Table of contents

Background 2

The opportunity 3

What to do about it 6

Wrapping up 13
 Background

LinkedIn is pushing HARD to grow their “feed” adoption/usage because it

could be a huge revenue driver.

And they’ve been growing viewership fast since their redesign—which

reduced navigation/featured the “feed” prominently as “home” page.

But there’s reason to believe they’re NOT [yet] having much success activating
new content creators.

This could be a BIG problem for LinkedIn because if users don’t get plenty of
awesome content, they’re out.

But it could ALSO be a BIG opportunity for publishers because the demand for
useful content currently appears to be much higher than the supply.

There’s a lot content consumers on LinkedIn just getting

TL;DR hungrier & hungrier for content.

Update
Hurry up & get started NOW because since I wrote this, I’ve seen ~5x more
content creators “hip” to the strategy below. This opportunity WON’T last
long. So get to work. And don’t give me your woulda’, shoulda’, coulda’s or say
I didn’t warn ya.

Consider this your warning. I can help you if you get stuck. But the #1 thing
you need to do is ACT! Now.

2
 The opportunity

Our testing indicates that LinkedIn’s feed algorithm is much more linear &
definitive than Facebook & potentially calibrated very specifically to reward
active, prolific creators of useful or otherwise engaging content…

Here’s a crude illustration of the idea in

plain English:
On Facebook, if someone “likes” your post
ONCE... They’re considered a “potential” fit
& your next posts are slightly favored in their
feeds… because Facebook has a lot of data/
publishers/options…

On LinkedIn, if someone “likes” your post

ONCE… They’re practically considered a
“follower” & your next posts are heavily
favored in their feeds because LI doesn’t
have much data/publishers/options...

Understand: this is a gross simplification. There are 1,000s of factors that go

into it.

But the point is that TODAY… if you can get someone to like, comment on
or share (LCS) one of your posts on LinkedIn, they’re almost guaranteed
to see your subsequent posts!

So a single unique “like” on LinkedIn can be worth quite a bit.

Everyone knows that social media sites want (read: NEED) lots of good people
publishing lots of good content regularly. And they all reward consistent
contributors. But what I’m saying is that LinkedIn appears to be taking it to
the extreme…

Perhaps to swiftly address their “dirty” little secret (i.e. not enough creators)
before Wall Street notices or MSFT starts yellin’ at ‘em ;) Pretty exciting times.
But also very fleeting… A year from now, this little market inefficiency will be
corrected. So you should start moving & quick.

And as you read this, keep in mind: Like anything… There’s a decent chance
I’m wrong about this. But I think an equal or greater chance I’m right.

3
Because try this: compare 10 Facebook posts to 10 LinkedIn posts on recency/
engagement as measured by “LCS” aka, “likes”, “comments”, “shares”)...
What you’ll probably find is that the LinkedIn posts at the top of your feed
have much LESS engagement & are generally OLDER than Facebook posts at
the top of your feed.

This tells me a few things about LinkedIn:

1. The content quality “bar” is generally set LOWER…
2. Content lifespan is generally LONGER…
3. A user that LCS’ is very likely to see your other posts (if/as they exist)

Go look for yourself to be sure. You may very well see it differently. We’re still
looking at relatively small data sets.

But our preliminary results seem to be relatively consistent/conclusive so

I’m fairly confident in them. But go have a look. Older posts on LinkedInwith
fewer LCS… Facebook has newer, higher traffic pieces.

Looks like some users are starting to notice too… This was posted very
recently in LinkedIn’s help forum:

This is the PERFECT storm for marketers, entrepreneurs, sales people,

recruiters, job seekers, executives… You name it. So many possibilities.

… The only “rub” is that soon people will start to recognize this opportunity
(as you are right now) & some of them will start publishing.

“Thought leaders”/celebs are already hip to the game. Like Gary V. & Guy
Kawasaki… They’re already moving in, increasing activity.

What’s worse, LinkedIn prompts users directly to “follow” the celebs… which
is VERY bad news for the little guy, here’s why:

4
The more people “follow” celebs, the lower your share of voice. Celebs like
Gary V. publish a LOT & “take up the space” so to speak.

I know because I started following Gary V. just to mess around & my feed was
immediately overwhelmed. I unfollowed him & luckily it went away.

But either way, before long, LinkedIn will have more content than it needs &
this special treatment will go away… (sorry)

UNLESS… You decide right now to SEIZE this opportunity & start working at
ONCE to build yourself a nice, engaged, loyal audience of followers.

If you move swiftly, you’ll still have a good fighting chance.

Because if LinkedIn’s algo is anything like Facebook/Google (which it almost

certainly is)—it richly rewards age/tenure & consistency over time ...

… Meaning: you still have time to build a gnarly audience & KEEP them even
after the celebs/masses exploit this market inefficiency. IF you act now.

LinkedIn is starving for content in the short-term &

TL;DR they’re currently offering rich rewards for those that can
regularly publish useful sh*t.

5
 What to do about it

Remember: The goal is to get more LCS’ from good prospects because on
LinkedIn when someone LCS’, they are very likely to see your next posts…

So once someone LCS’, you can essentially “retarget” them (i.e. get back in
front of them) on an ongoing basis organically (i.e. free) whenever you post.

Of course it’s also critical to get in front of the RIGHT people…

So here are some practical tips to start attracting & engaging MORE of the
RIGHT people so that every time you post, they’ll see it front & center.

First, some basic (but important) ground

rules:
Post more (but not too much)
This is the #1 thing. If nothing else, just do this. But don’t overdo it. Quality
over quantity. And consistency is important. Shoot for 1-2x per week.

Think B2B
Stick to business topics (or storieswith business lessons). Because before
showing your post even to your 1st connections, LinkedIn’s algorithm looks at
each post & asks: “Is this business related?” So make sure you pass this first
testwith flying colors.

Write for your target/prospect

Who do you want to attract? What are they interested in? Don’t assume you
know the answers, put the effort into researching first.

Don’t think too much

A lot of people overthink things & end up doing nothing. Think of this as an
experiment. And know that some posts WILL flop. And you WILL probably get
flamed by some hater at some point… And that’s okay. Actually it may be
a good sign. You will live to write another post. But you’ll never hit a homer
without taking swings.

Be active
LinkedIn likes loyal, active users. So make sure to login 1-2x per day & either
post, respond to comments & other people & their posts—especially good
prospects that have LCS’d your posts as this “cements” the connection.

6
Go long-form
LinkedIn likes content creators & they want to be considered a source of news.
The majority of posts are short-form & link out to other websites. Longer-
form pieces (500 characters or more) that DON’T link out get preference. Also
consider this:

• Long-form posts get truncated & users have to hit “see more” to reveal
the full post—this is an indicator of interest & a component of LI’s algo.
Probably not as heavily weighted as LCS, but you’ll get far more of them
& they add up faster.

• Long-form content takes longer to read & therefore increases dwell time
(i.e. time a user spends with your post), which is an important compo-
nent in Facebook’s algo & I imagine LinkedIn’s too (LI is forever copying
Facebook, rarely vice-versa ;)

Now, some algorithmic considerations:

Understand how LinkedIn “categorizes” you
LinkedIn has data scientists building algorithms that study your every action
& attribute. They place you into “categories” & every time you login, they
continue “learning” & adapting. The information on your profile—your work
history, the articles you’ve published, the skills listed (particularly those
you’ve been endorsed for), the groups you’re in (particularly those you’re
active in), the companies/influencers you follow —all MAJOR indicators
LinkedIn uses to “categorize” you. So ask yourself this: How might LinkedIn
be categorizing you/your client? Is this how you WANT to be categorized? You
have a high degree of control over most of these indicators, so… If it’s broke,
go fix it.

Understand how LinkedIn “categorizes” your prospects

You do know who your prospects are… Right? So look at a dozen or so in
the same way. How would you categorize THEM if you were LinkedIn? In
particular, look at “skills” (these seem to be weighted most heavily & also
tend to be fairly consistent across prospects). For instance, if you sell to
executives, many of them will have “leadership” or “management” as top
skills. But find the common thread in skills. Particularly skills that they’ve
been endorsed for (as opposed to self-selected). These are essentially what
you should post about.

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Think like an SEO
LinkedIn leans heavily on sophisticated natural language processing to
determine what users see (https://engineering.linkedin.com/data/nlp). So
you should, of course, use words & phrases that your audience uses, but also
LATERALIZE into related words, latent semantic style. Look specifically at
the “skills” your prospects have on their profiles. This is essentially what you
should write about. Say a lot of your prospects have “management” listed
as a skill. Use this word/topic but also related words/topics like “leadership”,
“hiring”, “CEO”, “training” & so on. There are several free tools like LSIgraph.
com & KeywordShitter.com you can use to quickly generate keywords/ideas.

Now, some ideas on content &

positioning:
“Credibilit-ize” your profile
People will check you out & for a split second wonder, “Is this is a credible,
valuable person that I’d like to add to my network?” So do what you can to
help them conclude: “YES!” The first thing they look at? Pictures. Get a good
headshot & a cover image of you speaking or doing something else that only
awesome, sought-after people do. Come upwith a strong headline that conveys
credibility & communicates your value prop. Write a descriptionwith a strong
hook as the opener (i.e. get people to click through) then more detail & link
back to your landing page. Use keywords where you can. Don’t have many
endorsements or recommendations? Get some. These are the main things
but as it evolves ask yourself: “Am I credible & trustworthy & sought after?” &
obviously the answer is yes so then ask, “Does my profile portray that?”

Don’t be boring
It’s better to offend than to bore. But you might also try: informative, new &
novel, useful, funny, relatable, chronological, curated, re-invented… Or some
combination. Specific is generally better than vague. And don’t be afraid to

8
copy success. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Often what works
for one person will work for you too, even if it’s a different industry. People
are people. But if you’re doing #1 & #2 & NOT seeing daily growth… You may
be being boring :( See below for some ideas/inspiration. Refer to the the
immutable laws of copywriting for more.

Tell a story
Posts that startwith something like, “I was at Starbucks yesterday & I saw
this middle-aged woman who seemed very normal at first…” tend to work
well. The key is building some degree of curiosity or intrigue BEFORE the “see
more” truncation, so they click to read more. Stories will also be long-form by
definition, so that’s a plus.

Tease with a goodie

If you’re reading this right now, you’re familiar with this technique because it’s
probably how you found me. It’s very simple & effective. Ask, “What specific
knowledge/information do I have that prospects DON’T have (but definitely
want)?” Something proprietary, unique, valuable, difficult to replicate/
reproduce. Then post a “teaser” saying you’re creating it & to like/comment
if they want a free copy. This will likely pull. But it means you gotta’ create
the content & send it to 758 people. Not easy. Alternative is send them to a
landing page & force opt-in, automate email on the back-end.

Here’s an example teaser post:

(one that you may have already seen ;)

9
Ask for the LCS, straight up
Simple & age-old, but still works. Or on National Boss Day, you might say,
“To all my fellow bosses out there old & young, thumbs up for National
Boss Day!” This can also be combined with asking questions or most any
other technique.

Pose questions
Questions work well but can be hit or miss. Key is to ask something
provocative, specific and/or insightful on a popular, controversial or widely
debated issue.

The fill in the blank

“Give me a thumbs up if you like _______ as much as I do”. Pretty much a
combination of go long-form and understanding how LinkedIn “categorizes”
you & can be hit or miss depending on the topic. For best results, create an
image quickly featuring the text of the post & the blank prominently. Also
include the text & blank in the post itself. Visual pieces are less easy to ignore.

10
Personal reveals
LinkedIn is a social network & whether you know all your followers personally
or not, it’s nice to add a personal touch. People generally like dealingwith
other humans. Real humans. So be real sometimes & tell your stories. Be
vulnerable. And be authentic. The potential risk is far outweighed by the
potential reward in most cases.

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Company/personal news
This type of post (e.g. “WebMechanix just won XYZ award… Woot!”) can
be very effective in activating your immediate network (i.e. people you
actually know well in real life) & can be extremely effective if you have a lot of
prospects in your immediate network. For best results, include actual pics/
videos of you/your team.

REMINDER: Keep it professional

Immediately after you post, LinkedIn determines whether the content
is “good” or not & they’re mostly looking at… “Is this a professional
conversation?” So stick to business. Avoid gossip, politics & anything else that
would be considered less than professional.

Now, some logistical/workflow

considerations:
Publish posts from the most prominent profile available
It’s better to use a CEO profile than a salesperson. So before starting, talk with
the client about this & look at various employee profiles to see if you can find
a very prominent or well-networked person. This will make your work MUCH
more fruitful. If there’s no prominent profile available, building new high-
value connections should be a major objective of the campaign.

Make sure you’re crystal-clear on brand guidelines

Obviously you want to represent your client well. Make sure you get their
guidelines if you don’t have them already & also some generally approved
messaging to use. Note that many clients have a tendency to be very cautious
& conservative about what they “put out there” so be sure to address this
before it comes up. Unfortunately, many clients find it difficult/impossible to
put out the type of content that will work. If this is the case, organic LinkedIn
may not be ideal.

Write posts in advance and schedule them

It can be challenging to think of good post material under pressure… And at
the same time, inspiration sometimes strikes when least expected. So keep a
list of future posts & share this with your client. Get sizable “batches” of posts
approved all at once. Schedule the posts as they’re approved & proceed to
write more. Set reminders to login & respond to comments or if possible, have
the client do this.

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 Wrapping up

I sincerely hope you find this guide useful & I’m very interested in your
feedback.

But mainly, I encourage you to get moving NOW because there’s been a
flurry of related patents issued in just the last few months (see next
page) & I’m expecting major changes soon.

So jump in & follow these simple steps & you’ll have a nice, engaged
audience (i.e. “retargeting” list) on LinkedIn before you know it ;)

Want more personalized advice & hands-on help?

We got you. Go to WebMechanix.com or just give us a ring at 443.927.7195.
Ask for me (Chris M.) & tell whoever answers the phone that you read my
LinkedIn guide. I’ll give you my best advice & get you moving in the right
direction.

13
Sources/further reading:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/linkedin-machine-learning-is-like-oxygen-
but-the-human-element-is-not-going-away-anytime-soon/ - an in-depth
look at LI’s machine learning algo

https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2017/03/strategies-for-keeping-the-
linkedin-feed-relevant - a look into how LI determines content quality

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-reached-over-25-million-linkedin-
views-4-months-josh-fechter - one influencer’s story/advice (dude is a BAMF,
many good tips)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/9619846 - “System and method for

relevance-based social network interaction recommendation” (granted
4/11/17)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/20170091652 - “Regularized model

adaptation for in-session recommendations” (granted 4/11/17)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/20170075978 - “Model-based identification

of relevant content” (granted 3/16/17)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/20170076225 - “Model-based classification

of content items” (granted 3/16/17)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/9595069 - “Contextual content

recommendation in a social network” (granted 3/14/17)

http://patents.justia.com/patent/9595069 - “Identification of a propagator-

type leader in a social network” (granted 2/21/17)

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 About WebMechanix

WebMechanix is a performance-based digital marketing firm on a mission to

help middle-market companies move needles faster, more meaningfully and
more sustainably than any comparable solution on the market. Founded in
2009 by Chris Mechanic and Arsham Mirshah, the company is headquartered
in the Baltimore-Washington region.

Today, WebMechanix is one of the fastest-growing digital forces on the scene.

This exponential growth is fueled by its Partner & Promise approach, where
WebMechanix focuses on deeply understanding and exceeding unique client
needs to measurably impact business results.

Earlier this year, the company earned the top spot regionally on clutch.
co for digital marketing. WebMechanix is also a Google Premier Partner,
HubSpot Platinum Certified Agency Partner and consistently ranked on the
Inc. 5000 list.

1.888.932.6861
https://www.webmechanix.com/

15
 Contact Us
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for more information