Insights in the Linkedin newsfeed algorithm. Generate more attention and reach.

In this article, you will learn how to take advantage of Linkedin’s algorithm to inspire readers and achieve your goals. Visibility in the newsfeed is important to be successful with Linkedin marketing.

The Linkedin algorithm is relevant for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO, executive, recruiter, marketing or sales manager or student. Or whether a medium-sized SME or a large company uses a Linkedin company page. Because for both presences, the newsfeed is important and leads to more success.

If you are a lurker on Linkedin and only read posts but rarely or never give a like, make a comment or share a post, you are not yet using the power of social media’s two-way communication

The key changes on LinkedIn’s feed 

In summary, it is about:

• Qualitative content that is relevant to the defined target audience
• Posts that share “knowledge and advice” are now prioritized throughout the platform. It’s a good way to position yourself as a thought leader or an expert
• The post has “meaningful comments” and the author replies with “value and insights”
• Building a global community and a relevant network

You will be more successful in the newsfeed if you have strategically optimized your personal Linkedin presence and the company’s business presence. A suitable positioning is the foundation for success.

Valuable background information directly from Linkedin

Entrepreneur interviewed Daniel Roth, Editor in Chief of Linkedin. Here’s the article: link.

First some facts about the Linkedin newsfeed:

• The company says it saw a 42% year-over-year increase in content shared from 2021 to 2023, a 27% increase in content viewed, and now has three professionals joining every second. More insights here: Linkedin statistics
• Over the last years, people’s Linkedin posts have become much more personal while they were (or still are) working from home. “Our homes and our work lives got enmeshed,” he says — and users started sharing the sorts of selfies and family photos that they might once have posted on other Social Media platforms.
• Some users leaned into other actions that have become endemic on social media — like trying to game the algorithm to gain as many likes and followers as possible.

The results and what the users say

As a result of the changes the company says it’s seen an 80% reduction in people complaining about irrelevant content on their feeds.

Since the changes took effect, LinkedIn has seen a nearly 40% increase in “people checking out and viewing content that is grounded in knowledge from people that are out of their network.
Who will see the post?

If you post on LinkedIn, it is more likely that your followers will see your post.

Now it is getting really interesting.

Some key factors

1. The post speaks to a distinct audience.

“The way I like to think about it,” Daniel Roth says, “is that every piece of content has its own total addressable market. And you have to think about, well, who am I trying to reach with this thing?” LinkedIn is thinking about that too. Its system looks at every post and basically asks: Who is this relevant to?

Sometimes, the answer is a small number of people — maybe you’ve posted about your family, and so the system decides it’s only relevant to your closest connections. Or maybe you’ve posted about B2B marketing, and the system will start showing it to people inside that community.

The personal Linkedin profile has now become more relevant to the newsfeed.

2. The author is writing in their core subject area.

When you post something on LinkedIn, the platform isn’t just evaluating the value of your post. It is now also evaluating you — and whether you’re an authority in the thing you’ve posted about.

“Because we have the professional profile of record,” Daniel Roth says, “it helps us be able to make sure that we are getting the right content to the right people.”

Daniel Roth offers an example: He has zero background in geology, so what would happen if he posted on LinkedIn about how to be a great geologist? “That is useless, because I don’t know what I’m talking about,” he says. “So if I put that up there, LinkedIn has an obligation to be like, ‘Hey, this is not the highest quality content, Dan has none of the skills in this area, and we have not seen him have success with geology content in the past.'”

The personal Linkedin profile has now become more relevant to the newsfeed.

3. The post has “meaningful comments”.

In the past, LinkedIn would amplify posts that got a lot of comments. As a result, some users banded together into “engagement groups” — essentially agreeing to quickly like and comment on each other’s posts, as a way of boosting them.

LinkedIn wanted to stop that.

Now it rewards posts that get what Roth calls “meaningful comments.” This means that people aren’t just dashing off empty comments — stuff like “great!” or “so true!” — but are instead actually responding to the content of the post.

LinkedIn is also considering who these commenters are — are they random people, or are they from a particular group? For example, imagine that you post something about marketing. If a lot of marketing professionals comment on your post, LinkedIn sees that as a positive sign.

Social media marketing is a two-way communication, not a PR channel. Build relationships on Linkedin.

4. The post has a perspective. Use some personality.

LinkedIn uses artificial intelligence to classify posts into different categories — including, for example, whether a post contains opinions and/or advice. In part, it’s looking to see whether a post is offering generic information (which is less rewarded) or is drawn from the writer’s perspective and insights (which is more rewarded).

Had I just posted the photo of the funny sign, LinkedIn would have shown it to fewer people. But because I added perspective that reached a target audience, it resonated and grew.

Here’s how you can use Linkedin more successfully.

Since 2003, I have been a Linkedin strategist, trainer, consultant, speaker and guest lecturer at universities in Switzerland. I share my experiences and opinions here. To be successful with more than 1 billion users worldwide (November 2023), you need a Linkedin strategy and in-depth Linkedin knowledge.

A Linkedin strategy and optimal positioning with your personal Linkedin profile and/or Linkedin business page leads to more success. It doesn’t matter if you want to position yourself as CEO, marketing or sales manager or as recruiter/active sourcer, or if you are looking for a job.

Many underestimate this and get started without in-depth knowledge. The foundation for success is the appearance. Then, define a content marketing and community strategy with tactics and start with visibility. And always think about reputation. This is worth gold and can no longer be corrected 100%.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What goals do you want to achieve and by when?
• How do you want to position yourself as a person or as a company on Linkedin?
• What is the main target group you want to address?
• Which content formats make sense or appeal to you?
• How much time do you have available for content marketing?
• How much time do you have to answer some relevant comments?
• How do you want to build the network in Switzerland and/or globally?
• How do you measure the goals? Which KPIs are relevant?
• And more…

“Share knowledge and advice to increase your reach and awareness. Strengthen your personal brand, company brand and employer brand.”

My questions to you:

What will you change about your Linkedin presence, your content marketing or your community strategy? I look forward to an interesting discussion with you! Thank you.

Do you want to be more successful with Linkedin? Then let’s have a conversation.
I look forward to the dialog via e-mail: hello@erica-kessler.com. Thank you very much.

This article has been originally published on Linkedin.

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Erica Kessler