Episode 459: How the Flywheel Effect Drives LinkedIn Content Success

Intro 00:49
Greetings everyone, and thanks for joining us for Making Sales Social Live, coming to you from the Social Sales Link virtual studios. I’m Bob Woods. Brynne Tillman is here. Stan is going to be joining us—he’s having a little bit of problems getting through the front door of the Social Sales Link virtual studios. We hope he’s able to join us here pretty quickly. How are you doing, Brynne?
“I’m good, Bob. How are you?”
I’m doing well, thank you. Appreciate that.
“I love that.”

Bob Woods 01:20
Yeah, so let’s talk flywheel. And everybody is going, “What is that exactly?” Well, creating content for LinkedIn that’s truly successful for meeting and exceeding your goals involves more than just writing a post and clicking send. I think we all know that. Nowadays, you really need to build momentum with those posts to both capture and retain interest with your audience. So we’ve built this concept of the flywheel effect. What this does is give you a strategic approach—and we all love strategy around here—where each action you take contributes to the momentum of the next action. That’s what gets that flywheel smoking, right, Brynne?

Brynne Tillman 02:11
Absolutely. I love this. I recently reread the book The Flywheel Effect, and I recognized how critical that is when it comes to social selling. Often we’re like, “Okay, we tried it for a week and it didn’t work.” And—you’re like, “Yeah.” This is about really cranking it up, getting it going. And it’s kind of like popcorn: the microwave’s going and you’re wondering when it’s going to start to pop, and then when it does—in 20 seconds—it’s popping like crazy. But you’ve got a lot of silent time, right? There’s a lot of getting it going in the beginning. So that’s what we’re going to talk about: how to get that flywheel pumping.

Bob Woods 03:04
Yep, getting it going and getting it flying. Before we get started, we have a free ebook associated with this. Let me see—I’ve got to get to the design. No, it’s in captions. We got thrown a little bit with Stan not being here at the beginning. The free ebook encompasses everything we’re discussing today. It’s at socialsaleslink.com/flywheel — socialsaleslink.com/flywheel. We’ll have that in the show notes if you’re listening on the podcast. If you’re viewing live, you see the address on your screen, as well as a handy-dandy QR code that will not bring up the most recent menu for your favorite restaurant. This will actually take you to the ebook.
“That is yummy.”
Yes, ours is yummy—but in a different way.

Bob Woods 04:02
So with that, we have five different things to talk about, and then there’s a wrap-up at the end. Number one: it has to resonate and spark curiosity. This is huge. It ties directly to the actual content you’re putting out there, right, Brynne?

Brynne Tillman 04:34
Yes. Let’s start with that. We typically say content needs to do five things, but it absolutely needs to resonate. We’re in a world where everything is noisy. There’s so much content out there. If you go to your LinkedIn newsfeed, half of it is ads, and most of it is stuff you may not be interested in. But when you’re scrolling, you need a scroll-stopper. Often, along with an image, that is you going, “Oh, I see my title. I see my industry. This is for me.” That’s the resonate piece.

The second piece is it needs to create curiosity—enough that you’re willing to click “See more.” The other three elements are:

1. I need to teach them something new, because if it sounds like everyone else, who cares?

2. What they learn should get them thinking, “How does this apply to me and my situation?”

3. It needs to create a compelling moment—moving them from lurker to engager.

So your content, in the flywheel effect, starts with great content that addresses challenges or gets your buyers thinking differently.

Bob Woods 06:26
Absolutely. That dovetails nicely into the second thing: inviting the right people to engage. You don’t want just anyone coming in. Anyone can come in—and that’s fine—but you want to attract the people you want to have conversations with.

The algorithm is the algorithm. You can’t just click “send” on a post and expect everyone you know (and those you don’t) to see it. The initial hours of engagement are key to a post’s success. Richard van der Blom, who is a master at tracking the LinkedIn algorithm, continues to see this. But we almost need to take it away from the algorithm, because people want their message spread as widely as possible. You really want to be that micro-influencer, as I used to call it once upon a time.

To kickstart interest and get the flywheel moving, invite your ideal audience to engage early. Identify first-degree connections who align with your ICP—your ideal customer profile. After you post, reach out with a personalized message to a select group you know will find value.

A quick example:
“Hey [Name], I just shared a post about [topic]. I value your insights. Does this align with what you’re seeing in your industry?”

Simple, respectful, and opens the door for productive conversation—without being salesy. It also signals the LinkedIn algorithm and exposes your content to more of your network and theirs.

Brynne Tillman 09:35
I love that. And it’s easy to do. A lot of people don’t recognize that you can blind-copy up to 10 people at a time. Use the little paper airplane at the bottom of your post, add 10 folks, and send it separately. You can’t use their names, but you can say something like, “As an industry expert…” or “As someone interested in X…” and ask for their insights.

Another thing you can do is create content as a poll and ask people to vote. Polls often gain momentum quickly.
Let’s go on to number three, my friend.

Bob Woods 10:21
Number three: responding and expanding the conversation. The flywheel really gets going when people see you active in your own content. I can’t tell you how many times I see people post, get great comments, and the author never returns. Talk about throwing sand in the gears! If you want to halt your flywheel, that’s how you do it.

You need to respond and expand the conversation. Note what the person said, add a little more, and ask questions to keep it going.

Brynne Tillman 11:41
Exactly. Ask questions. If someone says, “Great post—thanks for sharing,” respond with something like, “I appreciate the kind words. What stood out to you most? What resonates? How do you see this applying?”

Now you’ve got momentum, because they’ll reply. Posts that perform exceptionally well often have threads like: comment → author reply → commenter reply → author reply, and so on. That signals to LinkedIn that the post is active and interesting. That’s the micro-flywheel inside your flywheel.

Bob Woods 12:55
Yep. And in our ebook at socialsaleslink.com/flywheel, we go into more detail on this. It’s a great planning resource.

Number four: engaging before you post. We’re going back in time here. Engage with others before posting. This ties to our 10-to-1 ratio: for every post you publish, engage with at least 10 other posts beforehand. Not only does this spread your presence—it also signals to LinkedIn that you’re contributing value. Don’t go spamming comments. As Stan says in the chat: “Don’t post and ghost.” LinkedIn rewards pre-post engagement, boosting your content the moment you publish.

Brynne Tillman 15:05
I love that. And yes, “post and ghost” is part of number three, where we need to keep momentum going in conversations. But I want to come back to “engage before you post.” You mentioned the 10-to-1 ratio, which I think is so important.

You want to make sure of a couple of things. Number one, engage with people you want to see your content. That’s important because you’re literally telling LinkedIn, “These people matter.” If you’re engaging with their content, LinkedIn assumes they’ll be interested in yours.

Second, make sure you’re engaging with other authors who attract the people you’re interested in. Just make sure you’re not competing directly with them, because it could feel like you’re poaching—and we don’t want that.

For example, every Saturday morning I attend Mark Hunter and Meredith Elliott Powell’s Sales Logic Podcast live on LinkedIn at 8 AM Eastern. I do this for many reasons. I always walk away with great takeaways, and the people they attract are exactly the people I want in my network and who would be interested in my content. I’ve made friends there, and clients are now showing up too. Engaging with someone else’s content is a wonderful way to attract the right people. Engaging prior to sharing your own content is a great way to make sure others show up for yours.

Bob Woods 17:02
I’m laughing because we just put up a comment from the chat: “Is pre-engagement before posting considered un-ghosting?”

Brynne Tillman 17:15
There’s a bit of a difference, but Chris, I love that! Pre-engagement is about leveraging your network—making them feel seen so they start to see your stuff. “Post and ghost” is when people post and never return to engage. We want the opposite.

And thanks to Stan in the chat: Engage before and after your post. Not just before. Good update. Engage, engage, engage. Ten to one.

Bob Woods 18:09
Keep that flywheel smoking. That’s exactly what it’s about. And this leads into our last point before the wrap-up: staying consistent and letting the flywheel compound.

Flywheels don’t move forever. You have to keep putting energy into them—and everything we’ve discussed is that energy. One post isn’t enough to change the game. Real growth comes from consistency and commitment.

Cultivate a pattern of interaction with your audience by regularly engaging with them and sharing valuable content—your own content plus engaging with theirs. Your efforts will compound as you continue this routine. Train your network to expect new content from you. Train them to expect you in their content—adding value, making them look good, contributing authentically. When you do that, they’ll start to look forward to seeing your name.

Brynne Tillman 19:35
Yes, and to add to that: schedule your content. You may be wondering how to maintain consistency. Inside LinkedIn, there’s a little clock icon that lets you schedule posts.

For example, every Wednesday my newsletter goes out at the same time each week. I’m not available every week at that time, but it’s scheduled—usually eight to ten weeks in advance. So if you want that consistency and that compounding effect, set aside an hour each quarter and schedule a batch of weekly content.

Bob Woods 20:34
Definitely. And keep in mind that as you’re scheduling, you’ll want to be around beforehand to meet that 10-to-1 engagement rule. One nice thing: if you’ve got a post scheduled for Wednesday at 9 AM and you don’t have time to engage beforehand, but you do have time from 10 to 11, just reschedule the post for 11.

Speaker 21:01
Perfect. I love that. That’s really good.

Brynne Tillman 21:05
And put time in your calendar to engage.

Bob Woods 21:12
Absolutely. And before we wrap, we need to talk about one more quick thing. In the ebook, it’s called “The Bigger Picture,” and it’s all about building a community.

It’s simple: you’re building a community of people you want to talk to when you follow the flywheel process. Imagine being—not necessarily the “star”—but the leader of that community. Someone people look to for content, insights, and advice. This makes it easier to spark conversations. Building a community does take time, and it involves everything we’ve discussed, but it should ultimately be your goal.

These people may become clients, or they may refer you, or they may open new networking doors. A strong community has endless benefits.

Brynne Tillman 22:30
Amazing. I love this. And your network is—

Speaker 2 22:33
—your net worth.

Brynne Tillman
Love it. Alright, my friend, let’s bring this in for a landing. The free ebook again is at socialsaleslink.com/flywheel.

Bob Woods 22:45
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Making Sales Social Live. Whether you’re live or listening on the podcast, we do these sessions every week. If you’re on the podcast and haven’t subscribed yet, please do. Likes and comments across the podcast universe are always appreciated.

For more information, go to socialsaleslink.com/podcast. And when you’re out and about this week—and every week—be sure to…

Brynne Tillman 23:19
Make your sales social! Hey, I did it all by myself!

Outro 23:25
I heard Stan chiming in somewhere at the same time. Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. See you soon. Bye!

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