We’ve not yet focused much on LinkedIn in our blogs, but that’s all about to change!

LinkedIn has a valuable place within the wide range of social media platforms out there. With nearly 500 million users it has an excellent reputation for lead conversion with a much stronger visitor to lead conversion rate than Facebook and Twitter.

So how do you maximise your efforts on LinkedIn? Our top tips for 2019 are:

Timing is everything
As with all other platforms, there is an optimum timing for posting on LinkedIn. And let’s face it, if you’ve gone to the effort of creating great content then achieving the best engagement possible is what you’re after. You need to choose a time when most of your users are active on the platform. It’s not a hard and fast rule – it will depend on the platform you’re posting on, the region you’re in and the aim of your post (for example, whether you’re looking for shares or clicks). With LinkedIn, it appears that engagement tends to occur most when people are in a professional mindset – while they’re at work. So Monday to Friday is key, but this can be drilled down further to an ideal post time of Tuesday to Thursday within normal working hours (8am to 5pm). This is because on Mondays the focus is on catching up with work after the weekend and on Friday people can effectively “clock off” off early, so you might not achieve maximum engagement.

Again this isn’t hard and fast – there are anomalies even with this. You may find that 6-8am and after 8pm are better times if you’re aiming to reach senior C-suite decision-makers. And if you’re hoping to show a lighthearted, more relaxed side to your business then a post on Friday afternoon may just do the trick. Our advice is to test the water yourself. Post at various times throughout the day and then look at your performance analytics to see what works best for you.

Post regularly
The odd post every now and again simply isn’t going to cut it. According to research by HubSpot, you should post 2-5 times a week on LinkedIn. The platform itself claims that companies that post 20 times a month reach at least 60% of their audience so you should be aiming for this. Of course you need to be sharing great content for your posting to be effective so remember the old adage about “quality not quantity”. Don’t devalue your brand by waffling. Your audience won’t appreciate it. Try to find the right balance.

Share and share alike
We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again – don’t go for the “me me me” approach. Share content from others within your posts and you’re more likely to get more engagement. Research from LinkedIn has shown that posts with links get up to 45% more follower engagement than those without links. Remember that it’s about building relationships with your audience so aim for a balance between informing and engaging your audience.

Content is key
Quality content is the holy grail. You should be sharing content that offers what your audience is looking for. If you’re hosting a blog on your website then you can use LinkedIn to share it – write a good description and make sure there’s a great image to increase its impact. Then link it to your blog page. If you’re not writing a blog then don’t worry – you can still post the relevant content. Just think of it as creating a theme and split the content into a series of easily digested posts. This approach is great if you know you’re going to be away but want to ensure the frequency of your posting isn’t affected. You can plan and create all your content in draft form so all the hard work is completed ahead of time. You can then just post each element of the series when you’re ready.

For more advice and details on how you can get SocialBee to help, just give us a call on 07484 805545.