Why Felienne Hermans Punches Above Her Weight On LinkedIn

Why Felienne Hermans Punches Above Her Weight On LinkedIn

I started looking at Felienne Hermans because one number just did not make sense: 6,653 followers and a Hero Score of 271.00. Then I saw that Abdirahman Jama, with 34,340 followers, also sits at 271.00, and LinkedIn trainer Alicia Teltz is right there too at 270.00 with 32,945 followers.

So Felienne has about one fifth of their audience, but still plays in exactly the same performance league. That is not normal. That means her posts are pulling more than their weight per follower. And if you care about actually reaching people instead of just collecting vanity metrics, that is the interesting bit.

I wanted to understand what makes her content work this well compared to much bigger creators. I went through her style, posting rhythm, and how she talks to her audience, and I kept coming back to the same pattern: she writes like a sharp, slightly mischievous academic who happens to be very good at telling short stories on LinkedIn.

Here is what stood out:

• Felienne extracts top-tier engagement out of a relatively small audience, matching or beating creators 5x her size.
• Her informal-professional, reflective voice feels more like a column than a LinkedIn post, which makes people stick around and respond.
• She has a clear posting rhythm (around 3.6 posts per week) and a repeatable structure that you can copy for your own content.

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Felienne Hermans's Performance Metrics

Here is what caught my attention: despite having a modest audience by LinkedIn influencer standards, Felienne sits in the same Hero Score bracket as creators who talk for a living about how to grow on LinkedIn. That strongly suggests her average post punches harder, especially relative to follower count. She is not spamming; she is posting a steady 3.6 times per week, which is active but not excessive, and still manages to keep that Hero Score at the very top.

Key Performance Indicators

Now, here is where it gets fun. Put Felienne next to Abdirahman and Alicia:

If you look at followers per Hero Score point, Felienne is essentially getting similar score with far fewer people. You could read that as: for each follower, her content needs to work a lot harder. And it apparently does.

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What Makes Felienne Hermans's Content Work

A lot of LinkedIn creators either sound like corporate press releases or like motivational posters. Felienne does something different: she writes mini columns. Short, reflective, sometimes slightly spiky, always very human. And she does that consistently.

Let us break this into four key strategies.

1. Opinionated educator voice instead of generic expert talk

The first thing I noticed is how clearly her academic voice shines through without ever becoming stiff. She mixes Dutch and English platform terms, sprinkles in concepts like "epistemologisch onrecht", and then casually calls something "jolige studentenlol" in the next line. It feels like listening to a professor who also enjoys a good meme.

She often starts from her own experience (reading an AI plan, remembering a student slogan, reacting to a policy document), then turns that into a broader reflection about knowledge, AI in education, or how we value certain types of work. You are not just getting tips; you are getting a point of view.

Key insight: People follow Felienne less for quick hacks and more for a way of looking at AI, education, and tech.

This works because opinionated, reflective content is rare on LinkedIn compared to advice threads. It attracts fewer random likes but builds heavier trust. The Hero Score parity with bigger creators suggests that when people see her posts, they do not just skim - they engage, comment, click, think.

Strategy Breakdown:

Compared to Abdirahman and Alicia, who both lean more into classic LinkedIn expertise (developer journey, LinkedIn growth/business), Felienne stands out as the columnist-professor in the trio.

2. Short column structure instead of random thoughts

Want to know what surprised me? Her posts follow a very consistent mini-column structure without feeling formulaic. There is usually:

• A sharp opening or small story.
• A twist or new interpretation.
• A wider reflection.
• A clear CTA to a column or newsletter.

You can almost see the paragraphs in your head: 1 to 3 sentences, line break, one punchy line, line break, and then the CTA block.

Comparison with Industry Standards:

So while someone like Alicia builds a personal brand around LinkedIn itself and pushes events and offers, Felienne sells you on thinking and then gently nudges you to her longer writing.

3. Academic depth in everyday language

The third pattern: she is not afraid of big ideas, but she phrases them in a way that works on a Monday morning scroll. Terms like "epistemologisch onrecht" sit right next to everyday words like "flut-studie" or "kut" in a quoted slogan. That contrast is doing a lot of work.

She often:

• Starts from a simple observation (a slogan, a policy, a phrase like "AI in de klas").
• Introduces a deeper concept almost casually.
• Then explains the concept in plain words instead of hiding behind jargon.

For an audience that probably includes teachers, developers, and policy folks, this is perfect. It respects their intelligence without punishing them for not being philosophers.

4. Consistent rhythm without spam

Finally, the boring but crucial bit: 3.6 posts per week. That is basically a steady 3 to 4 posts, week in, week out. No daily posting grind, no "posting 3 times per day" hustle, just a sustainable cadence that lets her keep quality high.

Look at all three side by side:

Felienne is the one who feels most like a writer. That is her edge. Her cadence supports that identity: frequent enough to stay top of mind, calm enough to keep each post considered.

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Their Content Formula

So, how does this actually look when you strip it down to a template you can reuse? At a high level, Felienne repeats a clear formula: hook - reflection - broaden - CTA.

Content Structure Breakdown

The Hook Pattern

She often starts as if you already walked in halfway through a chat. No grand introduction. Sometimes even dropping the "I" at the beginning:

Template:

"Ben bang dat LinkedIn dit gaat censureren, maar ik doe een dappere poging :)"
"Ik heb dat AI-deltaplan eens helemaal doorgelezen en ik bleef toch met een vraag zitten."
"Wat ik toen zag als jolige studentenlol, zie ik nu heel anders."

In English template form you could copy:

"A thing I keep wondering about is [X], and after [trigger] it started to bother me again."
"I read [document/plan] last night and I got stuck on one question: [question]."
"Back in [year/context] I thought [old belief]. Now I see it very differently."

This works best when you have a real story and a real shift in perspective. If you just bolt this template onto generic advice, it will feel fake. But if you actually changed your mind about something in your field, this hook pattern is gold.

The Body Structure

Once the hook has you, the body usually moves in four stages.

Body Structure Analysis:

You can steal this structure almost 1:1: small story, vivid detail, one turning sentence, then zoom out.

The CTA Approach

Her calls to action are very consistent and very un-salesy. They usually sound like a friend nudging you to read something, not a funnel stage.

Typical pattern:

• One sentence that names what you will get: "Lees de hele column hier:" or "Iedere week mijn kijk op het AI nieuws in je mailbox?".
• The link on a separate line.
• Sometimes a second CTA about the newsletter.

Psychologically, this works because she stays in the same tone as the rest of the post. No sudden hard pitch, no caps, no countdowns. It feels like part of the editorial product.

Compare that with Alicia, whose positioning is more explicitly commercial (LinkedIn webinar, business offers). Both are valid. But if you are more on the educator or expert side and less on the "I sell LinkedIn", Felienne's softer CTA style is probably closer to what you want.

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3 Actionable Strategies You Can Use Today

1. Write one mini column per week instead of chasing daily posts - Pick a sharp opinion or story from your week, follow Felienne's 4-part structure (hook, story, twist, reflection), and post that as your anchor piece.

2. Mix one big idea with one casual phrase in every post - Pair a serious concept from your field with very simple, human language so your content feels smart and readable.

3. End every post with a clear, low-pressure CTA to a deeper asset - Copy the "Lees de hele column hier" pattern and always point to a newsletter, article, or resource that lets interested readers go further.

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Key Takeaways

1. Impact per follower matters more than audience size - With only 6,653 followers, Felienne is matching the Hero Scores of creators around 35k followers, which means her posts carry serious weight.
2. A column-style structure is a secret weapon on LinkedIn - Short, well-structured reflections beat long, wandering advice threads when it comes to building real authority.
3. You can be deeply expert and still sound human - The mix of academic concepts with everyday language is exactly what keeps Felienne's content approachable and memorable.

Long story short: you do not need a massive audience or daily posting schedule to play in the big league. You need a clear voice, a repeatable structure, and the courage to actually say what you think. That is what I learned watching Felienne. Curious what happens if you try her playbook for a month.

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Meet the Creators

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