How often should I post content on LinkedIn?
I was recently asked, “how many times per month should I post content on LinkedIn? This is probably the most common question. The reason is that there is so much conflicting information that you can find out there.
Some blogs suggest daily, some offer a few times per month, and you can find other suggestions everywhere. The results vary widely and are no different if you Google “how many times should I exercise per week?”
The LinkedIn Algorithm is complex and can’t be simplified down to a magic number of posts. So rather than prescribing several posts straight up, let’s go over some fundamentals that I think are more important to learn.
LinkedIn Ranks Content Quality Over Quantity
One of the essential points to understand about LinkedIn – it doesn’t automatically release your posts to all of your connections. First, a bot reviews your post and categorises it into one of three categories – spam, low quality or clear. The aim is to ensure that your post receives the important “clear” to progress to the next stage.
If your post passes this primary bot check, it is released to a small group to test engagement. At this stage, you do not want anyone to “unfollow” or “report as spam”. Instead, you want engagement that drives “content scoring”, e.g. likes, comments, re-shares etc.
The more engagement, the higher the chance that LinkedIn will move your post to the next category, “trending content”. This is the ultimate aim as it then will show as a notification in your network to alert them to the popular content.
Your posts should focus on creating engaging content that educates or entertains your audience. Make an effort to find catchy visuals that get the reader’s attention. Discuss relevant topics. LinkedIn will acknowledge the action, as will your audience.
Special shout out to the perfectionists reading this part of the article. This is not the part where you get paralysed by over-analysing your post. You have to start somewhere. Just put it out there and learn by experience.
Rule 1 – Don’t just post for the sake of posting.
Content Consistency is Key
Just as exercising now and then will not deliver fitness goals, posting now and then isn’t going to help deliver on your personal or business brand goals.
You can not build a brand based on one viral post. Build your brand and stay top of mind. It also requires you to be consistent. If you are starting, I would recommend posting twice per week. Do this for the first month, as you do not want to put too much pressure on yourself to develop a lot of quality content.
Build your skills and habits over the month and progress to three, four and five posts. It is better to do fewer quality posts more consistently.
By gradually building up, you will give yourself time to build skills and ideas and not throw it all away because it’s in the too-hard basket.
Rule 2 = Don’t be a one-hit-wonder.
LinkedIn content help is hiding in plain sight.
If you are reading this article and know you should be posting but can’t imagine how to have enough content to create one post per week consistently, let alone four or five.
The excellent news is LinkedIn has given you ten ideas before you even start –
1) Post a photo
2) Post a video
3) Post a document
4) Celebrate an occasion
5) Find an expert
6) Share a profile
7) Share that you are hiring
8) Create a poll
9) Offer help
10) Post your thoughts
This serves as a friendly reminder of the types of content you can post and should help you well for ideas.
Rule 3 – Not knowing what to post is no longer an excuse.
LinkedIn help is at hand.
- Time Poor
- Resources already stretched
- Anxiety
- Technophobia
- New to LinkedIn
- Perfectionism
- Fear of criticism
- No ideas for what to post
- Lack of confidence
- I don’t think others will be interested
If any of the above apply to you, don’t worry help is at hand. Good Trading Co offers our DIY LinkedIn training. Also, consider that even the best athletes have coaches to improve continually.
For those who are time poor or have resources stretched to the limit, Good Trading Co can 100% manage your LinkedIn Company page’s content creation and engagement.
Others will feel more comfortable knowing someone is there to support them along the way, and that’s where our mentoring program shines.
We also have a tremendous intensive course to set you up for success.
No matter what stage you are at in your LinkedIn journey, we are here to help.
Rule 4 – If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it.
If you still have questions about how often you should post on LinkedIn, we are here to help. Contact Us.
