The Easy Engagement Theory

If you're reading this, you most likely follow me due to my LinkedIn activity. I am a marketing consultant and LinkedIn is my most important GTM channel. That is exactly why the moment the same LinkedIn content actions do not elicit the same LinkedIn algorithm reactions as before, I take notice and put my engineering hat back on.

"LinkedIn Gurus" are proclaiming the reach apocalypse: 50% drop in average impressions YoY in 2023 across the board - (Algorithm Insights 2024 - Richard Van Der Blom).

I have seen that drop in impressions as well, at an even more drastic level, around 90% right around September of 2023. Yet some posts still reached the levels of impressions I was used to at the start of 2023.

And I saw a pattern emerge. A pattern that got me thinking: the tide receded and uncovered something that I've been suspecting all along.

Tired of reading and prefer video? Click on the video below

Understanding the LinkedIn Algorithm

It's easier to trust a prominent content creator's explanation of "why the feed is broken" and why you should buy their course on how to hack the algorithm. But I told you my engineering hat was on, and an influencer's opinion won't cut it for me this time.

You might feel that all of this effort is useless, and content creators should simply create the content their audience wants and it will work out for them in the end.

But the reality is, that people like you and me are on a limited budget and cannot afford to endlessly fail and iterate. We cannot afford to spend our limited time and money on producing the wrong content. The opportunity cost is too expensive.

With that said, how does the LinkedIn algorithm work?

From the LinkedIn Engineering Blog (Read full post here)

The LinkedIn homepage feed ranking system consists of two passes, where the first pass is responsible for accumulating content results from a member’s network (such as career changes, stories, news, etc.) and the second pass is responsible for ranking the accumulated content results. We leverage a multi-objective optimization framework for both passes, combining the probabilities from other models that predict various behaviors of LinkedIn members on the homepage feed.

The first pass collects all relevant content to the user, and the second pass ranks this collection of content. The rankings are based on multiple factors:

• Passive consumption signals such as clicks and dwell time
• Active consumption signals such as comments and reshares
• Other signals such as creator side feedback

The ranking formula includes tuning parameters that allow the LinkedIn team to balance a healthy ecosystem between passive and active consumption.

There is a lot to unpack here, but for our purposes in this piece, know that any content that gives negative passive consumption signals (low dwell time and outbound links) or negative active consumption signals (spam tagging other users) will more likely than not be suppressed by the algorithm.

The Cognitive Burden of Engagement

2024 is shaping up to be another stressful year and people have a lot on their minds. Social media feeds are designed to stimulate the human mind: some might take to social media to decompress while others use social media (specifically LinkedIn) to make connections and build relationships.

The amount of information a human's working memory can process at any given time is called the "Cognitive load".

How many times have you found yourself re-reading a news headline or a social media post that someone is showing you and feeling like you did not retain any of the information? What about those "retention-editing" style videos where those 59 seconds disappear into a blur?

Sentences like "Sorry, I seem distracted today" or "I have a lot on my mind right now, can I look at this later?" are the first things that come out of your mouth in an attempt to escape the consumption of that piece of content.

When we are forced to spend a big chunk of that cognitive load trying to decipher if we want to endorse a piece of content, that cognitive load becomes a cognitive burden.

Replace that person with the LinkedIn feed, and suddenly each post you scroll through is requesting your public endorsement via your engagement.

That's a big ask from someone who has the ability to swipe their finger up and make your post go away.

Intimidating Content is Not Easy to Engage With

Like it or not, social media feeds are not built for deep and thoughtful engagement. Ad impressions are what fund these platforms, and these for-profit, publicly-traded companies will always optimize for revenue.

While LinkedIn is trying its best to buck the trends and create a space for micro-influencers and SMEs to build a community and share their knowledge and expertise, the mechanics of the feed are unchanged: an endless scroll of potentially engaging content interrupted by ads.

The urge to skip to the next post is far stronger than the urge to stop your scroll and digest the content.

LinkedIn is making some changes to the mobile app that fight against that urge (clicking on posts takes you away from the feed) but it is not stopping them from doing some moves that encourage the scroll (new TikTok-style video feed separate from the main feed).

A typical example from my neck of the woods is long 8-point posts about why Platform A is better than Platform B. Depending on who you are, some of you have already decided to swipe away from this theoretical post.

Who is engaging with this post?

• Employees, partners, and solution providers of platform A/B
• Potential users who are actively comparing both platforms to inform a purchasing decision
• Current users who are unhappy with platform A/B and want to learn about potential alternatives

Who is swiping away from that post?

• Literally everyone else

While this might help you target the right audience, the increased negative signals from your connections and followers who are not interested in this specific topic will trigger the algorithm to stop distributing the post.

That is unless you hit a certain nerve in your niche community and spark high levels of concentrated engagement (e.g. controversial takes). But LinkedIn has been quoted publicly that they are always looking for ways to disincentivize chasing virality.

So what should you post about instead?

The Power of Human Connection

A simple joke post I made in 5 minutes outperformed my average impressions by 600% and average engagement by 1,500%. I created this post knowing that it would be well received because it was easy to engage with.

As a content marketer who advocates for content creation as a strong marketing channel, I was leading by example. I made content creation my focus, and as a result, delivered a large amount of content in record time.

We published over 20 podcast episodes across 2 new shows, and we created short clips from these podcasts both as a way to promote the full episode as well as share the great knowledge that our guests imparted to us in these episodes to the general LinkedIn feed.

These clips had amazing and consistent branding, with clip titles, captions, and a text write-up of the opinion shared in the clip. The works!

In parallel, we were showcasing our products and services in a lot of online events. Understandably, we were also promoting these events.

My personal content calendar quickly turned into recognizable clips of other people and event promotions. This was during the same time when every other content creator on LinkedIn was whining about declining reach. Others shook their fists at the LinkedIn gods and told me to persevere and keep going.

I had other plans... I ran some experiments

My 1st Wedding Anniversary Post

This post puts my personal life front and center. A first wedding anniversary with the love of my life.

The post is human, includes the picture of a beautiful bride, and signals to the world that things are going well for me.

If that sounds to you like the easiest "like" you've clicked in your life, you would be correct. This post has the highest engagement of all my posts in the last 365 days, beating my average engagement numbers by 500%

Everyone enjoys a love story.

S**tposting on Main

Some great brand advocates in my circles do an amazing job of creating content that is both engaging and helps them grow their following. A lot of their posts border on "professional s**tposting" and everyone seems to love it.

I knew the moment the opportunity came, I had to capitalize on it.

The initial post (link) became my highest impression count and the most commented in the last 365 days within 4 days of posting it. That sparked the follow-up video that brought people back for the pay-off of their engagement on the 1st post.

People are looking to have fun. If you can provide it, they will reward you with their engagement.

Complaining about the relatable

This post performed well. Not record-breaking, but it reached 150% more people than my average post does. It hits the trifecta of spicy screenshots, calling out bad practice and being relatable. It's a recipe for easy approval. And it helps that I am qualified to be commenting on such matters.

Others are noticing it too

I'm not the only one doing the same experiment on LinkedIn. A lot of smart people are catching on and feeling frustrated, and rightfully so. Choosing LinkedIn as an important part of your GTM strategy makes you more prone to the whims of the machine learning model that runs the algorithm.

Now that we've shown sufficient empirical evidence that there is credence to this theory, what should we do?

Do Not Overreact and Overcorrect

It's easy to look at what's going on and feel the pressure to become a personality content creator and fill your feed with selfies, memes, and personal updates about your morning coffee.

Many brands in my circle are falling into this trap and putting all of their eggs in entertainment content. A specific brand in my feed is seeing record engagement, yet whenever I glance at their CEO's feed, I see posts about how the brand is not hitting its revenue targets.

Do not lose the plot. You chose to create content on LinkedIn to drive business outcomes. Those outcomes should be what you measure your success on, not impression metrics.

Don't forget to place your best Subject Matter Experts at the center of your strategy and enable them to create/help create the right content for your brand.

What I Am Doing Moving Forward

I've spent long enough presenting a problem. My theory of easy engagement feels solid enough that I am confident in building my strategy around it.

Here are the steps I am taking in regards to my content:

• I will be creating a healthy 3:2 ratio between "easy engagement" and "valuable education" content.
• The balance of effort I put into creating said content, however, is closer to a 1:5 ratio.
• I am putting more of myself into my content, be it on camera or in my writing.
• My Educational Content will be evergreen to an extent and will live on multiple channels (LinkedIn/YouTube/Website) in multiple formats (Blog/Video)
• I will repurpose evergreen content (that features me) in more short formats (the upcoming LinkedIn Video Feed)
• And most importantly, I will be very deliberate in my engagement on other people's posts, ensuring I spark conversations with the right people.

Do You Need Help Navigating LinkedIn?

If you've come this far, you know I can help you navigate the LinkedIn GTM motion.

What are you waiting for? Reach out to me right here on LinkedIn.