How he added 30k+ followers and 10k subscribers to his email list with one small tweak.
Welcome to Day 1 of the 30 Days of Growth.
This is a pop-up newsletter put together by the team at Growth In Reverse. We’ve pulled 30 creators together to help give one short, actionable way you can either grow or improve your email list.
You can view all past issues of the 30 Days of Growth here.
You’ve seen the “comment [WORD] to get my free resource” posts on LinkedIn.
They used to drive hundreds or even thousands of subscribers consistently. But by early 2025 (or if we’re being honest, 2024), everyone was doing them and engagement dropped.
Daniel Bustamante had already run 30+ of those giveaways, and they drove 70-80% of his growth. But the tactic was losing steam.
So he evolved it into what he calls the “2-Step” post. Instead of making the giveaway the whole post, Daniel writes a full educational post, then adds a comment-triggered CTA at the end tied to a deeper resource on the same topic.
Some of his 2-Step posts now outperform his original giveaway posts.
How Daniel Does It
He writes a value-first post.
The whole post is insanely valuable on its own: a framework, breakdown, or lesson. The reader gets something useful whether or not they take the next step.
He adds a comment-triggered CTA at the end. Something like: “P.S. I put together a swipe file of welcome email examples. Want it? Comment SWIPE and I’ll send you a copy.” The resource always ties directly to the post topic.
He delivers via DM with a landing page. When someone comments, he (or his assistant) DMs the resource as a link to a landing page where they enter their email.
Here is an example:
669 comments of people wanting to get this resource.
Why It Works
Leading with something valuable earns people’s attention before you make an ask. The reader already got value, so commenting a keyword feels like a natural next step.
It also sidesteps LinkedIn’s link penalty, as there’s no external link in the post.
Side note: I’ve heard links in the post don’t matter as much anymore, but every time I post with a link I get almost no reach.
Delivering via DM creates a direct conversation, which can lead to sales calls for anyone selling services or high-ticket offers.
And because the resource matches the post topic, commenters are self-selecting by interest. They’re not just collecting free things, they’re qualified leads who just told you what they care about.
Results
In 18 months, Daniel went from:
- Grew from 600 to 30,000+ LinkedIn followers in 18 months
- 1,000 to 10,000+ email subscribers – which is roughly 10x growth from a single format tweak 🤯
- Went from 0 to 2-4 warm inbound leads per week
- $84K+ in digital product revenue on the side
70-80% of that growth came from his comment-triggered strategy and its 2-Step evolution.
How You Can Implement It
Step 1: Start with the post, not the freebie. Write something valuable enough to stand alone – a framework, breakdown, or lesson.
Step 2: Build a resource that goes deeper on that exact topic. This could be a swipe file, checklist, template, etc.
Step 3: Add a simple CTA at the end: “Comment [WORD] and I’ll send it.”
Step 4: Deliver via DM, and send them to a landing page to opt in.
Step 5: Follow it with a short welcome sequence so the new subscriber hears from you right away (not just silence after the freebie).
This isn’t a complicated strategy, it just requires a little more effort.
Tools
- LinkedIn (free or Premium) – Premium will be valuable for DMs
- Your ESP (Kit, Beehiiv, etc.) for email capture and sequences
- A landing page builder (Carrd, or your website) – email opt-in
Every post Daniel publishes does 2 jobs at once. It teaches something worth reading on its own, and it gives the reader a clear next step to go deeper.
Daniel created a free mini-course on lead magnet ideation for you, that you can grab here.
See you tomorrow,
Chenell
P.S. Daniel is the CMO of Premium Ghostwriting Academy and runs a boutique email marketing agency on the side called Velocity. Find him on LinkedIn.
