Introduction
If you’re a business owner, you know that LinkedIn is important. It’s one of the most used social networking sites in the world. It’s the place where many of your potential clients are hanging out. But while it can be beneficial to have a profile on LinkedIn, some entrepreneurs find it difficult to get the most out of LinkedIn. In this article, I’ll share 10 tips to beat the LinkedIn algorithm. These tips will help you to build your business more effectively on the platform.
Tip 1. Be responsive and active
The first thing to do is get active on LinkedIn. Respond to comments, messages, and posts. Preferably in a timely manner. But also: share other people’s content, answer questions, and engage with others. It’s like a virtuous cycle: the more you engage others on LinkedIn, the better reputation you’ll build for yourself. This will help attract new contacts who want to work with someone who has such a strong network in place. It also shows the LinkedIn algorithm that you’re probably some kind of authority in your field. Which will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on your reach.
Tip 2. Write engaging headlines
Headlines are the first thing your posts will be judged by. These short sentences help people decide whether they want to read and engage or to keep scrolling. So make sure your posts are engaging, specific, and actionable. Here are a few tips:
- Write short and sweet headlines that are brief but informative (like this one)
- Pick up on what makes your content unique from other posts on LinkedIn, but don’t go overboard with lengthy descriptions or keywords that might not make sense out of context
- Just like the titles of blog articles, you want to use numbers when appropriate (e.g. “How I Increased Sales by 30% in 6 Months!”) – this signals value and shows off expertise
Tip 3. Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to get your content discovered by people who are looking for what you’re posting about. They’re also a great way for you to find like-minded people, and if you post something that goes viral with the right hashtag, it could spread across LinkedIn and into other social media platforms.
It’s important not to go overboard with hashtags—use them sparingly so your post doesn’t look spammy or cheapen the quality of your work. But now you may ask yourself, ‘How many hashtags should I use?’
It really depends on your personal preference and what kind of audience you want to attract. Some people may find that using one or two hashtags is sufficient, while others might use three or four. The key thing to remember here is that no matter how many hashtags you’re using, they should all be relevant to the post itself. One good rule of thumb is not putting more than two hashtags in a single post—and if you do choose to go beyond this limit, make sure the additional words are at the beginning of the text (not buried in it).
Tip 4. Add a video or image
Adding a video or image to your post can increase its reach by 50%! Here are some tips for picking the right ones:
- Add a relevant video that will help support and enhance your post. This is especially important if you’re writing about something outside your industry or niche, as it will help you build credibility and trust with followers who may not know much about the topic you’re writing about but have heard of you because they follow other social media profiles in your industry/niche.
- Consider using imagery related to your niche or brand if appropriate; this will help build trust with potential customers and followers who may not know much about who you are yet but might want to learn more after seeing how well-made the images were.
Tip 5. Focus on your niche
By creating a specific target audience and focusing your content around that group, you’ll be able to reach more people who are interested in what you have to offer.
Use your posts to develop an expertise in a particular niche. This is one of the most important things you can do. The LinkedIn algorithm for posts that favours the quality advice will penalize those who go off-topic or stray from their niche too often. So get clear about what it means to be an authority within your chosen field, then stick to it.
As much as possible, use words related to that specific field or industry in your post descriptions. This will help show off your expertise and make it easier for people in that industry to find your company by searching for keywords associated with their line of work!
Tip 6. Use LinkedIn insights
After you’ve identified your target audience, the next step is to determine what it is they want (and don’t want) from you. LinkedIn provides some insights into this with its free tool called “LinkedIn Insights”. This tool allows you to see what your network is interested in based on the content they engage with, share, and comment on. You can also use it to find out what’s working for other people in your industry.
Using this data effectively requires careful consideration of what kind of information will be most interesting or relevant to them—but once you’ve got that figured out, there are few things better than leveraging LinkedIn insights!
Tip 7. Make it personal
Personalize what you write as much as possible by sharing personal anecdotes or experiences related to the topic at hand; show rather than tell (as in “I did this” vs “This happened”). This lets potential clients get a glimpse into who YOU are and helps them relate on an emotional level with what YOU have done to achieve success in YOUR business model (which may not necessarily look exactly like how someone else does things).
It also allows for better engagement with readers because they feel connected through shared experiences. Instead of reading about them from some stranger online whose job it is just to write articles all day long, without ever having any real-world experience outside their own office environment – which gets boring after a while!
Tip 8. Be consistent with your content sharing
The LinkedIn algorithms can tell when you’re trying to game their system, so if you share content all of a sudden, or don’t share any at all, or if you share too little and then suddenly start posting several times per day—these are all signs that will get your account flagged by the LinkedIn algorithm.
If this happens to you, don’t panic! It’s not as though they’ve banned your account (yet). They’ll just penalize it by lowering its visibility in people’s feeds until they can see that it has normalized its behaviour again.
And while this might seem like an easy way out of having to post consistently—like maybe if I post once a week instead of every day I won’t get penalized!—it doesn’t work like that. Posting one article every two weeks would actually put more pressure on each individual post because there would be longer gaps between them than usual.
If anything, avoid getting complacent with how often you publish content on LinkedIn; instead focus on providing value through consistency rather than quantity (or quality).
Tip 9. Set a routine so you don’t miss out on prime posting times
You’ve probably heard about the need of posting on the right moments before. That’s for a good reason. For maximum effectiveness, you should set a routine for posting. Ideally, you want to post at the same time every day. This will help your followers get familiar with your schedule and know when to expect new content from you.
Here are some ways to find out what your audience is doing during different times of the day:
- Log in at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 9 p.m., etc. (this is usually only possible if there’s not much of an overlap between users in different time zones)
- Use hashtags on Instagram and Twitter (e.g., #happyhour)
Tip 10. Give more than you ask for
The “give more than you ask for” rule of thumb is one of the most important lessons we can apply to our LinkedIn strategy. It’s a lesson that goes beyond LinkedIn, but it’s especially important here because this is where your network starts.
The only way to build a solid network on LinkedIn is by giving more value than you take. This means that when someone asks you for something—whether it be advice, an introduction or even just a connection recommendation—you should do what you can to help them out instead of thinking about what they can do for your business.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is undoubtedly a great platform for entrepreneurs. But it can be challenging to figure out the best way to make smart use of the LinkedIn algorithm. By following these tips, you can make sure that your LinkedIn presence is as effective as possible. This will lead to connecting with more interesting people, growing your network, and eventually getting more clients.
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