# Every Tool I Used to Grow to 65,000 LinkedIn Followers

Source: https://coldiq.com/blog/every-tool-i-used-to-grow-to-65000-linkedin-followers
Published: 2026-03-17 | Updated: 2026-10-15

> LinkedIn drove ColdIQ to $7M+ ARR using fewer than 15 tools across five categories: ideation, copywriting, visuals, video, and planning. Each post takes 15 to 20 minutes using AI for drafting and human editing for voice. Visuals multiply reach by up to 10X.

LinkedIn got us to $7M+ ARR.

I just crossed 65,000 followers, and the tools I used to get here are not complicated. There is no secret stack. No expensive software suite. Just a handful of platforms that handle the parts of content creation that do not require my brain, so I can focus on the parts that do.

Here is every tool behind the growth, organized by how I use them across five categories: ideation, copywriting, visuals, video, and planning.

## 1. Content Ideation: Finding What Works Before You Write

The biggest mistake in LinkedIn content is starting from scratch every time. You do not need to invent new ideas. You need to find what is already working and build on it with your own perspective.

[Taplio](https://coldiq.com/tools/taplio) is my primary tool for this. I use the in-app feed to discover outlier LinkedIn posts in my niche. You enter keywords like "ai sales", "outbound", or "GTM" and then filter for posts that contain those keywords, were published within the past month, and had 300 likes or more.

That filter is critical. Posts with 300+ likes in your niche have already been validated by the audience you are trying to reach. I reverse-engineer the structure, hook, and CTAs of these top-performing posts to refine my own.

[Scripe](https://coldiq.com/tools/scripe) is the second ideation tool. It lets you aggregate posts by author, which is a useful way to spot viral publications on a given topic. When you see the same author hitting 500+ likes on three different angles of the same subject, that tells you something about what the market wants to hear.

The combination of [Taplio](https://coldiq.com/tools/taplio) for topic discovery and [Scripe](https://coldiq.com/tools/scripe) for author-level analysis covers the full ideation workflow. I spend about 30 minutes per week on ideation. That gives me enough material to post daily.

You can preview how your LinkedIn content will look before publishing, for free:

### *LinkedIn Post Previewer Tool*

## 2. Copywriting: Writing Faster Without Losing Your Voice

Content ideation gets you the topic. Copywriting gets you the post. Two tools handle the heavy lifting here.

[Grammarly](https://coldiq.com/tools/grammarly) is non-negotiable for me as a non-native English speaker. I make plenty of spelling mistakes, and [Grammarly](https://coldiq.com/tools/grammarly)'s extension fixes my writing in real-time. It does not sound exciting, but it is a must-have. Nothing kills credibility faster than typos in a post about professionalism.

[Claude Code](https://coldiq.com/tools/claude-code) is where the real leverage comes from. I use Opus within [Claude Code](https://coldiq.com/tools/claude-code) to generate hook variations, repurpose past content, and brainstorm fresh angles. Since it has so much context on my business, it fills in the blanks without me needing to feed it the same information over and over.

[Conductor](https://coldiq.com/tools/conductor) is my interface to run [Claude Code](https://coldiq.com/tools/claude-code) and Codex. The UI makes it much nicer to write and repurpose posts compared to running agents in a terminal. I keep multiple sessions running for different content tasks: one for hooks, one for repurposing long-form into carousels, one for drafting next week's content.

The workflow is straightforward. I pull a topic from my ideation process, feed it into [Claude Code](https://coldiq.com/tools/claude-code) with some context on the angle I want, get three to four draft variations back, and then edit whichever one has the strongest bones. Most posts take 15 to 20 minutes from idea to final draft using this process.

We built a tool that generates campaign messaging ideas based on your ICP and content strategy. It works the same way we brainstorm angles for our own content.

You can generate campaign ideas in seconds, for free:

### *Campaign Ideation Tool*

## 3. Visuals and Design: Why Carousels Outperform Text

My LinkedIn strategy leans heavily on visuals. When done well, they multiply the reach of your publications by up to 10X. A text post that gets 5,000 impressions can hit 50,000 when paired with a well-designed carousel or infographic.

[Figma](https://coldiq.com/tools/figma) and Adobe Suite are what our designers use to create carousels and infographics. Ada, Pilar, and Maria Luisa handle the visual production for our team's content. Having dedicated designers is an investment that pays for itself when you see the engagement difference between text-only and visual posts.

[Canva](https://coldiq.com/tools/canva) is where I started. My first-ever carousels published on LinkedIn were made on [Canva](https://coldiq.com/tools/canva). It is the most beginner-friendly app to create social media visuals. If you are just starting out and do not have a designer, [Canva](https://coldiq.com/tools/canva) is the right choice. Start there, and move to [Figma](https://coldiq.com/tools/figma) or Adobe when your volume and quality requirements outgrow it.

The key insight with visuals is that they are not optional for LinkedIn growth. Carousel posts consistently outperform every other format in our data. They generate more saves, more shares, and more profile visits than text posts or single images.

## 4. Video Creation: Getting Maximum Reach From Minimum Effort

Video on LinkedIn is underutilized. When done well, it drives significant views and builds trust faster than text because people see and hear you. Two tools handle video for me.

OpusClip uses AI features to automatically generate short-form videos from long-form content. The output is not as polished as a professional editor's work. But it is cost-effective and fast. Several AI-edited videos got me 50K+ views on LinkedIn. For someone without a full-time video editor, that is an exceptional return.

[Screen Studio](https://coldiq.com/tools/screen-studio) is my favourite Mac screen recording app. It is ideal for making video walkthroughs or tutorials because it automatically zooms and focuses on the parts of the screen you are actively working on. It makes video outputs look significantly more polished than they would be otherwise.

Ezgif handles GIF creation from short audioless video content. If you are planning to publish a sub-15-second audio-less video on LinkedIn, speed it up and convert it into a GIF file. I am not entirely sure why, but GIFs outperform equivalent video posts in terms of reach and engagement. The algorithm seems to favor them.

## 5. Content Planning: Keeping The Machine Running

Everything above is useless without a system to keep it organized. [Notion](https://coldiq.com/tools/notion) is my central content hub. It is where I gather ideas, draft them, and prepare my posts. [Notion](https://coldiq.com/tools/notion) also serves as my content calendar.

The planning layer is what separates consistent posting from sporadic bursts. When you have a calendar showing what goes out each day of the week, the decision fatigue disappears. You are not waking up asking "what should I post today?" You are opening your calendar and executing on the plan you already made.

My weekly workflow looks like this:

→ Sunday: 30 minutes of ideation using [Taplio](https://coldiq.com/tools/taplio) and [Scripe](https://coldiq.com/tools/scripe)

→ Monday to Friday: 15 to 20 minutes per post using [Claude Code](https://coldiq.com/tools/claude-code) for drafting and editing

→ Ongoing: Designers create visuals from briefs I drop in [Notion](https://coldiq.com/tools/notion)

That is the full stack I used to go from 0 to 65,000+ followers. It is also the tech stack I plan to use to get past 100,000.

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