Don't Tick Off The LinkedIn Algorithm!
by Kathy Bernard
If you post on LinkedIn for your organization’s company page, do so in a way that doesn’t run afoul of the LinkedIn algorithm, which punishes your posts’ reach if you say or do the wrong things.
But first, know that your company’s audience is limited to only those who follow the page. So, if your company’s follower list is small, few people will see your posts. To improve a post’s reach, ask employees to share your post but DON’T ask them on LinkedIn—doing so could hurt its reach. Instead, send an internal message with a link to the post and ask employees to click ‘Repost’ and add a comment. By doing so, the post will be shared with their network. Encourage them to repost immediately because LinkedIn shares posts more broadly when they get heavy engagement in the first hour.
Don’t ask for likes, comments or reposts in the post. LinkedIn hates that!
This next one is tough if you want to drive traffic to your site, but don’t include an outbound link in your post. Instead, include key information in the actual post. According to Hootsuite, posts without outbound links get six times more reach than those with them.
Other tips
- If you have admin access to your company page, click “Admin tools” > “Invite connections” to invite up to 100 people in your network per month to follow the page.
- Include location, industry, and topical hashtags like #stlouis or #eventplanning to reach locals or people interested in your business offerings.
Kathy Bernard (kathy@wiseru.com), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-based LinkedIn consultant/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.