Farm B2B Leads on LinkedIn Without Ads

LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards engagement loops that mix perceived scarcity, social proof, and direct action triggers.

A 500–600-follower account can use this strategy to generate 1,902 comments on a single post with a giveaway model.

How LinkedIn’s Friend-of-Friend Algorithm Expands Reach

LinkedIn boosts content visibility based on early interactions. When a connection likes or comments, a small segment of their network sees the post.

For accounts with 500–600 followers, 10–15 initial engagements can trigger exponential reach as second-degree connections join the conversation.

The Viral Lead Generation Framework

Create a High-Value Giveaway

Offer a resource your audience wants. Shortimize's team gave away a spreadsheet with 46,606 TikTok hooks from 1,000 consumer apps. Yet another post of theirs gave away an 18-case-study guide on TikTok marketing.

The resource should feel exclusive.

Use a Short, Attention-Grabbing Video

A 5–10 second preview scrolling through your spreadsheet or guide builds curiosity.

Write a Hook That Combines Curiosity and Urgency

Strong hooks use data and a news angle. For example, Guillaume referenced a TikTok ban and 46,606 viral hooks.

Another post used a comparison (“Skip business school”) and numbers (“71 fastest-growing apps”).

Avoid generic phrases like “Free guide inside.”

Use a Comment-Based Call-to-Action

Ask users to comment a keyword like “hooks” and to send a connection request.

The hooks Guillaume used was "Comment "hooks" and connect with me. We have to be connected for me to send you the resource."

This sends signals to the LinkedIn algorithm to promote it more due to high-engagement in comments section.

NOTE: Guillaume edited the hooks part to remove it after he added a link as you can see in the latest version of the post.

Get 10–15 Early Engagers

Reach out to colleagues or clients to like and comment within 30 minutes. This way you gain traction after manual outreach to industry contacts.

Skipping this is the surest way to ensure your post doesn't go viral.

Let Network Effects Take Over

Once the post gets engagement, it appears in the feeds of commenters’ connections.

This is how Guillaume's post reached 1,902 comments as second-degree connections joined in despite having very little followers.

Send Direct Links to Early Commenters

Reply to the first 10–20 comments saying you've DM'd them the resource.

This builds trustworthiness among other lurkers and encourages them to comment as well.

Wait 8–10 Hours Before Editing

Give the post time to collect engagement.

Greg Isenberg who earned 145,000 LinkedIn followers in just 14 months recommends 4-hours wait time (recommended by LinkedIn Engineers themselves) before editing the post to reap more benefits.

Add a Public Link Later

Update the post with: “Due to high demand, access the resource here: [link]”

His actual updated text: _"Wow! More than 1,500 of you requested the Spreadsheet. I'm still sending DMs but you can also get it directly here: https://lnkd.in/eN5xUjQw"

This reduces DM overload and keeps interest high.

Capture Emails with a Landing Page

The link should lead to a squeeze page.

A squeeze page is essentially a landing page optimized to capture email addresses thereby converting LinkedIn commenters into leads.

Real Case Studies of Shortimize

Case Study #1: 46,606 Hooks Spreadsheet

• Hook: AI-extracted data + timely news (“TikTok ban”). The actual hook: "TikTok was about to get banned. So we used AI to extract 46,606 viral hooks from the 1,000 best consumer apps' TikTok accounts. And we’re giving it all away for free:" (LINK)

• CTA: "Comment "hooks" and connect with me. We have to be connected for me to send you the resource"

• Results: 1,327 reactions, 1,902 comments, 11 reposts.

• Follow-Up: Added public link after 8 hours (https://lnkd.in/eN5xUjQw), driving traffic to Shortimize’s platform.

Case Study 2: 71 App Growth Strategies

• Hook: Positioned as an alternative to business school. The actual hook: "Skip business school, just read about how 71 of the fastest-growing consumer mobile apps are growing at lightning speed with TikTok marketing:" (LINK)

• CTA: Asked to comment "strategies" and encouraged likes, connections, and shares.

• Results: 573 reactions, 649 comments, 6 reposts.

• Follow-Up: "...Wow, a lot of people requested this! You can get it directly (and for free) here: https://lnkd.in/esXHWrKs."

Case Study 3: 18 TikTok Marketing Case Studies

• Hook: Highlighted time invested (“20+ hours”) and real results (“258 million views”). The actual hook: "I spent 20+ hours building a full guide on TikTok marketing for consumer apps. 18 case studies from viral apps doing millions of views:" (LINK)

• CTA: Asked to comment "case study"

• Results: 117 reactions, 286 comments, 5 reposts.

• Follow-Up: "Edit: got so many comments already! I'm still catching up with the DMs but you can also get it faster here: https://lnkd.in/d2cUvM2n"

A giveaway must solve a clear problem, whether it’s engagement data in a spreadsheet or insights from case studies.

Timing matters—editing a post after 4–8 hours boosts visibility. Social proof, such as “1,500+ comments,” makes the offer more appealing as humans are sheeps following herd mentality.

This strategy builds leads without paid ads, relying on LinkedIn’s organic engagement features.

A mix of exclusivity, direct CTAs, and strategic follow-ups turns a single post into an ongoing lead-generation system.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

I stopped downloading apps from App Store now but earlier when I used to download apps, I used to look at icons first and then screenshots. Also, social proof aka number of ratings.

Thankfully, making beautiful images is easy now due to Midjourney.

2/

Cursor's team hiring strategy: hire your products top 0.1% power-users.

They already know which features to work on if they are a power-user.

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A bootstrapped competitor of this same app makes $500k MRR while a VC-one has multiple millions in MRR.

Rabbit Holes

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3. Memory Bank: How to Make Cline an AI Agent That Never Forgets by Nick Baumann

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