LinkedIn Live: Organic Social Q&A

Speaker A: You're listening to LinkedIn Ads Radio, the podcast dedicated to exploring and mastering LinkedIn advertising, with your host, Anthony Blatner from Speedwork. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our LinkedIn Live Q& A session. I'm Chebeli from Speedwork, and today we're diving into all things LinkedIn organic social. If you're responsible for organic growth, thought leadership, building visibility on LinkedIn, this Q& A session is for you. And today I have a very special guest, Kayla Vanderhorn.

Speaker B: She is a social director here at

Speaker A: Speedwork and has racked up some pretty impressive stats. 1.6 billion impressions and gained over 175,000 new followers in the last two years. She personally writes up to a hundred LinkedIn posts a month for executives and B2B brands and. And spends a lot of time studying the feed. So she's going to share, um, what she's saying, what's shifted and what you should actually be doing on LinkedIn. And of course, we got some great questions lined up today, so let's get into it. So, Kayla, let's kick things off with a quick look at the state of LinkedIn ads, right, or LinkedIn Organic Social. Right. Now, can you walk us through what you've been seeing on the platform lately as it relates to organic reach, content performance and how the algorithm seems to be behaving?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, LinkedIn has changed this past year, and I don't say that lightly, just because everyone is saying that on the platform every single day. Um, but it's true, right? And the biggest shift that I've seen on LinkedIn is that LinkedIn is now rewarding both consistency and quality for content, but quality in a very specific way. I. It's not about just showing up, it's about who engages with you and how meaningful that engagement is. Uh, the algorithm has grown much smarter, I think, this past year, and it knows the difference between that real conversation and also vanity metrics. So, you know, I get asked, um, you know, for the platform, what's working, especially when it comes to posting consistency, which is something that we'll talk about. But to start off, you know, a sweet spot is posting about three to five times per week with the content that is actually earning a response. So showing up consistently in a cadence that builds momentum, you know, what won't save you is flooding your feed and posting three to five times a day because your posts are actually going to start competing with each other. Uh, and that's where your reach will drop. Uh, but what is working right now? Is is content that is generating just real conversation. Uh, comments are still ranked number one. That has stayed true for years now. And research has actually shown that comments are carrying five times the weight than likes. So a post that's generating genuine conversation back and forth comments will go much further than a post that just has a couple hundred likes and no actual comments. So what the algorithm is doing, it's reading those comments as a signal that something is very valuable is happening. And so what it's going to do, it's going to keep pushing it out days and weeks out after the post has gone live. Something else that ah, you know, has come to my mind is a document post or also known as carousels. They're having a moment right now and you know, this is something that you and I have talked about often too. Uh, and because what they're doing is, is that they're driving dwell time, uh, which LinkedIn is paying really close attention to. So the longer someone stays on your content, the more that the algorithm is going to say, hey, this is worth pushing out to more people. And then lastly, of course, video, right? Uh, video is consistently getting pushed out. It's engaging. But something that I recommend is doing a vertical short form video, so about 90 seconds or less with caption on. And you know, when I, when I sit here and I think about all these things that are working well, there's a theme to it. And that theme is content that's keeping people on the platform. At the end of the day, LinkedIn is a business, they get paid for people being on the platform. And uh, so it's checking, you know, making sure it's staying on the platform, not people just clicking your way or scrolling past. And anything that's generating, you know, comments or swipes or watching, it's going to get rewarded.

Speaker C: Awesome.

Speaker A: And that's a great segue into the amazing questions that we have lined up for you today. The first one that we have here is how often should I, or um, my company be posting on LinkedIn? What's a good cadence?

Speaker B: Yeah, you know, this is a question that I probably get more than almost anything else. And the honest answer is that there is not a definite number. I like to use a range. So a three to five times a week should be your goal. And that's a cadence that actually builds that momentum that we were talking about. But it also helps keep you top of mind. You know, two times a week is a good starting point if you're brand new to it or you uh, just have a lot on Your plate. Two is a good goal, but if you could push IT up to 3 to 5. As mentioned, what you don't want to do is post multiple times a day thinking that it's going to multiply your reach, because most of the time it will, uh, as mentioned, you know, it's going to compete with each other. So I recommend giving post space and room to breathe. And as an individual, you generally don't need to be posting multiple times a day. And then, you know, the same applies to your company page. The more active a company page is, the faster it grows. You know, consistency is where it really does compound over time, you know, and something that I don't think gets said enough is that consistency beats everything. So posting five times in one week and then disappearing the next is not a good thing to do. Right, because what LinkedIn does, it learns behavior. And when you go dark, it essentially has to reintroduce you to your audience and it just, uh, holds you back. So my biggest tip is just to pick a cadence that you can sustain and stick to it.

Speaker C: I feel like LinkedIn is like a science.

Speaker A: So you can't post too much, but

Speaker C: then you can't post, like, not enough. And it's like, also can't post all the time. You have to be very careful. It's like a, it's a science. There's like a perfect, like, mix of what you have to do.

Speaker A: And that's why it's good to have

Speaker C: experts to do it for you.

Speaker B: But also talking about that, if, if you want to say it's science, then not everything is black and white, right? And not everything that works for me might work for you. So it's good, good to note and, like, learn patterns. And that's what's helpful with working with experts, is because we work with a lot of different people. We, we work with, you know, companies, we look, we work with individuals, and we're able to see what patterns are resonating throughout. Um, but, yeah, you know, what works for me is not going to work for you, maybe. And what works, you might not work for me, but finding that healthy balance and learning from people who are using, you know, multiple different avenues to figure it out.

Speaker A: And I think this kind of leads us to the next question is how does LinkedIn decide who sees my post or, like, my company page posts?

Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, so, uh, the LinkedIn algorithm is actually, let's say, scoring three things. Who you are, what you post, and who's resonating to you or responding. Uh, so I guess let's explain who you are. That means, are you being consistent? Uh, do you post about very specific topics? Is your profile credible? You know, LinkedIn wants to know that it can trust you and that your content is going to resonate and be relevant to people. So then what you post, is your content clear? Do you have a strong hook that's going to make people read more? Is it easy to read? You know, LinkedIn scans for things like, does it look like spam if you use hashtags? Still are using too many hashtags? Are you constantly driving people off the platform with external links? You know, these are all of the things that will get you penalized. And then next, who engages with you? And I think this one is the most important. And I want to be very clear about what it actually means because, uh, you know, from conversations that I've had, this can get misunderstood. And so when I say who engages with you, it's not necessarily that some people's engagement counts more than others. Right. It's about topical relevance. So if my post is about B2B SaaS and there's people, uh, who are engaging in the world, LinkedIn's like, oh, that's a strong signal that your content belongs in that space. That space. So it's going to push it out to people who have already engaged with B2B SaaS. Right. And so when I say that, then people are like, oh, okay, so my employee engagement doesn't matter. Well, it does, right, because it counts and it helps, especially early on. Uh, it's, every interaction is real and it's going to help your post pass that initial test. But the key is that you also want to build an audience of people in your industry because when they engage, it reinforces that your content is for them and it should get pushed out to similar people and, you know, kind of talking about the initial test. Right. So the first few hours after you post is very important and that's your window, right, to kind of get that early engagement. So that's comments. And when I say comments, I don't mean a thumbs up emoji or great post. Uh, you know, LinkedIn is filtering that, so, you know, just making sure that you get that early engagement. That's when the employees can tackle something. Actually that I tell people a, uh, lot when it comes to helping the post get pushed out. Uh, a, a quick little tip would be to engage with other people's content either before or after you post and always respond to your comments.

Speaker C: Yeah, I feel like we're all a little Bit guilty of like the great post or like thumbs up. I feel like when you learn the algorithm like on LinkedIn, you're like, we

Speaker A: should add a little bit more um,

Speaker C: you know, usefulness to this.

Speaker B: Yeah, it goes into that. You know, LinkedIn is becoming more SEO style discovery, right? So that SEO user intent and it's scanning for keywords and copy. So good post isn't really relevant or a thumbs up. Yeah, I mean I liked it but you know, this should not be that. It should be insightful, it should be once again this is a platform that is encouraging engagement. So it should be, you should be adding value in your comments. It doesn't need to be a paragraph. Um, but you should definitely add some value to help extend it out.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's a great breakdown about the algorithm and I think understanding the algorithm is probably the hardest part about posting on LinkedIn because now you have like Claude and ChatGPT that can help you like write or like brainstorm the post, but not necessarily like understand it like an expert can. And I think this is a really, this uh, brings up my next question which is should I focus more on company page, personal profile? Both like what's a good m mix?

Speaker B: Both. And I know that everyone like hearing that. They're like, because it's so much work, right? But if you have to put your energy in one place first, I'm going to say a personal profile, no question. And that's because the algorithm treats personal profiles and company pages very differently. Uh, so posts from individuals they can see consistently outperform company pages. Uh, and that's, that usually looks about two to three times the engagement and up to eight times the reach. And you know, when comparison, that's not a very small difference. That's, that's big, right? So, and the reason for that is because people are connecting with people, right? They'll scroll past a company post but they'll stop for a person that they recognize, trust or find something interesting. That's just human behavior and LinkedIn actually reflects that. So with that being said though, link. Ah, company pages, they still matter, right? They matter for brand consistency, for recruiting, for credibility. When someone looks, looks you up after an ad, right, they're going to check your company page and it needs to be active. But that's not where the organic growth tends to happen at the same rate as a personal profile. So when I go back to my original answer, which is both, the best strategy is to use them both in tangent, right? So executives and team members post about on their Personal profile and then the company page amplifies that uh, or even repost the best content. Um, essentially you are building an ecosystem uh, where people, so the people are going to power the reach, but your company page is going to be that foundation. And it's, this is actually interesting that a newer reason that matters on LinkedIn and for to use both ah, facets is going to be that LinkedIn is now ranked number one and the most cited uh, domain by chat Google. And so that means that Whenever someone asks AI a question in your industry, LinkedIn is the first place that they're going to, to find that answer. So what I also found interesting is that it kind of breaks down like per platform. So Semrush actually did a study to where uh, depending on the tools they pull from different resources. So half of the tools we're pulling from a company page and then the other half a personal profile. So if you're only using one, you're leaving that visibility on the table. But it's not just LinkedIn visibility, it's AI visibility.

Speaker A: I do find myself kind of um, like when I'm on LinkedIn I do find myself interacting more with like personal profiles and like company pages. But I definitely do agree that both are very important just to make sure that you know you're getting cited because

Speaker B: I feel like if you only put

Speaker A: in a lot of posts or like content into your personal profile instead of your company page, it kind of go, your company page isn't like, you know, it doesn't act as your website or like that's how we want it to basically. And then should I be commenting on other people's posts? What does a good engagement look like when you're doing it to like other people? Is it like commenting, liking, sharing? What does that look like?

Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And this is actually what I think most people are massively underutilizing. Uh, so commenting on other people's posts is one of the best leveraging things that you can do on LinkedIn. And it costs you almost nothing for time compared to like writing a full post. So what happens when you comment on other People's posts is LinkedIn is going to show your profile to people who uh, saw the post that you commented on. So if you go in there and you leave a really good comment showing your expertise and that post is getting attention, that, that's essentially from someone who let's say has a large relevant audience. Right. So let's say this post, post is going viral and I'm going to go in and I'm going to leave some information about LinkedIn organic. And I am now getting introduced to thousands of people who might not have ever heard of me before, but now they are. Because I'm kind of hopping on that trend of the post. And it's also signaling to the algorithm that I am, um, an active and engagement on the platform and that helps my own post when I published them. So, you know, kind of going back to like leaving comments and the key word there was really thoughtful, right? So. And that's going to go back to generic comments, like great posts or so true. They don't do anything, they don't carry much weight because they're not adding value to that conversation. And you know that good post does not make people curious about who you are, right? Uh, and the whole point of it is, yes, you want to get seen, but you want to add enough value that someone gets curious and then they click on your profile and then they see the post that you're creating, and then they're like, hey, this person. And even if they don't follow you at that moment because they've engaged with you, they clicked on your profile, you're more likely to show up on their feed again. So it's a great tactic on many different layers, you know, and a good comment should add perspective, like add questions, share experiences. But, you know, I don't know. So I just tell clients in general that just aim to leave a couple of genuine comments a day that's relevant to your industry. Uh, so that habit alone can create meaningful growth and visibility without you having to physically sit down and write another post.

Speaker A: What do you think about, you know, we're always engaging our clients to post or to comment on other people's posts. What do you think about, you know, let's say we. I post something and I'm getting so many comments, but I don't respond to any of them. Does that impact my engagement on my posts?

Speaker B: For, as an example, what a comment to do. Like, it's so powerful since it's ranked number one and essentially a hack, let's say a, uh, quote unquote. I don't necessarily love, like follow this hack, but a tip if you. An expert tip is let's say a post. It's been live for maybe about a week, it's gotten 130 engagements, a couple of comments, and I didn't respond to them. I don't want to put money behind it to boost it. Right. So what's another way that I can now keep it relevant? I'm going to go in and uh, I'm going to start commenting to those people because what it's going to do is going to get it back pushed to the top of the feed. So it's now because since LinkedIn, right, it's about relevancy and spelt like what's happening currently. That post that was kind of, let's say, died down a little bit after the one to two weeks. It's now getting pushed back out. So comments, comments help extend your reach, no matter when it was published. But yeah, so there's a lot of different ways that you can use different tactics when it comes to commenting.

Speaker A: Awesome. And then our next question is actually something that we talk about a lot at speedwork and it's how do I get my employees to post? You know, employees that aren't active on LinkedIn or just don't know what to post.

Speaker B: Okay, so this is one of those questions where the answer isn't really a LinkedIn question. Right. So it's more of a culture and systems question. The reason that most employee advocacy programs fail is because companies make posting feel like a chore or an obligation. And, uh, no one wants to share your company blog from last Tuesday just because someone asked them to. Right. So it's, it's just not authentic. It shows in the content. LinkedIn can tell. We can all tell. Like it's just one of those things. So what I always recommend is making it easy and making it seem meaningful. And with that is so first, give people frameworks, not scripts. So a script feels fake and people can read that. Um, but if you were to give someone, let's say, three to four topics that's relevant to them, what's something that you learned last week, what's a common misconception that you hear that feels doable? Right. So you're removing a blank page problem without having to write for them. Second is going to be celebrating internally. So when someone does this and it does it well, make a big difference, like big deal out of it in Slack or a team meeting. Because recognition can go a long way in an employee advocacy program. People will want to be the person that gets a shout out next time. Um, and then last is going to be to start, uh, at the people who already want to do it. Don't try to get everyone posting all at once. Find those few two to three champions on your team who are already active on LinkedIn and, or seem really excited about it. Getting them going, let, letting them lead by example. And then the culture spreads more naturally. That way. And then something else I want to say is that if you're a leader, you have to model it, right? So if the CEO and the executives aren't posting, the team will automatically assume that it's not a priority.

Speaker C: I will say I feel. I feel like Anthony does this very well.

Speaker A: Unfortunately, he's not on the call today, but whenever I see some of Anthony's posts, I'm like, oh, my God, this just sparked an idea for, like, a post that I can do. And it's happened a couple of times, which is great. And Kayla, if no one has seen

Speaker C: this post, she has had a couple of viral posts go out, and we have talked about it for a couple of days at Spear. Like, oh, my God, Kayla's, like, famous now.

Speaker A: Um, and then here's our last question. How do I turn LinkedIn engagement into. Into business conversations?

Speaker B: So this is the one that everyone wants to know, right?

Speaker C: Very loaded question to end.

Speaker B: To end it. Let's just hit it on a high note.

Speaker A: Okay?

Speaker B: So, uh, engagement is great, but ultimately that's not the goal, right? Pipeline's the goal. The first thing that I want to say is to. Don't rush it. So LinkedIn is a long game, right? People, people who try to convert every single comment into a sales call immediately are the people who tank their reputation on the platform. No one wants to be sold to the second that they engage with your content. If I can, like, I would. There's a meme in here, and it's a spongebob. He's hiding in the mailbox. The m. The mailman walks by, he, like, jumps out. That's. That's what I think about, right? So anytime that you are immediately someone just engages with you, don't immediately sell to them. So, okay, here's what can actually work. So let's say someone engages with your post, especially a comment that shows that they're genuinely interested. That's your opening to start a conversation, right? Not a pitch, a conversation. Uh, so respond to their comment if it makes sense. Send them a connection. And in the connection request message, you just kind of reflect back to the post, and then you can message them. Lead with value, not an ask. The content itself that you're posting should do a lot of the selling for you if you do it right. And when people follow the order over time, so let's just say they're seeing your post over and over, they're starting to build that trust with you. And that trust, if they already trust you, when it does lead to a sales conversation that makes everything so much more easier. They're already warm and that changes everything. Um, something else that you know when it comes to your content is call to actions matter. But you have to use them carefully because not every single post needs to have a call to action. Right? So when you do include one, let's say you know, link in comments or DM me if you want more information, um, comment below. If you want the full guide, like add value to it and make. Make sure that it's just natural and relevant to what you've shared already in the post. It should feel like an extension of the value, not like a hard sell that makes no sense. And then, you know, obviously there's outbound. So with like with outbound, if you are consistently posting and people are reading them, they will naturally bring those into conversation. They'll be say, hey, I've seen that you shared a lot of topic about X and, and I've noticed, you know, this Y and Z that bridges that conversation. And then let's say if they're engaging like I, I've seen that you've been engaging directly. This. I wanted to reach out. Is this a problem that you're seeing? There's a way to naturally bridge that gap to where it's very warm. It's a warm touch and it doesn't feel out of nowhere awesome.

Speaker A: Such great insights today. I feel like we might need a part two.

Speaker C: I don't know, we'll have to see.

Speaker A: Um, but thank you so much for sharing your insights with with us today, Kayla. If there are any questions that maybe we didn't get to on today's live event, you can drop them in the event page and then we can follow up there. Stay tuned because we'll host these monthly and maybe we'll have another live event with Kayla.

Speaker B: We'll see.

Speaker A: And um, thanks for joining us everyone and I hope you have a great rest of your day and weekend.

Speaker B: Thanks for having me. Bye bye.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to LinkedIn ads radio. That's it for this episode. Stay tuned for more.