Do you ever wonder what you can do to increase the engagement of your content on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn recently surveyed more than 9000 of their members globally, to find out just how people are interacting with content while on LinkedIn and they created an infographic to share their findings.

I have gone through and broken down the information in this infographic to help you use it to your advantage to maximize the results of your content marketing and get increased engagement from your ideal clients. In addition, I’ll share how to gain reach far beyond your own network as well as what will help you to establish your authority and build a community on LinkedIn.

Motivating Members to Engage with Your Content

Just to give you an idea about the kind of audience that you can reach on LinkedIn, they have over half a billion global members in 200 countries. In fact: over 2 new members join every second, two thirds of the new members are located outside of the U.S. Many members are regularly active with 100 million plus unique visitors to the site each month.

In short, this is largest, most active group of educated, affluent and influential people you will find anywhere. And even more impressively, you can access these people directly – no middle man involved.

Top Sources of Driving Engagement

While it is true that big name Influencers like Richard Branson and Arianna Huffington are an important source of great content that drives engagement (51%), it is important to note that companies and brands that are creating great, engaging content are just as powerful (52%). Not surprisingly, content shared by peers (57%) and colleagues (54%) wins the battle as the top sources of content driving engagement.

So just what motivated readers the most to engage with the content? Of the members surveyed, 44% said they most enjoyed content that got straight to the point or inspired them.

What this means in terms of content that you share (whether curated or created) is that you need to focus on content that is helpful, will inspire or motivate your network in a concise and direct way.

Top 5 Reasons for Content Engagement

Those 100 million + unique users on LinkedIn each month are there for a very specific reason. Unlike Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter, LinkedIn users are very goal oriented. The top five reasons include:
– 62% find it educational or informative
– 61% find it relevant to them
– 48% want to stay on top of the latest trends
– 40% find it inspiring
– 38% feel it helps with skill development

LinkedIn users want relevant content that educates them about issues relevant to their success, builds on their skills, keeps them up-to-date in their industry and inspires them.

To increase your content engagement and overall success, find out what that means for your ideal clients (target market) and share content that meets one or more of these needs. The more of each of these five needs that you can incorporate in your content marketing, the more successful it will be.

Check out this example of concise content that is both educational and relevant to my readers. It has been so popular that I recently created an updated version with LinkedIn’s most recent changes, 17 LinkedIn Ninja Tricks Experts Haven’t Taught You Yet [2017 Edition].

How Millennials and Gen Xers Differ

If you are going to spend the time with content marketing on LinkedIn you might as well do all you can to ensure it is successful. To do that it is important to understand the demographics of your ideal clients and understand what types of content appeals to them.

Where Millennials are more often looking to develop their skill sets, learn from educational content or be inspired, Gen Xers prefer content that is personally relevant to them and helps them to stay up-to-date on the latest trends.

Additionally, you may want to test what types of content your ideal clients prefer, such as articles, videos, checklists or eBooks. Ensuring your content takes into account these generational and other demographic differences can play a huge part in how well your content will be received and engaged with.

What Topics Drive Engagement?

Choosing the right topic is crucial to the success of your content marketing plan.

In line with the top five reasons that users engage with content on LinkedIn, the topics that matter most to users on LinkedIn include:
– 89% – Industry trends/news
– 86% – Tips/best practices
– 79% – Jobs/skills
– 78% – Leadership
– 75% – Industry events
– 72% – Product or service information
– 67% – Employee perspectives

As part of your content marketing plan you should consistently share content that provides helpful insight into relevant trends and news on your topic/industry. Creating concise, step-by-step ‘how-to’ content or share your best tips and tricks will not only help you achieve great engagement with your content, but over time will establish your authority or thought leadership. This is vital to develop a following or community that is eager and hungry for your content.

Wrapping Up

LinkedIn is a powerful social media platform, in that it is widely used by professionals of every level (from CEOs of Fortune 100 companies to sales reps to business owners to employees) and in every industry, all over the globe. The purpose of using LinkedIn for its 500 million-plus members – business. Leverage this amazing business platform to share your content with a very targeted and interested group of its members.

If you follow the wisdom shared in this infographic (and from my own experience), and leverage content marketing on LinkedIn that concisely helps your ideal clients to overcome a challenge or tells them how to be more successful at what they do, in a format they prefer, you will start to notice an increase in the engagement of your content. Over time, as you build up your authority and become known for providing helpful content on your topic, your community and overall success will grow.

Melonie Dodaro is founder of Top Dog Social Media that helps brands and businesses, use social media marketing and social selling to boost visibility, attract new customers and increase revenue. Dodaro is also the author of The LinkedIn Code. To learn more visit www.TopDogSocialMedia.com