Two million posts, videos, and articles are posted on LinkedIn every day.

That’s a lot of competition. But what is everyone competing for?

For recruiters, the goal of publishing content on LinkedIn as part of your recruitment marketing is winning business. That means driving clients and candidates to contact you, book in a call, and – ultimately – close a sale.

But with so many people vying for your audience’s attention, it’s hard to know what sort of content will rise above the noise and attract new leads.

That’s why I sat down with Hoxo’s US Sales Lead, Joel Lalgee – whose content rakes in millions of views – to discover his proven strategies for winning business on LinkedIn.

Here’s what I found out.

1. Spice up your LinkedIn content

To keep potential candidates and clients engaging with your LinkedIn posts, you need to vary the types of content you’re sharing.

As Joel told me, “Variety wins the game.”

If you look at any thought leader’s profile, you’ll see they share a wide range of different content instead of just harping on about their business.

Types of content you could share on LinkedIn to keep things fresh include:

• Your point of view on hot topics
• Motivational quotes
• Ideas that interest you
• Industry trends
• Video diaries
• Animated GIFs
• Funny stories from your recruitment agency
• Your thoughts on LinkedIn as a social network
• Long-form blog posts (LinkedIn articles)
• Case studies
• Information about your latest products or services

The sky’s the limit, so get creative and mix up the types of content you share. You’ll start seeing your post engagement rise in no time.

2. Think about when you share LinkedIn content

Winning business on LinkedIn isn’t just about what content you share, but when you choose to share it.

Joel recommends posting business-focussed content in the morning (9 -10 am), thought leadership pieces in the afternoon (12 – 2 pm), and “fluffier” content in the evening (5 – 8 pm).

Here are some other helpful time tips to know:

• Statistically, you’ll get the most likes and shares if you post on Tuesdays, 11 – 12 pm.
• The worst time to post is when people are sleeping (10 pm – 6 am).
• LinkedIn use peaks at 12 pm and 5 – 6 pm on weekdays.

Of course, when considering when to post, bear in mind these times will be different if your target audience lives outside the UK.

3. Capture your audience

If you want to speak to clients or candidates in a specific field, call them out at the start of your posts.

For example, if you want to reach people looking for work in the cybersecurity space, start your post with:

“Calling all cybersecurity professionals…”

Or:

“Are you happy in your current cybersecurity role?”

Joel suggests trying to mention your target audience within the first three lines of your post. Doing so will sift out the rest of your network and draw in the people with whom you want to do business.

4. Tag people @pproriately

If you’re talking about a company, brand, or person in your post, don’t be afraid to @tag them in.

When you @tag businesses or other users, you’ll immediately get their attention and – with any luck – get them engaging with your post. This tells the algorithm your content is worth promoting up the news feed.

Having said that, use @mentions sparingly – no one likes spammy posts. As such, only tag companies or people in your posts if:

• You’re talking about them directly
• You think they’ll have something interesting to add to the conversation

5. Remember engagement isn’t everything

Although we all get a little ego boost when people like, share, or comment on our posts, engagement metrics are not the be-all-end-all.

In fact, these things are often described as ‘vanity metrics’, suggesting they’re only useful on a surface level.

“If your posts receive loads of likes, comments, and views it gives you automatic credibility,” Joel told me. “But high engagement doesn’t always equal high-levels of business interest. Some of my top-performing posts have brought me no business, while some of my worst-performing content has lead to me receiving DMs from people who went on to become clients.”

The number of people reaching out to you via direct message or viewing your profile is a much better metric to focus on than vanity metrics if you want to win business on LinkedIn.

6. Embrace failure and experiment

Not everything you post on LinkedIn is going to set the world on fire.

It’s horrible, but it’s true.

But, as is the case in business, you should embrace failure on LinkedIn and the rest of your digital marketing. The more you fail, the more you learn what does and doesn’t work.

Don’t be afraid to experiment.

You might worry that people will think you a fool for posting a funny video, or that an opinion you hold will be too divisive to share. Don’t be.

“I only know if a content idea is good or bad after I hit post,” Joel said. “If it works, it works. If not, it’s just something I can learn from.”

This is a great mindset to adopt when creating content on LinkedIn.

7. Entertain your audience

As much as they wouldn’t like to admit it, most LinkedIn users come to the platform to escape work and be entertained.

So give them what they want!

Share content that’s fun or out of the ordinary, and don’t worry about making all your content business-related.

Posts that raises a smile or a laugh are just as powerful as content that educates or gets people thinking.

Start winning business on LinkedIn

We’ve shared this advice with you because we know it works. Joel gets hundreds of DMs and profile views every month – the type of engagement which turns into business.

Give these tips a try. You’ll begin attracting and converting more clients and candidates in no time.