Like all other social networks, LinkedIn relies on an algorithm for sending content to its users, and this magic formula is based on a number of factors. In understanding how LinkedIn’s algorithm works, we can make the most of our time on the platform and ultimately, make our content go further. These tips are specifically aimed at organisations looking to grow their engagement – but they could be applied to personal use too!
Update your details
First thing’s first, get your profile in ship-shape. (According to LinkedIn, companies with complete pages receive 30% more views each week!) Your ‘Page Info’ and ‘Company Overview’ is where you tell your audience what you’re all about and why they should follow you. Keep these up to date and use keywords that match your website for brand consistency and to support SEO. Secondly, strengthen your employer branding by filling out the ‘Workplace’ section to include details of work policy, hybrid/remote working patterns etc. as well as your location – this will help to attract potential candidates and streamline your employment process. Your LinkedIn Page also includes a ‘People’ tab, which lists all of your current employees. If you purchase Career Pages, you’ll also get a ‘Life’ tab, where you can provide more detail on the employee experience at your company and even feature content made by your employees.
Be consistent
According to LinkedIn, publishing less than twice per week on the platform will lead to 50% less growth; the sweet spot is considered around 2-3 posts per week, consistently. Pausing posts for over a month will decrease the reach of your subsequent 4-5 posts by around 30%. Having said that, don’t overdo it; publishing a new post within 18 hours from a previous one will bring down the reach of both – so avoid posting on consecutive days to maximise your impact. Unsurprisingly, the most effective days to post are Tuesdays-Thursdays, when users are in peak ‘work-mode’. As a uniquely professional networking platform, LinkedIn members are even less likely to be online at weekends compared with other platforms, so keep this in mind when making your publishing schedule.
Stay active
This goes for physical exercise as well as LinkedIn. But seriously, nurture those posts. Increase engagement by responding to comments in the first 12 hours, using hashtags (but no more than 10) and meaningfully engaging with at least three other posts after posting. Not only does this increase engagement with your own posts by up to 20%, but it increases the visibility of your brand amongst your audiences on the platform.
Prioritise quality over quantity
To make your posts go even further, our advice is to: keep them short(ish – 1200-1500 characters is optimum), include strong keywords, and avoid outbound links (save these for the comment section.) Consider the richness of your media too. Posts with images get twice as many comments as text posts, and are amongst the highest-reaching formats alongside polls, documents and carousel posts (4 images is optimum).
Tag wisely
Tagging partners, collaborators or employees on the platform is sociable and kind, but it doesn’t always benefit your engagements. According to the LinkedIn report (late 2022 edition), any tagged person or company who does not engage slows down the growth of a post – so make sure you’re giving your tag-ees a heads up! It’s also worth diving into your mentions and giving these some love, as that’ll help posts about your company to go further. On that note, make sure to also turn on trending employee content (in the ‘My Company’ Pages tab) to display your team member’s updates on your company’s profile. Posts about job opportunities from individuals can be up to five times as effective as those from an organisation, so showing these on your company profile is a no-brainer.
That’s it from us: all the need-to-know bits about the LinkedIn algorithm in 2023. For more advice on using LinkedIn, either personally or professionally, just give us a shout.
Sarah and the HdK team