The goal of the LinkedIn algorithm is to deliver the most relevant content to each user’s newsfeed. LinkedIn wants to keep traffic on their website and stop irrelevant or low-quality content from showing on newsfeeds.
Looking at clicks, likes, comments, and shares, LinkedIn’s algorithm fills newsfeeds with content that seems most relevant to a user’s actions on the platform. Knowing this can help you create and share relevant and helpful content that will encourage more interactions.
So, you need to define your business goals for the platform and think about whom you are trying to reach on LinkedIn. For example, are you trying to raise brand awareness for your company or collect sales leads? Or maybe you want to increase your influence as a thought leader in your industry?
Create a LinkedIn content marketing strategy around what your target audience would find most valuable, and post content that will help you reach your company’s goals for being on the platform.
As LinkedIn wants to keep traffic on the platform itself, here are a few ways you can satisfy LinkedIn’s goal while also delivering the most relevant and valuable content to your followers:
- Post-text-only updates that don’t include URLs that lead away from LinkedIn. If you really want to include a URL that directs users off of LinkedIn, try adding it as the first comment of your post.
- Use LinkedIn native video instead of linking it to YouTube or another website.
- Publish Articles on LinkedIn’s Blogging Platform, Pulse, instead of linking them to your website.
On LinkedIn, videos are vital
Videos are 5x more likely to start a conversation, plus they tend to convert better. Members spend almost 3 x more time watching videos than static content pieces. Because video is the most important medium on LinkedIn, make sure you use LinkedIn native video and upload videos directly to the platform instead of linking to YouTube or other websites. This will also satisfy LinkedIn’s goal to keep users on the platform. In addition, you can share your LinkedIn videos to other social media platforms to drive more traffic to your LinkedIn page. LinkedIn videos can be up to 10 minutes long. Use short and concise descriptions for the video so connections know what it is about and are encouraged to watch. Since videos are the most successful form of content on LinkedIn, be sure that the videos are lightweight since 57% of LinkedIn users access the app via mobile phone. Stay away from Flash because that won’t work on iPhones or iPads.
Some advanced video tips:
- The optimal length of a video is about three minutes. It’s enough time to be valuable to viewers, but not so long that they lose interest.
- Include an SRT file with your upload, which will add captions so that even your connections who can’t listen to the audio can still watch your video and know what’s going on.
When using an image, it is good to include statistics from time to time
LinkedIn is all about networking; if people want to share an image, they want to appear knowledgeable. If your image has statistics or quick facts on it, it is more likely to be shared across LinkedIn. Though people want to see statistics and quick infographic videos, remember that users want to know there are still people behind the company. Don’t be afraid to show company milestones or highlight your company leaders! People want to see the human side of your brand. But don’t talk about yourselves too much — find the balance between highlighting your company’s human side as well as sharing other relevant content for your target audience.
Publish Articles on LinkedIn’s Blogging Platform, Pulse
Similar to the intent of native LinkedIn video, LinkedIn’s Pulse platform aims to keep traffic on the site when its users are sharing long-form content with their connections. One way to start incorporating Pulse into your LinkedIn marketing strategy is by using your company’s existing blog posts and repurposing them as LinkedIn articles. Be sure to edit the content to best fit the interests of the LinkedIn audience you are targeting. Then, after publishing the article, share the link in a post using excerpts from your article to entice followers. You can do this right after publishing the article or later, following these steps:
- Scroll below to the end of the article
- Click on ‘Share’
- Choose ‘Share in a post’
This keeps users on LinkedIn, gives you content to share on your business page and helps drive attention to your content. Other types of LinkedIn articles you could publish could include company announcements, new hires, or your company’s reaction to trending industry news.
Share Your LinkedIn Content at the Optimal Time and at the Optimal Consistency
Now you know what to post, but when is the best time to post it? Timing matters on LinkedIn, and a little research on your audience goes a long way when deciding when to post your content so that it can reach as many people as possible.
Apart from the purpose/goal of your posts and the topics that will be of the most value to your audience, your social media strategy should also include the optimal time the posts should be shared to reach the largest number of people. When trying to find the optimal time to post, you should consider your buyer personas, time zones your connections live in, and your industry as a whole.
Make sure you target the right people
Most B2B marketers close their eyes and shoot their shots. However, once you have refined your strategy, it will make refining your target audience a lot easier.
The Post Targeted updates feature is a great tool for audience targeting on LinkedIn. These updates help tailor content to the specific audiences you are targeting. The posts will only target the corresponding feeds. In order to use this feature, your page must have 300 followers.
Posting a targeted update is quite simple. First, you have to draft your updates on the Home tab of your super content admin view. Then click the dropdown menu to select the audience you want to target. Next, add the target audience’s criteria on the target audience setting page. Then click ‘Save’ to secure this template and post!
The estimated target follower audience is the number of potential people who will see the post. If your targeted posts aren’t reaching a broad enough audience, remove some targeting criteria to broaden your audience. Employees will not be notified when posting a targeted update.
LinkedIn is a great platform where you can grow, learn, and connect with customers and professionals from your industry.
