Over the past two decades, LinkedIn has transformed itself from a simple professional networking tool into a dynamic platform for marketing, thought leadership, and brand awareness. It serves as an active marketplace where your company can interact directly with customers, prospects, and employees.
Read on to discover our best practices for LinkedIn social sharing, sales, and employee engagement.
Engage Personally with Your Company Page
A preliminary step for all employees is to follow the company page via their personal LinkedIn accounts. It helps to familiarize them with the company's posts, mission, values, and interaction style. This engagement boosts the visibility of the page in the LinkedIn community, attracting more potential leads and connections.
Amplify Your Company's Voice
When new content is posted, employees should interact with it by liking, sharing, and commenting. This not only increases the reach of the post but also gives it a personal touch. Personal comments from employees often generate more engagement because they show a behind-the-scenes, human aspect of the business that outsiders find appealing.
Personalize Your Shares
An excellent strategy when sharing company content is to tag relevant connections with a personalized note. For instance, "Robert, I wanted to share this with you—I think you might find it particularly interesting." This helps increase the chances of it being viewed, engaged with, and shared further.
Add Value to Your Shares
Don't hesitate to add a unique perspective or insight to the company's post while sharing it. Additional thoughts or comments foster conversations, making the post more engaging. Simultaneously, it's totally fine to simply share the post if you don't have any comments. The key is to strike a balance somewhere in between.
Engage With Comments
The conversations on your company's posts shouldn’t be one-sided. Engage with those who take time out of their busy schedule to comment. Simple acknowledgements such as 'thank you' or 'that’s a great idea' can make a significant difference in fostering a sense of community. When possible, try to engage commenters further with additional questions or comments.
Hashtags are Your Friends
When sharing posts, consider adding relevant hashtags. Hashtags act like folders or categories, making your content more discoverable. For LinkedIn, 1-2 tags per post are generally enough to get noticed without being overwhelming.
What Time to Post to LinkedIn?
Selecting the best time to post on LinkedIn can significantly impact the visibility and engagement of your content. LinkedIn, as a professional networking platform, has unique usage patterns that differ from other social networks. Generally, the best times are aligned with the typical workweek schedule since its primary user base is professionals and business people.
Best Days:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are generally the most reliable days to post on LinkedIn. These mid-week days are when professionals are most active and check updates during their work hours.
Best Times:
- Morning: A peak time is between 7:45 and 8:45 a.m., just before the workday starts. Many professionals routinely check their LinkedIn feed first thing in the morning.
- Lunch Hours: Another surge in LinkedIn activity occurs during lunchtime, around 12 p.m to 1 p.m. This is when people often take a break and browse their feeds.
- After Work: A final peak time is between 5-6 p.m., when people are getting ready to go home from work—and have a few minutes to kill in the meantime.
Keep in mind that these are general guidelines. The optimal time may vary depending on your audience. For example, if your audience resides in Texas, then adjust your posting times to CST.
Consider experimenting with different posting times and monitor your engagement rates. LinkedIn analytics can provide valuable insights into when your specific audience is most active.
Let Witmer Group Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is not only a professional networking tool, it’s also a powerful marketing platform that can drive new leads and sales when used to its full potential. Consistently applying the above best practices will contribute to your engagement goals and allow you to reach a far wider audience.
Witmer Group will create tailored social posts and post them three times weekly to your LinkedIn company page. The main goals are to promote engagement, induce action from your audience, and grow your reach.
Click below to learn more about our LinkedIn services and how Witmer Group can help.