oday there are more social media platforms than ever before, and that number is only growing. With so many options and limited time and resources, it can be difficult to decide where to put your effort when it comes to your business’ social media presence. LinkedIn has proved a powerful option for businesses, particularly those with B2B sales models. In recent months, the platform surpassed one billion members globally, making it the largest professional networking platform in the world (LinkedIn, 2023).

• Use rich media such as photos, infographics, or videos; posts with rich media tend to receive higher engagement.
• LinkedIn allows the posting of PDFs, so repurpose your brochures or slide decks that your audience will find useful.
• It’s been proven that people like to see people on social media — add the human element to your strategy by posting about the people who make your company special.
• Mix it up! From text-only posts and media-rich articles, to polls and newsletters, LinkedIn allows for many types of posts. Some posts and types of posts will be more successful with your audience than others, but you won’t know what those trends are until you try.
• Consider your brand’s tone, messaging and content mix; in a recent report released by Hootsuite (2024), consumers reported the main things they want from brands are something new, something funny, or something inspiring.

A few ideas for your personal LinkedIn page:

• Post photos from a recent industry event you attended.
• Use the “Celebrate an Occasion” option within the post draft dialog box to give kudos to a colleague, share a project milestone, welcome a new member to the team or celebrate an educational milestone or certification.
• Share your company’s content with your own thoughts and perspective.
• Hiring? Post that position on LinkedIn and link it to your company’s page to grow your candidate pool (more on that later).
• Write a long-form article (think of it like a blog post) on a topic that your connections will find interesting and insightful.

Don’t do this:

• Include multiple links in the text portion of your post; it can be seen as spam. Additionally, LinkedIn wants its members to stay on their platform, not veer outside of it, therefore it does not favor posts that include links. Evaluate whether you really need to include a link in your post and consider adding the link as a comment on your post so that viewers can still access and click on the link without irritating the algorithm.
• Make edits within an hour of posting; the first hour is the most critical in the life of a LinkedIn post, therefore making edits within that first hour can hurt its reputation with the algorithm and effect its overall performance.
• Use generic hashtags such as #follow, #like or #comment; these are seen as spam by LinkedIn and won’t help your content to reach your target audience.
• Tag companies or people unlikely to react or respond.

• Post regularly; company pages that post on a weekly basis earn twice the engagement of pages that don’t post as often and grow page followers nearly six times as fast.
• Use rich media, such as photos, videos or PDFs. Use media that will catch attention and aligns with the goal of your post.
• Encourage engagement by asking questions; posts with comments, particularly in that first hour, earn higher impressions.
• Include three to five relevant hashtags.
• Only the first three lines of a post’s text appear when scrolling through the LinkedIn feed before requiring the reader to click “see more” to expand the post to its full length. Therefore, include your “hook” within these first three lines so viewers will want to continue reading.
• Respond to comments to boost post impressions and build community around your page’s followers.
• Notify colleagues of the post; if you are a LinkedIn page admin, click the three dots at the top of your post and select “notify employees” to trigger a notification to LinkedIn profiles that indicate current employment with your company. This notification lets them know their company has made a post, which encourages views and engagement. Employees can be your biggest advocates on social media, so be sure to keep them in the loop!

In addition to driving high-quality leads, building brand image and providing a digital arena for professional networking, LinkedIn is also an incredible recruitment tool. Sixty-one million people search for jobs on the site weekly, six people are hired every minute through LinkedIn and 140 job applications are submitted every second (Macready, 2024).

LinkedIn members can post one job opening at a time for free, within a 30-day window. For a more robust recruiting experience, employers turn to LinkedIn Recruiter and LinkedIn Recruiter Lite, an entry-level version of the former. Cost depends upon the needs and location of the business, company size and number of licenses required (Martinez, 2024). The paid service includes:

• Advanced search filters to find qualified candidates
• One hundred fifty InMails (LinkedIn’s in-app personal messaging) per member, per month with LinkedIn Recruiter and 30 InMails with LinkedIn Recruiter Lite
• Robust analytics to manage potential candidates
• AI-powered tools, such as assistance with personalized messaging and bulk message templates

Unlike traditional recruiting platforms, LinkedIn enables recruiters and hiring managers to seek out talent, rather than only waiting around for talent to find your company. This, coupled with the ability to showcase company culture on the site, gives companies an advantage in the challenging landscape of recruiting.

If you fall into the camp of those who have nothing to do with your company’s social media marketing or recruiting, there is still something in this for you! Leveraging LinkedIn to build your personal brand can be beneficial for your career. Personal branding is the process of defining and communicating your value and your values to the world. It is a way to share what you bring to the table and what you are passionate about. Personal branding is important because it helps build trust and credibility with your target audience. Here’s how you can take control of your “digital reputation” on LinkedIn and use the platform to your advantage:

• Optimize your profile. This includes using a professional photo, crafting a concise and effective description line for your profile, and filling out additional details including work history, professional accomplishments and specific skills you bring to the table.
• While it’s important to have a polished profile, it’s even more important to keep it active by contributing content and not just consuming it. Share your knowledge through writing leadership articles, share industry news that will appeal to your network and target audience and post original content that furthers your personal branding and tells people who you are, what you do, what you value and what you have to offer.
• Lastly, LinkedIn is a social platform – so be social! Use it as a tool to network, connect with peers, join common interest groups and get involved in discussions that demonstrate your expertise.

• Social Media for Business newsletter by Buffer
• Geekout Newsletter by Matt Navarra
• Social Media Examiner

And of course, utilize your LinkedIn network to get inspired, stay informed and engage in community.

1. Hootsuite (2024, May 2). Social trends 2024. https://hootsuite.widen.net/s/mgqjjznhsx/hootsuitesocialtrends2024_report_en
2. LinkedIn (2023, October 24). LinkedIn business highlights from Microsoft’s FY24 Q1 earnings. https://news.linkedin.com/2023/october/LinkedIn_Business_Highlights_from_FY24_Q1_Earnings
3. Macready, H. (2024, February 15). 51 LinkedIn statistics you need to know in 2024. Hootsuite. https://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-statistics-business/
4. Martinez, M. (2024, April 1). The 2024 All-Inclusive Guide to LinkedIn Recruiter. Vengreso. https://vengreso.com/blog/what-is-linkedin-recruiter