LinkedIn is full of copywriting advice.
Every new creator on LinkedIn starts by posting copywriting advice.
Since there is much advice out there, one gets confused.
Who to listen to?
I think you should go with LinkedIn’s advice.
LinkedIn has awarded the Top Copywriting Voice badge to a few copywriters out there.
One of which is Yousuf Rafi.
I have known him for quite a long time.
He is a writer by passion. Despite having an Engineering degree, he set out to become a writer.
Currently, he has 5 Top Voice badges.
Hear him share his lessons on becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice, copywriting advice, and breaking through noise on LinkedIn.
Talha X
Before like starting with the interview, Share your story.
Yousuf Rafi
My name is Yousuf Rafi. I am a writer, and I have a degree in computer systems engineering and master’s in marketing.
So I started my journey as a computer engineer.
I did some programming for around six to seven months but then I got bored with programming so I wanted to explore some other field and luckily I got an intern role in marketing so I started intern as a marketer in an e-commerce store.
That was my start in the field of marketing so for two years I started from an intern position to a medium mid-level marketer in which I covered all the marketing on social media marketing and all types of marketing so while I was doing the marketing I used to write some bits of content.
Some blogs here and there.
And while doing that, I figured that I was really interested in writing while working on the blogs.
And I loved creating, writing and researching, reading.
I was very fond of reading.
When I started marketing, so reading was the from which I started writing full time.
And since then I am writing and now it’s about seven years and I’m still writing.
Talha X
That is a long time.
I will be honest with you, like you are the first top voices that I have interviewed, you are the first one who started his journey from the position of an intern.
Yousuf Rafi
Yes, the marketing, especially the marketing helped me quite a lot, so while I was studying marketing, I was also working in an e-commerce store, so in that e-commerce store, I learned a lot regarding marketing, regarding social media, so you can say that most of the things I learned on job while working there when I started as an intern.
And within this span of two and a half years, I learned a lot.
Talha X
Nice. And what are you doing currently?
Yousuf Rafi
I have a full time job as a content lead in a software house and since I am passionate about writing and reading.
So I do freelance on weekends and I read a lot because if you are not reading, you are not updating yourself and you get stuck which is not what you call the writer’s block.
So writer’s block is mainly when you stop reading stuff so you don’t get ideas.
Talha X
Exactly. I have experienced this a lot.
Recently, I wasn’t reading anything at all and I was just so busy with my newletter and my client’s work.
I burned out as a writer. I couldn’t write a single thing like in this week Like I barely could write my newsletter.
I think so I’m like getting a head of myself.
I should introduce myself to you.
So where did you start it?
I started my like in first introduction to digital marketing was back in 2014 I was a student at the time and a friend of mine was making good money.
He was making three to four thousand dollars per month.
Maybe more than that.
And I was like, okay, , he’s some 17 years old. And he’s living in Pakistan.
And he’s studying. And he has no exposure.
So he’s making a good amount of money.
I thought I should get into this.
And when I got into digital marketing, I started reading a lot. Like you are at a lot of blog posts. I read a lot of articles.
That is how I started.
Anyhow, let’s start the interview.
Why don’t we start by sharing your journey to becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice?
So, I think so at this point, have the top copywriting badge, right?
Yousuf Rafi
Yes, along with the five other badges, which is content and content writing, content strategy, digital marketing.
but my main focus is copywriting because on LinkedIn, I usually get clients regarding copywriting. So, I have put the top copywriter badge in front.
So, the clients can see it when they land on profile.
So, the LinkedIn journey basically started with my current job because there was one requirement which forced me to write some things on LinkedIn.
So, around two and a half years back, I had just two hundred or three and eight connections, which was just start I just created a LinkedIn ID and it was just lying there and there were no updates.
So, when I joined this agency, my current agency, and they forced me to start writing on LinkedIn and when I started writing articles on that and I started updating my profile.
It was good traffic and people started asking questions that how are you writing these and can you write things for us.
So that is how it all started, but mainly on LinkedIn, it’s all about consistency.
So either you for now, as I’ve also shared it in my other interviews that on LinkedIn, you must start your newsletter.
Whether you are a writer or whether you are a designer, whether you’re a developer.
Because if you don’t express yourself, people will not know that what you are thinking and how you view the world.
In a newsletter for a writer, you can do a couple of things.
You can share your thoughts, motivate people.
For me, it’s actually about sharing my life lessons and things I’ve learned.
Each day, I share lessons learned or regarding startups so I share all of those things and based upon those sharing I get clients on LinkedIn.
Because when you share a newsletter and it rolls on LinkedIn people like it share it comment on it.
So you get traffic on that and it reaches to people the right people if you use the right hashtags.
There is also important while sharing content on LinkedIn.
And they think starting a newsletter on LinkedIn has contributed to some like or maybe a tiny part to becoming a top person on LinkedIn.
Yes, it plays a small part but normally it’s when I share tips regarding copywriting.
So that is the main reason for the badge.
Talha X
So you’re saying that if you’re like whether you want to get traffic or you want to get clients, so you should post regularly whether it is like three or four days, doesn’t matter.
Doesn’t have to be like on a seven-day else calendar. I
It can be like three or four-day calendar, right?
Yes, Yes. Okay.
So, can you describe your writing process, what is your writing process from ideation tell, so when you start writing an idea in air, what is like your process from there on?
Yousuf Rafi
So, there are two types of writing, one is content writing and another is copy writing.
So, the content writing is already the blogs which you see on the website and copy writing is basically in the content which is created to persuade or evoke emotions among the customers.
So, for instance, the website content is a copy writing because when you visit a website.
Either they are selling something, are educating something.
After you have read it all, there is a CTA, there is a call to action button at the bottom of the page so you can purchase their services or the products.
So to begin if your copywriting you need to analyze your client what services they’re offering, what products they’re offering and after you’ve analyzed and researched on that you need to create the number of benefits they are giving.
So normally people focus on the features which is like for instance if you’re selling for Apple.
So instead of saying that if you’re selling an iPod instead of saying that this iPod can hold a 1 GB of data.
So this is not relevant to the target audience but if you say that this iPod can hold around 5000 songs.
So that is quite relevant because they are seeing the benefit that you can store the number of songs and they can measure that.
So the second question is how many songs will I be able to store in that?
So you for copywriting you need to focus on the benefits your client is providing and regarding when you once you know the benefits you could create your content around that benefit.
For each benefit either you are creating a section or you’re creating the whole page.
You will take one benefit you will write down or the regarding benefits of that one main benefit and you create content around that so for copywriting it’s that and for content writing it begins if you’re writing a blog it begins with the research once you get a topic or if you suggest a topic to a business you begin with their service or something related to their service.
For instance if I give an example currently I’m doing a furniture one of my client sells outdoor furniture in Dubai so I’m writing blogs for them.
So firstly I suggest 8 to 10 topics regarding furniture benefits of those furniture features. or how the furniture can, how furniture is used and it can improve your lifestyle.
So this is the basic idea. Once they approve the topic, I create, I take the topic and I normally create the outline of the blog.
So in the outline, they are basically subheadings.
They are 8 to 10 subheadings and in each heading, I either talk about pros or cons of that furniture or I create real life examples.
For instance, if I’m writing for a chair, so I will begin that how that chair is comforting or what are the benefits of sitting on that particular chair.
Talha X
The comfort.
Yousuf Rafi
Yeah, comfort of the chair, the durability of the chair.
So I will talk about all the benefits of that. So indirectly I’m selling the furniture.
I’m not saying that you just buy the furniture.
I’m just telling, I’m just sharing information. In a blog you share information.
These are the benefits, these are the examples. purchased this from that and I get certain number of advantages regarding that.
So that is a blog.
In a blog, once we create the outline, the most important part is basically the title.
Talha X
If the title is engaging, everything is smooth down there.
You need to create an engaging title.
Yousuf Rafi
And for a title, I write around 14 to 15 titles on a single topic. Then I mix and match those titles and create one unique title.
Talha X
So if you, if you check my newsletter.
You will see that all the titles are quite engaging.
Once you read the title, you say, Oh, what will be in that blog?
I must read that. So that is the starting point.
And the second most important part is the hope part, the starting of the blog.
So there are certain things you can do to start a blog. You can begin with the story. You can begin with some history.
You can state of fact about that. You can add some humor in that. You can either start with a quotation.
So basically, this is the starting point. And your goal should be to engage the reader. OK, so every sentence must move the story forward.
OK.
Talha X
Yeah, I think that this makes like good piece of advice for someone who is just starting out that.
So, if you want the person to get to the end point and take the action that like the call to action click on that call to action that person should be able to move from one sentence to another sentence without any problem.
So, you should write in a very like smooth way so that they for them it feels like they are like talking to someone or they are in a conversation with someone they are making a conversation with someone.
Yousuf Rafi
So, yeah, this makes like perfect sense.
Talha X
So, at what time do you write what is like the most optimum time for you to write?
Yousuf Rafi
So, for me, it’s normally the night time.
So, for instance, this around midnight this is my most creative time in which the ideas just start rolling on.
So, I just sit down and sometimes I just write titles of the blogs which I want to post.
Talha X
What has been like your biggest challenge when you were trying to build your presence on LinkedIn?
Yousuf Rafi
On LinkedIn, the most challenging part is connecting with the right audience, the right people.
When you start posting on LinkedIn in the starting, you might not get that much attention, that much traffic, comments and shares.
And once you start posting valuable content on LinkedIn and consistency is one of the cores, you need to be consistent with whatever you are posting.
So, when you start posting on LinkedIn and you stay consistent, after some time, you will connect with people.
And these people will play a vital role with giving you clients.
Because at times, when you start posting on LinkedIn and some people read your content on LinkedIn and they refer clients to you.
And even now, I get clients with word of mouth.
For instance, someone is connected with me on LinkedIn and he’s just reading my content.
He’s not doing anything.
Whenever a client approaches them, they redirect them to me.
This is the copywriter, this is the content writer I’ve been reading their content and you can connect with them.
So, most of my clients come in this way.
Talha X
What do you think is most effective if you’re trying to build if you’re trying to get traffic from LinkedIn so should you post on LinkedIn or should you publish a newsletter or should you write articles so in your opinion what is like the most optimum content for generating traffic for your website from LinkedIn?
Yousuf Rafi
so I would suggest two things;
First is the newsletter because that is quite personal and you share things your experience your stories with the world so that is important because on LinkedIn.
When people come to your profile if they read something so they’re reading your mind so if you have a newsletter and they come and read your newsletter so they read your thoughts and they get inspired by it so that is the starting point when people read your content they get either bored or they get inspired.
And secondly unity start posting consistently once in the start I would suggest four to five days a week to gain traffic and you need to test different hashtags.
You can test different things.
And thirdly I would also suggest comments leave valuable comments on high profile people.
For instance Gary V.
Talha X
Cole is a very famous writer.
Yousuf Rafi
You leave comments on his post or even some marketer, top performing marketer.
People will read your comments and they might contact you for the service because if you add value anywhere, whether it is newsletter, whether it is sharing your thoughts.
Creating a post or whether it is leaving a comment on someone else post.
When people find that you are adding some value, they just attract her towards you like a magnet.
Talha X
Okay.
Yousuf Rafi
And once you start getting a little bit of traffic, LinkedIn, LinkedIn will offer you that you are an expert in that field.
And you can share advice on collaborative articles. So that is a starting point. Okay. When you start sharing your advice on those articles.
Okay. And when you get around top five percent. So you get, you get a badge on that.
Talha X
I think back in, I think a few months back in, I talked over when I was like very much active on LinkedIn.
And I was contributing to articles a lot. So I got a message from LinkedIn saying that if you contribute to five or more articles, you become a LinkedIn Top Voice.
To be honest, I thought, okay, what is the, I am spending like one hour daily, on a daily basis Or maybe more than that, and what is the ROI on this?
I think I was spending like two hours a day, which means a major portion my work day.
because I don’t work more than like seven hours or maybe eight hours, seven hours is like the maximum that I was So, if I like contributing a major time of my birthday to this, what is the ROI?
Except the badge, so that is what I thought at the time, and I didn’t realize how valuable it was until like a few months later.
Yousuf Rafi
Yes, that is the starting point, because getting the top badge and leaving it there is not the goal.
The goal?
It’s to get the top badge and to generate traffic on your profile so that clients can connect with you.
So when the client visits your profile The first thing they see is the badge and they get inspired that okay, this is the top voice. So I can give work to that guy.
So they then scroll down the profile and see other stuff.
And so a Top Voice badge is a sign of trust.
Talha X
Okay.
Based on your own observations and its results, what is the picture of the answers on LinkedIn?
Yousuf Rafi
There is the most potential on LinkedIn. I normally say that LinkedIn is goldmine for writers.
So if you’re not on active on LinkedIn, you’re just leaving a huge chunk of potential clients.
When people Google you, even in the interviews, CV is getting absolute and HR personals are more focused on LinkedIn.
They even contact you on LinkedIn. They see what are you posting and what are you sharing.
So that is your first impression.
So if you are not on LinkedIn, how will people know that what are you doing and what are you sharing and what are your expertise on that particular subject?
Talha X
Yeah, I just got an offer from a company that was I think based in in some European country. I don’t remember the name and they offered me a full-time job.
I think for $5,000 per month or it was like somewhere from $3,000 to $5,000 a month depending on how I perform on the interview.
I didn’t pursue it at the time because I am so focused on building my own newsletter.
I do miss out days and there are days when I am not able to post on LinkedIn because I am like a lot of workers with my clients.
Yousuf Rafi
So even on days on days, am sorry to cut, on days in which you are not posting, you need to comment, leave comments.
So that would also add in the algorithm which LinkedIn is creating.
So even if you add five to six comments on days which you are not posting, that’s enough.
Talha X
Yeah, I think because there is a top, I think the creator at the moment on LinkedIn and his name is Jasmine Alic.
I don’t know if you are following him or not.
Yes. So, and he has been like talking a lot about the commenting strategy, your own commenting strategy and I think this is 100% right.
Talha X
That is all, Thank you so much man. It really means a lot.
Yousuf Rafi
Thank you so much for having me.
Talha X
Have a good day, man. Bubye.
Yousuf Rafi
Sure. You, too. Bye.
