How to Master the LinkedIn Algorithm

With more than 675 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the go-to social network for professionals and businesses. Incorporating a LinkedIn marketing strategy into your wider approach to digital can have significant benefits, but it isn’t always easy to generate the results you want to see.

If you have seen LinkedIn posts go viral but struggle to get more than a handful of ‘likes’ on your own posts, you aren’t alone. But it’s important to remember that the people who are consistently going viral on LinkedIn aren’t relying on good fortune alone. Instead, they have a developed a comprehensive understanding of the LinkedIn algorithm and they use that knowledge to drive more clicks and engagement.

Here’s how to upgrade your LinkedIn marketing strategy in three simple steps:

1. Be Social with Hashtags and Comments

If you aren’t using social media to be social, you’re missing a trick. LinkedIn actively wants its users to engage with each other, which is why its algorithm rewards super social users.

Start by adding a comment to every post you make. In addition to increasing the visibility of your content, asking a question here will also increase your chances of starting a conversation. It’s also a good idea to use hashtags to improve the discoverability of your posts as they will help you to attract an audience who are already interested in the topic you are discussing.

2. Don’t Overshare External Links

LinkedIn makes its money by selling advertisements so its algorithm is designed to keep people on-site for as long as possible. As a result, the algorithm prioritises content that it knows will interest users and hold their attention. So, if you’re sharing content that has an external link, it is likely going to be less successful than a post which will keep users on LinkedIn. Why? Because it will encourage users to leave the platform, which means less revenue for LinkedIn!

Now, this isn’t to say that you can’t incorporate links to your site at all. Driving click-throughs to your own website is, after all, part of the reason why you would invest the time to develop a LinkedIn presence in the first place. Instead, simply scatter link-based content between long-form text based content and some posts with engaging imagery.

3. Know Precisely When to Share

A key part of your LinkedIn marketing strategy will involve researching best times of the day at which to share your content. If, for example, you share a post at 11pm on a Wednesday, your content will probably be lost at the bottom of a stream of content shared by other LinkedIn users on Thursday morning.

Content is more likely to drive the most engagement when it is shared at strategic points throughout the working day, including between 9 am and midday, between 2pm and 4:30pm, and between 6pm and 7pm. If driving engagement is a top priority, aim to post a piece of content at a time that will capture the most readers every day between Monday and Friday.

LinkedIn is an excellent platform on which to connect with colleagues, potential clients, and industry leaders. The above steps shouldn’t take you much longer than five or 10 minutes to complete but they have the potential to help transform your digital strategy.