Content Is King - So What Do I Post?

I'm going to guess that many LinkedIn users have this question:

"I know I should be posting on LinkedIn, but what do I post?"

I recently ran a LinkedIn poll trying to get at the answer to this question - not just for interest, but because I too wonder what kind of content I should post - so I just asked my network. Here are the results:

The majority of those answering want to learn something from LinkedIn, with only about 1/3 wanting motivational and inspirational content.

I found this a bit surprising, to be honest when what I see is that the most engaging content seems to be inspirational/motivational content vs instructional. For example:

Granted, I cherry-picked this example as I don't have a database I can pull from that shows the difference in engagement rates across different types of content.

Anecdotally, it does seem content like this vastly outperforms how-to and industry trend content (at least on my feed).

So does that mean we should post more inspirational and motivational content to increase our engagement?

Perhaps. If engagement is the goal (often expressed through likes, shares, views) then by all means that seems to be the way to go.

On the other hand, likes, shares, and views don't pay the bills. (It's easy to lose sight of that, particularly when the engagement metrics are all we see)

What pays the bills is meaningful interactions with people (on-line and off) that lead to career and business opportunities.

And while people may reach out based on a great post, I've found that people reach out after seeing a pattern of insightful content either in their feeds or on my profile.

I am not a LinkedIn guru, so your mileage may vary with this guidance. By all means, mix it up and share different types of content. Even personal stories.

But when it comes to creating interactions that pay, content that informs, demonstrates expertise, and shows who you are is king

What's your favorite content to see on LinkedIn? Add in the comments section.

#innovation #LinkedIn #branding