How to 42x Your LinkedIn Post Views by Crafting an All-text Content

Building your personal brand here on LinkedIn takes time and a lot of patience. And unlike what many think, creating and optimizing your LinkedIn profile is just the first step to building your brand. Remember:

Your LinkedIn presence, not your LinkedIn profile, is your brand.

The most critical part of brand building is how you establish your LinkedIn presence. How do you lead with value? How do you engage with your network? And to start off, how do you make sure you reach the right people through your posts?

Building your LinkedIn presence starts with getting in front of the right people

One of the hardest parts of building your LinkedIn presence is keeping your network engaged. And if you're familiar with how LinkedIn algorithms work and how they often change without notice, the thought of putting content out there can be more challenging.

As would any platform, LinkedIn wants its members to stay on the platform and be more engaged. That's why its algorithms favor one or a couple of content types over the others.

Take a look at the sample posts below with links versus those with no links, which I posted two weeks ago at around the same time:

Posts with links:

LinkedIn updates without links posted also two weeks ago at around the same time as those above:

You'll see based on those sample posts that the first post with a link garnered only 535 views compared to another post without a link posted at around the same time, which gained 7,729 views. That's 14x more views than the first one!

The second post without links pulled on the post garnered 9,789 views — a whopping 42x more views — compared to the post with a link, which received only 232 views.

What I've observed is that, if you share a post with "double links," i.e., a company page update that links to an external site (see sample 2 above), you'll just pull your views down the drain. It goes nowhere.

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So if you want to maximize your reach, go for an all-text content without links.

As a writer, I still prefer to share what I know through written content, particularly long-form content or articles. The new LinkedIn algorithms, unfortunately, don't give much exposure to articles like this just like what it did in the past.

But there must be a way to get more views on your article, and that's one of the tips I'll be sharing with you today.

So to help you figure out the best writing style or approach to an all-text LinkedIn post, here are a few practical tips for you:

1. Write a relatable story anchored on a LinkedIn-initiated hashtag.
2. Craft an all-text version (quick summary or a snippet) of your article.
3. Share some quick tips targeted at your intended audience.
4. Start a poll. Ask your network to tag other people to the post. (Do this with caution.)
5. Share your opinion on topics that your network cares about.
6. Give something of value for FREE.
7. Share a personal experience and relate it to professional themes.

The goal of this article is not to teach you how to make your posts viral, but how you can CONSISTENTLY craft an all-text post that helps magnify your reach also on a consistent basis.

Let's get started:

#1. Write a relatable story anchored on a LinkedIn-initiated hashtag

Using a hashtag can help your post get discovered by more LinkedIn members. I leveraged LinkedIn's hashtag, #WhenIWas15, and I got a significant number of views and engagement.

SAMPLE POST:  #WhenIWas15 | Number of Views: 11,611 (as of latest update)

#2. Craft an all-text version of your article

I see a lot of LinkedIn members who have stopped publishing articles. Why? The reach of articles is too low compared to the amount of efforts exerted in crafting an article. But the good thing is, you can do something about it!

To help magnify the reach of your article, create an all-text version — a quick summary or a snippet — and post it as a usual LinkedIn update along with the link to the article. However, make sure you place the link on the first comment.

Again, the LinkedIn algorithms "demote" any post with links. So, put that link on the first comment. Just tell your readers about it so they could go to your comment if they want to check out your article.

This is a win-win strategy — helps magnify your reach through the all-text post and helps you get more clicks on your article.

SAMPLE POST: Here's an ALL-TEXT version of one of my articles, Personal Branding Requires a Shift in Your Mindset 

Total views on the all-text post: 7,734 | Total reads on the article: 556

On the screenshot above, you'll see the link already included in the body of the post, but when I first posted this, I placed the link on the first comment.

The strategy: After gaining a considerable amount of reach, usually after an hour or two, I place the link on the body and remove the first comment.

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This is because it's quite a challenge to find the first comment once your readers start commenting, as well. Most people won't do the hard work of finding that link.

And since the initial goal is to get your connections engage with your post so it can be shown beyond your 1st-degree connections' newsfeeds, placing the link on the post itself later on would no longer hinder your post from getting more views.

#3. Share some quick tips targeted at your intended audience

Consider these two essential factors when you're posting some quick tips: Your audience and your expertise.

First, the tips must be useful to your intended audience. If possible, find out how much they know about your topic so you don't end up talking about something they already know or they don't find useful at all.

Sharing tips that your audience finds "too basic" or "too advanced" might not do well so do your research first.

Second, it should be aligned with your expertise or about something you're passionate about. Your readers can sense the authenticity of your post, and if you're passionate about your topic, you'll connect with those who can relate to your post.

And by the way, make your quick tips easy to read and focus on a single topic in each post. Bullet points work well with quick tips.

SAMPLE POST:  Quick tips on how to stay top of mind on LinkedIn | No. of Views: 10,282

#4. Start a poll. Ask your network to tag other people to the post.

This is effective if done the right way at the right time and with the right audience. Some people don't want to get tagged all the time; some are grateful to have been tagged. It all depends on the timing and the purpose of your poll.

So why is this effective if done the right way? Every time a person is tagged in a post or comment, LinkedIn notifies that person who was tagged, and that person would be inclined to join the conversation.

Plus, the post gets shown on the LinkedIn feed of every person tagged in the post, so imagine how many you can reach with just one question.

SAMPLE POST: I started a poll to ask my connections to tag other Filipinos that they follow on LinkedIn. | No. of Views: 34,830

At that time, I wanted to write an article and would love to get my network's votes first. I explained this in the said post so my network knows the purpose of the poll.

The great thing about this poll was that I was able to create another momentum by getting back to all of them when I had the article published at Marketing in Asia. Although this post has a link (which the LinkedIn algorithms don't like), those who were tagged naturally engaged with the post, making it "defy" the algorithms.

Here's the follow-up post:

Note: Use some caution when tagging other people's names. Not everyone on LinkedIn enjoys being mentioned in irrelevant posts. If you're one of them, check out one of my articles where I shared how you can remove mentions of your name in previous posts.

#5. Share your opinion on topics that your network cares about.

Tackle a scenario that other LinkedIn members also experience, then give your view on that scenario. This type of post can further shape or build your personal brand, so don't be afraid to make a stand here based on your values, beliefs and knowledge about your topic.

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SAMPLE POST: My stand on why LinkedIn members shouldn't send their sales pitches right after connecting. | No. of views: 13,341

Take a look at the huge reach and engagement in this post by Melany Punzalan - Tagalogon:

Join the conversation in Melany's post here and more discussions here.

#6. Give something of value for FREE

When done right and with the right network, offering something for free can get a lot of traction. The keys here are giving something of VALUE for FREE. This means you should know what free items your network will find useful.

SAMPLE POST: I offered freelancers a chance to receive tips on how they could find freelance jobs on LinkedIn in less than 10 seconds. | No. of Views: 81,953 (as of latest update)

This post garnered more than 50,000 views in a day:

Aside from getting the info for free, the fun part here is the phrase, "in less than 10 seconds."

This post led to a 574% increase in my profile views in the past 90 days as of posting compared to the previous week, and many of the viewers are freelancers from Upwork.

#7 Share a personal experience and relate it to professional themes.

On LinkedIn, it's all right to loosen up a bit sometimes. Sharing your personal experience that you can relate with work-related or professional themes could go a long way.

SAMPLE POST: Sharing of a personal experience (I added relevant photos and a link here, but the “human interest” side has defied the algorithm) | No. of Views: 78,321

Here's how Melany leveraged her personal story to connect with her audience:

There are many other ways to leverage all-text posts to magnify your reach, including posting an inspirational message, asking engaging questions or sharing insightful thoughts about your industry.

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Here are more examples of all-text posts that get a huge engagement: (1) from Francis Kong; (2) Ken Lerona; and (3) Patrick Jess Dimayuga.

At times, a straightforward, three-word post with an image can help boost your engagement, like this post by Jose Enrico V. Libunao:

Conclusion

Whichever writing style you choose to create all-text posts, remember that the numbers or reach is just your first step. How you engage with those who engage with your posts matters more.

Don't worry about engagement if your goal is to generate qualified leads for your business. In my experience, the majority of my clients who found me through my posts did not engage with my posts. But they've been watching closely what I do on the platform.

If you don't vary your writing style and approach, your post might just bore your network. Posting fluff on LinkedIn certainly doesn't work. And a carefully crafted content can go a long way in building brand awareness and establishing your credibility.

So try some of these text-based posts and see how varying your writing style can help you gain more reach.

If you find this article useful, please SHARE with your network. Thanks!

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About Virginia Bautista

A freelance writer and editor for over 11 years, Virginia Bautista is the first LinkedIn trainer, speaker and consultant based in the Philippines and one of the top LinkedIn evangelists in Asia. Virginia helps Filipinos leverage LinkedIn for success and drives LinkedIn awareness in the country by hosting LinkedIn Local Philippines events since 2017.

As the founder of VB Consulting, Virginia helps local and international companies, organizations and individuals achieve their career and business goals through personal branding, thought leadership, content marketing and lead generation on LinkedIn. Virginia has been featured 2x on Forbes, 2x on Entrepreneur Media, and 2x on Marketing In Asia, among others.