World’s No 1 LinkedIn Expert: How To Grow a Personal Brand FAST in 2026

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Jan 28, 2026

Josh Sanders, Head of Content and LinkedIn growth specialist who scaled a personal brand to millions and co-built a revenue-generating creator accelerator. He breaks down LinkedIn growth frameworks, profile-as-landing-page optimizations, comment and content playbooks, how to turn attention into funnels and cohort products, and the newsletter-driven approach to compound audience growth.

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ADVICE

Start With A Clear Why

Find a clear reason why you want to post on LinkedIn before creating content.
Reverse-engineer content pillars and formats from that purpose to stay focused and consistent.

ADVICE

Use Dual Pillars For Reach And Relevance

Use both interest pillars (broad) and expert pillars (narrow) to balance reach and relevance.
Aim for 5–7 pillars and shift weight toward expert or interest pillars based on your growth goal.

ADVICE

Make Your Profile A Landing Page

Turn your LinkedIn profile into a conversion-focused landing page.
Optimize photo, banner, tagline and featured links to point visitors to your newsletter or offer.

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Josh Sanders is the Head of Content for Chris Donnelly, where he helped scale one of the fastest-growing personal brands in the world from 0 to 3M+ followers across platforms and a 0-250,000 subscriber newsletter in under two years, then engineered the systems that turned that attention into a $10M+ education business.

In this episode, Josh breaks down the data-backed LinkedIn growth playbook behind that rise. We cover how to grow a personal brand on LinkedIn in 2026, how to turn views into customers using offers, funnels, and attribution, why “don’t chase, attract” is the most effective creator strategy, how newsletters compound audience growth, and what most creators misunderstand about monetisation. Unlike most LinkedIn advice, Josh’s insights are backed by large-scale dataset reviews, rigorous testing, and real revenue outcomes. This is one of the most practical LinkedIn and creator growth masterclasses ever recorded.

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Produced by 7xContent - make your own Podcast with us here: https://www.7xcontent.com/

Follow Josh:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshejsanders/

Timestamps (accurate + true to transcript)
00:00 Introduction to Explosive LinkedIn Growth

00:21 Meet Josh Sanders: Content Mastermind

00:36 The Power of LinkedIn for Business Growth

02:32 Setting Clear Goals and Content Pillars

09:23 Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile

17:21 Engaging with Your Network and Building Relationships

25:57 Creating High-Impact Content

28:10 Analyzing and Adapting Content Strategies

45:50 Leveraging Lead Magnet Posts for Engagement

46:56 Driving Conversations and Engagement on LinkedIn

49:35 Crafting Effective Hooks and Content Structure

51:47 The Science Behind High-Performing LinkedIn Posts

58:06 Tracking Performance Metrics on LinkedIn

01:03:55 Building and Scaling a Creator Accelerator Business

01:07:23 Creating a Cohort-Based Program for Maximum Impact

01:12:45 Marketing Strategies and Community Building

01:28:10 Finding the Right Team and Incentivising Growth

01:30:34 Conclusion and Next Steps