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So, you want to get your content shared on LinkedIn?

If you could just join the queue that’s snaking around the globe, I’m sure your turn will come.

A short cut, you say?

Well, let’s see what we can do for you. It won’t be easy, mind. It’s said that more than two million posts, videos, and articles are now filtered, ranked, and displayed in the feeds of LinkedIn’s 645+ million members.

And controlling each is LinkedIn’s algorithm.

The LinkedIn algorithm

LinkedIn’s algorithm tends to fly under the radar compared to the heavy spotlight that falls on Goggle’s.

Yet, your posts on LinkedIn are ranked just as certainly as your web pages are.

And their rank very much determines their distribution.

According to LinkedIn it’s feed is simply there to deliver ‘the people you know, talking about the things you care about’.

Which means it values personal connections based around mutual interests.

The goals of the LinkedIn algorithm are:

1. To prioritize relevant content (‘talking about the things you care about’)
2. To promote engagement (‘the people you know’)

LinkedIn wants to show members posts from people they actually know and content that relates to topics they care about.

To do this it uses three ranking signals:

1. Connections

LinkedIn judges who your personal connections are by considering who you’ve interacted with directly (through messages, comments, shares, and reaction) and taking into account shared employers and groups.

2. Relevance

LinkedIn measures a post’s affinity to someone’s interests based on the groups they’re in, the skills they have and the hashtags/people/pages they follow.

3. Engagement

LinkedIn evaluates the likelihood that someone will engage (share, comment or react) with a post. This is based on the content they’ve engaged with in the past and the people they often interact with. It also monitors your post after publication – posts that quickly attract engagement are published in more feeds.

8 LinkedIn hacks

1.    The scratch my back hack

It should be abundantly clear that the wider your network and the more often you interact with it the wider distribution of posts you will receive. So, get yourself even more LinkedIn.

2.    The mention hack

Tag relevant companies and members, use keywords strategically, and include relevant hashtags to pretty much guarantee a wider distribution and more engagement.

3.    The ask hack

If engagement is rewarded then you should be making sure you get it by asking questions, hosting polls and inviting opinions.

4.    The reply hack

It goes without saying that any comments or interactions you receive should be responded to. It keeps the engagement tango twirling.

5.    The relevance hack

Use tools like BuzzSumo to find the content that people love and don’t be afraid to reshare content that has hit the spot – perhaps using a new angle.

Bear in mind that LinkedIn users love rich media: posts with images get twice the comments and videos get five times.

6.    The niche hack

Digging deeper – rather than painting in broad brush strokes – is one of the most effective ways to get content engaged with and published in more feeds.

It’s also worth applying this to the hash tags you use. The more niche, the smaller audience, but the more likely LinkedIn will recognise their relevance.

And while we’re talking hashtags – using more than three looks like it just waters down the power of each.

7.    The time of day hack

Remember that the quicker those likes and comments come in, the higher your post is ranked. So, make sure you are posting when your connections are active.

8.    The personal hack

People respond to people. Make sure you are posting using a friendly and personable tone. Steer clear of beating the company drum too much or peppering everything with industry jargon.

Be relatable and be yourself.

It’s not much to ask!

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