It’s fascinating how something so small — a LinkedIn update — can have major impact.

Linkedin status updates are like no other status updates in the social media universe. Why?

Because a LinkedIn status update showcases your professional status, plus all these features:

• Your photo
• Your name
• Your title
• Your business
• The update itself
• Massive images
• Visible engagement metrics

LinkedIn gives generous real estate to status updates. A single status update can occupy up to 80% of the feed screen. In other words, with the right kind of LinkedIn status updates, you can make an enormous difference in the visibility and attention that you receive as an active professional.

What’s more, the impact of these status updates is totally positive. LinkedIn sends huge amounts of referral traffic to company websites, way more than Facebook and Twitter.

The good news isn’t over.

According to LinkedIn’s own research, if you post every weekday (about 20 posts per month), then you will reach 60% of your unique audience (explained by Buffer). Marketing ninjas are far more active, posting several times a day.

Job seekers get noticed, too. Job seekers with weekly status updates improve their chances of being contacted by a recruiter ten times (source).

These experts know what’s up when it comes to LinkedIn. You can do the same thing.

A LinkedIn status update isn’t a dark art of mystery and intrigue. The recipe for a killer status update is simple, straightforward, and way easier than you thought.

Here ‘s your formula for creating a powerful status update every time.

Your status starts with your profile.

A LinkedIn status update will feature your photo, your name, your title, and your company. Because this is true, your status update is only as good as your LinkedIn profile.

Your LinkedIn profile should clearly indicate who you are — get a professional photo! — and show your professional information.

People want to know who’s posting what. Before they see your status update, they’ll see your information. This lends credibility and validity to your update.

Before you can expect to unleash atomic status updates, you’ve got to have a spit-shined profile. Find out more about creating a kickass LinkedIn profile.

The most important part of posting a status update is just posting it.

Get this:  LinkedIn users are notoriously silent when it comes to posting status updates. As of the second quarter of 2015, LinkedIn had 380 million members. Less than half of those users are considered active.

Even fewer of those active users are posting status updates. If you’re posting an update, you’re automatically going to improve your visibility, because not many other people are doing it.

When LinkedIn’s algorithm populates your feed with updates, the most recent updates are posted towards the top. What’s the takeaway? The more often you post, the more likely you are to be visible in your connections’ feed.

If you want people to engage with you, you simply have to be visible. There’s no big secret here. The most engaging LinkedIn status is the one that is there.

You shouldn’t obsess over what to post. You should instead focus on posting, period. You’ll automatically improve your LinkedIn presence.

Buffer calculates that a single status update will be shown to 20% of your followers.

20% is significant, especially if you have thousands of followers.

But 20% is still just 20%. To amp up this percentage, you need to post more often — daily, and even several times a day.

LinkedIn isn’t Twitter, in which it’s common to tweet ten+ times a day. However it is valuable, and you should be giving sufficient attention to frequent status updates.

Get to know the the features of a status update.

A conventional status update includes the following features:

• Your profile picture. Make sure it’s a good one.
• Your name. Use your real name.
• Your title. Use something that is descriptive, engaging, and legitimate.
• An image. This image is pulled from the link you’re posting.
• Visibility options. You can choose to post the update to your connections, the general public, and the public + Twitter, which means that the status is automatically tweeted.

These are the raw ingredients of your status update. Each of the features has a significant impact on how successful your status update is going to be.

What should you post?

Now that we have some of the mechanics out of the way, let’s talk about those ultra-engaging status updates.

What are they? What do they look like? What are they made out of?

Let me share a few of the options:

1. Post an article that your followers will find interesting. Don’t just indiscriminately link to articles. Instead, locate the articles that resonate most with your audience. Remember, the goal is engagement, not mere presence.
2. Post an image that attracts attention and provides value. Image posts get the largest amount of real estate on LinkedIn. By uploading an image, you will successfully dominate nearly an entire feed screen. Your image needs to be truly interesting and valuable. People used LinkedIn for professional purposes, not to check out pictures of your pets and kids.
3. Say something about it. LinkedIn status updates should include your comments on the image or link that you’re sharing. It’s an engagement thing. Users want to hear what you have to say about the link. They want to read what you have to say about the photo. Those who view your status update along with your personal comments will be more likely to interact with it.

Tag other users.

To improve your community engagement, it’s a good idea to selectively tag other users. You can even tag other companies.

If you come across a link or a resource that will be useful to particular LinkedIn members or companies, go ahead and tag them.

As far as engagement goes, this is one of the top methods of improving it. A status update that contains a person’s comments is far more likely to be viewed, commented on, and liked.

Post a longer status update.

You’re allowed 600 characters for your status update.

600 characters is quite a bit, especially in the snippet-oriented world of social media. Twitter’s famous 140-character limit is dwarfed by status updates of LinkedIn’s enormity.

You can say a lot in 600 characters. The longer your status update, the greater likelihood of engagement.

Keep in mind that engagement is more than just likes and comments. Engagement also includes the sheer amount of screen real estate that your status occupies. Longer status updates mean that you gain more of the visible screen space in the feed.

Conclusion

LinkedIn status updates are a secret weapon of social media mavens. They are the perfect way to improve your personal brand, expand your influence, enhance your thought leadership, and generate leads.

You can vastly improve your engagement with a few small tweaks to your LinkedIn activity. Post more often, post interesting stuff, tag other people, and keep those posts long and juicy.

I virtually guarantee your engagement levels will skyrocket.

What advice do you have for improving your LinkedIn status and engagement?