Building on Rented Land
I’ve made a lot of mistakes when building my brand.
1️⃣ Remember #Dear1L?
Yeah, that was the hashtag I started and grew to 2,810 followers.
—I started #DearLegalWriter, too. That one I grew to 1,722 followers.
Then LinkedIn said ❌ to hashtags.*
👉 Lesson: Be careful building on rented land.
You don’t own anything here.
You should, at the very least, download your LinkedIn data regularly.
Here’s how:
Go to desktop —> Click on your photo —> Settings & Privacy —> Data Privacy —> How LI uses your data —> Get a copy of your data
2️⃣ My second big mistake was refusing to start a newsletter.
I even drafted a whole post titled, “I hate newsletters”:
In it, I explained:
🔻 I get newsletters about law school. I find them repetitive, simplistic.
— “I know more than they do,” I think to myself as I read.
🔻 I get newsletters about legal writing. They’re dense, difficult to follow.
— Perhaps it’s my inadequacy, but I find it taxing to extract a writing lesson from a random passage on a legal topic about which I know so little. I just end up feeling, well, inadequate.
🔻 I also find the personal tidbits in newsletters to be distracting.
— “I signed up for the valuable content you create, not to keep up with whether you have a cold this week,” I found myself thinking to myself as I surveyed a sampling from my inbox this past week.
And so, for 2.5 years, I refused to do a newsletter.
I didn’t start until Feb 2023, and in it, I avoid the 3 things I hate about other newsletters
It’s been 6 months now, and all I can say is this:
👉 PLEASE START A NEWSLETTER TODAY!!!!
Benefits:
—You aren’t doomed if you lack a perfect “hook.”
—Your readers actually WANT to hear from you.
—The Algorithm’s mood that day doesn’t matter.
—There’s no risk of public rebuke.
—YOU own all the data!!!
—> All these make the writing process a joy, as opposed to an anxious foray outside your comfort zone.
I highly recommend you don’t wait another day!**
Fondly,
💌 Amanda
🗳️ Do you have a newsletter? Tell us all about it in a comment below!!!
***
P.S. The newsletter I did eventually start is called 3 Bullets.
Once per month, you get an email with 3 short blasts of helpful writing advice—
-1 for brief writers,
-1 for 1L writers, and
-1 for LinkedIn writers.
In 6 months, I’ve collected 986 subscribers.
Help me get to 1,000 + don’t miss out on the tips your peers are getting!
You can sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eGZk6kBt
🔴 Make sure to read my first comment for additional thoughts on LinkedIn hashtags! 🔴