Welcome

This is the 4th edition of the Technology Wordsmith newsletter!

LinkedIn “Pages” – How to post correctly

This week I am going to run through the main differences between Company “Pages” and Personal “Profiles” on LinkedIn.

While they may seem similar to the casual observer, they differ in how they are treated by the LinkedIn algorithm.

Understanding the algorithm and its business rules is critical to ensuring your Posts are seen by as many of your clients and partners as possible: after all, LinkedIn is all about networking and sales, right?

Source Credit

Before I being, a quick acknowledgement of the source of this information. My analysis is based on the “4th Annual Algorithm Research” by Richard van der Blom from Just Connecting.

I have extracted and re-organised the findings of that report into logical groups in this newsletter.

For more information, refer to the Just Connecting report, or contact me directly.

How often to Post?

Unlike Personal Profiles, LinkedIn does NOT punish you for posting as often as you want on a Company Page.

If fact, the more you Post, the better your Page will perform.

The algorithm for Company Pages performs best if you Post at least 4 or 5 times per week, and there is no penalty for multiple Posts each day (unlike Personal Profiles).

To the contrary, less than two Posts on a Company Page per week will reduce your reach.

So more it better.

When to Post?

Posts on Company Pages work best if posted on:

–             Tuesday,

–             Thursday and

–             Saturday.

Publishing on Monday or Friday reduces reach by 25%, while this drops by 75% on Sundays, given that Sundays are a traditional day of rest.

So

–          Post at least once on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, then

–          Post on other days as well, and

–          Post more often if you can.

Engagement

Despite this, Company Page Posts will only be distributed to 2.4% of your followers upon release.

Yes, that’s right — only 1 in 40 of your followers will see any given Post.

So how can you extend this reach?

By “engaging”.

Yes, you need to engage with and be engaged by your LinkedIn cohort if you want your Post to grow in reach.

REMEMBER: LinkedIn is a social media platform: you need to socialise with it if you want to succeed!

How to Engage

Comments

Comments are by far the best way to extend the reach of a Post.

After all, if someone Comments on your Post, this shows LinkedIn that your Post is being engaged which validates it social engagement.

But Commenting on your own Post is like talking to yourself in the mirror…. A bit sad, really.

So, you need to get other people to Comment on your Post.

Employee Engagement

Employees should be encouraged to Comment. You can make an internal announcement when a new Post goes up, asking them to jump on LinkedIn and Comment.

However, many companies do this already, so the algorithm prefers to see engagement by non-employees.

But asking your customers to engage is likewise a bit cheesy… what if they refuse?

Natural Engagement

The best type of engagement is natural engagement which is unsolicited and comes without strings attached.

You can nurture this type of engagement by being a good social citizen yourself and Commenting on their Posts.

Do this genuinely and often and they will start looking at your own Company Page and then start engaging with you.

It’s a two-way street: you engage with them, they engage with you.

“See More”

Getting your followers to click on the “See More…” link is the second-best form of engagement.

The logic is that if they click on the link, they are engaged so the Post has done its work.

The hard part is writing a powerful first line so that your Followers click on the link.

You need a powerful Hook: I will write about this in a LinkedIn post soon.

Likes

Likes are the next best form of engagement. As the name suggests, clicking Like shows that you approve of the post.

So if someone clicks Like on your past, the algorithm sees that favourably.

Other options are Celebrate, Support, Funny, Love, Insightful, and Curious. They all mean different things to you and me, but have the same impact on the algorithm.

Shares

Shares (when someone shares your Post to their own profile) are the final form of engagement that can support your post.

Hastags

Sometimes social media seems to be all about #hashtags, and LinkedIn is no exception.

Except it is… LinkedIn loves hashtags, but not too many as the algorithm then has trouble finding a home for your Post.

So the rule for Company Pages, is a maximum of 3 hashtags. No more, No less.

This is me!

Willem Popp: Technology Wordsmith

TL:DR

1. Post on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
2. Post as often as you can.
3. Comment on other company posts, as well as clients profiles.
4. Get your staff to Comment on your Post.
5. No more than 3 Hashtags.

How can I help you?

If you need help with your LinkedIn Company Page, then get in touch.

I can write Posts that follow the business rules of the LinkedIn algorithm and will enhance their spread.

Click on the link below to be added to my email list.