With LinkedIn currently seeing 'record high levels' of engagement (LinkedIn recently reported that the number of updates viewed in LinkedIn feeds has jumped 60% year-over-year), the professional social network has this week launched a new initiative to help marketers maximize their content performance, by highlighting the most popular, most engaging LinkedIn Publisher posts each month.
Called the 'Water Cooler', LinkedIn will publish a new listing of the most popular Publisher posts from the previous month, starting with the top posts in December, which is as follows:
- Be the Spark By Diane Fennig
- 5 Books I Loved in 2018 By Bill Gates
- Your Most Important Assets Aren’t Your Clients; It’s Your Employees By Brigette Hyacinth
- Black Woman Named Deputy Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Making History By Teddy Grant, Black Press USA
- Happy Employees Are More Productive. As Simple as That! Agree? By Oleg Vishnepolsky
- The World’s Most Successful People Don’t Actually Start Work at 4 a.m. They Wake and Work Whenever the (Heck) They Decide, By Jeff Haden, Inc.
- What I Learned at Work This Year By Bill Gates
- Warren Buffet Says You Should Hire People With These 3 Traits, but Only 1 Will Point to a Truly Successful Employee By Marcel Schwantes, Inc.
- When People Ask How You Are, Stop Saying ‘Busy’ By Robert Glazer
- Leading From Hurt Versus Leading From Heart By Brene Brown
Along with the listing, LinkedIn will also include notes on what marketers can take away from the listings to help guide their own on-platform content approach.
"The articles attracting the attention of LinkedIn members have two common threads. First, LinkedIn members engaged with articles about company culture. The top article in December, “Be the Spark,” examined the power of gratitude at work. Other articles in the top 10 showcased employees as crucial assets, celebrated diversity and pondered empathic leadership. Second, LinkedIn members engaged with articles featuring advice from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, which indicates business professionals are always looking for ways to improve themselves and the companies they work for."
The latter point is probably less useful - two of the top ten most engaged with posts were written by Bill Gates, and every post Bill Gates writes will likely garner a lot of attention. You can't get Bill Gates to write for your company - though the 'lessons from Warren Buffet' post (number 8 on the list) points to a potential opportunity to utilize the knowledge of leaders within your own content in order to boost attention.
As noted, LinkedIn engagement is increasing, and with the platform's recent change to its algorithm to ensure more voices are heard, the opportunities to reach your LinkedIn audience are greater than ever. That's not to say all your LinkedIn Publisher posts are going to 'go viral' (remember when LinkedIn first launched its Publisher platform and every post saw massive reach?), you will need to stick with it, and likely weather a few average performers as you go about posting. But by using the Water Cooler as a guide, and implementing a consistent LinkedIn posting strategy, you could reap significant benefits.
You can check out the first edition of LinkedIn's 'Water Cooler' report here.