3 Mistakes you are doing in LinkedIn & 4 LinkedIn Content Optimization Tips

You know your ideal customers are on LinkedIn, but your content isn't performing well and you're not bringing in new business. Why is that?

If any of the following three mistakes describe your approach to LinkedIn, then you're probably not getting the reach you deserve.

Mistake #1: Relying on Corporate Content and Ads: If you rely on corporate messaging and ads, you’ll struggle to get reach, interaction, and conversions on LinkedIn. Some of the biggest brands in the world have this problem. The key to a successful organic LinkedIn content strategy is creative, genuine, and human-led content that shows the human side of your brand.

Mistake #2: Chasing the Wrong KPIs: If you chase the wrong key performance indicators (KPIs), then your views, engagement, and conversions will shrink over time. Stop thinking about Shares, Reactions, and Clicks. Instead, focus on Comments and Messages.

Mistake #3: Focusing on the Wrong Goal: In 2023, it is almost impossible to generate leads on LinkedIn. LinkedIn ads have low conversion and lead generation rates, and only 2% of posts in the LinkedIn feed come from organic company content. Leads shouldn’t be the goal for your marketing team. Instead, you want your marketers to focus on brand awareness. Then once your name, products, and ethos are in front of as many people as possible, the sales team can follow up with individual sales prospects to build relationships and convert them into leads.

To succeed, your marketing team needs to orient its strategy around the LinkedIn algorithm—understanding, playing to, and using it to build brand awareness.

How the LinkedIn Algorithm Works

Organic reach works differently on LinkedIn than on other platforms. The watchword of the algorithm is interaction. Not likes, shares, or number of followers or comments but the value of individual comments, messages, and interactions.

This is partly because LinkedIn has a unique user profile that includes a majority segment of silent content consumers. They scroll through the feed and consume your content but they choose not to interact. It takes long-term, consistent posting to convert them into active leads or followers.?

Because this segment is so large, LinkedIn developed an algorithm that takes the silent community into account.

4 LinkedIn Content Optimization Tips

Aim for Longer Dwell Time

Dwell time is an essential metric on LinkedIn. It refers to how much time a user spends looking at your content or how long it stays on their screen. Do they stop scrolling? Do they read a post or watch a video all the way through?

The platform itself is designed to increase dwell time. For example, LinkedIn only shows the first few lines of a post before adding a See More link. That's designed to collect useful signals for the algorithm from the silent community.?

You can boost your LinkedIn performance by creating posts that demand more dwell time. Aim to write longer posts of at least eight lines. You can add lines and white space to your posts to enhance the effect.

Share Links Carefully

Most marketers have heard that sharing external links in your LinkedIn posts can limit your reach. Unfortunately, this is completely true. A post with links to content—whether it's from external websites or simply to a different LinkedIn page—will barely get 50% of normal reach.

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, marketers still need to share links sometimes. So how can you share links without being penalized by the LinkedIn algorithm?

There are two options, based on your goals for each post. If conversion is the main goal of your post—for example, registering users for a webinar—then go ahead and share the link anyway. Your audience will be smaller but you should aim for quality leads anyway. If the link isn't absolutely essential, then you can share it in the comments on the post. Just be sure to direct people to the comments in the main post so they don't miss the link.

Shift Your Calls for Engagement

Several months ago, the social network announced that posts asking for engagement would be penalized by the algorithm. If you ask for shares, likes, or even invite people to comment a key phrase, then your post will be downgraded in the feed.

You can avoid the problem by taking a different approach. Instead of thinking about a call to action, try to give your followers a call to think or a call to feel. For example, you could ask them to think about how an issue affects their business or how they might solve a problem. You could ask them how they feel about a news story, change in their industry, or economic challenge.

While these options are less direct than a call to action, they still help start a conversation and position you as an expert guide and thought leader.

Avoid Artificial Engagement

LinkedIn also uses negative engagement signals to round out its data. These are signals that people are choosing to ignore or navigate away from your content such as pausing a video, unfollowing you, or removing themselves from a tagged post.

Negative signals can also include signs that you're using an engagement pod or engagement network— groups of people who agree to like and make short comments on each other's posts. However, the LinkedIn algorithm is smart enough to spot this kind of artificial activity and use it as a signal to downgrade your content in the feed.

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Content source : Social Examiner

Today's advice is provided with insights from Richard van der Blom and Michael Stelzner.