Here's what works best on LinkedIn (and how to create it)

LinkedIn is becoming an increasingly useful platform for businesses, mainly because of the good reach of posts and new features as a newsletter. The social network also confirmed record levels of engagement following the pandemic. But the big question is another...

Which content works best on LinkedIn?

The Socialinsider team, together with Cloud Campaign, shed light on this topic with a large-scale analysis that includes over 141,000 posts from around 1,000 business pages. The goal for the study is to identify which format elicits the most reactions from users.

Here's the big discovery - posts that contain a document (PDF file) and are shared directly to the social network generate 3 times more clicks than any other type of content.

If you're wondering what a PDF posted to LinkedIn looks like, you can see Gary Vaynerchuk's example below. In practice, this is the so-called "carousel" that is far more popular on Instagram. With some basic design skills, you'll be able to create an engaging PDF with the same effect.

See Gary's post: CLICK HERE (PS. you must be logged into your LinkedIn account)

How do you create a successful LinkedIn Carousel?

I would share a few tips that are mostly intended to "hack" the engagement effect.

1️⃣ Make a specific promise in the first slide - think about how you can intrigue readers in the first few seconds, the battle for their time is relentless.

2️⃣ Think in the direction of "attention retention" - there is an implicit rule that the more time users spend on a piece of content, the more favorable it is for algorithms. That's what carousels do - they make us want to see every next slide.

3️⃣ Make a plea at the end - if our content manages to attract interest it will be great, but if we unlock activation in users it will be perfect. Also look at Gary Vaynerchuk's example - in the last slide he urges fans to "tag the nicest person they know".

What else does the Socialinsider survey say?

It's becoming clear that the number of followers on a page is very determinative of what content works and what doesn't so convincingly. It's interesting to note that posting videos on pages with under 5k followers can lift engagement to 4,49% (vs. 3,16% platform average).

And last - how to make a PDF carousel design?

There's some great material already created on the subject, so I'm leaving you in the company of this video tutorial, which will show you how the magic happens through Canva, step by step.

And would you try a PDF carousel on LinkedIn?

For more marketing tips, join our closed FB group - HERE

Etienne Yanev

Etienne Yanev is a digital marketer with over 12 years of experience, including working on projects for a number of startups and B2B companies. He has taught in Softuni Digital's core program as well as at the largest student entrepreneurship campus in the world - RANEPA International. He is the author of the Facebook learning community - "Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs". He is also part of the Association of Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE).