A recent study conducted by one Richard van der Blom, analysing 2,000 posts published between February and March, provides an overview of the best practices to improve performance of posts on LinkedIn.
For users of the career-focused social media platform, here are some tips to help you boost engagement and broaden your reach.
Timing is everything
For the algorithm to work in your favour, the most important thing is to follow a regular rate of publication, according to an infographic shared by Dominique Hoppe on the professional social network.
According to van der Blom, you should publish between one and three posts per week, respecting an interval of at least 18 hours per post to avoid “cannibalisation” – that is, when that one post overshadows the others.
These are the best posting times:
- Mondays between 9.30am and 1pm;
- Tuesdays from 8am to 11.30am;
- Wednesdays from 9am to about 12pm;
- Thursdays from 8am to 1pm;
- Fridays from 1pm to 3.30pm;
- Saturdays from 10am to 1.45pm; and
- Sundays from 12.30pm to 2.45pm.
In addition to these preferred times, you will also need to pay particular attention to generating engagement within the first 90 minutes of posting.
The most engaging formats
Some posts are more engaging than others. According to the research, PDFs documents come out on top with a reach of 2.2x and 3.4x, followed by the survey, with a reach of 2.1x to 2.9x, and finally the carousel format, with a reach of 1.8x to 2.3x.
Articles, newsletters and even external links are at the bottom of the ranking, with a reach of 0.1-0.2x, 0.2x-0.9x, and 0.4x-0.5x respectively.
The study also advises adding between two and six hashtags, not to comment first on your posts but to respond to the comments, which can lead to more than 20% growth in the first hour. Otherwise, try to respond to comments within 12 hours.
Longer posts also perform better. To generate more engagement, posts should be between 1,200 and 1,600 characters in length.
Other recommendations
For active users, the creator mode can be an asset. According to the study, if a user posts at least twice a week, this mode can increase reach by between 15% and 35%, on average.
Also, depending on the type of engagement, a post can be boosted in different ways. So while a “like” brings an additional view, a click on “see more” can generate up to four additional views.
Sharing and commenting have even more weight, generating seven and 12 additional views, respectively.
What not to do
The study recommends avoiding several steps that could limit the reach of your posts. For example, don’t use more than 10 emojis per post, and no more than four on the same line; don’t mention more than 15 accounts per post; and try not to modify your post within 10 minutes of publication.