With over 900 million members, LinkedIn is one of the largest social media platforms—and the premier platform for businesses and professional to networking. LinkedIn introduces new features and algorithms regularly, so staying up-to-date with their best practices is essential to increase engagement and visibility. Following LinkedIn posting best practices are an important part of a solid strategy, and we’re here to help.
The Basics
The basics of content best practices are relatively universal, which makes them worth repeating. There are universal truths to content creation and distribution that are non negotiable for success. Here are three things you need to commit to:
- Quality content is critical. If your audience doesn’t like what you create, you’re not doing your job.
- Stay relevant. Change with the platform, embrace new features, and know who you’re speaking to.
- Consistency is imperative. Don’t come and go—you need to show up on a regular basis.
Understanding Your Audience
Identify your target audience
Before you can understand your audience, you need to know who they are. Who are the people most likely to use your product or service? What are their interests and values? What are their pain points, and how can you help?
The first thing you need to do is dive in to your audience analytics. Figure out what your demographics are. Age, location, gender, political leanings, profession, etc can help you tailor your content to your audience.
One way to help bring your target audience to life is with personas. You can create a detailed profile of your audience, including demographic information, interests, and behaviors. This will help you understand what motivates your readers and how to speak their language.
Keep your audience engaged
Once you know your target audience, you need to get them to talk to you—and keep coming back. Creating valuable content for your target audience will build a community of loyal followers who share your content.
Some ways you can encourage engagement are to:
- Jump on a popular topic in your niche with a unique perspective
- Show off your expertise! Help your audience out with advice and practical advice
- Initiate conversations with your audience via questions
Analyze data
Another way to understand your audience is by analyzing reader data. This can include website analytics, sales data, and feedback. This will help identify patterns and trends in your readers’ behavior and preferences. Website analytics can tell you which pages are most popular, how long visitors are staying on your site (and where they’re hanging out!), and what actions they are taking. This data will help you understand more about what is resonating with your audience so you can craft a more targeted content strategy.
Use creator mode
Creator mode is a feature that can help you grow your audience faster because LinkedIn will optimize your profile for publishing content. What this means is that your posts will have more visibility to users. To learn how to turn this feature on, follow these prompts.
Posting recommendations
Be authentic
Authenticity is critical when engaging with your audience on LinkedIn. Your followers want to know the person behind the profile. This is the secret behind any successful social strategy and the heart of any brand. Some things to consider:
- What do you stand for?
- Who are you outside of your profession?
- Why do you do what you do?
Giving your audience a peek behind the curtain, so to speak, can humanize you and make your content even more compelling.
Consistency
Posting consistently helps increase your brand’s visibility and to keep your content in front of people. . By posting regularly, you’re giving potential readers more opportunities to interact with your brand, increasing the likelihood of them remembering your business when they’re ready to purchase. By planning and scheduling your content in advance, you can ensure that your social media posts align with your business’s values, messaging, and objectives. Learn how our automation tool can save you time by taking the guesswork out of what to post every day.
Engage with your network
Be sure to respond to comments on your posts, share posts that resonate with you, and like and comment on other people’s posts. Joining groups with like-minded people is also a great way to grow your network.
What’s new on LinkedIn in 2023
A lot has changed, and if you haven’t caught up you’re missing out on important features. LinkedIn posting best practices are dependent upon feature updates, so it’s time to catch up! Some of the new features are:
Improved video captioning
LinkedIn automatically will generate captions for videos uploaded to the platform (currently only available in English). You can keep the captions that have been generated or edit them before posting.
Updates to product search
LinkedIn has streamlined its Product Pages and created a more personalized experience. It’s now easier to explore products and connect with community experts.
Alt text option for images
Advertisers can now optimize their images with alt text, just like you would optimize any image for SEO purposes. You can add alt text in your Campaign Manager dashboard. This will also help people understand what the image is about.
Our AI social media automation tool has helped publishers with productivity while growing their business across other social media platforms. You no longer have to worry about what content should be posted at what time of the day because our tool knows your best content on each platform and will post it at the best time for maximum engagement.
Are you ready to find out how to free up your time and automate your LinkedIn and other social media posts? Contact us to schedule a demo!