No matter how frequently you post on LinkedIn or how well-written those posts are, if those posts are not catering to the audience you have, you are not going to have the engagement you are hoping to see there. This is also applicable if you do not have a target audience for your content yet, but are trying to gather them by doing all the right things [Links to all the LI-related articles in a blog post] to build a robust network now.
However, who can see your posts/content and who should be your audience – are two entirely different questions. First, allow me to explain – who can see your posts/content.
Anyone who is added to your LinkedIn network can see the content you post, react to, or comment on. The same goes for people who simply follow you but are not directly connected with you as first-degree connections.
If someone is on your LinkedIn network, i.e., you two are connected to each other because one of you added the other person and that other person accepted the connection request (or add request) – then you both automatically follow each other without having to tap or click on the ‘Follow’ tab on each other’s profile. This means, both of you should be able to see each other’s posts, comments on your second-degree or third-degree connections’ posts, or any post/article to which you two have reacted on your respective home feed.
Remember, when someone sends you an add request on LI, they will be able to follow you, even if you do not accept the add request right away.
When you simply follow someone on LinkedIn (i.e., none of you have sent a connection request to each other – and therefore, do not exist in each other’s first-degree LinkedIn network), but the person you are following does not follow you, then you’d be able to see their posts, reactions, and comments – but they won’t be able to see your posted contents or LinkedIn activities.
So, who should be your audience?
In a general sense, your LinkedIn audience is the people who read your content – but more specifically, your audience is also the people whom you would want to be reading your content. In other words, your audience is anyone on whom you’d like to make an impression – of course, a positive one. You want to have the right audience for your content for a variety of reasons – from attracting key employees working in the organizations you dream to work at someday to professionals who are currently working in the same or related industry who might be able to help you find good opportunities.
The most valuable thing to figure out before posting anything on LinkedIn is to understand who your audience is and how you find them.
1. Determine your right audience.
The content you are or would be posting, and the potential readers’ topic(s) of interest, must be the same, or at least, closely aligned. Imagine if your LinkedIn connection list is filled with people from the supply chain industry, and your dream job is managing the supply chain of a Fortune-500 retail company, but all you have been posting about is your love for poetry or topics on personal finance – because you thought that most people will find information regarding personal finance useful and will therefore read your posts or that most people will probably enjoy reading rich content on poetry.
Well, it is true that a lot of people will find information regarding personal financial management quite helpful – but your expertise in personal finance will hardly help you get noticed by recruiters and hiring managers in the supply chain sector. What will help you instead is a conscious display of your knowledge of the supply chain of products and merchandise in retail (or in other industries) and your continued engagement with people who are either working in the supply chain field or in the retail industry.
Similarly, if you want a job as a cybersecurity expert in a large tech company, but the majority of your LinkedIn posts are about topics related to industrial & labour relations, you will not be able to attract the right audience to your profile. So, to attract the right audience, you must deliver content that will cater to their tastes.
Once you determine the audience for your future LinkedIn content, you will need to find them and add them. Remember, when you add someone on LinkedIn, in addition to having that person on your LinkedIn network, you automatically follow the person. Here are 5 ways to search for your audience on LinkedIn.
2. Should you add your thoughts to the posts you share?
When you choose to share someone else’s LinkedIn post on your profile’s home page, after clicking on the “repost” tab, you will see two options: “share with your thoughts” and “repost.” Sharing it with the first option is always something I would recommend – because that allows you to not only give a shout-out to the original poster but also a chance to create a new post simply by adding a few sentences of your own before you share.
3. To tag or not to tag
Whether you are sharing someone else’s post or article or writing your own post on LinkedIn, you can and should tag people. This is because tagging others will make your post or your share visible to their connections and followers as well. However, I am not talking about indiscriminate tagging – because that would not only annoy people, but it would also look like you are desperate for attention.
When you are sharing someone’s LinkedIn post on your profile, you should give a shout-out to that original writer/poster by tagging them on the post – along with one or two sentences showing your appreciation for their content. If you are sharing a really famous person’s post on a frequent/daily basis, do not tag them on every post unless you have already asked for their permission to do it. If there was no conversation regarding the daily tagging, I would suggest you use your discretion regarding whether or not you should tag them on a post on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to that, you may tag a couple of your first-degree connections if the post you are about to share is something you are sure they possess enough knowledge of, is important to them for some other reason, or in some way, is relevant to their career journey.
Do not just tag their names like this at the end of the post: Jeremy Smolder, Sarah Finn, and Cody Richards – and leave it like that!
You should do it this way:
Jeremy Smolder, Sarah Finn, and Cody Richards – what are your thoughts on this?
OR this:
Jeremy, Sarah, and Cody – I was reading this and thought about you guys immediately since you have been working on this for some time. I would love to know your perspective on this issue – please comment below! Looking forward to a great discussion.
OR you can ask one or two specific questions related to the post/article you are sharing after tagging your connections by name.
Asking your connections (that you tag to your own post or posts you share) specific and relevant questions would serve as sort of a “call for action” and would initiate some discussions in the comments section under the post – which is what you want. Because when people are commenting on your content, some other people will likely respond to those comments creating engagement – which is exactly what you need to reach a bigger and better/more authentic audience.
To engage more people in your content, make sure the quality of your posts maintains a certain standard, are relevant to your connections and followers, and that you are posting on LinkedIn regularly – not once in a blue moon.
Regularly does not have to be daily – although I have nothing against that. But it is a good idea to try to post on LinkedIn at least 2-3 times a week – preferably, on specific days. For example, if you always post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays – your audience will have this in-built expectation to read your content on those days and will look forward to it if the quality of your posts is strong.
The best kind of engagement comes from you delivering quality content on a consistent basis.
Consistency is the key – always!