Two weeks ago, I created a post on LinkedIn about the birth of my first child and how it has impacted my business after 1 month.
The post ended up being a personal best for engagement and views on LinkedIn out of any content I’ve ever shared. Overall, it received nearly 3K views.
So I felt this could be a good case study on how to produce similar organic engagement and exposure in the future.
What did I learn?
1️. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠!
This is the #1 takeaway I learned from this post.
Overall, the post received 20 comments. That might not seem like a ton, but every new comment I received, I noticed it would be followed by a couple likes or even a few hundred more views.
That is because LinkedIn puts a preference on comments. When you comment on a post or someone comments on yours, there is a great chance you will show up in the newsfeeds of not only your 1st degree connections, but your 2nd degree connections.
So, try to create content that naturally produces comments. That could be major news, asking a question, posting a poll or having a thoughtful picture or infographic.
2. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨
I shared a photo of my wife and newborn. Sure, the sappy stuff probably has a built in advantage, but regardless, it was an authentic, “behind-the-scenes” photo of my family. We were all dressed nice and it was just a strong overall photo.
People don’t care about stock images or logos. They want to see authenticity.
3️. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐔𝐩 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐬
When you have multiple lines of text in a LinkedIn post, LinkedIn only shows a small portion of it and then has the “see more” button. Naturally, people will want to click that to read the rest of your post.
So make sure your post is long enough to have that “see more” button attached to it.
4. 𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
I posted this question at the end of my post: “For all my connections who are business owners and parents, what other challenges should I expect heading into month 2?”
This was a great question that any parent/business owner can relate to. Naturally, people love to give their advice and suggestions. But, I was also genuinely asking for advice, which people are happy to give.
5. 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭!
You now need much more likes, reactions, comments, and shares in order for any given post to spread.
That starts with getting engagement up front. So make sure your post follows all of the rules above and you will have a much better shot at having a popular post.
I received my first few comments on this post right away and was still generating engagement even 10 days later!
If you want more tips on how to maximize your LinkedIn engagement, check out our LinkedIn program.
