Many individuals and businesses try to master the algorithms behind the large social networks that we know are key for marketing success in the modern era. Social networks, however, aren’t so quick to release information about their algorithm and certainly won’t look to guide you on how to make it work for you.
Working with social media platforms, like LinkedIn, everyday however, means we have learned some tips and tricks as to how to make the LinkedIn algorithm work for you.
- What should I post? – As with any social media algorithm, LinkedIn is no different regarding the content you should be posting to get the best results. The best content to post is that which is relevant and interesting to your audience. The more relevant your content is, the more your audience will engage and in turn, the more LinkedIn will view your social media channels as trusted. LinkedIn gives you the options to upload photos, videos, slideshows, documents, and articles. We’ve found that uploading a range of posts that include the above increases engagement and likes.
- When should I post? – If you search when the best time to post on LinkedIn is, you are going to find lots of different answers and the truth is there is not a single ‘best time’ to post on LinkedIn, it all depends on your audience. IR Global post content on multiple different topics to audiences all over the world so to say there would be a best time to post wouldn’t be true. Look at your LinkedIn analytics, this will show you the time that previous posts went out and how well they were received. The whole point of social media is to show your audience your knowledge and your business, so if posts do better on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday, post more on Tuesdays.
As our audience is international, we have spent a lot of time experimenting with different times to see which achieve the best results, we recommend doing the same.
- How can I use the algorithm to expand my reach? – Many people ask how they can use an algorithm to help them better their own social media efforts and the answer is that you cannot use the algorithm as such but by understanding how it works, you can better target your content to expand your reach.
The best way in which you can do this is by tagging people in your post. When you do this, the LinkedIn algorithm views your post as more trustworthy, whilst at the same time putting your content in front of their audience as well as yours, meaning you could potentially double your engagement by simply tagging an individual or company. Be careful here though – some companies start tagging everybody in everything, which is not a good thing. If you do this too much, you will see the opposite effect, the algorithm will view your content as spam and you might lose some of your following too, so make sure when you do tag that they’re relevant to the post. Another great way is to share your company posts to your personal LinkedIn profile to ensure the posts reach your own audience, especially if your company posts an article that you have written.
Overall, if you ensure that your posts are timely and relevant then your audience will engage and comment. Don’t be afraid to try new things like videos or uploading slideshows and don’t forget to hashtag! Once you perfect what your posts look like, you can start to focus on when its best to posts to ensure that these are seen. Then you can focus on when is best to post to your audience, expanding your reach and boosting your engagement.
The LinkedIn algorithm does change over time but if you keep creating good content that people enjoy, there’s no reason to worry about the algorithm behind LinkedIn whatsoever.
IR Global can help members with our range of digital services including LinkedIn account management to ensure that you get the most out of your social media platforms and your wider digital marketing efforts.
Find out more about how we can help here.