Beginner’s Guide on How to Beat LinkedIn Algorithm in 2021
To master a social media platform completely, the first thing is to understand the algorithm and adopt the continuous changes in it. This blog is all about how and why make LinkedIn a part of your marketing strategy and how you can master the LinkedIn algorithm in 2021.
What Is LinkedIn & Why You Should Be There?
LinkedIn is that inaccessible cousin of Facebook, which is entirely respectful and formal. You can talk, share, transfer posts, react, and respond to others’ posts too. As Instagram is all about visuals, LinkedIn is all about connections. Just like Facebook, you can run a company page for connecting with your expected customers on LinkedIn.
Advertisers, entrepreneurs, people, or business visionaries, LinkedIn is a heavenly homestead for all.
Today, its family gloats of 740 million members worldwide, helping and supporting each other, climbing the steps of accomplishment.
However, there is a thing that separates LinkedIn from other online media–its perfect organic reach. LinkedIn gives you stunning organic reach in a limited period. Even without advertisements, you could go totally popular.
There is a lot of content in articles, text, and graphics posted daily on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn algorithm is trying to make the newsfeed more attractive and user-friendly. LinkedIn marketing isn’t as big a deal if you know the algorithm.
Understanding LinkedIn & How to Make the Most of It
One of the most powerful elements of LinkedIn is the connections you’ve made with people and the relationships you maintain. LinkedIn is where business folks find out about their industry’s most recent happenings and career development among their connections.
You might have seen some Facebook-like posts on LinkedIn with significant engagements. But that’s not the right approach you should take for your company page.
What Should I Post on LinkedIn?
While LinkedIn is essentially a B2B social media platform, both B2B and B2C brands can profit by publishing on it. Chiefs from Virgin (counting Richard Branson), IBM, and Microsoft all post on LinkedIn.
Publishing content on LinkedIn expands your scope and permits you to interact directly with your clients.
There are two fundamental approaches to publish on LinkedIn. The first is LinkedIn Publisher, in which you can compose a long-structure article–typically five to seven passages–and share it with your LinkedIn connections.
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To master a social media platform completely, the first thing is to understand the algorithm and adopt the continuous changes in it. This blog is all about how and why make LinkedIn a part of your marketing strategy and how you can master the LinkedIn algorithm in 2021. Table of Content: Linked Algorithm
What Is LinkedIn And Why You Should Be There
Understanding LinkedIn & How to Make the Most of It
What Should I Post on LinkedIn
How to Use Hashtags on LinkedIn
Whom Should I Add on LinkedIn
Behind-the-Scene Sneak Peek of LinkedIn Algorithm
What Is the LinkedIn Algorithm & How Does It Work
How to Beat LinkedIn Algorithm in 2021
Choose Right-Time to Post
Acknowledge the Content-Type That LinkedIn Craves
Use the LinkedIn Publisher Tool
5 Things to Make the Most of LinkedIn Marketing Strategy in 2021
16 Interesting LinkedIn Marketing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2021
In a Nutshell
What Is LinkedIn & Why You Should Be There? LinkedIn is that inaccessible cousin of Facebook, which is entirely respectful and formal. You can talk, share, transfer posts, react, and respond to others’ posts too. As Instagram is all about visuals, LinkedIn is all about connections. Just like Facebook, you can run a company page for connecting with your expected customers on LinkedIn. Advertisers, entrepreneurs, people, or business visionaries, LinkedIn is a heavenly homestead for all. Today, its family gloats of 740 million members worldwide, helping and supporting each other, climbing the steps of accomplishment. However, there is a thing that separates LinkedIn from other online media–its perfect organic reach. LinkedIn gives you stunning organic reach in a limited period. Even without advertisements, you could go totally popular. There is a lot of content in articles, text, and graphics posted daily on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn algorithm is trying to make the newsfeed more attractive and user-friendly. LinkedIn marketing isn’t as big a deal if you know the algorithm. Understanding LinkedIn & How to Make the Most of It One of the most powerful elements of LinkedIn is the connections you’ve made with people and the relationships you maintain. LinkedIn is where business folks find out about their industry’s most recent happenings and career development among their connections. You might have seen some Facebook-like posts on LinkedIn with significant engagements. But that’s not the right approach you should take for your company page. What Should I Post on LinkedIn? While LinkedIn is essentially a B2B social media platform, both B2B and B2C brands can profit by publishing on it. Chiefs from Virgin (counting Richard Branson), IBM, and Microsoft all post on LinkedIn. Publishing content on LinkedIn expands your scope and permits you to interact directly with your clients. There are two fundamental approaches to publish on LinkedIn. The first is LinkedIn Publisher, in which you can compose a long-structure article–typically five to seven passages–and share it with your LinkedIn connections. The second is a LinkedIn update–a Twitter-like feature that is ideal for short, succinct updates and messages. LinkedIn posts are mostly like Facebook status updates and tweets on Twitter. The character limit for LinkedIn posts is 1,300. However, once your update is over 210 characters, it goes with a ‘See More’ option. People will have to click on ‘See More’ to view the entire post. Shorter posts are better, yet LinkedIn’s crowd is more prepared to peruse longer updates if they’re important. It’s essential to consider your posting practice on LinkedIn. LinkedIn users’ most shared posts are videos, picture posts, and then posts with plain text. If you want to share a blog, like Facebook, LinkedIn also generates a clickable link preview. It’s better to remove the link once it generates the preview. This will make your update look cleaner. You can start writing an article or post an update right from the content composer that appears on your newsfeed. How to Use Hashtags on LinkedIn? Hashtags are also a bigger deal on LinkedIn now. The more you use hashtags on a LinkedIn post, the better it categorizes content and highlights relevant posts to each user. Hashtags are a brilliant way to not only increase your reach but also discover similar content quickly. LinkedIn gives you the option to pin your favorite hashtags. You can pin hashtags related to your industry to see the latest updates on your newsfeed. Building connections is an essential aspect of LinkedIn. However, who should you add to LinkedIn depends on your branding approach. Whom Should I Add on LinkedIn? Remember that it’s not about just your company page. You represent yourself as a brand on LinkedIn. Your profile should look professional and complete. All the details – profile picture, a summary about yourself, work experience, qualifications, certifications, everything section should be on point. The people you add as your connections on LinkedIn are how you want yourself or your organization to be seen. It all depends on your branding approach: what types of people you want to respond to your updates. Try to build a strong and purposeful community on LinkedIn As you might have heard or listened that reaching more people is better. Yes, projecting a wider net means getting your message before more conceivably intrigued users. However, this is where you can draw your own brand guidelines. It is possible to get a sympathetic response by sharing a meme or a political debate, but might not be as closely related to your overall branding and approach. Behind-the-Scene Sneak Peek of LinkedIn Algorithm Whenever you post an update on LinkedIn, here’s what happens behind-the-scenes. There are three categories in which they can divide your content. As soon as you post an article or image, the bot puts it in any three types. The aim is to get your post in the “clear” category and to avoid spam. After checking your post’s credibility, the LinkedIn algorithm also determines the usefulness and relevance. And here’s when the fun part begins! What Is the LinkedIn Algorithm & How Does It Works? The LinkedIn algorithm is not the same as the Facebook algorithm, but some similarities. LinkedIn has implemented a four-step process for content distribution across its network to reduce the chances of spam or inappropriate content. Understanding the steps that LinkedIn takes before cutting (or amplifying) your content’s reach is an integral part of using LinkedIn as a channel for content marketing. Recently, a visual workflow was published by LinkedIn, which shows how the LinkedIn algorithm actually works. Have a look at this: 1. Beginning with Initial Filter Every time you post an update to LinkedIn (even if it’s an image), a bot immediately places the content into one of three categories:
Spam
Low-quality
Clear
You want to be in the “clear” category. If your content gets put in the “low-quality” category, you may still have hope. It could even move on to the next stages. 2. Testing Session The second part is actually the audience testing process. Once your post has been categorized by the robots, they then send it to your audience to see how popular the content is. At first, they show it to a smaller group of people. At this phase, your post needs to avoid users “hide” your content from their feeds. Or mark the post as “Report as Spam.” Pro Tip: Avoid an annoying or offensive post. Don’t over-post. Stop posting irrelevant content. Try to make it focused on the audience and niche of the profile. How to Avoid Spam Filter? Your post’s initial engagement will decide whether it is good enough to pass the LinkedIn algorithm’s spam filter. Make sure that the users don’t hide your post from their newsfeed or flag it as spam. And to avoid this, you need to consider the following question before posting:
Are you posting too much content?
Is this post offensive to any person or entity?
Are the people in your circle interested in this post?
Why is this news/update so relevant to post?
Is it relevant to the profession of your circle?
LinkedIn is more of a professional networking circle, as compared to Facebook or Instagram. People share stuff related to their professional lives more on LinkedIn. 3. Content Scoring Consider this phase as the Hogwarts house points! Once placed in front of your friends’ selection, different actions have different weights in the algorithm. For example, a “like” may only have one point, whereas a comment has two points. A “share” shows that the content is popular, so three points. The score of the post will decide its future or its fate. It will either be demoted because it’s low-quality or be shown to more people because it’s high-quality. 4. Real People Assessment If you get engagement on your post, it is passed along to “genuine people at LinkedIn.” Who then read every post and decide to send your content out to more people, or whether this is the end of the line. If the content is working really well, the editors will also send the content to people outside of your network. It will appear in “trending content” on the app, topical content in the news feed, etc. How to Beat LinkedIn Algorithm in 2021 Understanding LinkedIn Algorithm in 2021 isn’t as hard as you think. So, trending posts (that have gained a lot of engagement) are the first thing you see on your LinkedIn feed. Then, there’s an option that lets you sort the posts by ‘Top’ or ‘Relevance.’ Now, how does LinkedIn know what’s relevant to us? The answer is simple. LinkedIn pushes the content based on our recent activities, like our comments, who we follow, etc. Here are a few tips for mastering LinkedIn Algorithm in 2021. Choose Right-Time to Post
What is the best time to post on LinkedIn in 2021? Choosing perfect timing to make a post is really important. If you’re posting at 2 a.m., when most of your network is asleep (time-zone nuances aside), your post can be up for hours before receiving likes or comments, no matter how good it is. LinkedIn is a professional network, and most people work from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. According to another research, the best time to post will depend on the tests you perform. The location, time zones, and people’s daily habits affect when they’re on LinkedIn, which differs in any audience segment. In fact, 50% of LinkedIn users check their accounts through mobile devices, implying you have as much chance of reaching people after hours as you do during the workday. Acknowledge the Content-Type That LinkedIn Craves LinkedIn sources are reasonably clear on what they want their platform’s focus to be: the professional world. Instead of animated GIFs, Ellen videos, and personal screenshots. The LinkedIn algorithm aims to show users news, job posts, and timely, accessible content that be of value to someone’s career (whether as a business owner or employee), be relevant to the industry in which you operate, offer a tip related to business growth, or a career. It can be images, videos, LinkedIn article posts, external webpage links, or text updates. Also, remember that part of the LinkedIn algorithm finds a factor of relevance to the audience a post is being shared with. Use the LinkedIn Publisher Tool There’s no doubt that LinkedIn is pushing posts that originate from their Publisher tool, which end up on LinkedIn Pulse, now integrated with the homepage feed. It’s for users to publish as individual authors (not hiding behind a company name). You or your employees can write blog posts through Publisher and share them with your network. The Editor-in-Chief at LinkedIn explains Publisher posts show up in the feed for your connections and followers based on time. So, be sure to follow the next few tips to keep the post circling through the LinkedIn algorithm. 5 Things to Make the Most of LinkedIn Marketing Strategy in 2021 It is not really tricky to get a successful LinkedIn marketing in 2021; all you need is just newer ideas to make your content recognized on a professional level. 1. Optimize Your Content for Engagement The content you post on LinkedIn should be optimized for engagement and quality. It can have puns or funny jokes to make professionals laugh. Create posts with useful and career-related tips with relevant industry or company stats. Keep it short and include a link, image, or video. Use hashtags. Your posts can become the trending posts on a specific hashtag. A/B testing with tools and analytics on LinkedIn is essential to monitor the content performance. It is better to keep revising and experimenting until you figure out what works best for your audience (and in your industry) on LinkedIn. Andy Foote, considered as one of the best LinkedIn coaches, shares his expert advice and answered some frequently asked questions about the LinkedIn algorithm, and explains which type of content performs well on LinkedIn in this blog. According to Andy’s research & study, “I’ve settled into a routine of mostly posting text plus a picture or text plus a document. I get decent views/engagement. And was buoyed to see that LinkedIn recently added a Documents tab in the activity section.” Related Article: “How To Post Effortlessly On LinkedIn With Social Champ?“ 2. Content Scheduling Content scheduling is one of the most important things here. Timing is everything! You need to post the right content at the right time. LinkedIn management tools, such as Social Champ, allow you to maintain your profiles. These tools are not only time saving but also give you the best content suggestions & analytics. To do LinkedIn marketing professionally, you need to work professionally with these tools. Social media posting tools will help you in taking the right steps can get more engagement on posts. 3. LinkedIn Messaging A simple way to reconnect is by commenting on updates from people in your network. See an interesting conversation? Add a comment with your thoughts or share a great article you read on 2021 trends with your connections via LinkedIn Messaging. Related Article: “Top LinkedIn Tools For 2020“ 4. Use Reactions and Comments Wisely The first 60 minutes after posting content are the most crucial part of your content marketing success. It’s the ‘Golden Hour’ for your post. If no one reacts to your posts within the 60 minutes of posting, chances are it won’t perform well. The velocity of your post’s engagement depends on the ratio between reach, relevancy, views, reactions, and shares. Try to get 20+ engagements (reactions or comments) in the first half. How? Notify your employees about the post. Use your internal communication mediums, for example, Slack or Trello, or Jira, to inform everyone about the post and ask them to take part. Comments are the king of engagement. If you want to maximize your reach, you need to react/respond to every comment on your post. Engage with new followers to keep them in a loop. Use mentions and hashtags. On average, you must use a minimum of 5 hashtags in every post and tag a maximum of 3 LinkedIn users. If you’re sharing someone’s quote or interview, give them credit or inform them by tagging in your post, so they can share it with their followers too. Focus more on quality rather than the number of your posts. Measure engagement, not views. 5. Build Your Audience Strategically Relevance, credibility, followers, and connections play a big part in the LinkedIn algorithms 2021. You should be growing your personal or business audience (or both) on LinkedIn. Ensure your profile is public so more people can find you, add you, and see your posts. Whether you run a personal profile or a Company Page on LinkedIn, be sure to fill out your own profile and Company Page as entirely as possible. And keep them updated. Add connections, encouraging employees to show they work at your company. Here’s what else you can try:
Take part in LinkedIn Groups, or host your own.
Give and receive recommendations.
Join conversations and be active on the network.
Promote your LinkedIn profiles and Company pages on your website and in other appropriate spaces.
Share other users’ posts, and they’ll probably share yours.
LinkedIn is primarily a social network, so it helps to be social. Be kind to others by sharing their posts. Or embedding their videos on your site. These actions increase your profile reach. Plus, if you’re striving to be a LinkedIn Influencer, making friends on LinkedIn is a good idea. However, Publisher posts get even more exposure outside the homepage feed on LinkedIn. They are shown on your profile and as highlights. 16 Interesting LinkedIn Marketing Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2021 It might seem as LinkedIn is not as old and prominent social media platform as Facebook or Twitter, but the fact is LinkedIn will turn 18 years old in 2021. It is available in 24 different languages and has 33 offices worldwide and over 15,000 full-time employees. LinkedIn is considered the most trusted social media network in the U.S. If you’re still in doubt to add LinkedIn as a part of your social marketing plan for 2021, then these up-to-date statistics can make you change your mind. 16 New LinkedIn Features You Should Try In 2021 As discussed earlier, you can expect millions of views and great organic reach without ads on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn algorithm expects you to try out its newly rolled out features. So, here’s your chance to game up your marketing in 2021 by using these 16 recently launched features by LinkedIn mentioned in the list below:
LinkedIn Stories
Live Videos
LinkedIn Polls
Reactions
Name Pronunciations
Carousel Images in Organic Posts
Video Meetings
Edit Messages After Sending
Highlight Featured Posts on Profile
Event Tab to Create Events
‘View Page Followers’ Tab
Notify Employees About Your Post
‘My Items’ to Save Your Collections of Posts
Photo Frames with #OpentoWork or #Hiring
Merge Accounts
AI Feedback to Streamline Hiring Process
In a Nutshell, Once you get to know how the LinkedIn algorithm works, you will understand why so many people who once had thousands of likes on their posts now complain that they are only generating a handful. It’s because the tactics and strategies that they were using are now being classified as low-quality content. Engagement is critical to the LinkedIn algorithm and depends on relevancy, the reach of your network, the times they are checking LinkedIn, and your credibility with that audience. Using the LinkedIn Publisher platform is a good idea. Sometimes, you can republish posts from your blog, but not always, and only when you know what you’re doing while reciprocity wins on any social media strategy, including LinkedIn. Use analytics and experiments to refine your LinkedIn marketing strategy, further improving your algorithm hacks. Start experimenting with posts on LinkedIn! Start spending time on the LinkedIn feed! Happy Linking! Stay Connected!
Source: https://www.socialchamp.io/blog/linkedin-algorithms-to-keep-in-mind-this-year/