Publishing on LinkedIn - My Journey

For the past several months I have decided to grow how I connect via LinkedIn. I got tired of reading it every day and seeing folks publish only their firms stuff as a corporate shill. (Or rehashing content from Sociabble or Elevate)

Cliff Notes Version: In the last two months of 2017, my posts on LinkedIn got over 115k views, 150 comments, 1475 Likes and 57 Shares. I raised my Social Selling Index from 73 to 86 in the two-month span.  

The Goal

I wanted to see if there was a way to publish authentic and original content and if it would reach my both direct network and reach out to a wider network. And do so in a way that wouldn’t consume a day a week of my schedule.

I knew there was a formula was to reach the widest selection of my network. (Broetry isn’t a method I want to use.) I just didn’t know what it was. I still don’t, but I have a better handle on what works with my network. My goal was to average 50% coverage of network on posts.  At the end of 2017, my coverage rate was 95%. Which I view as incredible.

Coverage Rate for me was the total size of my network (3500) divided by the number of views (1875) which would give me a 50% coverage rate.

Posting History

Prior to starting this, I posted very infrequently on LinkedIn. Prior to 2017, I would post in fits and starts. Here is a listing of the number of posts per year I have done. In 2017, I made posts that make up almost 50% of the total number of posts I have put on LinkedIn since I started posting in 2012.

My Network

I then had a chance to look at my connections over the years. My network has gone through times where I have trimmed it and other times where I let it grow wild. I am currently of the mood that I curate my connections, but I take very strong ownership of my feed. I actively block folks who don’t add any value.

And it turns out my first connection was David Judd. But I would say my network has grown steadily over time, but not massively one year vs. others. (As a percentage of the overall network size, that is.)  

Key Learnings

Post regularly. I have found every two or three days works best. If you just posted and want to post again as it’s cool or important? Do it. I have posted two or three times a day and none of the posts have suffered if they where high quality. Other than that, it doesn’t really matter.

I started this intent on building out some cool graphics showing how Photos and URL's and Length and all the stuff made a difference. And after looking at it, none of it did. The personal messaging was 100% what made the difference.

For me in 2017, LinkedIn helped me scale. I was able to reach a wide group of my partners, customers and team members. I spent less than 40 hours publishing information to LinkedIn. About 95% of it was done from my phone. And then ever once in a while, I look at the connections people look at with me and I am blown away.

For 2018, I am going to focus on Articles and Video. Articles have already helped me reach new audiences and have helped make new connections. Articles appear to have a much longer shelf life than posts, which have about a 3-5-day shelf life.