Best Practices for Maximizing Engagement on LinkedIn (Updated!)

Welcome to a little guide on optimizing your LinkedIn posts to attract more views and increase engagement. By focusing on the content, presentation and timing of your posts, and enabling Creator Mode, you can effectively capture the attention of your target audience. In this article, we'll explore the key factors that contribute to successful LinkedIn posts and provide practical tips to help you stand out from the crowd. Let's dive in!

Content

To create posts that resonate with LinkedIn users, consider the following content types that tend to perform well:

• Relatable humor posts
• Heartwarming story posts
• Challenging conventional wisdom posts
• Question posts
• Data-driven perspective posts
• How-to posts
• Personal story posts
• Image posts
• Video posts
• Document posts
• Sensational info-tainment videos (unfortunately)

Additionally, original content tends to receive more views and engagement, so strive to offer unique insights and perspectives to captivate your audience.

Post Types

LinkedIn offers various post types to suit different content formats. Some common categories include:

• Text-only posts
• Single or multiple image posts
• Video posts
• Document posts (Slides AKA PDFs are big right now)
• LinkedIn Polls
• Blog posts
• Third-party content

To further enhance engagement, tailor your text-only posts to include industry-related articles, business announcements, job opportunities, blog posts, industry news and research, quick tips, in-depth how-to guides, company updates, photo updates, third-party content, native videos, photos and graphics, native document posts (PDFs), and inspirational/ motivational/ advice/ humor content.

Making Your Posts Stand Out

To make your LinkedIn posts stand out, let's break it down by the content itself and how it is displayed.?Consider using the following strategies:

?Content

• Text posts generally receive the most views, so prioritize creating compelling text-based content, be sure to include strong keywords
• Provide value to your audience by offering actionable insights, practical tips, or relevant information to your connections - be interesting!
• Offer context to help your audience understand the purpose or relevance of your post
• Include relevant hashtags and encourage interaction through questions or prompts to boost visibility and encourage participation
• Have a clear call to action to encourage engagement, such as asking for opinions
• Include visual elements by incorporating high-quality images, emojis or videos that complement your text
• Start with an attention-grabbing opening line to pique curiosity and entice readers to continue - you only have a few lines displayed before viewers see the "see more" and scrolls past!

Presentation

• Break up bulky paragraphs to make your post easier to read and digest
• Write in the first person and use pronouns to establish a personal connection with your audience
• Use bold or italicized text strategically to emphasize key points or important information
• Try different fonts to add visual interest and make your post stand out
• Use bullet points or numbered lists to present information in a concise and organized manner

Length

Then there is the question of how long your post should be. This is a little complicated as it depends on what you are posting. But the key part is that the first 200 characters matter; this is what shows up before the "see more..." when displayed on someone's feed. It helps LinkedIn determine who else to display the content too. Different lengths work for different types of content. Articles need to be longer, multiple paragraphs. If your posts start getting long, turn them into an article.

But there are a few specific numbers to look at. Based on AuthoredUp, The most effective post length ranges from 900 to 1,200 characters. And each additional 300 characters may reduce your reach by about 10%. Posts with sentences under 12 words perform 20% better. Think about your audience - don't write things that are too complex and take time to process. Posts that are too promotional can see up to a 75% decrease in performance, unless that is your goal, it is better to not use service or product images.

Style and Timing

According to a study by OkDork.com, posts written in a positive tone tend to receive more shares and likes, while neutral language posts generate higher comment rates and post views. Keep this in mind when crafting your content.

Posting at the optimal time is crucial to reaching a wider audience. Although Sprout Social suggests Wednesday from 8–10 a.m. and noon, Thursday at 9 a.m. and 1–2 p.m., and Friday at 9 a.m. as recommended posting times, it's essential to analyze your audience's behavior using LinkedIn Analytics. Identify when your followers are most active and adjust your posting schedule accordingly for maximum visibility.

Posting too frequently won't increase your visibility either. Even if you have a lot of ideas, avoid posting too frequently - too frequently meaning every few hours. LinkedIn now lets you schedule posts, so you can prepare your content to be posted right at the peak times your users are online and so that you aren't posting too frequently.

Avoid Common Pitfalls

To prevent your posts from receiving limited views, keep in mind the following pitfalls:

• Steer clear of overly promotional content that lacks genuine value or insights, as it may be perceived as spammy or self-serving, you do NOT want your post deemed click-bait
• Break up lengthy posts into digestible sections to maintain readability
• Incorporate visuals into your posts to capture attention, as posts without images can be less engaging - but do NOT go overboard and be sure to use appropriate and professional images
• Pay attention to formatting, ensuring proper spacing, grammar, and spelling to enhance professionalism and readability
• Strive for originality, valuable content, and a unique perspective to captivate your audience
• Keep your posts relevant to professional or industry-related topics, avoiding unrelated or off-topic content - aim for niche rather than broad topics
• Avoid going overboard with anything - fonts, hashtags, tagging people, keywords, graphics, post frequency, etc
• Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments and fostering meaningful discussions; this will continue to bring the post up in people's feed
• Avoid words similar to "Follow", "Like" or "Comment" in the post itself in an attempt to increase engagement
• Put outgoing links in the comments, as LinkedIn wants to keep users on the site

Creator Mode

LinkedIn also offers Creator Mode , which provides several tools to enhance your profile and increase content visibility. Here are some key features of LinkedIn Creator Mode:

• Follow Button: The Follow button is prominently displayed on your profile, making it easier for users to follow you and stay updated with your content
• Featured and Activity Sections: Creator Mode highlights your content by showcasing a dedicated section on your profile to feature your posts and articles. It also showcases your recent activity, allowing visitors to see your engagement and contributions
• Content Topics: You can choose up to five content topics that align with your expertise and interests. These topics help LinkedIn understand your content preferences and recommend your posts to relevant audiences
• Customized Profile Background: Creator Mode allows you to add a custom background image to your profile, enabling you to personalize your branding and make your profile more visually appealing
• Introduction Card: The introduction card is a new section at the top of your profile, providing a brief overview of your expertise and content focus. It helps visitors quickly understand your niche and the value you bring
• Creator Badges: LinkedIn displays a Creator badge on your profile and next to your name in comments and posts. This badge signals that you are an active content creator and can increase your credibility among your audience
• Content Recommendation Prompts: When creating a post, LinkedIn provides content recommendation prompts based on your chosen content topics. These prompts help generate ideas and inspire you to create engaging content

By enabling LinkedIn Creator Mode, you can take advantage of these features to establish yourself as a thought leader, build your personal brand and expand your visibility. See LinkedIn for Creators for more information.

Post Quality

LinkedIn evaluates every post to determine if it is high quality, low quality or just spam. By having high quality content in your post, LinkedIn will push it out to more people. High quality posts are those that focused, easy to read, encourage engagement and use strong keywords. Think about it, LinkedIn would only highlight content that is easy to read, people will interact with, isn't controversial, by active people themselves, and keeps people on the LinkedIn site.

Collaborative Articles

Another content feature is LinkedIn's collaborative articles which combines AI-generated prompts that are then enhanced by users. These articles serve as a platform for LinkedIn members to showcase their expertise, gain visibility, and potentially earn a "Community Top Voice" badge for their profile, which can highlight their knowledge in specific areas.

To contribute to a collaborative article, follow these steps:

1. Explore LinkedIn's skills pages to find topics aligned with your expertise.
2. Scroll through a skill page to identify questions/ articles of interest.
3. Once you've found an article/ question, locate a section where you can provide input.
4. Select the "Contribute" button and share your insights, keeping in mind the 750-character limit.

Your contribution should offer practical tips, relevant experiences or a unique perspective related to the topic. As you engage with collaborative articles, you may notice increased profile visibility, expanded networking opportunities, and the chance to learn from other experts in your field.

Remember that quality and relevance are key. Focus on providing genuine value to readers rather than simply aiming for quantity in your contributions. While collaborative articles can boost your professional presence, it's important to be aware that the selection process for contributors and the quality of content can vary.

Maximize Your Reach

In addition to having good content, you can increase the chances of people finding your content organically. Being active on LinkedIn yourself signals to the platform that your content is worth promoting. By engaging in LinkedIn yourself - groups, connections, prior posts, following people/ companies, etc, this plays into how frequently and where your content will be visible. Responding to LinkedIn News articles can get your comment featured so that there are people looking at your content (and see your profile).

By using some of these best practices, you can increase the visibility and engagement of your LinkedIn posts. Remember to grow your network, leverage LinkedIn groups, collaborative articles and follow others to expand the reach of your messages as well. Stay consistent and monitor your performance using the analytics of your posts to refine your approach continuously. With these strategies in place, you'll be well-equipped to achieve your LinkedIn goals. Happy posting!

Additional references: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/linkedin-algorithm-explained-how-make-work-you-courtney-johnson/