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Email marketing is one of the oldest and best tricks in the communication playbook, and newsletters are an excellent tool for brand awareness, audience engagement, and lead nurturing. But newsletter planning is challenging. Coming up with and delivering fresh ideas...
Oct 2, 2024
LinkedIn is taking off like never before. Whether you’re looking to advance your career, grow a personal brand, or reach a specific target audience — the world’s largest professional network has something for everyone.
That’s why more people than ever are scheduling LinkedIn posts to increase exposure and get their content in front of the right people at the right time. Engagement, however, doesn’t come easily. In the early stages, it might feel like your posts are falling flat. This is a common hurdle on any social media channel, and with a consistent approach, you can overcome it.
So, how do you create engaging content on LinkedIn? Let me walk you through the best practices to keep in mind. From understanding what users are looking for to mastering different post formats, these 11 tips will help you break through the noise.
A consistent schedule is key. But there’s more to LinkedIn than just posting regularly. Creating engaging content for your LinkedIn audience means you should:
Let’s get into the details. 👇
So, you want to create content that truly engages but don’t know where to start? You’re not alone. Over half of marketers (57%) find it challenging to create content that resonates with their audience.
Just like any solid marketing strategy, it all starts with understanding what your target audience values. Generally speaking, LinkedIn users are looking for content that educates, inspires, and addresses their specific challenges. Here’s how you can find out what to deliver to your LinkedIn audience:
Analyze top-performing posts in your industry using LinkedIn’s analytics tools. Look at what kind of content gets the most likes, comments, and shares. Are there recurring themes? Is the content educational, inspirational, or solution-oriented?
LinkedIn polls allow you to gather insights on what topics your audience is most interested in. Questions like “What are your biggest challenges in [industry]?” or “What topics would you like to learn more about?” can provide a great deal of data.
Find the most popular thought leaders within your niche and look into the topics and post formats they use on the platform. You can gain a lot of inspiration from what is already engaging your target audience, and then put your own spin on things.
Repeat after me three times: “A brand is more than its visuals.” Visuals are important, but they’re not everything.
On LinkedIn, your brand is about delivering a consistent message, with an identifiable tone, while adding value. This is a social media channel where trust and professionalism are the name of the game. As a result, your brand should instill authority, reliability, and relevance.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with your content if it makes sense. Just look at the Ryanair example above. The airline knows that it’s not competing in the luxury air travel space, so it can’t really showcase premium onboard experiences.
Instead, they’ve created a brand around light-hearted, cheeky posts because they know LinkedIn is full of people who wish they were on holiday right now.
This has earned them more than 772K+ followers on LinkedIn. That’s more than WizzAir, Air France, Air Malta, and HiSky combined.
So, how do you do it?
Decide what you want to be known for. Are you all about simplifying complex topics, or perhaps advocating for a specific change? Your UVP is the center of your LinkedIn content strategy.
Your brand should have a consistent voice, whether you’re posting a short update or a detailed article. This includes the tone and the topics you cover.
A consistent and professional visual style reinforces your brand. In your quest to optimize your LinkedIn profile, consider using a professional headshot across all channels and maintaining a unitary color scheme for all your graphics.
Look at thought leaders on LinkedIn who have successfully built strong personal brands. What makes them stand out where it matters most? Think about how you can replicate their success for your LinkedIn profile.
Different post formats cater to different types of content. The way you deliver relevant information matters, as it impacts how your target audience interacts with your posts.
Don’t believe me? A study by LinkedIn revealed that posts with images receive 2x higher engagement than those without.
My advice is to follow these steps:
LinkedIn supports various post formats, including text updates, image posts, articles, videos, and document uploads. For educational content, consider writing long-form articles that allow you to dive deep into a topic. If you share quick tips or insights, text updates or short videos should perform better. Choose two or three formats to start with.
Experiment with your basic mix of LinkedIn formats to maximize engagement. Thought leaders like Justin Welsh like to use text posts with a narrative style to share personal stories or professional insights, while companies like Semrush like to share infographics and videos to communicate complex data in a more digestible way. Find what works best for you!
LinkedIn polls are a great way to engage your audience directly and gather valuable data about their interests and pain points, while PDF carousel posts work better to share multiple slides or tips in a single post. Sprinkle these in to see how they perform.
When you’re busy experimenting with different formats, look into tools that can help make things less resource-intensive. For example, Planable has a built-in image and video editor, which is quite useful when editing and scheduling image or video posts. You can also schedule PDF carousel posts from the same app.
Image and video editor in Planable
Remember that it’s alright to learn from others. Look for inspiration from your favorite creators, brands, or companies you trust to get new ideas for what to post on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn cuts off post text after the first three lines. After that, users need to click a “…more” button to continue reading. So, these first few lines matter most. They need to engage readers and create a desire to click and read further.
That’s why a great hook can increase the chances of your content being seen and interacted with. But… what makes a great hook?
The answer lies in what drives human behavior. According to Robert Cialdini, principles like reciprocity, social proof, and authority play a great role in shaping our thoughts and actions. If you play it smartly, you can use these principles in your hook and drive better engagement.
So, my best advice to write great hooks is to:
Start your post with a question, a surprising statistic, or a bold statement. A hook like “Did you know that 70% of LinkedIn users scroll past posts without clicking ‘more’?” can spark curiosity and persuade readers to learn more. If you lack inspiration, try Planable’s free LinkedIn caption generator to get your juices flowing.
LinkedIn thought leaders often start with personal anecdotes or experiences that their audience can relate to. Hooks like “I was skeptical about LinkedIn at first, but here’s how it changed my career…” will make the content feel more genuine and approachable. It also creates a curiosity gap, which makes the reader want to find out how things changed.
Another effective tactic is to create urgency or present a challenge right at the beginning. A hook like “If you’re not doing this one thing, you’re missing out on potential clients…” can prompt immediate engagement because it suggests there’s valuable information your network might be lacking.
The first few lines are your chance to make a strong impression. Make them count.
Just keep in mind that this is an increasingly popular tactic on LinkedIn, and people are becoming much more savvy when it comes to filtering out clickbait hooks. Put some real thought into the best way to start a post. And if you promise something, make sure you deliver.
Ever wondered why some LinkedIn posts grab attention while others fade into the background? It’s all about the structure. A well-structured post delivers all the key points without losing the audience’s attention.
Even though LinkedIn users are generally more open to detailed and informative content, they still appreciate posts that are easy to scan.
Remember, LinkedIn is a social media platform, and people tend to glance through rather than read longer posts. If your post isn’t easy to digest, they’ll move on to the next.
So, how do you structure your LinkedIn posts the right way?
As we’ve discussed, a compelling hook is essential to draw readers in. But what comes next is just as important.
Break down your content into bite-sized chunks. Long blocks of text can be overwhelming and are often skipped over. Short paragraphs keep the reader’s attention and make your post more accessible.
This makes it easy for readers to follow your main points. You can also use numbered lists or emojis to break down sentences and make the content easier to digest.
Whether it’s asking a question to spark conversation or encouraging readers to check out your latest article, a strong CTA drives engagement, and that’s what really matters.
Here’s an example of a LinkedIn post structure I’d use:
PS: Staying organized and aligned is key to building content that stands out, so a LinkedIn content planner could come in handy, especially when you need to collaborate with your team on a post idea, find the best post structure, or preview feed posts.
Originality grabs attention and fosters trust, AKA positions you as a thought leader in your field. This is exactly what you should aim for on LinkedIn.
Here’s how you can provide an original perspective:
Collaborate with subject matter experts within your company to bring fresh insights to your LinkedIn posts. Interview a professional, share a unique case study, or share your team’s insights from an event they participated in.
If you’re a freelancer or building a personal brand, your unique experiences and methodologies can be a goldmine for content. Share the challenges you’ve overcome, the strategies you’ve developed, or even the mistakes you’ve learned from.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of repeating what others say. Instead, challenge the status quo and offer a fresh take on common industry topics. For instance, rather than discussing best practices, explore why certain practices might not work.
When it comes to LinkedIn, actionable tips and personal insights are content gold. Why? Because they provide immediate value and establish you as an authority in your field.
Let’s consider Gary Vee for a minute. Love him or hate him, he has created an entire personal brand by sharing life and business experiences in a way that highlights the value to his audience.
Just take the LinkedIn post above, for example. It’s personal, actionable, value-oriented, and unique — just how it should be.
Essentially, your audience isn’t just scrolling for entertainment — they’re looking for practical advice to apply to their work. So share tips and insights they can implement right away. That way, you give them a reason to engage with your content.
Personal insights are just as powerful. Sharing status updates or a lesson learned from your own experience, like “How I turned a failed campaign into a learning opportunity,” can resonate deeply. It makes your content relatable and human, which is exactly what LinkedIn users appreciate.
Creating engaging content on LinkedIn means sharing your authentic viewpoints and inviting your audience to share their thoughts. You can do so by asking questions or creating content that naturally sparks engagement, like commenting on a popular trend, story, or event. Additionally, you can embed LinkedIn post on your website to further encourage interaction, which will increase the likelihood of comments, shares, and overall engagement with your content.
To really amp up your engagement, export followers of your company page and add them to your CRM. This way, you can keep track of who’s showing interest in your brand and reach out to them personally, making your interactions feel more genuine and tailored.
To maximize this approach, structure your post to provide value first. Use a compelling hook, share actionable tips or insights, and then end with a question that ties everything together.
For example, after discussing tips for optimizing LinkedIn profiles, you might end with, “What’s one LinkedIn profile tweak that’s worked wonders for you?”
Another example could be sharing a personal story about overcoming a challenge in your industry, followed by a question like, “How have you navigated similar challenges in your career?”
If you want to increase engagement on your posts, you should actively engage with the content shared by your network. As LinkedIn’s algorithm favors interaction, the more you engage with others, the more visibility your posts and your profile are likely to gain in search results.
Here’s how to do it effectively:
Avoid generic, AI-generated comments like “Great post!” Instead, add value to the conversation by sharing your thoughts, asking follow-up questions, or providing additional insights.
Focus on engaging with posts that are related to your industry or interests. Be an active participant in your field to attract like-minded professionals to your own content.
As your brand’s biggest supporter, post the first comment to your post to drive engagement. My advice is to schedule the first comment (be it a CTA, a link, or added insights) of your LinkedIn post from the get-go, AKA when you first schedule your post to go live in Planable.
Social media content calendar in Planable
Repeated exposure to your content reinforces brand recall. In social media marketing, especially on LinkedIn, this means that the more consistently you post, the more likely your target audience will:
Use LinkedIn’s analytics to identify the best times to post based on when your audience is most active. And while consistency is key, it’s equally important not to sacrifice the quality of your posts for the sake of frequency.
Here’s my tip: To maintain consistency without overwhelming yourself, try creating content in batches. This means setting aside time each week or month to create multiple posts, which you can then schedule using LinkedIn tools to go live at regular intervals.
Creating content is just the first step. Understanding how it performs is where the real magic happens. When you know why certain posts fall flat while others go viral, you can fine-tune your LinkedIn strategy and do more of what works well.
Social media analytics dashboard in Planable
When doing this, looking at likes and comments is not enough. You should review metrics like post views, engagement rates, and audience demographics to identify trends and patterns in your content’s performance. This helps you understand which topics, formats, and posting times generate the most engagement.
Here’s how to do it:
Start by diving into LinkedIn’s native analytics or try a third-party tool like Planable. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) like clicks, shares, and comments to see what makes your audience tick.
Experiment with different post formats, headlines, or call-to-actions (CTAs) to see which variations perform best. For example, you might find that posts with questions at the end drive more comments or that videos generate higher engagement than text posts.
Once you’ve gathered insights from top-performing posts, try to replicate their success by creating similar content. Don’t be afraid to innovate and test new social media post ideas to push the boundaries of your content strategy.
To make your content more engaging, learn how to post multiple photos on LinkedIn. This can help tell a richer story and capture your audience’s attention with visual variety.
Creating engaging content on LinkedIn doesn’t have to be a guessing game. With these tips and best practices, you’re already on your way to building a strong presence that resonates and drives meaningful engagement. But don’t stop there.
Regularly revisit your strategy and map it to your audience’s needs and the platform’s changing algorithms. Engage with your community, stay open to feedback, and be willing to experiment — these are the true keys to long-term success on LinkedIn.
Remember, consistency and strategic planning are key. With Planable, you can easily plan, collaborate on, and schedule your LinkedIn content to ensure you’re always ahead of the game. Sign up today and get 50 posts for free!
Maria is a content marketer, SEO copywriter, and social media specialist with experience working for a wide range of B2B businesses. She loves to keep up with the evolution of digital marketing, particularly in areas such as social media management, content, SEO, and PR. She is passionate about her work and loves to add a unique spin to any topic.
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