Hey!

Matthew here.

This week, I spent a few hours analyzing Ali Abdaal's LinkedIn account, funnel, profile, and other social profiles.

My summary:

He's a genius creator.

BUT....

He's leaving a lot of followers, subscribers and revenue on the table.

Because his LinkedIn could use some big upgrades.

Let's dive in, shall we?

Profile Upgrades

Let's take a closer look. Here are 10 aspects of his profile worth mentioning:

1. Banner ✅ - could potentially add a little extra credibility. Something like "NY Times Bestseller" and/or "6M YouTube subscribers".
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​2. Profile picture ✅ - looks good. I'd zoom in a little more. When you're scrolling, can't see his face very well. Just get on your phone for 2 seconds, scroll on LinkedIn. Look how small the faces look. That's why you zoom in.
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​3. Bio ✅ - great. Credibility. What he does. He implicitly describes who he helps and how helps them: "productivity expert" and "how to do more of what matters to you".

But he could be more explicit with who he helps (and how) so that you know what you're getting by following him.
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​4. Verified ✅

One other small note: he made "follow" primary. Which is great.
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​5. LinkedIn Premium - doesn't have it. Not a dealbreaker by any means. But it would look a little more professional.
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​6. Top voice - doesn't have it. Would look a little more professional. You can get this by contributing to LinkedIn's collaborative articles for 1-2 weeks in a row.
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​7. Custom button - this is one of the major upgrades he could make. You get a link on every post next to your face. Then you don't have to link as much in your posts.

Example below (see the "visit my website" link?):

8. About section ✅ - really solid. Small upgrade would be switching "videos" to "content" - we're on LinkedIn, not YouTube.

9. Featured section - another major upgrade. Get rid of the descriptions. They make the reader 2-click.

10. Post frequency - 6-day gap. I think this was one-off, but worth calling out regardless.

8 Major Content Upgrades

Now, let's move to content:
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​1. Too video heavy - 5/10 of the last posts had videos. LinkedIn is primarily text-based platform. Videos in 20-30% of the posts is more than enough.
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​2. When using videos, they are primary, not supplementary - use the text to "summarize" the video for the readers/scrollers. Not everyone is going to watch the videos. Most people come onto LinkedIn to read - so make it easy for them.

3. 90% of his posts have links - use on 50% instead (won't sabotage reach as much). On the other 50% use the custom button link OR link in comments. You lose a lot of reach when you include a link in every post.
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​4. Missing long-form, educational content - take a look at Justin Welsh's posts lengths. That's the ideal on LinkedIn. Longer, more in-depth. Carousels included.

5. Uses LI newsletter (instead of newsletter) - LinkedIn doesn't promote newsletter very much. Just make a longer post. Then link to your newsletter. If LinkedIn were driving traffic to LI newsletters, I'd say go for it. But it's not prioritized.
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​6. Lacking curiosity gap in hooks - get people to click. Leave them with a cliff-hanger. Answer after they click.

7. People love the personal content - lean in more. You've got signal. More build-in-public, lifestyle posts.
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​8. Run an experiment with 5-10 min videos (1-2x per month) - stitch YT vids and experiment. Might be a great format for you (since you're primarily a video guy anyway). I do these 1-2x per month and they've consistently been some of my top performers.

Other Insights & Notes

As I was doing research, I did notice a few other things. You can see the video versions by clicking here.​

Or just read this bulleted list:

• Both text and carousels are very short. Could expand and be more educational.
• I do love how many different CTAs he uses. Audience not likely to get fatigued because he’s linking to different lead magnets. Free course. Newsletter. Quiz. Software. Other social platforms.
• Really slow form submit on his newsletter page. Maybe a one-off?
• He’s got a great funnel for his free YouTube course. Thank You Page offer is really solid. And a nice VSL.
• Looks like he’s not posting on twitter anymore. I think LinkedIn is the bigger opportunity right now anyway, but still…he’s got 300k+ followers there. Probably worth continuing to post (even if the content is repurposed). Bet it drives some business.

Takeaways For You And Me

You might have a different takeaway than I do.

But here are the big 3 for me:

1. Platform-native content. Many creators that "expand" to LinkedIn don't understand many of the nuances.
2. Having a big audience on another platform is a cheat code. Despite not nailing the platform-native content, he's still got nearly 200k followers and very loyal fans. Having a big YouTube helps all his other platforms.
3. Most people don't know best practices to get readers off platform (lead magnet idea? 👀). Ali is linking in every post. And sure, that works. But it also hurts his overall LinkedIn growth and reach - there are better ways to do it.

Want me to break down a specific person in the next issue? Just hit reply and let me know.

Matthew
Founder at Tribe Digital

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