Boost Your Career through Social Media, Part 3

by | Apr 22, 2018 | Learning, Social Media

What did you share in social media in the last week? How did your network respond? What did your analytics look like?

In part 3 of this series of posts on social media research I did in March 2018, I’ll share the data relevant to those questions.

Part 1 in this series covered the survey goals, methodology, respondents, and professional and personal social media use.

Part 2 looked at the reasons why people are active in social media to boost their careers.

Part 3 in this series covers:

  1. What types of LinkedIn content get the most engagement
  2. What topics on LinkedIn get the most engagement, and
  3. Strategies to increase engagement with your social media content, regardless of the platform.

How is engagement defined? It’s likes, comments and shares of your content.

LinkedIn content types that get the most engagement

By far, Sharing an article was the type of LinkedIn content that gets the most engagement, with 68% of respondents choosing it.

In second place, half of that at 34% said Sharing a photo.

Tied for third place was Sharing an idea and Resharing content of others at 22%.

In last place was Sharing a video at 19%. This surprised me the most, given how popular video content has become. However, the addition of video has only come to LinkedIn in the last year, so it’s still relatively early days. I expect to see this percentage grow over time, as more people experiment with video content.

Some of the comments added great ideas to the mix:

“On the job photos, specifically of participation at a company event, with a company leader, or an interesting ‘behind the scenes’ moment.”

“Articles on industry thought leadership topics get read/liked/shared by my peers.”

“Content that congratulates or promotes and tags others in exemplary work.”

LinkedIn topics that get the most engagement

The topics in LinkedIn content that attract the most engagement are:

  1. Industry trends (48%)
  2. Leadership (34%)
  3. News about your employer (30%)

This confirms two of the top three reasons people are active in social media to boost their careers – accessing news about your industry and profession (81%) and learning continually about your industry and profession (77%).

Strategies to increase engagement with your content

Lastly, what are effective ways to increase engagement with your social media content, regardless of the platform?

Two strategies rose to the top:

  1. Tag people in the post, if they’re in an accompanying photo or video (75%)
  2. Mention relevant people in the post (65%)

Some of the comments offered up more ideas:

“Hashtags generate interest, especially from young professionals.”

“When people are authentic with their voice and message and thank (tag) the people who helped contribute to the project or idea get a lot of organic engagement.”

“Provide my point of view when sharing an article – not a headline, but instead an insightful suggest that might entice someone to read it. Ask a question.”

Two strategies that were only selected by 20% of respondents are actions that I have found valuable in increasing engagement.

First is to tag people in the post, even if they’re not in the accompanying photo or video. Why? This alerts them to content that may be of interest to them or their network.

The caveat here is not to overuse this strategy to the point that it becomes annoying to others. A way to decide? When someone you’ve tagged multiple times does not engage with your content.

A group of people who do a great job tagging people in posts are colleagues at my employer. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own). Sarita Rao, John Starkweather, Sarah Groves, John Stancliffe, Eisaiah Engel, and Knox Keith are a few good examples. By tagging relevant people in their LinkedIn and Twitter content, they make sure that their content is seen by a wider audience.

Second is to sent separate, tailored messages to relevant people, alerting them of the post. This strategy I learned from others who sent me brief direct messages in LinkedIn to tell me about an article and why I might be interested in it. They did not specifically ask me to like, comment on, or share their content. But if I found value in the article, I engaged with it.

Many people commented that they don’t post frequently as a career-building strategy. One respondent said, “I have not built the confidence yet to post my own ideas in LinkedIn. I’m trying to figure out my voice before posting my ideas and also what I want to represent with my personal brand.”

An easy way to get started with content updates is by tapping into an employee advocacy program, if your employer offers one. These programs serve up ready-make, on-brand content that you can share as is in your social networks, or add your point of view.

The next post in this series will share how survey respondents are taking advantage of employee advocacy. How are you using it?