Even if you have a B2B business, it’s easy to discount LinkedIn as a social media platform that’s worth your time. LinkedIn doesn’t get anywhere near as much attention as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube do. And besides that, isn’t it just a place where people go to promote themselves so they can find their next job?
It’s not. Because so many businesses and professionals are on the platform, it’s a great spot to promote your brand if you have a B2B business.
But that’s not even the best part. Right now, LinkedIn is experiencing record levels of engagement. That’s because it made major changes to its platform and algorithm in 2018. And as a result, LinkedIn now has over 590 million users and gains 2 new users every single second (whoa!).
LinkedIn also drives more than 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites and blogs. And over 100 million of its users are either decision makers or influencers.
How do you craft effective LinkedIn posts so you can take advantage of this powerful marketing opportunity and grow your business? Check out these 9 tips for writing LinkedIn posts that engage your audience and grow your brand.
Need some help writing LinkedIn posts that get results for your business?
Download my 7 free social media copy templates + examples.
1. Experiment with text-only posts
You’ve probably had it drilled into your head that if you want to succeed on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest, you need to share high-quality visual content. That’s why you might be conditioned to think that visuals should be your priority on any social media platform.
But what you might not know is that on LinkedIn, text-only posts outperform all other types of posts. Yes, you read that correctly. And no, I haven’t time travelled back to 2006. Text-only posts really do get more views, likes, and comments than any other type of content on LinkedIn.
Why do text-based LinkedIn posts do so well? It’s hard to know for sure. But some people believe it’s because effective text-only posts stand out in the sea of shameless self-promotion that you often see on LinkedIn. And because of that, more people take the time to stop and read them.
Although it’s definitely worth it to experiment with text-only LinkedIn posts, you don’t have to shy away from using visuals altogether. In fact, LinkedIn notes that it’s useful to include visuals that complement the text in your posts. So instead of sharing memes and gifs, stick with informational visuals—like charts, diagrams, and quotes.
Related: How to write compelling social media posts + 7 free social media copy templates
Example: Gary Vaynerchuk routinely shares text-only LinkedIn posts.
2. Start a conversation
Unless you’re a social media manager, social media is just one of many, many tasks on your to-do list. So it’s easy to fall into the habit of churning out content just for the sake of sharing something, not for the purpose of engaging with your audience. But because this is what most people are doing in their LinkedIn posts, this strategy makes it incredibly hard to stand out.
Instead of trying to constantly broadcast information to your audience, start a conversation with them. How do you do this? Write LinkedIn posts that explicitly ask people for their opinions or feedback on a topic. When doing this, try addressing your audience directly (“CEOs, what do you think about X?”) so it truly feels like you’re talking to them. These strategies will help you engage with your audience and build relationships that feel more like real human connections (remember those?).
Example: HubSpot starts a conversation by asking a question at the end of this post.
3. Share informative and educational long-form content
Although LinkedIn is considered a social media platform, most people use it to access educational and informational content. This doesn’t mean that your content can or should be boring. But it does mean that it’s especially important to share high-quality content that’s jam-packed with value.
You can deliver value to your audience in your LinkedIn posts by sharing long-form content published on your blog or website. This can include blog posts, case studies, and free resources you’ve created.
When sharing links from your blog or website on LinkedIn, place the link in the first comment instead of in the post itself. LinkedIn wants to keep users on its platform, so it limits the reach of posts that direct people away from the platform. For this reason, Guy Kawasaki and others have found that placing links in the first comment produces higher reach and more clicks.
Related: 9 essential characteristics of great blog posts + template and example
Example: Neil Patel Digital delivers lots of value to its audience by sharing informative blog posts from Neil’s blog.
4. Share native content
Because LinkedIn wants to keep its users on its platform, it strategic to create and share content directly on LinkedIn from time to time. So instead of always sharing links to your blog or website, try crafting and sharing LinkedIn content that doesn’t include external links. These can be LinkedIn posts (the brief posts you see in your LinkedIn feed) or LinkedIn articles (the long-form content you can create and share right on the platform).
Of course, content without external links won’t direct traffic to your blog or website. But it does help you expand the reach of your brand and build an engaged community on the platform. So when you are ready to promote your external content or a paid product or service, you’ll have an audience that’s ready and willing to hear your pitch.
Example: Guy Kawasaki shared this native article on LinkedIn.
Need some help writing LinkedIn posts that get results for your business?
Download my 7 free social media copy templates + examples.
5. Hook your audience
LinkedIn will let you include up to 1300 words in a profile status update and 700 words in a company page update. But people will see only the first 2–3 lines unless they click “see more.” This means that it’s absolutely essential to make sure you hook your audience right from the get-go.
Grab their attention by beginning your post with a surprising statistic, a weird or little-known fact, a controversial statement, or an engaging quote.
Example: Priscilla Chan uses a sombre statistic at the beginning of this post to hook her audience.
6. Keep it short
Yes, you can technically include several hundred words in your LinkedIn posts. But this doesn’t mean that maxing out on your word limits will give you the best results. In fact, data shows that LinkedIn posts get the best engagement when they’re 149 words long. So when crafting LinkedIn posts to grow your brand, keep them short.
Related: How to write clear, concise web copy that converts + free copy planning worksheet
Example: Moz keeps its LinkedIn posts short and sweet.
7. Make them easy to read
Most people on LinkedIn are busy executives and professionals. So they definitely don’t have time to wade through a dense post that’s difficult to read.
Make your LinkedIn posts easy to consume by using short sentences and paragraphs, spacing between lines of text, and conversational language.
Related: How to write scannable blog posts people actually read + free checklist
Example: Buffer uses short paragraphs and spacing to make this LinkedIn post easy to read.
8. Include a clear call to action
If you’ve read my posts on writing effective Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts, you probably already know that it’s important to include a call to action in your social media posts. This applies to LinkedIn posts too.
Even if you’re not linking to an external article, you can still use a call to action to ask a question or start a conversation. After all, if you’ve done the work to attract your audience’s attention, why not leverage that to engage them further and build a connection? Including a call to action in every LinkedIn post you share will help you do this.
Related: The 62 best words to use in your call to action
Example: Tony Robbins uses a CTA in this post to tell his audience exactly what to do next.
9. Test hashtags
A few years ago, LinkedIn told people not to bother including hashtags in their posts. But just like with every other social platform, times have changed at LinkedIn. And the platform now encourages people to use hashtags, which are searchable and can boost the visibility of content.
Data from CoSchedule shows that LinkedIn posts without hashtags still outperform posts that include them. However, as hashtags become increasingly common on the platform, this may change. For this reason, it may be strategic to test out hashtags in your LinkedIn posts over the next few months.
Example: Search Engine Journal experiments with relevant hashtags in this post.
Learn how to craft posts that are right for LinkedIn
Because of its growing levels of engagement, there’s never been a better time to use LinkedIn to grow your business. However, people on LinkedIn are especially likely to see through the shameless self-promotion that plagues most social media platforms these days. So if you want to reap the benefits of LinkedIn, you’ve got to create and share the right type of content.
Instead of using the playbook that works so well on other platforms, experiment with text-only tweets, place links in comments, and test whether hashtags work for you. Use these data-backed strategies to craft effective LinkedIn posts so that you can leverage the full benefits of the platform to grow your brand and nurture your audience.
Need some help writing LinkedIn posts that get results for your business?
Download my 7 free social media copy templates + examples.
