From Likes To Leads | Social Hire

By Ellie Yantsan

There’s a moment every founder reaches when social media stops feeling fun and starts feeling expensive. You ship posts, rack up impressions, maybe even grow followers—and yet your calendar is still empty. I’ve been there. The turn happens when you stop treating social as a billboard and start using it like a booking system. The goal is not noise. The goal is conversations with people who can actually buy.

I think about this work the way you’d approach a complex jigsaw. You don’t force the final picture; you collect small wins that lock together and reveal what to do next. On off hours I even relax with Fantasy Puzzles because they remind me of the rhythm I want in marketing—patient, methodical, surprisingly satisfying when a cluster clicks. The same discipline turns social channels from decoration into a predictable pipeline.

Reach Less People More Precisely

Most teams chase reach because it’s visible. But reach without relevance burns time. Instead, build the smallest audience that can move your business. For a B2B service, that might be three buyer roles in four industries across two regions. That’s it. Every decision—from which platform to use to what you post—gets easier when you’re aiming at a tiny, costly group rather than the general internet.

Start with an “audience sheet” you update weekly:

• Who they are: titles, seniority, adjacent roles who influence the deal
• Where they hang out: specific LinkedIn groups, newsletters, events, niche forums
• What they need next: clarity, proof, shortcut, or a low-risk first step

This sheet becomes your north star. If a post idea doesn’t serve a need on that sheet, it doesn’t ship.

Content That Earns Trust Before It Asks

I bucket posts into three simple types and try to publish all three every week:

1. Signal posts show you understand the problem. Think short takes that map the territory, quick frameworks, or a one-screen checklist someone can save. The point is to earn attention from the right people by being useful in under thirty seconds.
2. Proof posts reduce risk. Share mini case notes, before-after snapshots, or two-line quotes that show outcomes without turning into a sales pitch. Screenshots of metrics, anonymized timelines, and “what we’d do differently next time” all work.
3. Invitation posts convert attention into action. These are not blasts; they’re precise. Offer something that matches your buyer’s next step—a fifteen-minute audit, a focussed teardown, a seat at a micro-workshop with a cap of ten.

If you publish nothing else, publish these three. They ladder up naturally: signal earns curiosity, proof earns trust, invitation earns a slot on the calendar.

Here’s the cheat I use to keep them fresh:

• One core idea, three angles. Turn a single insight into a signal thread, a one-screen proof slide, and an invitation to a small clinic.
• Rotate by friction. Ask yourself, “What’s the hardest moment for my buyer this week?” Build your posts to remove exactly that friction.

Turn Attention Into Action With Real Offers

The call to action should feel like a favor, not a hurdle. I keep a small menu of offers and rotate them:

• Micro-audits: 12–15 minutes on Zoom where you review someone’s profile, landing page, or content flow. Promise one clear fix and deliver it live.
• Short clinics: 25 minutes, capped attendance, one topic. Everyone leaves with a template or checklist you screen-share.
• Office hours: a weekly window where people can book a five-minute slot to ask a single question. It’s fast, generous, and it surfaces serious prospects.

The secret is specificity. “Book a call” is vague. “Grab a 15-minute LinkedIn profile teardown to improve your profile-to-call conversion” is concrete. The more concrete the promise, the easier it is for a buyer to say yes and show up prepared.

The Weekly Workflow That Compounds

A reliable system beats bursts of inspiration. Here’s a simple weekly loop a small team can sustain:

Monday — Audience sharpening
 Refresh your audience sheet. Add ten new people who match your ICP. Remove ten who don’t. Save two new places they read or hang out.

Tuesday — Signal
 Ship a short post that maps a problem and gives one quick win. Reply to every comment with an extra detail. Save the best lines—those become future posts.

Wednesday — Proof
 Publish a compact win. Not a glossy case study—two screenshots and three lines about the turning point. Tag no one; make it about the lesson, not the logo.

Thursday — Invitation
 Offer your audit or clinic with a link that books directly to a calendar. Cap the seats, mention the cap, and close the link when it’s full. Scarcity earns respect when it’s real.

Friday — Follow-through
 Send brief DMs to anyone who engaged meaningfully. Not a pitch. A nudge. “Saw your comment about trial conversions. If helpful, I have a 10-minute teardown that’s been working—want the checklist?”

Two hours a day is enough if you’re focussed. The difference is intention. You are not posting to “stay active.” You are posting to create opportunities for qualified strangers to talk to you.

Make Platforms Work For You, Not The Other Way Around

Each platform has a cadence and a bias. Respect them without letting algorithms run your company.

• LinkedIn: favors clarity and teachable moments. Hook with a problem, then a short arc of steps or lessons learned. Avoid jargon. End with a question that isn’t fake.
• X: favors speed and dialogue. Share half-built ideas, ask for counterexamples, and thread only when each line truly stands alone.
• Niche communities: forums, Slack groups, private networks. Contribute first. Your invitation post belongs only after you’ve earned local trust.

When a post hits, don’t chase virality—chase conversations. Pin it, DM thoughtful commenters, and offer the next step while energy is high. When a post misses, salvage the best sentence and try again tomorrow. One brick at a time builds a wall.

Measure What Moves The Business

Vanity metrics seduce because they are tidy. Real metrics are messier but meaningful. Track:

• Profile views to messages and messages to meetings
• Post saves as a proxy for usefulness
• Invite acceptance rate and show rate for your audits or clinics
• Time to first meeting from first touch

A tiny audience with a 20 percent invite acceptance is worth more than a huge audience that never books. Review weekly. Kill what doesn’t move a metric you care about. Double down on the pieces that do.

Calm, Consistent, And Human

Respect is the theme that runs through everything: respect for your time, your buyer’s attention, and the talk you want them to join. People will treat your social presence more like a steady handshake if you keep the loop small and personal. You will notice more qualified people finding you. You will notice your calendar filling with conversations that actually go somewhere. And you will notice that momentum is a mood all by itself.

Treat the work like a good puzzle at the end of a long day. One small cluster, then another, then the satisfying click when things connect. It’s best to keep things easy, make real offers, and always follow through.  You’ll need time to build the picture you want—a pipeline full of the right people. But it will arrive, one precise fit at a time.

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