9 Smart ways to make your LinkedIn articles get clicked

There is an incredible amount of unshared thought leadership trapped in your brain just waiting to be unleashed to the world in the form of your insights and opinions.

And yes, I do mean the world in the case of LinkedIn. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I hope this post inspires some of you to begin crafting your posts and you are now at a stage in which you are asking the question - how do I get as many people to view my post on LinkedIn as possible?

After all, you think to yourself, what would be the point of spending 4 precious weekend hours crafting a post if not enough people will end up reading it! Well, there will still be a point even if not many people end up reading it. Your future employer, or sales prospect, or potential customer could still read your post a year down the line and create an opportunity for you to broaden your horizons. Having said that, you want maximum visibility because you know your insight is brilliant, as your colleagues and friends have told you so, and you feel other professionals will be better at their jobs and lives having learnt it.

These 9 tips will help your LinkedIn post get more views, likes, and shares maybe even some comments? 

 1. Publish your post on afternoons after 3pm or Weekend anytime

Posting your article when your target audience is not at work appears obvious, but is not entirely intuitive. Avoid posting on Friday and Saturday evenings as those are times most people focus on their lives outside of work. 

 2. Make the headline catchy and less than 50 characters

People love lists, so use them in headlines. Odd numbered lists suggest self-sufficiency. Catchy headlines usually provide solutions (how-to), dig deeper into a problem (reasons-why), or share something personal (why-I).

3. Use high-quality attention-grabbing images

A picture is worth a thousand words. Use images that instantaneously capture the spirit of your content. LinkedIn recommends images than are 700 x 400 pixels. Filter google search for images larger than that size. 

4. Keep your post less than 900 words

People read at the rate of 300 words/ minute. A stretched-for-time professional will likely not give your post more than 3 minutes. Write it out long to start and then edit ruthlessly until only the essence of your insight remains. 

5. Share your post with LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn enables us to join as many as 50 Groups. Share your posts with groups that would find the content relevant. Sharing with Groups that have high membership (> 100,000) will obviously increase the reach of your post. 

6. Send your posts directly to LinkedIn Influencers

LinkedIn Influencers often love connecting with their followers. Send your post to them directly, and if they like it, they might share it with their huge following. If you send me any back I promise I will share if they are worth sharing. 

7. Tag your post wisely

LinkedIn allows you to apply as many as 3 tags to your post. Choose them wisely. Tags you choose affect if your post gets profiled on a LinkedIn channel, which can massively increase the exposure of your post. 

8. Add link to a previous post at the end of your post

If people like what you've written, make it easy for them to find more of your insights and opinions. Once you have written a few posts, add a link to your author page so you convert the one-time reader to an avid follower. 

9. Expand your LinkedIn network

All your first degree connections automatically become your followers, so grow your network! Connect with old college friends and past colleagues you have lost touch with. They will likely be the biggest champions of your post. 

My most important tip about publishing on LinkedIn, however, has little to do with getting more "views". It in fact implies the opposite - 'views' are irrelevant in quantity if they are empty clicks that are not of quality. Write only when you have something unique and compelling to write about that would add value to your readers. Be aware that each post you write is a long-term investment into your personal brand, and as is always the case, branding is a double-edge sword that has just as much power to hurt your future potential as it does to enrich it. 

But write. Write to share, to improve, to enrich. Write because the worst post you write will still be better than the best post you don't. Happy writing!