Ever wondered how LinkedIn influencers consistently create content that garners attention and engagement?
We were curious too - So we went on a journey to study the content strategies of LinkedIn's top creators. We analysed >1000 posts and looked for common patterns that contribute to their success.
Here’s what we found:
1. They tend to push out educational/informative posts.
With the highest engagement rate, these posts teach and provide valuable information to the audience by including:
step-by-step guides,
tips,
or resources that the audience can apply in their own lives or businesses.
Sam Szuchan’s posts about using ChatGPT effectively provide valuable insights and tips for a following audience looking to optimise their productivity.
While Josue Valles’ posts about books that impacted LinkedIn creators and Apple ads provide informative and thought-provoking content for his audience.
2. They inject humour and entertainment in what they share.
Humour works well with the general audience when it
speaks to the target audience
touches on recent and latest topics/trends
educates the audience on top of making them laugh
Usually humour or memes are used to engage the audience and get them to interact with the content. When there's people engaging on the post by reacting or commenting on it, LinkedIn tends to push the content to an even wider group of people. This helps boost online visibility - Making more and more people notice the creator.
Just by sharing a relatable meme, Daniel Murray garnered a lot of attention from his audience and made his audience share the post to their respective group of connections.
Matt Barker's post about "sexy formatting tips" used humour to engage his audience and provide valuable insights into writing compelling LinkedIn posts.
3. They share personal stories and their transformational journey.
These posts share personal experiences, journeys, or transformations that can inspire and motivate others. Take Lara Acosta as an example:
Her posts touch on her struggles with alcohol and her educational journey providing a personal touch to her content and shows her audience that she is relatable and authentic.
4. They get their audience to think and share their opinions.
Most of the time, they push out thought-provoking and opinion-driven content to prompt discussions and thinking within their community. These posts share opinions or insights on a specific topic or trend, often sparking conversation and debate. Let’s look back on Lara Acosta's:
Her posts about the changing relationship between networking and alcohol sparked meaningful discussions and conversations among her audience.
She went an extra mile to reply each of the comment to
Appreciate the sharing
Add on to what's been discussed/mentioned
Provide a personalised advice or suggestion
This engagement is likely to seal the thought that she's the thought leader in the community and the target audience can benefit from her value-driven content.
5. They provide an upfront offer that's hard to turn down for their audience.
Promotional content usually has these components:
What's in it for the audience? (the benefits, significance, how it can solve problems)
Social proof (what's the results of the product/service/offer)
Clear Call-To-Action (click here, download, book a call)
Etc.
Let’s look at two successful creators:
Daniel Murray chose a simple and straightforward route to show the value of his newsletter and the social proof based on his subscriber count (87K+ marketers).
Matt Barker started off with a simple copywriting lesson (i.e., repetition) and included a clear call-to-action for his audience to get free value from him. He attached a comment underneath that leads his audience to a link to get the templates.
There's a pattern in LinkedIn's high-performing content.
99% LinkedIn users have one common goal: They want to look for what's valuable for them and consume content that's
Insightful and educational
Helpful and useful
Inspirational
Top LinkedIn creators generate content that exactly checks off these requirements.
1. Actionable Tips and Strategies
People are always looking for solutions to their problems. So if there's a person who can offer them practical advice and strategies, it's likely that he/she'd be the first person that comes to mind when they ever need similar advice.
The content is usually in the form of: How-to guides, case studies, success stories.
High-performing ones strongly relate to the target audience - The goal is that the audience immediately pick up the key message and is able to do something based on the advice given.
Lara Acosta approached the content with straightforward advice to do LinkedIn engagement.
Note: In LinkedIn copywriting, less is more. Your content is more reader-friendly when you can convey value with the least words.
2. Curated Content and Roundups
Curated content and roundups are a great way to provide audience with valuable resources from various sources like
Industry news or trends
Expert insights
Credits to original creators
Etc.
LinkedIn creators position themselves as the subject-matter experts in their niche with this. The more content they put out, the more people who'll come across their posts and perceive them as the industry leader.
See how Josue Valles' posts helped boost his audience engagement with viral post examples and LinkedIn headline templates.
He's garnered over 300 comments and 139 people find this content helpful which they shared to their respective communities.
This helped Josue get his content to more audience pools and gain following if readers decide that his value is helpful/insightful for them.
3. Shout-Outs and Acknowledgements
Acknowledging and thanking people for their contributions, collaborations, or achievements is a great way to build a strong community on LinkedIn.
On LinkedIn, there's a lot of educational and informational content. But sometimes, shoutouts and appreciation posts can humanise the brand, which enables the audience to notice your connections and your efforts in maintaining the relationships you have.
Shout-outs are usually made to
Clients
Business partners
Colleagues,
Etc.
Take Josue Valles' post acknowledging LinkedIn creators as an example of great community building.
Final Thoughts
LinkedIn content creators are leveraging a variety of styles, strategies, and trends to capture the attention of their audience. While educational and informative posts remain popular, other styles such as curated content, shout-outs, and roundups are also gaining traction.
Why does this matter? On LinkedIn, providing value and building relationships with your audience are the keys to success. By doing so, you achieve your goals of building brand awareness, driving engagement, and ultimately growing your business. Furthermore, sharing insights, knowledge, and experiences can help others and establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
At the end of the day, understanding your audience and building relationships with them is critical. Listen to their needs and interests - That way you can create content that resonates with them and establishes credibility and trust.
LinkedIn is a dynamic platform that's full of opportunities for content creators who are willing to experiment, learn and adapt to the ever-changing landscape. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices will help you get the most out of your content strategy on LinkedIn.
About us
We're a team of content marketing strategists and social sales specialists supporting business leaders in growing their personal brands on LinkedIn.
Our core focus is on creating targeted and value-packed content with real stories/ideas to help achieve your goals on social media.
Learn more about scaling your personal brand on LinkedIn here.