How do social media algorithms work? Getting the most out of LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is an incredible professional social media platform which allows the user to display any content they want, to people they want to see it. However, knowing how to optimise who sees your content is key to utilising the sites full potential in promoting both individually and as a business.

What is the algorithm?

Essentially, the algorithm is a measurement of many different factors which each piece of uploaded content is matched to, implemented to ensure the most relevant content is available to the people who want to see it or would benefit most from seeing it. This means that content seen on LinkedIn is related more to relevancy rather than how recently the post was created.

How does the algorithm work?

The algorithm sorts each piece of uploaded content in to three categories: spam, low quality and high quality. Which category a person’s content falls in to determines how much exposure the post will get, with the ‘high quality’ category being the goal.

Once content is posted, how long it stays on people’s feeds is heavily dependent on how much interaction and clicks the post gets, with the posts that generate the most interaction staying relevant on peoples feeds for longer.

LinkedIn also studies the people and companies you’ve interacted with on the platform via likes, comments, shares and reactions. Following this LinkedIn will more likely show you content outside your immediate network that is relevant to what you have interacted with already. This means the more people that interact with you, the more likely your content is to be reposted and presented on the feeds of people you’re not connected with.

How to take advantage of the algorithm

The most important thing when trying to make the algorithm work to your advantage is to ensure that content stays out of the ‘spam’ category.

This is easily done as long as you follow a basic set of rules:

  • Don’t use bad spelling and grammar
  • Don’t over-post
  • Don’t over-tag other accounts
  • Don’t overuse or use unrelated hashtags

Once you’ve beaten the spam category, it is vital to do everything possible in order to get into the ‘high quality’ category, this can be done in a number of ways, such as:

  • Using strong key words
  • Formatting your post to make it an easier read
  • Use your hashtags wisely and minimally
  • Posting things which encourage user response and post engagement.

It is not only the content that’s important to consider when beating the algorithm however, with the timing of posts being just as important. SocialChamp reported that in 2021, the most clicks and shares occur between 11am and 12am on Tuesdays, finding the best times to post are either between 7am-8am or 5pm-6pm and the peak use time being 12pm and between 5pm-6pm.

Lacewing Media has an extensive knowledge on this subject, enabling us to help with any questions or issues you may have. Outsourcing through us allows you to gain our comprehensive abilities, helping you to build a strong brand through advancing your marketing. If you would like to know more contact kate@lacewingmedia.com.

Sources: https://www.socialchamp.io/blog/linkedin-algorithms-to-keep-in-mind-this-year/