To build meaningful business relationships on social media you need to balance between giving value and selling.

Get a balance between different types of posts – Rule of thirds

Your posts on LinkedIn must be balanced between different types of content. If all of your posts are focussed on promoting yourself or your business, people are unlikely to follow your profile. However, one of the key reasons to post on social media is to promote yourself or your business, so for most people, that is important as well.

One widely used guideline for balancing your post content is the rule of thirds.

Roughly one-third of your content should be Promotion. Talking about the goods or services you or your business offers to people.

The following third is Engaging. You should spend approximately one-third of your time interacting with other users. Like their posts, ask interesting questions or provide them with feedback.

The final third is Sharing. Share relevant industry insights, videos and slide decks. Anything that reveals showing an understanding and genuine interest in the industry.

What’s above the fold (what’s in your first four lines) 

When a post is longer than 4 lines on LinkedIn, the rest of the content is put behind a see more button. Users will only see the first four lines of your post. The user has to press the button to show the rest of the content.

Because of this, your first four lines must be engaging enough to entice the user to want to read the rest of the post. If you don’t have a hook or enough information to describe what you’re going to talk about, very few people will read the rest of your post.

Tag people

LinkedIn likes posts that start conversations. When there is a healthy conversation on a LinkedIn post, the post is shown to more people. One way to help create that conversation is to tag relevant people in the posts that you are sending out. They’ll get a notification that they’ve been tagged, and if it’s an exciting or flattering post, they’ll most likely respond.

Use media on your post.

People respond to visuals, and on LinkedIn, it is no different. Using visuals in tandem with a great headline will make your posts grab attention on people’s LinkedIn feed. Most people agree that media increases the dwell time on your posts. If you’re sharing a PDF or a slide deck, people can take a sneak peek at the first few slides before deciding if they want to read the whole thing. Those tasters increase the chances of people engaging with your posts.

Credit to Richard van der Blom for the infographic

See the original post here

Know your audience

Cater your content, tone of voice and media to your audience. If you are a designer, use visually striking images. If you are dealing with a technical audience, go into the technical details. Making sure that your content relates to your audience and offers them value is key to getting engagement.

Use emojis

Emojis are much more common in social media posts, emails and newsletters these days, and for a good reason. They’re fun and, when used correctly, can bring life to a post. In addition, they humanise your brand, making it more personable and relatable.

Best time to post

LinkedIn’s algorithm is smart enough to not prioritise the time when a post goes out over quality engagement. However, there are some optimal times to think about. Typically people are on LinkedIn during commute/work times and typically not during weekends.

Don’t post too frequently.

You can post as frequently as you like, but don’t think more content means more views. Consistent quality content is the best strategy for getting people to engage with your post and your profile.

Use hashtags

Hashtags make your posts more discoverable, so including relevant hashtags with your posts is always a good idea. Use title casing so that your hashtags are read correctly.