How to Improve Social Media Engagement

Want your posts to attract more viewers? Wondering how to increase views and shares of your content?

In this article, you’ll discover five simple tactics to improve engagement on your posts – especially as it relates to LinkedIn.

#1: Try Writing a Text-Only Post

Sometimes, this is a great way to go. Think about your own experience with LinkedIn. Every so often, you’ll see a short text-only post in your stream that has a stack of likes and comments. This is not a rarity. Here\’s an example:

LinkedIn lets you include up to 1,300 characters in a post, which is roughly 250 words. Although that’s barely the equivalent of a very short blog post, you still have enough space to include some detail. For example, this post about applying for a job is about 240 words. Notice the number of likes and comments!

Why Do Text-Only Posts Work?

It makes sense that LinkedIn doesn’t want to display too many posts containing links to third-party sites. Each time someone clicks one of those links, they leave the LinkedIn platform. That means they spend less time on LinkedIn.

How to Write Effective Text-Only Posts

Here are a few tips for writing text-only posts on LinkedIn:

Keep it short. No one wants to read walls of text. Also, on LinkedIn mobile, a \”See More\” link appears on text updates longer than five lines. On the desktop version, your post is cut off after only three lines. With these limits in mind, if you use a storytelling approach, put a compelling hook in the first line to encourage people to read the whole post.

Ask a question. Anything that elicits a response will increase engagement. Make your question easy to answer and relevant to your field.

Take a stand. If you have an opinion on a relevant topic, share it and invite comments. If you can back up your stance with solid reasoning and evidence, people may begin to see you as a thought leader in your field.

Include links in the comments. Make your initial post text only, but then post a reply that includes the link that you wanted to share (if there is one). The same goes for images: post them as replies.

#2: Like Your Own Posts

Why does a Like button appear next to your own social media posts? Is it really okay to give yourself a thumbs-up, heart, or whatever is the latest symbol of approval? It almost feels like a trick: “Here’s a button that you really shouldn’t click.” However, ignoring this button is a mistake, because liking your own posts and status updates will increase engagement with the post.

The same goes for liking your own comments. This tactic is especially powerful if others have commented on your post because they’ll continue to see notifications about new likes and comments on the post, and that might encourage them to contribute again in some way.

Liking your own posts helps because people are more likely to interact with content if others have interacted first. Put another way, if the dance floor is empty, it takes guts to be the first person to hop up and start busting a move. But if others are there already, it’s much easier to join the party.

#3: Engage With Comments

Pay attention to anyone who takes time out of their day to leave a comment on one of your posts or status updates. Like user comments and post replies to continue the discussion.

People who have commented will see a notification and that could drive further engagement, ideally leading them to share your post with their network.

#4: Record and Share Native Video

With LinkedIn native video in the mobile app, you can record a video inside the app or upload a pre-made video from your camera roll. To find the video feature in the most current version of the app, look for the video camera icon in the top-right corner.

Just as with Facebook, native video on LinkedIn autoplays on mute. Because the LinkedIn video feature currently doesn’t add captions for you, share videos that have captions “burned in” (that is, the captions are part of the video file) to help catch people’s attention and increase engagement.

#5: Make Your Updates Public

LinkedIn lets you make status updates visible to the public. To do so, you need to check your settings and then you can choose to make any post public.

Check Your Settings

You can’t change the relevant settings via the LinkedIn mobile app, but you can via a desktop browser. To begin, click the Me icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage, click Settings & Privacy, and then click the Privacy tab at the top of the page.

Under the Blocking and Hiding section is the Followers option. Click Change, and then from the drop-down list, select Everyone on LinkedIn.

Keep your updates short and relevant, invite comments, and make sure you react positively to everyone who takes the time to engage with your content.

If you need guidance, we’re here to help! Visit Apis Productions’ Social Media Packages page and let us know what your needs are.