Just Connecting have released its 4th annual LinkedIn Algorithm report. It is the most comprehensive data-driven guide we have found on how to get the most out of LinkedIn. You can read the full 57-page report here, if you're into growing your presence on LinkedIn next year, it's really worth the read.
Below, we have summarised the most interesting findings for agency leaders. This is the first of three blogs that contextualise the report for agencies:
Part 2 - The LinkedIn Algorithm Report for Agency Brands
Part 3 - The LinkedIn Algorithm Report for Client Servicing
People buy from people - The importance of your personal brand as a founder.
As a founder, your agency’s success is intrinsically linked to your own network. And, as ‘people buy from people' your own profile on LinkedIn needs to be considered as part of your marketing mix. Posting as your agency brand alone, will not provide the traction you need to generate new leads.
Here are some tips from the 2022 Just Connecting LinkedIn Algorithm Report which you can put into practice immediately as an agency owner.
Creator Mode
Only enable Creator Mode if you can consistently post original content at least twice a week. But if you do, it will increase your reach by 15-35%.
If you post 5 times a week you can increase your reach by a whopping x8.
But beware, although you gain access to some additional features with Creator Mode enabled, you will only see additional reach if you are posting consistently three times a week. And you will gain followers, not connections.
Get engaging
A post and run is not enough. To maximise performance from your LinkedIn efforts you need to stick around after you’ve posted to nurture it. You must receive engagement with your posts in the first 90 mins and again in the first 8 hours.
Once you have posted, make sure you engage with at least 3 posts from your network as this can bring an additional 20% reach.
If you tag others in your post, make sure they are likely to actually engage with it. Then ensure you reply to everyone who comments on your posts within 90 minutes.
LinkedIn notifies everyone who ‘rings your bell’ instantly when you post, so periodically invite your audience to ring yours to establish long-term growth from more engaged followers.
Commenting
Don’t be the first to comment on your post as this will reduce your reach by 20%. Your comment also won’t remain at the top when others start to chip into the conversation. If you have a link you want to send people to and that is the purpose of the post, pop it in the body of the post and suck up the reduced reach.
What to post?
Make sure you are playing with the different content formats on LinkedIn but consider the purpose of your post in relation to the format.
Text posts with a single image make up 21% of the content on LinkedIn. Cut through the noise with Documents, Polls, Carousels and Text with multiple pictures which will all bring between 1.2 and 3.4x more reach. By using a range of different formats you will increase reach by 10%.
If you find a typo after posting, live with it or delete it and start again. Whatever you do, don’t edit your post within the first 10 minutes, this will result in between 10-40% reduction in reach.
Video speaks a thousand words
You need to star in your own videos to get the best results. Videos which feature people other than you will perform 40% less. Use LinkedIn Live from your personal profile rather than your company page (so long as you have a curated audience) as it will boost your next three posts with an additional 10-15% reach.
The average engagement rate of LinkedIn Lives is 3.4% but interviews with peers and thought leaders have the top engagement at 5.6-8%.
Your personal brand is only part of the LinkedIn story.
In parts 2 and 3 of our summary, we will look at what agency company pages can do on LinkedIn and how LinkedIn can be used as a client servicing tool.
If you want more tips on how to grow your organic reach and engagement on LinkedIn, we recommend you follow Richard Van de Blom from Just Connecting for a wealth of ongoing data-backed insight.
Download our free LinkedIn Guide.
We created this guide for our agency clients to help them focus their content efforts on LinkedIn. And now we're offering it for free to you.
