Beware your firm’s ‘overshare’

What do you write about on LinkedIn? If you’re a seasoned user, over the years your news feed will have displayed everything from bland company announcements, to spammy reposts of viral videos tenuously linked to ‘business learnings’, to employees celebrating their culture or perks.

You’ll have also seen deeply personal posts: burnout journeys, battles with illness, childcare conundrums. These tend to be divisive. ‘This belongs on Facebook’ is an accusation regularly hurled at posts deemed inappropriate for a business audience. And yet emotive posts do appear to get higher engagement at a basic level of likes, comments and shares.

Business is personal

Today we’ve reached a broad consensus that business is personal. It’s about people working with people. There is an understanding that the high-gloss, photoshopped image so many business folks have used in the past is either fundamentally fake or at least outdated. It’s why we’ve had the upswing of emotional back stories as a step towards greater ‘authenticity’ in business.

But highly personal posts reached their peak during the pandemic, when work and home life became, for a time, almost indistinguishable. Now feels like a good time for a refresh.

Cue a step-change to LinkedIn’s algorithm. The content you see in your feed today may well have started to look a bit different. In a recent interview with Entrepreneur magazine, LinkedIn editor-in-chief Daniel Roth and director of product Alice Xiong explained that ‘going viral’ is not celebrated on the platform because the 900 million users in more than 200 countries are all interested in and doing different things in the workplace.

Instead, posts that share knowledge and advice will now be prioritised, along with those from experts writing on their core subject area for a distinct audience. And posts that attract ‘meaningful’ comments will also get a boost.

It was inevitable that we’d see frailty fatigue set in and engagement drop for posts that are clearly attempting to drive huge engagement. Effectiveness plummets when such posts become template-driven. We see this in those that open with lines such as ‘Today I cried at my desk’ or ‘I messed up’ or ‘This is a difficult post to write’. When people jump on a bandwagon and use the latest hook, authenticity evaporates.

But that’s not to say being human isn’t appropriate for LinkedIn. Artificial seriousness typically distances people from one another. So, how do we cut through the noise without spilling our guts?

Set out your strategy

For starters, keep in mind your endgame. Why are you using LinkedIn in the first place? Many seem to approach the platform without a goal in mind beyond ‘being more visible’. This is a mistake.

LinkedIn claims that four in every five users drive business decisions. This means that, if you’re looking to get your marketing content in front of decision-makers, you’re in the right place. And 40% of B2B marketers surveyed said LinkedIn was their most effective channel for driving high-quality leads (though bear in mind this data comes from LinkedIn itself).

In short, it’s a good place to get quality content in front of relevant people, especially ‘top-of-the-funnel’ content designed to convince customers they have a problem that you can fix.

Every post you write should be aimed at driving meaningful connections and, ultimately, business. And the most effective use of LinkedIn is to help people understand what it’s like to do business with you. Importantly, it doesn’t matter if your post goes viral if the people reading it will never positively impact your business.

Focus on bringing your expertise to others in a human, thought-provoking way. When you post, show understanding: talk about the key issues your target audience faces, and do it in a way that is a fair reflection of what it’s like to deal with you in person. This gives potential clients an early indication of whether you might be a good fit for them. If they don’t like your tone or points of view, it’s unlikely they’ll be happy working with you.

Yes, you could play all the tricks. You could overshare, post photos of your kids on holiday or find a business lesson in your recent hospital visit. All that would certainly increase your vanity metrics, but the people liking your posts are unlikely to become clients. Save that for Facebook or Instagram.