Last week, I inputted the data from the entire past YEAR of my LinkedIn content. I pulled 368 posts since last September when I started taking LinkedIn content seriously. Today, I’m sharing what I learned so you can craft content that gets you results, too.
Top 3 Posts
My top 3 posts were not surprise to me. The stats from each of these posts were noticeable to me in the week following them going live. They were:
1. Hot take: junior copywriters vs. freelancers
I’d noticed a trend of junior copywriter gigs in the “jobs” section of LinkedIn. For the same price, they could get a great part-time freelancer who could do the job better and cost their company less.
So, I shared my take on how freelancers can turn full time job opportunities into freelance gigs and how marketing executives can hire freelancers instead of full time employees and get similar results.
This post got 54k impressions and 34k unique views. It also had 340 reactions, 75 comments, and 17 reposts. That’s 0.78% engagement rate. Lower than the average engagement rate, but still – I’ve never had this much of a reach before.
2. Rude Review
Another post based on a trend. One of my favorite YouTubers started a series called Rude Review where she called out trends she doesn’t like. So, I adapted that concept for freelancing.
There’ve been tons of gigs postings in LinkedIn in the past year that just are not okay. Jobs misclassifying freelancers, postings that make it impossible to apply to, unrealistic expectations, the list goes on.
So I started screenshotting them and calling them out. One of these posts had massive reach. It got 31k impressions and 19k unique views. Plus, it had 174 reactions, 160 comments, and 1 repost for an engagement rate of 1.05%.
3. How I make $8k/month as a freelance writer
In this post, I started out by explaining how much my income fluctuates as a freelancer, and how even 5 years in that’s normal for me. Then, I listed every single project I was working on and how much I was getting paid for each.
This one really took off! It even got featured in 2 freelance-themed newsletters from other LinkedIn creators. It got 11k impressions and 6k unique views. It also had 207 reactions, 77 comments, and 4 reposts. That’s a 2.46% engagement rate.
Top post trends
Each of these posts were controversial opinions and talked in some way about money and employment. And, while their stats varied wildly, these are all still really good. The first post excelled at impressions and reposts. The second had tons of comments. While the third had one of the highest engagement rates I’ve ever had and was shared outside of LinkedIn.
A top post, for me at least, doesn’t just mean it had a lot of impressions. A good post gets people talking, shares my opinion, positions me as a thought leader, and attracts new followers (who are, essentially, potential clients).
LinkedIn Insights
Alright, now that you get the picture – what I share and how it performs – here are some other interesting findings.
Your reach is really good when you first start posting.
And it may never be the same again. I'm talking 5x better, so take advantage of it!!
I was getting 30-50k impressions on my first few posts that had valuable content (not just posting portfolio pieces or availability). Now, I get an average of 2k – occasionally hitting 5-10k and even 30k once in a while. But those higher numbers are outliers.
Scheduled posts get more than 2x better impressions.
I was so surprised by this because most platforms want you to be on the app when you’re posting so they boost spontaneous posts. But, I found that sticking to a specific time of day (a time that I will most likely be on LinkedIn works best.
I usually schedule my posts for 9:30 am Monday through Friday. I occasionally post on the weekends if I have a weekend event coming up or want to put out something more personal or motivational. Those I schedule for 12:30 pm.
Pro Tip: Schedule your posts for sometime between 7 am - 11 am local time. Pick a time that’s 30 minutes before you’ll be online. Then, spend 15+ minutes on LinkedIn about 30 minutes after your post went live – interact with your post, your favorite people on LinkedIn, and then try getting out a DM or two during that time, too.
Here’s my guide to spending 30 mins a day on LinkedIn if you want more specific instructions.
Controversial tone of voice gets the most impressions
Posts that use a controversial tone win by a landslide. Professional tone came in second. If you’re trying to get more impressions, post a controversial take once a week. In general, use a professional (not stiff, though!) tone as much as possible.
Format matters.
Text-Only posts and posts with screenshots attached get the most impressions. But videos get the most engagement, by a landslide. Followed by real photos (like selfies and pictures of you) and gifs.
Want to get new followers? Just post text only posts or something with a screenshot. Want to get more engagement? Try videos! To show off your brand and personality use gifs and photos of yourself.
External links don’t work the way you might think.
I was always told that if you put external links in your posts, you’ll get fewer views, impressions, and engagement.
But my data sort of proved that wrong. Posts with no external links did get the most impressions. But, posts with the external link in the copy of the post get the most engagement.
This made me really happy to see because about a third of my posts are written for people in the consideration phase of my sales funnel. In those, I share my services, launch new products or events, and let people know my availability for work. These are part of how I get clients on LinkedIn.
I always worried about including links in the post itself. I’ve often been told (by LinkedIn HQ themselves!!) to put the link I want to share in the comments of the post 30+ minutes after the post goes live. But, actually posts in with the external link in the comments got worse engagement and worse impressions!!
So, if you’re selling something, put the link in the copy. That way, people don’t have to search for it and you can effectively sell.
The best day to post is unique to you.
According to LinkedIn themselves, the best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7am ET or between 10 am and noon ET. But, shockingly, the best day to post for me (by a landslide) is actually Friday at 9:30 am.
The best time to post for you might not be the “best practice,” so don’t be afraid to experiment and find out what your unique best time to post is.
Since LinkedIn doesn’t have any native analytics for finding out this information for yourself, you’ll have to do what I did and input all your post stats into a spreadsheet. Here’s the LinkedIn Performance Tracker Spreadsheet template I used.
Ask people to engage.
This may seem obvious, but if you want engagement, specifically ask people to engage (like, comment, vote in a poll, etc.). Ask a question, ask for peoples’ opinions or recommendations, get people talking!
“Listen to my podcast” was my most engaged with call to action. But, asking people to engage (like, comment, repost, vote in a poll) actually got the most impressions by almost 2x.
Know your audience and speak to them directly.
It’s important to speak to each of the three stages of the sales funnel in your posts. This is true for any marketing platform. Posts in each stage of the funnel have their own purpose.
I generally recommend tailoring 40%+ of your posts for the awareness stage when you’re doing content marketing. This attracts and informs people at the top of your funnel – new followers and colder leads.
I typically write 30% of my content for my consideration stage. This gets the message out there that I’m selling something and teaches people what I can do for them – warming them up to potentially buy.
The rest of your content (20-30%) can be set aside for conversion, if you want. That’s posts that convey a sense of urgency and encourage people to buy or sign up for your product or service – not just to read more on your sales page.
As you can see, the majority of my posts were for folks in the “awareness” stage of my sales funnel. Awareness-focused posts had the most engagement & impressions. But that doesn’t mean my conversion and consideration posts weren’t important or worth posting!! Those are what got clients in the door for me.
What I learned from these results
I’m honestly shocked that my impressions and engagement rates were so high!
Despite my emotions, I’m growing
Over the course of this year, I had a rollercoaster of emotions. There are times where I didn’t want to post, it felt like my posts weren’t doing as well as I wanted, or I wasn’t sure if they were effectively contributing to my goals.
It felt like my performance has gone downhill since I joined. And, it’s sort of true, the first month was unusually really good… but my average performance right now is actually still just as good as my second and third months. My follower counts have very steadily gone up from 1k followers in September of last year to nearly 5k now!
I’m so glad I’ve put so much effort into my LinkedIn this past year and I’ll definitely continue to do so.
Making the switch was worth it
But my goal was to get more clients from social media this year and also reduce the time I’m spending on it to get them. The reason I started taking LinkedIn seriously last September was because I was spending 14+ hours a week on Instagram trying to get clients and I hated it.
On LinkedIn, I’m getting more than 5x better performance than I was on Instagram for 1/14th the effort (only 30-60 minutes a day!!) and 10x the enjoyment. I love the community I’ve cultivated on LinkedIn and I really enjoy the medium it offers: text posts that you can optionally add a gif, photo, external link, or video to.
I love LinkedIn marketing and I want to help others benefit from it, too.
I have an awesome content library + actionable data, and a really great case study for my portfolio now that I’ve done this analysis. I plan to continuously keep up with analyzing my posts once a month, too.
I just started offering LinkedIn content marketing & engagement packages to help entrepreneurs and executives get clients, build their personal brand, and position themselves as thought leaders with LinkedIn. If that sounds like something you need, don’t be afraid to reach out!
Is there an aspect of these findings you want me to share more about? I'm happy to dig deeper in another blog! Just comment on this post!
Rachel is a freelance writer for EdTech companies. She studied Education and Achievement Motivation at Wheelock College. She made it through college on a trusty Lenovo Yoga. When she’s not writing, she spends her time adventuring in the outdoors, doing arts and crafts, and snuggling with her cat, Bonnie. Find her on LinkedIn and her website.