The Criticism of Content on LinkedIn

I have been reading a lot of criticism about the quality of content on LinkedIn.

Rather than criticising the platform as a whole for the quality of its content, it may be worth bearing in mind that everyone sees a different set of content.

The content created by the people you are following - your connections - comes up in your home feed. You are also seeing content from the groups you’ve joined and the influencers and hashtags you follow.

If you are looking to improve the quality of the content you see, perhaps it starts when you make a decision on who you will connect with. Take a look at their posts and activity and decide if this person can add value and relevance to your daily work.

If you are not getting the most relevant content from your connections, you can bring content into your feed by following hashtags. Review your interests, mute the content you don’t like, and unfollow and follow the content you find more valuable.

Once you start liking and engaging in content, you will see the posts and articles from the same members again, so being active rather than passive will help you to steer the type of content you want to see.

If the content isn’t deemed ‘professional’, this is subjective. Some people may find a handheld video on a mobile phone where the presenter talks about some observation from their work day as incredibly useful ‘behind the scenes’ insight that can help them solve a challenge of their own. Or, it could be someone’s else’s ‘rubbish’.

Did you know that just over 1% of LinkedIn’s active users are actually creating content?  

Wtih 250 Million Active users, there are a lot of reasons to get active yourself; raise the bar among your connections and stand out from the crowd.

When you post, remember to use hashtags that plenty of people follow to give your content a wider reach so it is seen beyond your own network. Don’t stuff it full of hashtags as it makes it difficult to read, and it will have a negative impact on the algorithm.

Keep an eye on the analytics are there to know which style of posts and articles are deemed engaging which allows them to be seen by more people when creating your own content.

To conclude, you are in charge of the content you see (to an extent), and to improve the quality of what you see, then be careful of:

• Who you connect with,
• Follow the people whose content you admire,
• Engage in the content you find most useful and the quality of your feed, for your needs will improve.

About the author: 

Laura Hannan is the co-founder of Pitch121, a Profile Based Marketing Agency.

Profile Based Marketing was coined as an alternative to Social Selling, as selling on social is much more about connecting, building networks and relationships, and giving value.

Profile Based Marketing is a vital part of any ABM (Account Based Marketing) Strategy. Within every account there are stakeholders that individuals need to engage with, this is what Pitch121 supports business leaders to do.

She is the lead on Client Success for Pitch121 ‘done for you’ service, and she leads on the DLAIgnite partnership, delivering social selling programmes for teams of 10 and above.

Laura writes, hosts webinars, and can deliver value-based presentations to groups of people wanting to improve their LinkedIn skills. IF you’d like Laura to present to your group, please email on [email protected]