9 Secrets for Writing Stunningly Successful Posts on LinkedIn

Earlier this month I hosted a Google hangout discussion about what makes a successful LinkedIn blog post. The panel consisted of, Marc Miller of Career Pivot, Paul Shapiro SEO Director at Catalyst (part of WPP Group), and Randy Milanovic, Principal at KAYAK Online Marketing. and me.

The panel members were chosen for their unique insights into what makes a successful LinkedIn blog.

Marc Miller advises baby boomers on career change. He is the author of “Repurpose Your Career – a Practical Guide for Baby Boomers” .

Marc writes regularly on LinkedIn and several of his posts have received hundreds of thousands of views. One alone received two thousand comments!

In 2014 Paul Shapiro carried out what is still the most comprehensive quantitative study of LinkedIn publishing when he analysed the top 3,000 most successful posts. He identified 10 factors that these posts have in common. Read the full report here.

Randy Milanovic has published books on content marketing and web optimisation. He is a popular guest author on Social Media today and also writes regularly on LinkedIn.

During the discussion the panel shared their formula for success and also discussed other issues such as what reading age to write for and the pros and cons of republishing posts from a website to LinkedIn. Here is a selection of their recommendations.

1. Write for a Channel

In order to give your post the best chance of success start by writing for a channel. LinkedIn has 42 channels, similar to TV channels, covering subjects from leadership and management (11.6m followers), to Green Business (2.8m followers), and Design (390k followers). Being featured in a channel will mean your post has much wider exposure though it is not a guarantee of success. (MM)

 There are three ways in which your post can be chosen to feature on a channel.

•  The LinkedIn algorithm selects the content as being relevant to that channel.
• The LinkedIn editorial team select your content manually.*
• As a nominated LinkedIn employee

Incidentally it is not always the most popular channels that get the best results. For example Marc Miller’s post “4 Signs That You Are Working For a Failing Company“ has had 569,787 views and is featured in the “Careers Next Level” Channel which has just over 324,000 followers. In fact three of Marc’s last four posts have featured in this channel.  (GC)

2. Use posts that have already been successful elsewhere (MM)

Contrary to popular myth there are NO penalties for republishing a post on LinkedIn. It is generally considered to be useful to include a reference back to the original post at the bottom of your post e.g. “a version of this post originally appeared on (link to original)”. This helps Google to know which one was the original. (RM)

If you still have some reservations about duplicate posting there is a more detailed discussion on the video.

3. Do your research

What are other people writing about, not the official LinkedIn influencers but the ordinary members? Which of their posts are proving very popular? Use this feedback to shape what you write about? (MM)

 4. Write for 11 year olds

This was one of the insights that came from Paul Shapiro’s research. The most successful blogs were pitched at the reading age of intelligent 11 year olds. So time to throw the jargon overboard. (PS)

5. Images

The optimum number of images for a post is four and despite the popularity of video on Facebook and Twitter more than one video on LinkedIn is counterproductive. (PS)

6. How to boost the number of views

The most successful single thing you can do to increase the distribution of your posts is to ask the reader to like your post (PS)

7. The importance of comments

Commenting on comments is one of the most effective ways of driving up engagement and views. A post with many comments is also more likely to come to the attention of the LinkedIn editorial team who may decide to promote it more widely. (RM)

If you think your post deserves a wider audience then you can bring it directly to the attention of the editorial team @LinkedInPulse but don’t overdo this. (GC)

8. Cross posting

Cross posting is as important as having a big network. In particular sharing on Twitter is the most effective way of boosting a post. (PS)

9. Going viral isn't everything

Finally there is no guaranteed formula for sending your post viral. For most of us several hundred views is considered a success. One of the most powerful benefits of the publishing on LinkedIn is that it keeps you front of mind with your existing network, because each of your connections is notified every time you publish. Don’t underestimate the value of this. (GC)

If you found this article useful please like and share it so others can too. To watch the whole discussion (40 minutes) please click on the video below.

Greg Cooper is a Marketing Coach and LinkedIn specialist and Google+ trainer based in Bristol, UK. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing. For over twenty years Greg ran an award winning direct marketing agency working with leading technology companies like IBM, SAP, and Siemens. Today he works with SMEs and Business Units of larger companies. He is an accredited coach on the Government sponsored Growth Accelerator Programme.

For more information about my coaching and training services email me for an individual discussion of your needs. You can also follow me on Twitter.