Organic Social Media Newsletter, Community, Consulting

It was dumb luck honestly...

I was unqualified to even read the job description.

But they rolled the dice and took a chance on me and just like that I was running social media at YouVersion (the Bible app with 1 BILLION downloads).

At YouVersion I saw how legitimately caring about your audience results in insane follower growth and engagement. We increased the following of our Instagram account from 500,000 to 2.6 million followers in two years. We launched multiple accounts that grew from zero to over 100,000. Our TikTok went from zero to over 300,000 in under six months.

I'm currently the Head of Social at Benzinga where I lead the best social media team in the world. So far we've grown our social presence by over 600K followers (50%) and drove 877.74M impressions and 25.97M engagements with a post volume of over 21.7K posts. And we're just getting started.

I started writing on LinkedIn on January 1, 2022 and have written (almost) everyday for 4 years. The account has grown from 0 to 45,000+ followers. 15,000 of those followers have been kind enough to subscribe to my newsletter, Social Studies.

Social Studies is trusted by social media pros at Walmart, Amazon, Beehiiv, TikTok, Nike, Google, Tesla, Microsoft, DoorDash, Shopify, Adobe, Apple, PayPal, Uber, Salesforce, Target, Disney, Nvidia, Canva, John Deere, Accenture, T-Mobile, Marriott, Dell, and Forbes.

Kind words from Ish Verduzco (Founder of Internet Empires, previously at a16z, Snap, and LinkedIn): “There are only a handful of other creators in the social media space who are as sharp and consistent as Jacob has been in recent years. Social Studies is a great addition to your inbox if you work in the social media industry and want to learn from a pro.”

In short... I help brands build audiences, engaged communities, and raving fans.

Jacob Shipley

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Social media marketing does not work instantly.

Buuuuuuuuuuut it does work quicker when you've got the right tools.

https://lnkd.in/g3QKqjHf

Brand partnership • Marketing @ Benzinga

Ghostwriter for people who hate sounding like everyone else.

You’re not just busy.
You’re buried.

Clients, calls, launches, growth… and somewhere in between, you’re supposed to “just post on LinkedIn” and wait for the leads to roll in.

Here’s the truth nobody tells you:
Inbound works - but it’s not instant.
It takes time, testing, and the right content to attract the right people.

That’s why my clients don’t rely on hope alone.
We run inbound and outbound in parallel.

Inbound: Content + comments that build authority and trust so leads find you.

Outbound: Strategic, non-spammy outreach that starts conversations with your ideal buyers now.

It’s a two-lane system:

Inbound creates long-term demand.
Outbound brings short-term opportunities.
Together, they keep your pipeline moving - now and later.

What this looks like in action:

“Five months ago, I was stuck at 20K. Now we’re almost at 70.
It didn’t happen by magic. It happened in the shadows — your ghost comments, your fingerprints on DMs I didn’t know how to answer.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, my work got sharper. Less about me, more about them.
You don’t say much. But when you do, it’s clean, fast, and brutal in the best way. I trust your eye because you don’t flinch.”

Proof:

11k+ organic followers grown

Clients booking calls within weeks

Leads that multiply with consistent, strategic posting

If you want LinkedIn to bring you leads without becoming a guessing game,
DM me “GROW” and I’ll share the exact strategy I use for my clients.

Nadia Bajwa

Consistency doesn’t fix weak positioning.

You can post every day.

But if your message is vague,
you’re just amplifying vagueness.

LinkedIn rewards clarity of thought, not frequency of posting.

So when positioning is unclear, more content won’t help.

It just makes the confusion more visible.

Consistency compounds.

The question is what it’s compounding.

Your LinkedIn presence should match the level you operate at. | I help founders & coaches make that happen.

If your goal is to “blow up” on LinkedIn,
I’m not the right fit.

Virality is unpredictable.

Authority is engineered.

Serious founders don’t need attention from everyone.

They need relevance with the right people.

There’s a difference between visibility
and positioning.

One is loud.

The other lasts.

Most people overestimate what happens in a month.

But underestimate what happens in a year of quiet discipline.

Not the loud kind.

Not the kind you announce.

The invisible kind.

The mornings you show up when motivation is gone.

The nights you keep learning while everyone else is scrolling.

The small improvements no one claps for.

At first it feels like nothing is happening.

No applause.
No big wins.
No visible progress.

But something is happening.

Your thinking sharpens.
Your standards rise.
Your patience grows.

And one day you look back and realize:

The things that once overwhelmed you
are now things you handle without thinking.

That’s the power of consistency.

Not loud.

Not glamorous.

But almost unstoppable.

The real growth usually happens in silence.

Everyone wants to do big things.

Start a company.
Build a personal brand.
Get in the best universities.
Become the top 1%.

But almost nobody wants the boring middle.

The part where:

You post and 7 people see it.
You apply and get ignored.
You study and your grades barely move.
You try something new and feel stupid at it.

That’s the phase most people quietly quit in.

Not because they’re incapable.

Because it doesn’t look impressive yet.

The truth is, the “boring middle” is where almost everything important is built.

Skills.
Reputation.
Confidence.
Momentum.

It’s just invisible while it’s happening.

People love to celebrate the highlight.

Very few respect the grind that made it possible.

But if you can survive the boring middle without losing interest in the work itself, you’re already ahead of most people.

That’s usually where the real separation starts.

You don’t need to post more.

You need to sound more like yourself.

Most founders don’t struggle with ideas.

They struggle with translation.

They over-polish.
Over-generalise.
Dilute strong opinions.

And the result feels… flat.

The goal isn’t volume.

It’s alignment.

When your content reflects how you actually think,
authority starts compounding quietly.

Visibility doesn’t automatically create credibility.

You can post every day.
Share smart ideas.
Get consistent engagement.

And still not be taken seriously.

Because credibility isn’t built through activity.

It’s built through clarity.

If your positioning is vague,
your authority feels soft.

And soft authority rarely attracts serious opportunities.

Being seen is public.

Being respected is earned.

Most founders think they have a content problem.

They don’t.

They have a representation problem.

They know what they’re doing.
They’ve built real experience.
They have strong thinking.

But their online presence doesn’t reflect it.

So the market fills the gap with assumptions.

Usually smaller ones.

Your LinkedIn presence is a signal.

The question is what level it signals.

Most invisible personal brands aren’t built by bad founders.

They’re built by visibility debt.

Small decisions that feel harmless in the moment:

“I’ll start posting next month.”
“I need to clarify my niche first.”
“I don’t want to sound repetitive.”

Each one sounds reasonable.

So nothing changes.

But the algorithm keeps score.

Every week you stay quiet,
someone else becomes the voice of your industry.

Every month you delay,
your competitors become the obvious choice.

Visibility debt compounds.

The silence becomes your brand.
The absence becomes your reputation.
The opportunity goes to someone louder.

And just like financial debt...

The longer you ignore it,
the harder it is to catch up.

You’re about to do something you’ve been thinking about for weeks.

Your finger is hovering over the “post” button.

And suddenly your brain starts negotiating with you.

“Maybe tomorrow.”
“Maybe this idea isn’t good enough.”
“What if people think it’s stupid?”

So you close the app.

And tell yourself you’ll come back when you’re more confident.

The problem is most people think confidence is something you earn first.

Like it’s a qualification.

But confidence doesn’t come before action.
It’s built by surviving the awkward first attempts.

The first bad post.
The first idea nobody responds to.
The first time you speak and your voice shakes a little.

That’s the real process.

Everyone wants the final version of themselves.

Very few people are willing to tolerate the unfinished one long enough to become it.

Some environments don’t just limit you.

They quietly kill your spark.

  
Not because you lack ambition.  
Not because you stopped trying.  

But because every day you’re surrounded by energy that makes excellence feel… unnecessary.

  
Low standards become normal.  
Curiosity gets replaced with indifference.  
And slowly, the fire you once had starts dimming.

  
The most dangerous part?

You begin to question yourself.

Maybe I’m asking for too much.  
Maybe this is just how things are.  
Maybe I should lower my expectations.

  
But the truth is:

The right environment doesn’t make you smaller.  
It expands you.

It challenges you.  
Sharpens your thinking.  
Pushes you to raise your own standards.

  
Sometimes growth isn’t about fixing yourself.

It’s about changing the room you’re in!🍀

Confidence doesn’t always disappear overnight.

Sometimes it fades quietly.

You start second-guessing things you used to say without hesitation.
You hold back ideas you would’ve shared instantly a year ago.
You overthink simple decisions that once felt obvious.

Nothing dramatic happened.

Just small moments over time.

An eye roll when you spoke up.
An idea that got dismissed too quickly.
A room where playing small felt safer than standing out.

And slowly, you adjust.

Not because you became less capable.
But because you learned the room wasn’t built for boldness.

The scary part is how normal it starts to feel.

Until one day you’re in a different room.
Different people. Different energy.

You say something you almost held back.

And instead of silence…

Someone builds on it.
Someone challenges it.
Someone pushes the idea even further.

That’s when it hits you.

Your voice was never the problem.

The room just didn’t know how to hear it✨

Success can make founders invisible.

You build the business.
Then the business starts to replace you.

You hire.
Delegate.
Step back from the front.

And slowly, your voice disappears from the company you created.

The brand grows.

Your presence fades.

That’s not a growth problem.

It’s a perception problem.

People see the company.

But they don’t see the person behind it.

And when that happens, authority doesn’t compound.

It fragments.

Visibility isn’t ego.

It’s leverage.

If you’re not clearly present,
you’re easier to overlook than you think.

Gratitude changes the way you see everything.

Not in a “positive vibes only” kind of way.

But in a quiet, grounding way that shifts your perspective.

You stop measuring your life only by what hasn’t happened yet.

The promotion that didn’t come.

The opportunity that passed you by.

The version of success you thought you’d reach by now.

And you begin to notice things you once overlooked.

The resilience you built through difficult seasons.

The lessons that came disguised as setbacks.

The people who stayed in your corner when progress felt slow.

Gratitude doesn’t erase ambition.

You still want to grow.

You still want more for yourself.

You still chase bigger goals.

But it changes the energy you move with.

Instead of constantly feeling behind,

you start recognizing how far you’ve actually come.

The things that once felt impossible

are now part of your everyday life.

The confidence you used to admire in others

is slowly becoming your own.

And the path that once felt uncertain

is shaping you in ways you couldn’t have planned.

Gratitude teaches you something powerful.

You can be deeply ambitious about where you’re going

while still being genuinely thankful for where you are.

And that balance?

That’s where real growth begins!🌱

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Ghostwriter

Ghostcommenter

Copywriter

Content Writer

We scroll past thousands of thoughts every day.

Smart ones.  
Deep ones.  
Even helpful ones.

I used to think the problem was the ideas.

Maybe they weren’t strong enough.  
Maybe they weren’t “deep” enough.  
Maybe I just needed to sound smarter.

So I tried.

Longer posts.  
Better words.  
More effort to impress.

But nothing really changed.

People saw it… and kept scrolling.

That’s when it clicked.

It was never about saying more.  
It was about saying something that hits.

A sentence that feels a little too real.  
A line that makes someone pause without knowing why.  
A thought they’ve had before, but never quite put into words.

That’s what makes people stop.

Not perfection.  
Not complexity.

Just truth, said clearly enough that it lands.

Because in a world full of noise,  
the rarest thing isn’t intelligence.

It’s resonance.

LinkedIn has developed some… interesting habits lately.

A few things that make me pause mid-scroll:

• People announcing they’re being “brutally honest” before sharing the most generic opinion you’ve ever read.

• “Unpopular opinion:” followed by something 99% of LinkedIn already agrees with.

• Founders writing like motivational speakers instead of operators.

• Fake vulnerability posts that somehow end with a course link.

• The same AI-written insight appearing in five different feeds on the same day.

• “Here’s the exact template I used to get 1M impressions.”

• Story posts where the lesson is somehow always “buy my program.”

None of this is the real issue though.

The real issue is that it slowly trains capable founders to think this is what they have to do to be visible here.

They don’t.

The founders who stand out long-term usually do something much simpler:

They write how they actually think.

Not how the platform tells them to sound.

taplio

The Battle

Jacob Shipley

Nadia Bajwa

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJacob Shipley's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNadia Bajwa's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jacob Shipley

Nadia Bajwa

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jacob Shipley's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreNadia Bajwa's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJacob Shipley's LinkedIn Performance