As of mid-2018, there are more than 500 million LinkedIn members. Just think of the potential of an effective content strategy.

Any marketer knows that with so many professionals in one place, an approach to good content can revolutionise your social media strategy.

Some of the best news for those focusing on this platform is that it remains relatively untapped. While most businesses are still honing their social media advertising exclusively on Facebook, LinkedIn is largely uncluttered by comparison.

It was only around two years ago that LinkedIn opened up publishing to every member, and since then, everyone from B2B to B2C has taken up the offer.

Unfortunately, it means that LinkedIn posting best practice is often not adhered to. As more people publish without the thought behind great content, it’s easy for your feed to become awash with irrelevant news.

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So while there’s no shortage of content out there, it’s easier to stand out from the crowd with content that cuts through and delivers a clear benefit to your readers.

Let’s look at some fundamentals of LinkedIn posts best practices, showing you how to increase followers and engagement on LinkedIn.

1. Diversify Your Content On LinkedIn

If you’re faithfully blogging every week, and seeing no rewards for your efforts, then there could be a number of things that you’re doing wrong—one of which is producing repetitive content.

This is a common problem, particularly when strategies are built around a rigid ‘once per week’ schedule. You may find that you’re blogging for the sake of it, or that you’re rushing to meet the next weekly deadline.

These two things can contribute to bland, uninspired content that your readers will scroll past. Worse than that, they’ll develop an idea of your business as one that trots out the same old stuff, week after week.

Hardly the thought leader status you were aiming for.

Start off slower if that’s what you can effectively manage, and build your social media strategy over time. Instead of word counts and deadlines, think of what your customers and colleagues want to know, and how you can best communicate it with them.

And here’s a tip: 1,000-word templates every time won’t do the trick. Could your idea of message be better told through video? An infographic? Maybe it’s through a case study, or an anecdote of a personal experience.

It might even be as simple as changing how you write your content, with shorter one-liners compared to chunky, in-depth paragraphs.

A varied approach to your social media marketing has so many benefits, including making your feed far more visually appealing. Who wants to read a long article when a two-minute video can tell them the same thing?

Not only will this more creative and diverse approach to content, both in form and function, reel in your audience, but it will also be rewarded by LinkedIn’s algorithms. By creating content that the algorithm knows people will enjoy, it will reward you with greater reach.

2. Foster Good Relationships On LinkedIn

LinkedIn is fundamentally about relationships. Its bare bones are about building digital, professional connections that can ultimately help you to get ahead, do better business, and find new customers and clients.

As the shift in marketing has moved towards content, those underlying goals still remain. So how can you utilise content and social media marketing to the best of your ability to tick those boxes?

Start consuming. Who are the thought leaders in your industry that inspire you? They might be your local firm that’s kicking content, client or start-up goals, or a multi-million dollar global giant. Make an effort to regularly check-in and read what they’re putting out there.

Now, respond. Be interested and actively comment on posts, and reach out to those you have genuine questions for. It’s a great way to nurture real connections, and you never know where it might lead. Remember, every comment, every like, is effectively a seal of approval that the content focus of your social media advertising is working.

3. Curate Your Feed

When it comes time to creating your own content, think about how you can work smarter, not harder. The pressure of coming up with three or four ground-breaking new pieces of content every month can be overwhelming. After all, you’ve still got a business to run outside of your social media marketing plan.

Instead, look at repurposing where possible, or critiquing or responding to posts you’ve read or current events. These techniques can help to fill in the gaps of your own unique content, while also keeping your feed interesting for your followers.

A few outstanding posts is far better than a whole lot of average ones. Take the time to craft a quality piece, and experiment by boosting it with social media advertising. After a bit of trial and error, you’ll find the right balance of what works for your business.

4. Focus on Video Content on LinkedIn

All this talk of LinkedIn social media marketing can be overwhelming for those just starting out—we get it. That’s why getting to know some really excellent leaders who are doing things right is a great way to start.

Video needs to play a significant part in your strategy, but those unfamiliar with this medium may be lost for inspiration. One member that we love to watch is String Nguyen, and we recommend that you check her out too. She’s the founder of Content Video Machine and has successfully grown her own LinkedIn audience by over 25,000 in the last year.

What we love about video is that it doesn’t have to be polished. Gone are the days of the studio, and your smartphone hold all the software and equipment you need to get started. String regularly takes video on her phone, and the results are impressive. She creates authentic, genuine content for her followers.

5. Be a Thought Leader

What String does really well is take charge of a niche area. While she’s a guru on all things content, and she certainly does talk about more general social media strategy, she’s made sure that every one of her followers knows her as the video queen.

Why? Because instead of doing what others do, she’s a trailblazer. She tests things, learns from mistakes and then tries something new. By following her, her viewers know that they’ll be ahead of the curve.

That’s what you should aim to do too: be your own thought leader. It might involve refining your opinion on a certain matter, and developing an argument piece. It might involve reviewing recent literature and making a comment, or expressing your own views on recent industry trends.

Perhaps you even have the means to conduct your own research and put that out there. It will probably mean making mistakes, but this is the grounds of thought leadership. Through failure, we learn, and can help others learn from our mistakes as well.

Whatever you choose to focus on with content on LinkedIn, make sure you’re making genuine connections and not looking for a quick fix. You’ll be the one shared and cited, and you can sit back and watch your engagement climb.

Author bio

Michael Bird is CEO and a co-founder of digital marketing agency Social Garden. Social Garden specialises in data-driven lead generation and marketing automation to grow companies’ revenue in different verticals in Australia.