Posting on LinkedIn: Five things businesses need to know
With a marked shift to remote and hybrid working, B2B professionals are relying more heavily on social media platforms to reach their target audience and forge strong relationships. Posting on LinkedIn pages is something many businesses are incorporating into their social strategy, with overall sessions up by almost 30% according to a Microsoft performance update.
As the world’s largest professional network, with almost 760 million members in 200 countries across the globe, LinkedIn presents a fantastic opportunity for B2B brands to connect with prospects, existing customers and suppliers. And when used effectively it can play a major role in B2B PR and content marketing.
These top tips for posting on LinkedIn will help businesses make the most of the platform and achieve a higher level of engagement with their content and company page.
Tip 1: Post on LinkedIn regularly but don’t overdo it
Posting content on an organisation’s LinkedIn page should be done regularly, without bombarding its followers. Posting two or three times per week is ideal, especially for a smaller company, and posting once a day should be the absolute maximum for larger companies with more content to share.
There are various theories around when to post to get maximum engagement, but this varies by business so testing different times and days is recommended. Generally posting on LinkedIn on weekday mornings gets more engagement than posting later in the day or at weekends. Unlike other social networks, where posts tend to disappear from the user’s feed fairly quickly, LinkedIn posts often resurface two to three weeks later, so interactions can take place over a longer period.
The optimum length for a LinkedIn post is around 100 characters, although businesses can use both shorter and longer posts for variety. The maximum is 3,000 characters but this is far too long for posts or status updates. It may be more appropriate to write an article if there is a lot of information to share. Posts are truncated at 140 characters and users need to click ‘see more’ to access the rest of the text.
Tip 2: Vary the format and type of content shared
A text post on its own isn’t particularly engaging, so all posts should have some sort of visual element, whether that is an image, a native video, an infographic or a chart, to attract attention on LinkedIn. Including symbols and emojis in posts was once seen as unprofessional, but it is becoming more and more accepted, and can be a great way to break up text blocks when used minimally.
Varying the type and format of content shared will prevent business pages getting repetitive. Sharing links to company blog posts drives traffic to the business’ website, but if this is the only type of content shared the LinkedIn page will just be a carbon copy of the blog. Instead, businesses can share blogs just once a week and intersperse these posts with breaking news, product information, research results or top tips.
It can be tempting to create a single post and share it to a number of social media platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. But ideally content should be created specifically for LinkedIn. Each platform has a distinct feel and tone, as well as its own formats, so even if the same message is being shared across all social networks, it should be tailored to individual platforms. Many customers will follow a company on multiple platforms and seeing the same post everywhere quickly becomes tedious.
As well as a social network, LinkedIn is also a publishing platform, so businesses can use this functionality to post full articles, either on their business page or on the personal pages of key spokespeople. Thought leadership articles syndicated via LinkedIn publishing are useful tools for demonstrating expertise and opening up direct conversations with a business’ audience.
Tip 3: Share other people’s content as well as your own
Think of LinkedIn as a conversation. While it’s important to have a voice and post your own content, it is also vital to listen to what others are saying, interact with their posts and share relevant links. Otherwise everyone is simply shouting over each other trying to be heard.
Resharing insightful and useful content or news others have published on the platform will help to establish a business as a key driver of the industry conversation. This is particularly effective when the content is initially posted by a respected trade body or industry organisation, increasing the company’s credibility by association. It is vital to add an opinion or some commentary to the content before sharing, rather than just reposting it without adding value.
Tip 4: Post content to encourage user interaction
As with most social networks, the more interaction a LinkedIn post receives, the more visibility that post will achieve across the platform. This interaction can be in the form of views, reactions, comments or shares. Businesses can encourage engagement on LinkedIn by posting content that poses a question for users to answer, either in the comments section, through the use of a simple poll or by using the various reaction symbols.
Businesses can use LinkedIn’s content suggestions feature to find out which topics are currently resonating with their followers, and can use this information to create posts that are more likely to generate interaction. When a LinkedIn user comments on a post, it is a good idea to reply positively to that comment and perhaps ask an additional question to continue the conversation and encourage further interaction.
Tip 5: Use hashtags when posting on LinkedIn
Hashtags are a relatively new addition to LinkedIn and, as with other social networks, they can help make content more discoverable by allowing the platform to categorise and group posts. Always try to add at least one or two hashtags when posting on LinkedIn, but make sure they are relevant to the post. Ideally hashtags will form part of the post itself rather than just being added at the end.
LinkedIn also has hashtag communities which are very valuable to businesses. Usually the interactions that can be performed by a business page are very limited, with reactions and comments credited to the individual user rather than the company. With hashtag communities businesses can select three relevant hashtags to associate their page with. They can then comment or react as that page on any content posted with those hashtags, giving the business relevant exposure across the platform. Some communities result in more interaction than others so it is a good idea to experiment rather than just sticking to the first three hashtags chosen.
These five tips will help businesses get started with effectively posting on LinkedIn. Please get in touch at hello@teamgingermay.com to find out how LinkedIn can be integrated into your PR and content marketing strategy.