23 tips on getting engagement and traction on LinkedIn

Rory MccGwire

The LinkedIn algorithm promotes ‘high quality’ content. Put simply, the more that people engage with your content, the more it will be shown in the feeds of other people. So how do you get the ball rolling? Rory MccGwire, the founder and editor of Law Firm Ambition, explains. (Updated 10 October 2023)

Stay current.To get a high quality score for your post from LinkedIn, write about something current and something your audience cares about enough to share.
Use the news. The main source of currency is the news. If something relevant is happening in the headlines of the national, local or trade press your clients read, jump on it!
Make it interesting. Don’t write about the letter of the law; make it interesting and informative by making it practical – “this is the issue so this is what you need to do/think about.”
Use stories when you can. Stories are more personal and they bring your points into context for the readers in a way adjectives and exposition simply can’t. Revealing, deeply personal stories tend to get widely read and shared on LinkedIn nowadays – if you want to share such private matters.
Consider your audience. Think about who you want to talk to, then you can work out what they want to know. Remember a professional contact will have different requirements (and a different level of understanding) to a client. A good trick is to think of the last question a client/prospect asked you, and then answer it in your post, blog or article.
Consider the algorithm. The moment that something is posted, the LinkedIn algorithm will look at the attributes of your post; who posted it, the content, and any images or attachments associated with. It will then decide who to show the post to first, so you need to consider all these factors while you’re writing in order to get the largest and most relevant audience.
Hook the reader. As with any type of writing (articles, blogs, replies or case updates) you need to hook your reader. Be short, punchy and to the point. If you can say something eye-catching (and not provocative) in your intro, that will (by definition!) catch the eye.
Jump on the bandwagon. Watch what’s popular and jump on that bandwagon. If you are a conveyancer and posts regarding falling house prices are attracting a lot of likes and shares, that’s your topic. If you’re a corporate lawyer and there is an increase in interest in M&A activity because the rise in interest rates is leading some owners to sell up, go with that.
Get people sharing. Having a few ‘fans’ who regularly share your content gives you a much better chance of success. Try and nudge colleagues, contacts and clients to like and share when they see something they like.
Avoid 'pods'. On the other hand, ‘pods’ of authors who join together purely to boost each other’s engagement rates have been banned by LinkedIn, so you need to cast the net a little wider, or risk the consequences.
Show some personality. Think of LinkedIn as a way to build relationships, not as a message board. Partly this means being willing to engage with your contacts’ content (it will be reciprocated), but it also means writing in your own voice and – dare I say – showing a touch of informality or even humour! To thine own self be true … after all, that’s who your connections will meet.
Comments count more. Comments have more value than likes and shares, so have the confidence to tell people when you like something – again it will be reciprocated.
Re-shares count less. Re-shares are a nice way to be friendly to the person who shared the content in the first place; but in terms of engagement, re-shares count for even less than shares.
Ask for comments. If you have any fans who share your content regularly, ask them (if you’re comfortable to do so) to comment when they share. And do the same for them when you share their content, to help their engagement.
Mix it up. In order to score highly in the algorithm, your post really needs a blend of comments, likes, shares and so on. This presumably indicates that the post has not been artificially manipulated to trick the LinkedIn algorithm. It also means that again you need to think about the relevance and informativeness of your posts.
Timing is vital. The first 60 minutes after you post is key. If there is no immediate engagement, your post is unlikely to do well thereafter.
Reply and react. To build engagement and views, reply or react to every comment received. Of course it’s good manners, but it’ll also engender the goodwill of your connections who will then be more likely to engage with your posts.
Limit your posts. It’s probably best to limit your posts to one or two posts a day (unless you have something fresh on the production line or some crucial market news to share). Subsequent posts are unlikely to achieve much traction as LinkedIn does not want to bombard users with posts from ‘heavy users'. Equally, you definitely don’t want connections muting or removing you because you’ve become a nuisance.
Keep it brief. LinkedIn ‘articles’ seem to have fallen out of use. Users prefer to read shorter posts, so try and use the 1,300 character ‘updates’ if you can.
Use a maximum of three hashtags. Consider using one for your own branding (eg we’ve made good use of #BDfromhome during the current restrictions) and a couple that your network uses. Don’t be lazy and use #Coronavirus, if you're not relevant or active in that area it will be detrimental.
Tag relevant contacts. Tag specific LinkedIn contacts (using @their name) if you want them to see the post. But if they do not respond, this may actually harm the reach of your post. It is probably best to only ever tag a maximum of five contacts.
Engage with connections. Having thousands of contacts that you never talk to does not help with engagement. LinkedIn will know if you’re not really interested in each other, so they won’t show your posts to each other any longer after a short initial period. Conversely, it is hard to gain traction if you are too selective and only have a handful of connections.
Do your research. We may never know exactly how the LinkedIn algorithm works, but we can learn from the ongoing research by experts reported on sites such as SocialMediaToday.