9 Things You Can Do About Declining Reach On LinkedIn
Fads and features come and go, but the one topic that everyone talks about over the past year it seems, has been the decline in organic reach on LinkedIn. You hear things like “my reach is down 30%” and “my impressions have been cut in half.” And LinkedIn has admitted that they have made changes to the algorithms, countering that while our quantity of reach may have gone down, our quality has gone up as the changes in the algorithm are putting our content in front of people that are a better match for it.
That may be the case, but no one seems happy. If you are in the unhappy camp, I am going to offer nine ways you can increase your organic reach.
1) Increase your quantity, but don’t lose your quality.
Simple math here. If you were posting once a week and getting a thousand impressions and now get five hundred, consider posting twice a week. This is the most predictable method as it is based on your current numbers.
2) Encourage comments
When someone comments on your post, LinkedIn sees this is a vote that your content is relevant and two things will happen: LinkedIn will put your content in front of some more of your followers, and also in front of some of your commenter’s followers. So get a call to action asking for comments at the end of your post or newsletter. Something as simple as “What have I left out of this list?” can go a long way.
3) Comment on other people’s posts
A slice of your network will be notified or shown you have done so, plus you will be exposed to the readers of the other person’s post.
4) Comment on another person’s post THEN follow them THEN look at their profile
This goes for raising your visibility with the person who posted.
Following and viewing profiles by themselves is actually kind of creepy (“where did they come from?”). But if you comment, then view their profile, then follow, you are showing a measured interest not just in that one post you commented on, but in future content they publish.
5) Contact people who you can send free messages
You can send people free messages who are Open Profile or fellow LinkedIn Group members. Send them a message and ask them questions about themselves – there’s always lots of conversation starters on their profiles. Your goal is not to establish your credibility – that will come – but to show you are legitimately interested in them.
6) If You can find a good LinkedIn Group, join it.
If you can find a well run group where your ideal customers visit, and admittedly, that’s two pretty big “asks,” join and participate
7) Reach out to people who raised their hands
Regularly, and I mean at least once a week, look through everyone who likes, reposts, comments on your content, follows you and people who visit your profile. You are looking for two types of people to reach out to. The obvious one being prospective customers, but the second is possibly even more important. Look for people who are active on LinkedIn, where you can see they have lots of connections and you can see they interact with other people’s content. These are the ones who can wind up extending your reach. They are much more likely to respond to your message, to connect with you and to comment on your posts.
8) Promote your existing relationships
Stay in touch with connections who fit this profile too. The more you develop your relationship, the more they are likely to participate in your posts.
9) Promote your followers
Review your followers and upgrade the ones who are active on LinkedIn to connections.
All of these ideas revolve around a theme: you want people that you help, and that will help you become more widely known. Don’t rail against the changes LinkedIn makes. Instead use what’s there and get how LinkedIn works working for you.
