We’re In A Golden Age for LinkedIn Content Creators. For Now.
LinkedIn’s desperation for content is making it a powerful tool for creators.
Originally published in Better Marketing.
Only 1% of LinkedIn’s 310 million monthly active users create content.
This is a huge problem for LinkedIn, and a big opportunity for you.
LinkedIn doesn’t have enough original content to engage and keep users.
LinkedIn, like all social media channels, wants people to come back to the platform. That’s how the company stays relevant and makes money.
To keep people logging back in, LinkedIn needs new and interesting content. But with only 1% of active users creating content, LinkedIn doesn’t have enough new posts to populate news feeds. That’s why it also shows posts that people in your network have engaged with:
A post someone in my network engaged with.
If this approach feels old-school, it is. You might remember Facebook doing something similar years ago, likely when it, too, didn’t have enough new content. Now, Facebook has mountains of original content so it doesn’t need to show you your friends’ activity.
LinkedIn recognizes its challenge and is encouraging individuals to post more frequently. It has introduced a suite of tools called “Creator Mode,” available to all. Unlike platforms like Facebook or Instagram, “Creator Mode” gives individuals analytics on their post performance. People can see post impressions and demographic details of post viewers.
Any content you create on LinkedIn has a good chance to be seen.
LinkedIn’s problem is your opportunity. If you start posting on LinkedIn today, you will be part of the 1% of active LinkedIn users who create content. The remaining 99% will be logging on to see your posts. LinkedIn will eagerly share your posts with your network because it is desperate for new content.
It gets better.
Remember how LinkedIn shows posts that people in your network have engaged with? This creates a snowball effect for your content’s reach, like this:
Your post gets shown to your 500 connections
You get likes from 5 of your connections, each with 500 connections
Your post might get shared with your connections’ networks: “John Smith liked this post.” This means your post could reach 5*500=2,500 more people.
This kind of organic reach is difficult to come by on other platforms–except TikTok.
This golden age won’t last forever, so seize the day.
The time to build your personal brand on LinkedIn is now. Right now, LinkedIn’s algorithm favors content creators, which gives you the opportunity to make your voice heard.
But LinkedIn may soon succeed at attracting and nurturing content creators. If this happens, LinkedIn will have enough fresh content to change its news feed algorithm. It will no longer show posts that your network engaged with, which will drop all content’s organic reach. It will be harder and harder to stand out, and posts will not perform as well.
That’s why we’re in a golden age for LinkedIn. Take advantage of it while you still can.
Here are three ways I can help you:
Serve as your business’s Fractional CMO.
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