Rethinking LinkedIn Content: 5 Unique Ways to Drive Engagement

LinkedIn is a powerful content engine. And like any engine, it needs to be oiled.

If not, the content gets old and rusty, which ultimately leads to less audience exposure.

By constantly lubricating the engine – with fresh and tailored messages – B2B marketers can unlock unique ways to drive engagement and prevent content from getting lost in the feed.

We’ve gathered 5 ideas to polish up your LinkedIn content:

1. Summarizing Articles

Marketers marvel at the fact that they can organically promote content on LinkedIn, driving traffic to their site which can convert to leads. However, as you scroll through LinkedIn, one thing’s for sure: there are seemingly fewer posts containing third-party links.

Suspicious right?

Undeniably, LinkedIn wants to retain an engaged community on its own platform, which begs the question: is its algorithm designed to suppress posts linking to external sites?

Although there’s no official statement to back this up, I did discover that LinkedIn’s algorithm first segments posts into ‘spam’, ‘low-quality’, and ‘clear’. This is done to ensure users are only exposed to viral-worthy content.

Anything classified as ‘spam’ is immediately disqualified, while anything classified as ‘low-quality’ has lower chances of catching any eyes.

After the initial screening, posts are tested on some of your connections for popularity. If deemed ‘popular’, posts are sent to LinkedIn employees who determine whether or not they’ll be broadcasted to people outside your network.

Based on these findings, it may be that LinkedIn’s algorithm classifies your website as ‘spam’, which explains the drop of external links on the newsfeed.

So how do you dodge this bullet?

One way is by removing website links altogether and letting the posts speak for themselves. Instead of directing users to your company blog, try summarizing the key points of an article in a LinkedIn status update. Break down paragraph into short sentences or bullet-point form, like this:

Despite the drop of website traffic, you’ll be driving far more engagement for your own content. After all, prospects know very little about your brand when they first engage on LinkedIn, so you want to provide them with as much information in a short amount of time.

Therefore, it’s better to educate your audience on LinkedIn than not educate them at all. As long as your message is delivered, audiences can independently visit your LinkedIn profile or do a basic Google search to learn more about your company.

2. Mentioning Company Pages

Mentioning (@) relevant members or company pages in your LinkedIn updates is a simple yet effective trick for maximizing content engagement.

Doing so not only notifies the mentioned parties, it also gets the immediate attention of their community and the community of their community.

Like a domino effect.

One network reacts, knocking down another network, and so forth. At some point, you’ll find that your content reach is amplified far beyond your limited pool of audience.

So don’t hesitate to make the first move. Companies highly benefit from being recognized as thought leaders. As a result, they’ll start tagging you back and sharing the post with their audience – an excellent start to building a supportive community.

3. Promoting Low-Budget Videos

Videos are trendy on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter! They provide a fun way to produce captivating content for audiences.

Recently, LinkedIn has made a comeback by enabling individuals to upload video content via iOS or Android mobile app. Additionally, users are able to access analytics on the location of viewers, the number of comments, likes, and views.

If this sounds like an attempt to lure marketers back to their platform – you’re not wrong.

As more and more B2B marketing professionals board the video train, Linkedin has become a go-to source for hosting such content. While millennials are the ultimate crowd for video marketing, C-suite decision makers and senior influences are just as swayed.

In fact, the professional nature of LinkedIn, coupled with the snappy videos, helps B2B marketers position their videos as “educational materials”. Frankly, this would be much harder to achieve on other networks.

Another important element to consider is the video style.

Unlike the well-produced videos that rank highly on YouTube, “engaging” video content on LinkedIn sharply differs. On Linkedin, B2B marketers seem to take a more low-key approach, favoring low-budget ‘piece to camera’.

This way, they avoid the scripted-feel of traditional videos and hit ‘record’ on their smartphone wherever inspiration strikes – be it in the car, at the office, or in any other natural setting.

Like this!

Or this!

Or even in a more humorous tone!

By investing less money on resources and less time on meticulous pre-to-post production, marketers can focus on maintaining an interpersonal connection with the viewer – something that is truly craved for in the digital age.

Thanks to this vivid format, viewers are not only able to put a face to a company, they’re also more likely to memorize your content. In fact, humans retain an amazing 80% of what they see! So it’s no wonder that videos are the way to go.

According to LinkedIn, videos are shared 20 times more than any type of content. So there you have it, viewers are clearly relating to the more natural, un-scripted feel that video presents.

4. Highlighting Employee Success

As a B2B marketer, small gestures really go a long way.

You’ll be surprised by the powerful impact employee recognition can have on engagement.

Whether you want to boast personal achievement or showcase new talent, putting a spotlight on specific employees has a twofold impact: internally, it increases company motivation where employees are empowered to work hard; and externally, it reveals your vibrant company culture, which helps to attract future talent.

Here are two great examples of how it can be done:

Making it to Forbes’ 30 under 30 is a tremendous achievement that many could only imagine. Playtika recognized this by promoting their employee’s milestone on LinkedIn. The post itself is simple yet powerful enough to capture audience’s attention and motivate other employees.

As a content curation platform, Zest thrives on promoting engaging content. Here, they took a more personal approach by shedding light on a new employee as well as including an image and fun facts about her. Not only does this make the employee feel valued, it also gives outsiders a positive insight into the company culture.

So remember: never underestimate the power of employee recognition in boosting LinkedIn engagement.

5. Using Emojis

I’m sure you’re thinking: emojis… really?

Surely, they have no place in the workplace, so why include them on LinkedIn?

Living in an era where there’s an emoji for practically every term in the dictionary, the possibilities of integrating them in social content are endless.

From a psychological perspective, our brains are also wired to process images faster than text. In fact, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.

With this in mind, it only makes sense to incorporate emojis in posts – even on LinkedIn. The professional nature of LinkedIn shouldn’t override the need to be authentic and communicate in a humanely fashion.

If used correctly, an emoji can transform your post from mediocre to magnificent!

Below are some best practices for incorporating emojis in LinkedIn posts:

• Don’t replace words with emojis – to avoid misinterpretation or appearing unprofessional, it’s best to use emojis to complement words, not replace them. Be selective and make sure the emoji evokes a clear meaning.
• Be relevant – make sure the emoji selected will highlight key information and guide the reader to what you want them to see. Like this:                             
• Consider your audience – emojis have undergone a cultural revolution. With over 150 emojis representing diverse skin colors, ethnicities, and religions, it’s critical that you pick the right emoji for the right audience.

Emojis are an excellent tool to let your personality shine while conveying emotions that you wouldn’t be able to with words.

Just be careful not to misuse them. You don’t want to come across as a 5th grader playing on their mother’s phone.

Take a New Turn on LinkedIn

It’s time to rethink your LinkedIn content. Whether it’s summarizing your articles, creating snappy videos, or incorporating emojis, there are plenty of industry-changing possibilities to drive your message home, without compromising engagement.