedIn for 10 years, which might be jarring for some of you to read, so sorry for the trauma. I didn’t really start posting on LinkedIn until about two years ago when I started working in the CPG industry. I starting seeing the funny brands show up on LinkedIn. Then I started really dabbling last year but I still didn’t do much.

Something was in the air in March of 2025 because I just flipped one day and said **** it. I was going to start posting how I wanted to post and when I wanted to post. I’ve always known two things about myself, I want to make people laugh and I’ve always just wanted to be a writer.

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I started focusing on my actual voice and just showing up with humor and satire. I stopped posting work-related content and anything that sounded like “thought leadership”. Look that’s okay if that’s your lane. I’m going to be brutally honest, it’s a saturated niche and it’s quite boring.

So here’s some tips that I would use if I was starting today.

1. Stop Treating Big Accounts Like Celebrities

If you work in marketing, you already know that large followings aren’t what impresses people. People don’t want to be idolized for having large followings, okay Bill Yost might, but that’s a different story. They just want to be treated like humans just like an actual celebrity does. Don’t be scared to send them a dm that’s funny.

They eat gas station snacks. They argue with their spouses about what’s for dinner. They scroll through comments when they should be paying attention at their kid’s soccer game. They are not celebrities. They’re accessible. And the fastest way to get on their radar is to make them laugh. That’s it. That’s the hack.

A few months ago, my now good buddy Bill Yost slid in my dms. He wanted to ask about the Hamburger Helper content I was posting so much about. Below is our actual dm conversation that kicked off an epic friendship.

Screenshot of a friendly conversation on a messaging platform between Bill Yost and Briana Bruhg discussing the Hamburger Helper and reminiscing about 1990s movie nights.

Forget trying to impress them with thought-leadership jargon. You’re not winning hearts with “synergistic growth opportunities.” So show up in their dms or comments and crack a joke, drop a witty one-liner, or roast yourself in a way that makes them snort their coffee. Congratulations, you’ve just cut through the noise.

2. Networking Isn’t Scary — It’s the Whole Point

Networking on LinkedIn isn’t like networking at a corporate cocktail party where you’re stuck making small talk about the weather. It’s better. You get to skip the sweaty handshakes, the awkward “so what do you do?” and just dive straight into conversation.

And yet people freeze. They act like sending a connection request is proposing marriage. Chill. It’s just a button. Worst case? They ignore it. Best case? You just opened the door to a new relationship that could change your entire business. If I was starting today, I’d send connection requests daily and message people with something human — not a pitch.

3. Metrics Are a Distraction

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: no one actually cares how many likes you got. Except you. And if you let the algorithm determine your self-worth, you’re going to burn out fast. If I was starting now, I wouldn’t even look at my metrics for the first 90 days. I’d focus only on showing up every day. Because consistency, not vanity numbers, is what builds trust.

4. Batch Content Like Your Sanity Depends on It

If you try to create content every single day in real time, you’re going to run out of steam. Batching is your best friend. Take a couple of hours once a week, write 3–5 posts, and schedule them. Ignore anyone who says scheduling is “inauthentic.” You know what’s inauthentic? Burning out and ghosting your community.

5. Comments Are the Party — Show Up

Your posts are the house you own. The comments are the neighborhood block party with a food truck. That’s where the fun is. If you want to grow fast on LinkedIn, you can’t just post and ghost. I’ve gotten more connections, more opportunities, and more friendships from a single witty comment than from entire posts. So stop lurking. Join the party.

6. Don’t Overthink — Just Show Up

The paralysis of perfection is killing your LinkedIn game. You need to hit publish. Over and over and over again. Laugh at yourself. Tell stories. Be chaotic sometimes. Show up as the real, unfiltered you. That’s what makes people stick around.

7. Have Fun or Don’t Bother

If you’re not having fun, people can tell. Your posts will read like corporate memos. Your comments will feel stiff. Don’t use LinkedIn like a diary and post about drama or negative tangents. Think about the community you’re trying to build. If it doesn’t feel inspiring, funny, or at least something people would actually want to talk about at a dinner table, don’t post it.

If you want more of my tips you can check out my e-book in the shop. It shares every single thing I did during my first 90 days of posting that took me from a little under 2k followers to over 5k.