Insights 26: Your LinkedIn strategy needs to change

I sat down with one of the most ‘reassuringly’ expensive LinkedIn content strategists last week:

Andy Foote.

I wanted to compare my notes with HIS.

First I asked him:

Q1: How do you come up with cutting edge content ideas

His response:

Don't just report the news.

Go beneath the hood.

Give the why & not the what.

For me I look at what my team, clients and LinkedIn network ask me. Then I keep those questions in a slack channel. My best pieces usually involve research and take 2 weeks to 3 weeks to create.

Q2: How do you create media?

His response:

Canva is his secret weapon.

For Me:

I use Canva + a Team of Video Editors & Graphic Designers.?

Q3: Is posting daily the only way to GROW?

Andy does NOT obsess with posting daily.

In fact, Andy rejects that simplistic mindset.

Andy:?I'll only post when I have something worthwhile.?

We’ve seen RESULTS from BOTH SIDES of the argument.

Creating content consistently builds the habit of writing, creating, distributing. Which is valuable.

But are you spending enough time to build a high value piece of content?

For example:

We spent 1 month producing this piece of high-impact content for our client, ClearR:

A street-fighter style comparison of Hubspot and Salesforce.

Between the ideation, research, copywriting, design, the endless edits, it was a big gamble!

But it paid off - BIG!

ClearR got noticed by Salesforce (something they’d been chasing for years), their advisory business graduated to the next level and one of their founders earned himself a lucrative contract with Salesforce HQ.

Spending time on highly valuable content (even though it takes a?longer time to produce) can yield much higher value. TRY IT.

Q4: How does Andy differentiate himself on the feed?

He has created an ‘annoyed at LinkedIn’ brand PLUS

He has also created simple colour schemes, which people identify as “Andy Foote Pieces”?

For me, I pick a theme. Last 2 months I pushed the carousel theme. Next few months you will see a lot of video content from me, now that videos are back.

Q5: Why does Andy prefer carousels? Is it to please the algorithm?

I love Andy’s honesty:

“Yes & No”

Carousels enable him to communicate difficult ideas, which would be hard via text post.?

However Andy acknowledges carousels increase dwell time.?

And with the recent LinkedIn Algorithm update.?

It’s all about dwell-time.

Dwell time is the length of time a person spends looking at a post.

If you want to go viral on LinkedIn.

With the new LinkedIn algorithm update,?

All that matters is how much time readers spend on your post.?

Now, it matters less:

• how many likes your post gets
• how many?shares?it gets
• How many fake comments you get?

What LinkedIn is looking for is TIME people spend on your posts. A true measure of engagement and valuable, relevant content for its users.

So how do you increase dwell time?

EASY - Create long form content that keeps people hooked.

Create CAROUSELs where people want to keep swiping left. They don't want to scroll away.

Here are examples of content that we created and had unbelievably long dwell time & went viral??

This cool video from a client Havard about his nanotech startup Nanize went viral gaining 17,000+ impressions.

This video snippet from our?podcast with Richard Van Der Blom ?gained 6,000+ impressions.

Quick Tip to improve dwell time:

For personal stories → use 2000 character text posts

For blog style pieces → Use Carousel or videos??

Q6: To Pod or Not To Pod?

Yes I used the *dirty word* pods.?

I wanted to get his thoughts.

In case you’re not familiar with pods:

They’re like online syndicates for boosting content.?

You engage with my post via likes and comments and I’ll engage with yours.

You might simply ask your employees to like your posts; or use a sophisticated app like Lempod.

Your post gets increased visibility on LinkedIn to each of the pod members' networks due to the engagement.

Some people are completely against pods, and some people love the vanity metric it provides.

Before LinkedIn implemented dwell time, pods were quite effective for increasing your reach.

LinkedIn have caught on now.

Listen to the podcast at 38:37 to hear the full discussion on pods.

This episode ?is full of jam pack value.

We go into SO much more, like

• How to get 600 likes and 50 comments on a post? [18:41]
• CEO thought leadership content Vs Company page content [27:44]?
• Why resharing LinkedIn posts is a no go? [46:41]
• What can TikTok add to your content marketing? [52:02]

If you have not tuned into my podcast before, this is the ONE you should definitely listen to.

It is probably my BEST one yet, when it comes to really understanding LinkedIn strategy & algorithm.