How to not be caught by LinkedIn’s spam catcher.
Google, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn … what do these all have in common? Bar all being social media channels, they also all rely on algorithms and these algorithms regularly change.
You may already be aware of Google or Instagram’s algorithm adjustments – your website may have slipped to page 2 on the SERP’s or your posts are no longer being seen on Instagram. These are both results of algorithm changes. Similarly, LinkedIn has also had an algorithm update.
It’s important to know these factors and adapt your LinkedIn strategy, if you want your posts seen by the right people.
So what’s changed?
LinkedIn’s algorithm has now been developed to decide whether your post is spam or genuine content. It will sort all content into 3 categories: spam, low and high-quality.
Spam – If you use bad grammar or include multiple links then your post is likely to get marked as spam
Low-quality – Not quite spam, but not following content best practises. If you can’t make your post engaging, then it’s low-quality.
High-quality – If your post is;
- easy to read
- encourages responses with a question
- uses 3 or fewer hashtags
- incorporates strong keywords
- tags in relevant people that are likely to respond
… then your post will be ranked as high-quality.
Is that all?
Sadly, that’s not all. You need to make sure you maximise the ‘golden hour’. Once your post has been categorised, LinkedIn will publish your post to a handful of your followers. If it receives lots of engagement within the first hour it’s published (the golden hour), it will be pushed out to more people. The more people that are able to see your post, the more chance it has of being successful. If LinkedIn deems it’s not getting the right level of engagement, it won’t go any further.
You have 1 hour to make-it or break-it.
What else should I be doing?
LinkedIn may try to position itself as a B2B professional platform, but, it’s just another social media channel with rules to be followed.
There are 5 key things to remember when using LinkedIn:
- Post when your followers are online
- Respond to comments and questions
- Spark engagement with a question
- Post consistently
- Interact with other posts
If you’re unsure whether your LinkedIn strategy is getting through to the right people, get in touch with OWB and we can help.
