What To Post On Your Personal LinkedIn Profile

May 12, 2023

Author: Angela Noble

Author: Angela Noble

Looking for technical tips on what to post on your personal LinkedIn profile? If you’re working to establish yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn, use these guidelines as you post.

Many of the specific, technical tips noted here are based on research published at the end of 2022 in Just Connecting’s Algorithm Research report. These points will be denoted with an asterisk (*) as applicable.

Keep in mind: LinkedIn’s algorithm is ever-changing, so some of the research-based tips included here may change over time. 

Post Formats On LinkedIn

LinkedIn has a growing number of post format types available, and each performs a little differently. 

Here are the top 6 post types in order of highest reach to lowest reach* for personal profiles. If you’re posting to a LinkedIn Company Page, the guidelines do vary. Check out our free ebook for more information.

  1. Document posts
  2. Polls
  3. Text and multiple pictures
  4. Text and 1 image
  5. Video
  6. External link

Events and “Celebrate” don’t perform well.

screenshot showing LinkedIn Post options
Select “More” and use the arrows to select the post format.

Document Posts

Include 4-11 slides, 7 is optimal; 60 words max per slide; less than 15 words on first slide; no PDFs of regular magazine sizes that aren’t designed for LinkedIn; include a CTA on the last slide.

Polls

Use 2 answers, or no more than 3; duration of 1 week; less than 1,000 characters.

Text and multiple pictures

4 photos is best.

Text and 1 image 

Selfies result in more engagement than other types of photos.

Video

Native upload is best—don’t link to YouTube, etc.

External Links

External links are any posts that contain a link to a website outside of LinkedIn.

Even though posts with external links are the type of content that the LinkedIn algorithm least prefers, these posts are necessary parts of a well-rounded content strategy. There are many ways to boost performance by way of engagement. This post did just fine in terms of Impressions due to getting a few comments shortly after it was posted.

Technical Details* For LinkedIn Posts

  • Include between 1,200-1,600 characters.
  • Include emojis, but do so sparingly.
  • Include hashtags. 
  • Tag people or companies, but only if you’re sure they will respond. If you aren’t sure, simply tag them in a follow up comment (after 24 hours).
    • It won’t harm your reach if people and companies tagged in comments don’t reply. Your reach will only be affected when they are tagged in the initial post. 
    • When a Company comments on a post, it results in twice the reach as a comment from a personal profile would. 

Here’s an example of a great post from our friend Tim. 

Tim’s post checks most of the boxes. He utilizes the highest performing post type, a PDF document. He uses emojis to break up the longer-format text, and he tags a Company Page (knowing it will respond, because we manage it!). Tim is just missing hashtags in this particular post.

Content Types That Work Best On LinkedIn

There are four key content types we recommend sharing on your personal LinkedIn profile.

Post About People On LinkedIn 

Share customer testimonials or stories about yourself or your team.

This post is from our friend Lex. She posted some photos of her and her team, along with a story about their process.

Post Company-Related Content On LinkedIn

Share behind the scenes photos, news articles about you or your company, and career opportunities at your company.

This post from our friend Petra shares some behind the scenes inspiration from her recent trip abroad and works in a company value as well.

Post Thought Leadership Content On LinkedIn

Share informational and trends content from industry publications, white papers, and blog posts (from yourself or others).

This post from our past client Lauren is a great example of a helpful and informative post that establishes her as a thought leader, and links to her own blog to build her lead funnel. 

Post About Events On LinkedIn

Share events, webinars, and tradeshows that you’re attending or hosting. Post about upcoming events, past events, and events happening in the moment.

Our connection Lynn posted about an event we attended together as a recap with photos.

Takeaways

When it comes to LinkedIn, there are many small things that come together that affect the reach of posts. Utilize these guidelines as a reference, and do your best to follow them. If something doesn’t align with your specific content strategy or business goals, that’s OK! You’ll have success by thinking of these guidelines as having more of a cumulative effect rather than ensuring you do every small thing listed.

Consistency is key. Posting something is better than nothing at all—even if what you post doesn’t follow the guidelines here exactly.

Download our free e-book to learn more about how to post and engage strategically on LinkedIn.

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