How Can I Get Better Results From My Content on LinkedIn.

Let me start by saying I am not a LinkedIn expert. Never was, and never will be, but I’ve been on the platform for a long time. I post consistently, pay attention to what seems to work (and what doesn’t), and I read a lot about what other people say you should be doing.

I take a good amount of it with a grain of salt and here's why.

There are a lot of people on LinkedIn talking about their enormous reach, staggering impressions, and all the money they’re making because of their content. It's often referred to as "humble bragging." Do I believe some of these numbers and success stories are absolutely true? Of course. Do I believe all of them? Nope, and I think constantly comparing yourself to the people who are supposedly “crushing it” on LinkedIn can make you feel pretty crappy about what you’re doing.

So stop, and instead, figure out what works for you.

That might mean looking at some of the strategies LinkedIn influencers recommend, taking them apart, adopting the pieces that make sense for your business and your personality, and leaving the rest behind.

There’s another important distinction that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough. Many of the people who are absolutely killing it on LinkedIn are selling products, programs, courses, speaking engagements, or books about LinkedIn. Their audience is on LinkedIn because LinkedIn is what they’re selling.

Your business might be something else, like an attorney, accountant, insurance professional, consultant, manufacturer, financial professional, interior designer, healthcare provider, or something completely different. LinkedIn can still be an excellent platform for you, but expecting the same numbers as someone whose business is teaching people how to succeed on LinkedIn makes absolutely no sense. Keep it in perspective.

What should you look at?

First, are you writing for the right people? Is your content geared toward the people who might be interested in what you know and what you do, r are you simply posting because someone told you that you need to post three or four times a week?

Next, is your content actually interesting? Does it include personal stories? Opinions? Experiences? Things that make people think, smile, disagree, remember something from their own lives, or feel something? Is it well written? Good content is the bare minimum, and I know you’re going to say, “but Adrian, I see boring posts getting hundreds of comments.”

So do I.

In many cases, those people have spent years developing a large and highly engaged relationship base. They aren’t necessarily getting engagement because today’s post is brilliant. They’re getting engagement because of everything they’ve done before today’s post, which brings me to something I think is even more important and that's LinkedIn cannot be the only thing you’re doing.

LinkedIn should be part of an integrated marketing and business development strategy. It is not the strategy. What else are you doing to stay visible? Email marketing. Newsletters. Networking. Speaking. Advertising, if appropriate. Conferences. Trade shows. Meetings. Introductions. Events. Staying in touch with referral sources. Picking up the phone. All of these things work together.

The objective isn’t simply to get people to like your LinkedIn post. It’s to become someone people see, remember, recognize, and eventually trust, and that takes more than posting content and waiting for something magical to happen.

Content opens the door, you still have to walk through it. Under the category of networking alone, there are dozens of things you can be doing to turn visibility into actual relationships and opportunities, but that’s another blog.

Stay tuned.