Aftermath of a Viral 430k Impression LinkedIn Post
Is content marketing still worth it?
I went viral on LinkedIn again. My post amassed 430k impressions.
Guess how many followers I gained from this.
Answer: Around 400 followers. I had about 15.3k followers before this post, and now I’m at 15.7k.
That’s around a 0.1% conversion rate from impressions to followers!
At a 0.1% conversion rate, you need about 1 million impressions to gain….1,000 followers.
That’s a tall-order, especially if you don’t have many followers to begin with.
The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs
These low conversion rates could just be the “Law of Shitty Clickthroughs” in effect.
Coined by Andrew Chen, a partner at Andreesen Horowitz, this law says that marketing channels degrade overtime.
For example, the very first internet banner ad in 1994 had a click-through rate of 78%.
Compare that to a Facebook ad that had a click-through rate in 2011 of 0.05%.
That’s a 1500x decrease!
What this tells me is that you can’t just rely on advice from others about growing marketing channels. By the time they share it, those strategies are often overused and less effective. Instead, you have to innovate and discover the channels that work for you.
Let’s take the common advice to “post on Twitter/LinkedIn, build an audience, and funnel to a newsletter” as an example. With more readers experiencing newsletter fatigue, this approach may not yield the same results.
Instead, it’s better to pay close attention to emerging channels and try to be an early adopter.
For instance, instead of focusing solely on platforms like X/LinkedIn, consider exploring newer options like Threads or Substack Notes.
Sometimes, it’s not even about new platforms but new features on existing ones.
For example, LinkedIn’s new video feature could be a great opportunity for video content creators to stand out before it becomes saturated.
Beating the Law of Shitty Clickthroughs with Network Effects
Lastly, instead of only relying on content marketing, you could also try doubling down on network effects by optimizing word-of-mouth and viral loops.
For example, early on in Twitch the team focused on making the creator experience better. The more satisfied the creator, the more they streamed, the more viewers it generated, and the more creators streamed — a flywheel effect.
For consulting businesses, this could come in the form of doubling down on Referrals and word-of-mouth programs as it’s one of the most cost-efficient channels there is.
I’ve personally been trying to push this more as you can see in my LinkedIn profile, website, and featured section.
I’ll share the results in 2025—stay tuned!
Let’s Stay Connected 🤝
In the mean time, if you’d like to follow along with my journey:
Look out for another update from me in December!
- Michael