Ton Wesseling's Playbook for Experimentation Communities

Ton Wesseling's Playbook for Experimentation Communities

I started looking at Ton Wesseling's LinkedIn because of one number that didn't make sense at first: a 118.00 Hero Score with just 9,406 followers. That's not "big account goes viral" energy. That's "small-to-mid audience, unusually strong response" energy.

And once you notice it, you can't unsee the pattern. Ton isn't trying to be famous. He's trying to be useful, memorable, and central to a very specific professional tribe: people who care about experimentation culture, CRO, and doing growth work with rigor.

Here's what stood out:

• He wins by being a host first and a creator second (events, awards, speaker coaching, community rituals).
• His posts read like field notes from the organizer's desk - concrete details, timelines, names, and deliverables.
• He doesn't post a lot (1.0 post per week), but when he does, it's usually built to travel: structured, skimmable, and easy to respond to.

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Ton Wesseling's Performance Metrics

Here's what's interesting: Ton's size is modest, but his engagement efficiency is elite. A 118.00 Hero Score suggests his audience actually does something when he posts (click, comment, share, reply), which is rare in B2B. And because he's not flooding the feed, each post feels like an "announcement worth reading" instead of background noise.

Key Performance Indicators

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What Makes Ton Wesseling's Content Work

Ton's secret isn't a hack. It's a role. He shows up as the person who:

• curates the conversation,
• documents the learnings,
• and keeps the community moving.

That combo is really hard to copy if you don't actually do the work.

1. The "community operator" positioning

So here's what he does: instead of competing for attention with hot takes, he creates reasons for people to gather. Conversion Hotel. Experimentation island. Experimentation Culture Awards. Those aren't just events, they're recurring story engines.

When you run the room, you never run out of content. Line-ups, speaker notes, behind-the-scenes logistics, new formats, ratings, NPS, deadlines, applications, case studies. It's all naturally post-worthy because it's relevant to the people who care.

Key Insight: Be the person who creates the calendar, not the person reacting to it.

This works because communities reward organizers with trust. And trust compounds. The audience doesn't just follow Ton for ideas - they follow him because he's where the serious people in experimentation tend to orbit.

Strategy Breakdown:

2. Specificity as the main persuasion tool

A thing I noticed is how often Ton anchors posts in concrete details. Not vague "we had a great event" language. He uses numbers, dates, file sizes, formats, page counts, and time estimates. It makes the content feel real because it is real.

And it's not just for credibility. It's for usability. His readers aren't browsing for inspiration, they're busy practitioners looking for signals: "Is this worth my time?" Ton answers that quickly.

Comparison with Industry Standards:

Now, here's where it gets interesting: this specificity also makes commenting easier. People can respond to something tangible (a speaker, a topic, a format, a timeline) instead of generic applause.

3. Built for scanning (and for replies)

Ton writes in a very LinkedIn-native way: modular sections, short paragraphs, headers, lists, and questions that clearly invite participation. It's not "blog prose". It's closer to a well-run event agenda: signposts, segments, and clear next steps.

He also uses recognizable visual cues (stylized headers, bullets, numbered items). Even if you don't read every word, you understand the structure. That matters a lot when people are half-reading on their phones.

And the CTAs are usually community-aligned: "comment which cases stand out," "apply," "join," "tell your colleagues." It's not needy. It's directional.

4. Optimism with standards (the "rigor" vibe)

Ton manages a tricky balance: he's enthusiastic, but he keeps coming back to quality. Rigor. Measurement. Governance. Trust. The subtext is: experimentation is fun, but it isn't sloppy.

That combination attracts a certain kind of follower: practitioners who want to level up, not just chase growth hacks. And those people tend to engage more thoughtfully, which likely helps explain why his Hero Score is so high relative to his audience size.

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Side-by-side: Ton vs Nicolas JAIMES vs Rene van der Zel

Before I zoom further into Ton's formula, it's worth comparing the three creators. The cool part is that all three have almost the same Hero Score band (117-118), but with wildly different audience sizes. That suggests three different paths to "creator success."

Comparison Table 1: Audience and Hero Score

What surprised me: Rene can keep a 117.00 Hero Score at 110k+ followers. That's not easy. Big accounts usually dilute. So he probably has either strong storytelling consistency, a clear leadership POV, or a very responsive core community that shows up every time.

Ton, meanwhile, looks like the "boutique but intense" version of that: smaller reach, heavier trust density.

Comparison Table 2: Posting cadence and information gaps

We don't have engagement rates or cadence for Nicolas and Rene here, so I won't pretend. But the follower-to-Hero-Score relationship already tells a story: all three likely have strong resonance, just with different audiences.

Comparison Table 3: Brand role and content "job"

Ton's advantage is that his role naturally creates interaction. A host can ask questions that feel normal, because the community expects the host to facilitate.

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Their Content Formula

Ton's posts tend to follow a recognizable rhythm: announce something real, add the operational context, segment it with clear headers, then invite participation.

Content Structure Breakdown

The Hook Pattern

Ton often opens with a situation that feels like a message you'd send to peers. It's rarely "here are my 5 tips." It's more like: "Something happened, so I did something, and here's what you can do with it."

Template:

"I ran into [specific problem/opportunity]. The content was valuable, but the format/process wasn't. So I [built/organized/changed] [specific output]."

Why this works: it's instantly human. There's a moment, a friction point, and a response. People keep reading because they want to see the solution (and because they can picture themselves in the same situation).

The Body Structure

He tends to use signposting transitions that feel almost like a stage host: "Now," "So," "This doesn't mean," "Most importantly." It keeps the reader oriented.

Body Structure Analysis:

And here's a small tactical thing: Ton's best posting times (based on the provided guidance) are 12:00-13:30 and 14:00-16:30. That fits the kind of content he writes too. It's thoughtful, not "scroll bait." People are more likely to engage during lunch or an afternoon break.

The CTA Approach

Ton's CTAs work because they don't feel like marketing. They feel like participation.

Instead of "DM me" or "book a call," you get prompts like:

• "Which 1 to 3 cases stand out?"
• "Are any of these topics on your roadmap?"
• "Join us on these dates."

Psychology-wise, he's tapping into:

1. identity ("I'm part of this community"),
2. contribution ("my comment helps"), and
3. scarcity (deadlines, limited slots, event dates).

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3 Actionable Strategies You Can Use Today

1. Become the organizer of something small - a monthly case-study thread, a mini award, a curated roundup. Hosting creates content and relationships at the same time.

2. Add one concrete number to every post - time spent, count, date, rating, page number, whatever fits. Specificity signals credibility fast.

3. End with a question people can actually answer - not "Thoughts?" but "Which option would you pick?" or "What would you change first?" Lower the effort, raise the reply rate.

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Key Takeaways

1. Ton Wesseling wins with trust density, not volume - 1 post per week is enough when each post has a job.
2. His content is operational and social at the same time - logistics plus invitations is a powerful mix.
3. Hero Score tells a deeper story than follower count - Ton (9,406) and Rene (110,530) both sit around 117-118, which is kind of wild.
4. The real differentiator is role - Ton is the host, Nicolas is the founder, Rene is the leadership voice. Pick a role your audience instantly understands.

That's what I learned from studying their profiles and the patterns behind the numbers. If you try one thing this week, try making your next post easier to respond to. Seriously. What do you think?

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Meet the Creators

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This analysis was generated by ViralBrain's AI content intelligence platform.