LinkedIn Private Branding Statistics: New Knowledge

There are many private branding suggestions, like:

“Put up 5 occasions per day”
“Put up extra video content material”
“Put up at 8:27AM PST!”

Nevertheless, I haven’t seen any current to assist many of those claims.

Till now.

I analyzed 100 LinkedIn influencers in addition to every influencer’s three prime performing posts (for a complete of 300 posts) to reply questions like:

How usually do prime creators put up?
What number of prime performing posts are reposts?
What are the highest performing forms of posts (picture, video, carousels, and so on.)?

On this put up, I’ll share what I discovered from this knowledge and the way you should utilize it to develop on LinkedIn.

About The Knowledge Used To Develop These LinkedIn Private Branding Stats

First, I acknowledge that 100 LinkedIn profiles and the highest three performing posts (for a complete of 300 posts) is a really small pattern of knowledge.

Sadly, LinkedIn has strict limits, making it tough to scrape a bigger pattern measurement.

Nevertheless, even a small pattern of knowledge lets you see dominant traits.

Due to this fact, this knowledge isn’t designed to ship laborious and quick guidelines. As a substitute, it make clear a number of traits that may allow you to enhance your LinkedIn private branding technique.

As for the info itself, we solely analyzed LinkedIn profiles who:

Earn a minimum of a mean of 40 feedback per put up
Put up a minimum of 30 occasions up to now six months
Have lower than 500,000 followers

The minimal requirement of 30 posts within the final six months and fewer than 500,000 followers helped us eradicate “enterprise celebrities” (i.e., well-known entrepreneurs/executives with thriving private manufacturers exterior of LinkedIn).

These necessities permit the info to light up ways and methods anybody can use to develop on LinkedIn.

For instance, Sam Altman may put up something on LinkedIn, and the put up would obtain excessive engagement merely due to his model exterior of LinkedIn. But when you copied his actual put up format, model, and tone, it most likely wouldn’t carry out as properly just because he already has a wider community than the common entrepreneur or skilled.

I additionally appeared on the three prime performing posts from every influencer. We outlined “prime performing” because the posts with probably the most engagement up to now six months and in the end collected an information set of 300 posts.

To gather all of this knowledge, we used the Chrome Plugin Creator Match and manually entered the info from every LinkedIn influencer right into a spreadsheet.

1.) 91% of LinkedIn creators put up a minimum of as soon as each three days.

There’s no query that posting frequency is important.

91% of the LinkedIn creators put up a minimum of as soon as each three days.
72% of LinkedIn creators put up a minimum of as soon as each two days.
20% of LinkedIn creators put up a minimum of as soon as per day.

As talked about within the knowledge assortment methodology, I solely included LinkedIn influencers who had posted a minimum of 30 occasions throughout the final 180 days to stop together with “enterprise celebrities” (i.e., individuals who already had a model and would, due to this fact, generate engagement no matter their LinkedIn savviness.)

Nevertheless, I used to be stunned to see that ALL individuals we included within the research (influencers with a minimal common remark per put up of a minimum of 40 and fewer than 500,000 followers) posted a minimum of as soon as each 5 days.

To be exact, solely two of the 100 influencers randomly chosen for this research posted much less regularly than as soon as each 4 days.

The primary takeaway from this statistic is that posting regularly is important to LinkedIn private branding success.

Many individuals agonize over content material high quality and spend an excessive amount of time crafting the right put up whenever you’d see a greater ROI when you regularly put up the most effective content material you’ll be able to produce in a restricted time.

So sure, spending hours, days, or weeks on an impressive piece of evergreen content material for a channel like website positioning or YouTube would possibly make sense, however for LinkedIn, the important thing to success is posting regularly.

TL;DR: Simply begin posting! And put up extra usually!

2.) Over half of the content material posted (59%) was picture based mostly.

We checked out the entire LinkedIn posts from the 100 influencers included within the research, and the info set in the end consisted of 12,184 posts.

Photographs had been by far the preferred, as greater than half (59%) of posts had been picture based mostly posts.

Right here’s the total breakdown of put up sorts (word that numbers had been rounded):

Textual content based mostly posts made up 12% of the full
Video posts made up 11% of the full
Carousel posts made up 17% of the full
Picture posts made up 59% of the full
Polls made up >1% of the full
Newsletters made up 1% of the full

I used to be stunned that almost all creators rely closely on picture based mostly posts. Loads of Linkedin creators encourage video and carousel posts as they might produce larger engagement, but picture posts are the bread and butter for many creators.

I assume it’s because, as referenced by the primary level, posting frequency is king.

As carousels and movies take extra time to create, picture based mostly posts are the bread and butter for many creators’ technique.

Takeaway #3: 67% of the highest performing posts had been picture posts

After seeing that a lot of the prime performing posts had been picture based mostly, I used to be curious to see what sort of put up carried out the most effective.

So we appeared on the prime three highest-performing posts (outlined by “highest engagement” – a mixture of probably the most feedback, likes, and shares) from every creator up to now 180 days.

From this pool of 300 prime performing posts, we discovered that picture based mostly posts had been nonetheless the highest performers:

16% had been carousel posts
67% had been picture posts
9% had been textual content posts
8% had been video posts

Once more, I used to be just a little stunned by this knowledge at first.

I assumed that movies and carousels would be extra partaking, and due to this fact, even when creators didn’t put up them as usually, they’d nonetheless be the highest performers.

Nevertheless, there are a number of different the reason why picture based mostly posts nonetheless proved to be the highest performers:

The ROI On Luck: After all, when you have extra textual content based mostly content material, there’s a higher likelihood that one in every of them will take off. However I believe these subsequent components have extra of an affect.

Content material Substance Trumps Content material Medium: It’s straightforward to fixate on the content material medium slightly than the substance of the content material itself. However when you simply cured most cancers and defined how you probably did it, that content material would carry out properly, no matter whether or not you selected to make a video, a carousel, a graphic, or a text-based put up. Concentrate on bettering the substance of your content material slightly than fixating on hacks or mediums.

Prompt Comprehension: A graphic can show an idea extra instantaneously, whereas movies and even carousels require extra time for individuals to get into the content material and “get the purpose.” Particularly on social media, immediate comprehension is important for comprehension.

In the event you’re curious to see how the highest performing posts in comparison with the full posts, right here’s a breakdown:

Takeaway #4: 16% of the posts that had a picture or video weren’t authentic

Many individuals don’t put up on LinkedIn as a result of they don’t need to rent a designer or create their very own movies.

Nevertheless, it seems that you simply don’t have to create distinctive graphics or movies.

The info exhibits that 16% of the highest performing picture and video posts had been graphics or movies that the creator borrowed (with permission) from one other creator.

Right here’s an important instance of how Reno Perry used (after which credited) a graphic from one other creator to make his put up extra partaking:

In some instances, you’ll be able to even piggyback off another person’s total concept and artistic (so long as you credit score them).

Right here’s an important instance of this technique from Kyle Poyar:

We already established that publishing frequency is likely one of the most necessary indicators of success on LinkedIn, so when you’re in a pinch and have to give you one thing rapidly, take into account borrowing one other creator’s graphic or video and provides them credit score.

Many of those creators truly respect that you simply share their content material, and it may be an effective way to construct extra relationships.

Takeaway #5: 37% of the highest performing picture based mostly posts had been professionally designed graphics

I anticipated a lot of the prime performing picture posts to be prime quality, professionally designed graphics, although I discovered that almost all of them had been simply mobile phone footage of the creator.

For instance, this was the picture for one in every of this creator’s prime performing posts.

Do not forget that LinkedIn is before everything a social media platform, so posting life updates and together with footage of your self is an effective way to extend engagement.

That stated, the high quality of engagement could be larger when you put up graphics illustrating blueprints or suggestions as that may entice your splendid viewers, although private pictures may also assist construct belief together with your viewers.

Takeaway #6: 17% of the highest performing posts had been reposts

Once I began combing via the info, I noticed most of the three prime performing posts had been reposts. Right here’s an instance:

Due to this fact, I excluded any reposts from the principle knowledge set of 300 posts for the sake of analyzing what makes a put up an outlier, however we later went again and checked out simply how most of the prime three posts for any given creator had been reposts.

And the reply was 17%.

The takeaway is to periodically repost every of your prime performing posts.

Actually, the reposted content material usually outperformed the unique model.

This can be as a result of the creator had extra followers when the reposted model was printed.

Nevertheless, it nonetheless exhibits that almost all of your followers might not see (or keep in mind) your content material, so there’s a big profit in reposting your outdated content material.

Right here’s a full breakdown of the repost statistics:

17% of the highest performing posts had been reposts
A repost was among the many prime 3 performing posts for 36% of the profiles analyzed.
Over half of the reposts (67%) truly outperformed the unique put up.

Takeaway #7: Engagement dramatically decreases as your follower depend will increase

Right here’s the breakdown of common engagement charges at totally different follower counts:

0.51% is the common engagement charge for influencers with 200,000 to 500,000 followers
0.91% is the common engagement charge for influencers with 100,000 to 200,000 followers
0.92% is the common engagement charge for influencers with 50,000 to 100,000 followers
1.38% is the common engagement charge for influencers with underneath 50,000 followers

This statistic was a shock, but it surely reinforces the purpose above, which is that it’s important to repost your content material as your follower depend grows, as a result of most of your followers most likely don’t see all your content material.

This statistic additionally reinforces the significance of rising a e-newsletter, as electronic mail is likely one of the few channels the place you personal the viewers and may make certain that every subscriber sees your viewers.

Takeaway #8: 8AM PDT or 11AM EST is the most typical publishing time

The commonest publishing hour is 8AM PDT or 11AM EST.

I didn’t acquire particular location knowledge on these LinkedIn influencers, although it was a global pattern, and anecdotally, I seen that almost all of them had been in the US.

Takeaway #9: Solely 17% of prime performing posts tag different LinkedIn creators/corporations

Tagging different individuals and collaborating could be an effective way to encourage engagement.

This put up referenced knowledge created by Rand Fishkin and illustrated how he leveraged the info to enhance his course of is a superb instance of how one can embrace different influencers in your content material.

Because of this, Rand commented on the put up and it organically earned extra attain.

Nevertheless, this statistic is an efficient reminder that whereas many of those widespread LinkedIn suggestions (i.e., tagging influencers) can assist you improve attain, you’ll be able to waste time overoptimizing your content material whenever you’d see a greater ROI merely posting extra regularly.

I additionally need to word that the utmost variety of individuals tagged in a single piece of content material was not more than two.

I discovered this shocking as I assumed that roundup posts, just like the one under, would generate extra engagement.

Nevertheless, the takeaway is that high quality content material and natural relationships trump “engagement methods.”

Takeaway #10: 88% of High Performing Posts Had Zero Hashtags

LinkedIn hashtags appear to be much less necessary (or just much less utilized), as 88% of the posts didn’t include any hashtags.

And, even when individuals did add hashtags, most solely used one hashtag.

Of the posts containing hashtags, solely 34% had greater than three hashtags, and solely 20% had greater than 5.

So use hashtags sparingly. And, they probably aren’t as necessary as they as soon as had been.

Takeaway #11: 14% of the highest performing posts contained a gated provide

You’ll usually see gated LinkedIn posts the place individuals should remark to obtain a free useful resource.

Right here’s an instance:

Due to this fact, I anticipated these gated posts to make up a big share of the highest performing posts.

Nevertheless, solely 14% of the highest performing posts had been gated.

Gating posts can assist you construct a listing however use it sparingly.

In the event you gate your content material, attempt to seize the particular person’s electronic mail handle.

The LinkedIn algorithm controls who sees your content material, and it might probably ban you at any second. Nevertheless, capturing emails permits you to personal your viewers and you may guarantee every follower receives your content material.

Takeaway #12: 18% of prime performing posts contained exterior hyperlinks

Some social media platforms lower attain when you embrace a hyperlink within the put up, although we seen that 18% of the 300 top-performing posts contained exterior hyperlinks.

So, your posts can nonetheless carry out properly when you embrace exterior hyperlinks.

Further Anecdotal Observations

I manually collected the info myself, and listed below are some anecdotal observations I gathered from the method.

Whereas I couldn’t put a quantitative worth to those observations, I really feel they’re nonetheless useful sufficient to incorporate on this research.

#1: Every particular person has their very own posting model

I initially created a column known as “Put up Sort” and deliberate to assign every of the 300 top-performing posts to a selected class, similar to “blueprint” or “private failure story.”

Nevertheless, I rapidly realized that there have been far too many classes and types of posts. And, many posts may belong to a number of classes.

Nonetheless, I did discover that the highest three performing posts for any creator tended to be very related.

For instance, Amanda Natividad’s prime performing posts are all very related:

She takes a typical finest follow and provides her personal contrarian viewpoint to the topic. You’ll see that also they are simply easy textual content posts:

Then again, Jacob Klug is wildly profitable freely giving blueprints of cool tasks they’re engaged on. Listed below are two of his prime performing posts:

I’ll offer you another instance. Two of Gina Sapien’s prime performing posts are simply lists of corporations to work for:

The redundant nature of the highest performing posts is probably going as a result of every creator discovered a method of content material they had been good at creating.

So don’t attempt to simply copy a single creator’s content material model. There are tons of of put up codecs that may work, so experiment till you discover one that you simply take pleasure in creating.

Nevertheless, it’s a good suggestion to finally develop an everyday content material format and elegance, not simply to make the content material creation course of simpler for you, but additionally as a result of your viewers will probably gravitate in direction of a selected model of content material.

In the event you hold altering the model of content material (e.g., tremendous tactical to “really feel good” wellness content material), you’ll most likely see low engagement charges as not all your viewers will like the varied vary of content material.

#2: Engagement doesn’t account for follower or relationship high quality

Controversial posts and even normal psychological wellness posts are likely to carry out very properly, however they received’t essentially allow you to construct a following of prospects.

For instance, this put up generated loads of engagement. However did it truly assist this particular person generate income? In all probability not.

Certain, you’ll be able to sprinkle in just a few posts like this to assist improve complete attain and permit your followers to get to know you, but it surely probably received’t show your business authority to prospects, which means it most likely received’t allow you to construct income.

Get Extra Assist Rising Your Private Model

Maybe a very powerful takeaway from this lesson is that a very powerful factor to do is to easily put up extra content material.

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