This article provides a review of the five types of LinkedIn posts most likely to boost your B2B and B2C engagement. Items of evaluation include LinkedIn articles vs blog posts, shared posts vs 3rd party content, native vs outsourced videos, infographics, and company updates.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Section One: LinkedIn Articles and Blog Posts
- Section Two: Shared Posts and Third-Party Content
- Section Three: Native and Outsourced Videos
- Section Four: Infographics
- Section Five: Company Updates
- Final Thoughts
Introduction
Social media has become one of the world’s most effective marketing techniques. In content marketing, each platform can help you reach a different demographic. If you’re looking to engage in the professional realm, both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) interactions thrive on LinkedIn.
With over one million publishers contributing 130,000 posts a week, the LinkedIn platform offers a space for both types of interactions to happen. It’s a great way to connect with qualified buyers: 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn posts. But what exactly should you post to build an engaged audience and reputation as a leader in your industry?
Below, we share the five types of LinkedIn posts that are most likely to boost your engagement with consumers and businesses alike.
LinkedIn Articles and Blog Posts
Blogs can be a tricky form of content marketing, as they themselves require marketing. Sharing your blogs on LinkedIn essentially kills two birds with one stone: In addition to promoting the blogs, you broaden your brand’s reach and encourage follower engagement.
One means of sharing your blog on LinkedIn is to simply copy and paste the URL. This redirects people to the post on your website. Pasting the link makes the featured image automatically appear, adding a visually enticing component to the post. With this being said, don’t forget to introduce the blog with a personalized comment, something short and sweet, or a hook, that indicates what the blog discusses. Also, don’t forget to include some call to action at the end, whether it’s to check out more blog posts, comment, or follow to increase engagement.
Another way to share your content is to post articles directly on LinkedIn. This requires more steps, such as adding your own featured image. The article itself, though, will be more accessible and is more likely to increase engagement as it keeps people within the LinkedIn site or app rather than redirecting them.
Each method is successful in its own way, engaging and triggering conversations on the platform. It is simply a matter of which you prefer.
For tips on how to write an SEO and reader-friendly blog post, check out our recent blog.
Shared Posts and Third-Party Content
The ability to initiate conversations and build relationships is crucial to LinkedIn’s purpose of connecting people. The option to share posts provides an opportunity for just this. In sharing another person’s or business’s post, you make a connection with them. You boost their content by sharing it with your followers, making them more likely to engage and interact with you. This can also open the door for conversations about future partnerships or collaboration.
Incorporating other third-party content into your posts, such as a blog you had read on a leading business’s website, associates you with valuable information and reputable companies. This builds your brand credibility and makes you a more appealing candidate for collaboration (or potentially for hiring.) It also makes people more likely to engage with your original content.
When sharing on LinkedIn, choose content you personally find interesting. Adding your own comment on why you find the content interesting, or why you believe it is worthy of being shared, boosts your credibility even further. It showcases you as someone with their own opinion and knowledge of the content at hand.
Lastly, make sure to end the post with an open-ended question. This increases engagement by acting as a conversation starter, or call to action, soliciting comments from others who have an opinion on the subject matter. Also, make sure to include relevant hashtags so your contribution to the conversation may be seen by a broader audience than your own followers.
Native and Outsourced Videos
One of the most engaging content forms and the one people turn to when they want to boost their reach, videos initiate five times more conversations than any other content marketing formats. In fact, 51% of video marketers leverage LinkedIn to share their created content. The platform makes it easy to post B2B videos, allowing marketers and brands to utilize video for sponsored content and company pages, to reach and engage the right audiences, the right way.
Video possibilities include series or individual testimonials, case studies, behind-the-scenes, and how-to/explainers. For more in-depth information on video marketing, check out our recent blog on video marketing.
There are two ways to share videos on LinkedIn: native and outsourced.
Embedding outsourced videos, whether your own or those from a third-party like YouTube or Vimeo, into your posts stimulates engagement among followers. These can be posted on your business account and are easily shareable by followers or others who wish to take part in the conversation. However, native videos have proven to have a greater reach and provoke a higher level of engagement.
Native videos upload directly to LinkedIn or are created on the platform itself. LinkedIn native videos autoplay in-feed, which increases the likelihood of grabbing viewers’ attention. They can also be embedded into LinkedIn native articles. Sadly, native videos are not yet open to business accounts — instead, they must be posted on personal profiles and then shared.
Regardless of whether you choose to share an outsourced or native video, you should add the same type of introductory text as you would for a shared blog post. It should include a short hook to introduce the video, the relevant hashtags, and a call to action to boost engagement and conversation.
Infographics
Photos and infographics are always popular on LinkedIn because they pique interest. And, people recall almost 65% of the visual content they see up to three days later, so these formats are great for extending your window of engagement. Linking images back to your company website or blog helps boost the traffic and engagement on your website as well as on LinkedIn.
Visuals can complement a short text post, or can stand alone to convey information (remember hearing “A picture is worth a thousand words?”) Imagery contributes an aesthetic to your brand which can assist in building relationships — but it’s important that it be meaningful imagery.
Stats for infographics could come from case studies, external research, surveys, etc. People are more prone to share interesting statistics because knowing the facts helps to back up their opinions and insights.
When planning your LinkedIn visual post, it’s also important to make sure your visual will display to its best advantage. The optimal photo size for a LinkedIn post is 1200 x 627 pixels.
Company Updates
The majority of users visit LinkedIn to stay up to date on their industry. Therefore, it’s the ideal platform for company updates. These updates can include achievements, product reveals, milestones, new video or blog posts, and much more. Think of updates as a way your audience can get to know you better. You could even introduce or highlight members of your company to give a face to the name.
It is important to remember to always include related images when posting an update. As discussed earlier, images and infographics excel on LinkedIn. Not to mention, sharing a photo helps portray your brand’s personality.
Another thing to include when uploading updates are links. Company updates containing links can have up to 45% higher follower engagement than updates without links. Links could be to your website, a recent video you created, or a blog you have written. They add a subtle call to action as well as boost the SEO of the post.
Final Thoughts
LinkedIn provides an opportunity for greater engagement and establishment of relationships, both B2C and B2B, through content you post. Whether blog posts, shared posts, videos, infographics, or company updates, LinkedIn posts provide an excellent means of initiating conversation and increasing interactions between yourself and your followers.
Check out our blogs discussing social media marketing and how to manage social media for more information on additional platforms. If you’d like assistance building your own LinkedIn and social media campaigns, contact our experts — we’re here to help!
