In the never-ending slog to try and promote yourself, the shift in how LinkedIn has changed its approach is the hot topic of conversation.

I was delighted to stumble across a blog post from Hootsuite which is explaining exactly what the changes mean:

1. Quality filtering. Posts are immediately classified as spam, low quality, or high quality.
2. Engagement testing. The algorithm shows your post to a small sample of your audience to gauge initial interaction levels. If a post gets strong engagement within the first hour, LinkedIn pushes it to second and third-degree connections.
3. Network and relevance ranking. LinkedIn prioritizes posts from people and topics you engage with the most.

The effect this is having on me is a 10k loss of views per month…in each of the last 4 months.

That’s unsustainable.

So, what’s changing for me?

I’ll be posting less often; expect fewer posts on LI. They will be on my blogsite and recommend you sign up to receive them.

I’ll be investing more in the first hour after posting and changing the times when I’ll post. It’s about responding quickly and trying to drive conversation. That means adding at least 15 words in your replies; meaningful replies matter and “thanks”, “great insight”, or “I agree” don’t cut it any more.

I’ll be using more images, carousels, and videos because LinkedIn loves visual content now.

I’ll be using longer post titles for searchability.

I’ll be adding up to 3 hashtags – only using a few highly relevant ones and avoiding spammy tag-fests (not that I ever used hashtags that much).

I’ll be looking for genuine engagement rather than chasing superficial metrics.

I’ll regularly be reviewing my analytics to learn what’s resonating, and adapting my content accordingly. For example, shorter one or two sentence paragraphs fare better because they’re easier to read on mobile.

LinkedIn seems to be rewarding depth, expertise, and genuine interaction.

But that’s just me.

How are you going to change your posting?

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#Learning #LinkedIn