The Ultimate LinkedIn Launch Checklist

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Last week I jumped in to help a good mate develop a LinkedIn strategy to launch his latest venture.

Rory is a former golf agent who’s recently taken over as Co-Founder of Platform Golf, a world class bit of golf coaching kit that allows golfers to simulate and analyse any putt.

Rory realised the power of his LinkedIn network to make a splash about his new business. But working with Rory reminded me just how many misconceptions there are about launching a new product, business, job or service on LinkedIn.

Here’s the stroke-by-stroke of what I told him, and the big mistakes to watch out for.

*Most of the below also applies if you’re writing a farewell or redundancy post and want to signal to your network that you’re looking for work.

Launch Mistake 1: One and Done

Did you know? As little as 6-8% of your 1st degree network sees any one of your LinkedIn posts.

So if you only post once about your big new announcement, 90%+ of your most relevant peeps will remain completely in the dark. That’s a huge missed opportunity.

Don’t be sheepish about queuing up multiple pieces of content about your new thing. It’s a big deal, you need to get behind it!

I reckon 4 posts is the sweet spot.

Suggested Post Ideas

Post 1 - Photo post. “Excited to announce” style post with a team photo, company logo or a photo of you in your new workplace.

Post 2 - Video post. Could be a product video, company sizzle reel, or a simple video of you talking to the selfie camera on your phone, explaining what the new adventure is.

Post 3 - Story post. Share an anecdote. Potential topics:

• the moment that changed your trajectory to land here

• how you met your new business partner

• your best memory in the industry

• your biggest fail or biggest win.

This post could also take the form of a video. 

Post 4 - Link to website. If your new thing has a website, use a dedicated post to share it with your audience. More on this below.

By simply following these steps, you’ve already 4xed the awareness of your big shiny new thing.

Posting Cadence

I recommend posting at 48 hr intervals. Schedule posts to go out at 8am local time (watch here to see how to schedule posts).

Launch Mistake 2 - External Links

LinkedIn is selfish. It wants to keep people 'on platform', so the algorithm buries all posts that include any external links, eg a link to your website, a YouTube video, a press release, media article, etc.

Posts including an external link achieve roughly 80% less reach than posts without an external link.

Put another way, if you normally get around 500 impressions per post, a post with an external link will only receive around 100 impressions.

Use this sneaky algorithm trick to share an external link:

Type [dot] in place of the . for a website, eg:

go to platformgolf [dot] com for more info.

Sure, the reader will have to copy & paste themselves to check out the site, but if they’re interested they’ll probably take that step. And you won’t kill your reach.

Plus, with a considered sequence of multiple launch posts, you can afford to make one exception to this rule to show your website to a handful of people in your network (ie post 4 above).

Bonus Tip: If you’re sharing a news article or a press release, simply take screenshots and post those rather than driving people out to a separate website. Here’s an example.

Launch Mistake 3 - No Call To Action

The Call To Action (CTA) is the crux of any LinkedIn post (or any piece of marketing collateral, really). It’s how you give someone who’s interested a next step to take.

Whether it’s checking out your website, signing up for your newsletter, or simply following you, a good CTA is simple, clear & easy to follow for readers. 

The CTA goes in as the last sentence on any post.

Here are the 3 examples I provided to the Platform Golf team:

1. Send me a DM with 'golf' to learn how you can partner with us

2. Go to platformgolf [dot] com to register for updates 

3. Follow [tag]Platform Golf so you don't miss the latest news

Every single one of your LinkedIn posts should have a CTA, otherwise the awareness & interest you create for your launch has nowhere to go.

Launch Mistake 4 - No Outreach

Sure, the dopamine hit of Likes & Comments is real. Soak it up.

But then you need to get to work. Respond to every comment. Take the opportunity to send a connection request to every single person who engages with your post. It’s the perfect moment to include them in your audience so they see your updates moving forward.

If you’re feeling really brave, send them this simple message along with the connection request:

“Thanks for [liking my post / checking out my profile / commenting on my post]. Did anything stand out?”

It’s an easy way to hand them the mic and see if they have anything to say. You’ll be surprised at what comes out.

My Content to Conversation playbook goes into lots more detail about how to have productive 1:1 conversations in your LinkedIn DMs.

I’m excited to see this plan in action over the next 2 weeks as Rory & the team continue to launch. They’re giving themselves the best possible chance of success.

I’d love to hear from you: which of these LinkedIn mistakes have you been making?

PS why not forward this launch plan to a Marketing Manager in your life, or bookmark it for the next time you launch a new program?