How to turn lurkers into commenters on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. With over 675 million monthly users, the platform is a goldmine for portraying your brand message far and wide. Just like Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn users are at the mercy of an algorithm that dictates how your content will perform. 

If you’ve been active on LinkedIn for a while, you will have noticed that some posts reach more people than others. This could be down to a number of factors including the content itself, the accompanying video or image, the placement of an external link and more… I’ll talk more about that in another post, but in this article, we’ll focus on how to create content that inspires some of those “people reached” to go from passive viewers to active commenters.

Why are comments important on LinkedIn?

When you post on LinkedIn, your content is then released to a percentage of your followers. Within the first hour – “The Golden Hour” – LinkedIn’s algorithm will closely monitor your post’s performance, with comments having a ‘higher value’ than reactions. If your post receives no comments, reactions or shares in the first hour, LinkedIn will likely replace your post with a better performing post in people’s newsfeeds. Social media is a competitive environment as you are fighting against others for that valuable slot on the newsfeed. 

So, let’s look at some practical tips for turning lurkers into commenters on LinkedIn. 

Ask questions

Everybody has an opinion – social media is full of them. Sparking a debate on your LinkedIn post is a fantastic way to encourage your followers to go from being passive scrollers to furious fingers. 

The best ways to get people to share their opinion is to share your own – and end with a question. 

So, here’s an example of a typical LinkedIn post:

Everybody is talking about video content, but let’s not forget the power of the written word.

Articles are still a fantastic way of reaching those niche keywords that your target audience are searching for at any given time. 

Using tools like UberSuggest, Answer the Public and Google Trends, it’s easy to find out what your customers are interested in and craft your content around these ideas.

While it may be tempting to end with a CTA such as: “if you need help writing articles, send me a DM”, I’d argue that on LinkedIn (unlike on your website), this isn’t necessary. People already know what you do – it’s in your LinkedIn headline and, hopefully, you’re always talking about it. 

Instead, you’ll likely get a better response by ending with a question, inviting other writers and industry peers to comment. Remember: the more comments, the better reach – even if those who are commenting aren’t your ideal customers, the chances are this post will eventually be seen by thousands of others who might be.

Everybody is talking about video content, but let’s not forget the power of the written word.

Articles are still a fantastic way of reaching those niche keywords that your target audience are searching for at any given time. 

Using tools like UberSuggest, Answer the Public and Google Trends, it’s easy to find out what your customers are interested in and craft your content around these ideas.

What are your favourite free/cheap SEO tools? And do you use them regularly or do you wing it when writing articles.

Catch the eye with emojis

The emoji has finally arrived on LinkedIn. You’ll see more and more users harnessing the power of the eye-catching graphics to draw attention to their posts, and I’d recommend you do the same. 

Top tip: Trigger the emoji keyword on your Windows PC with WIN + . or Command+Ctrl+Space on MAC. This trick changed my life.

Be creative with your emojis, use the green checks or coloured circles for bullet points, point down is encourage people to comment below. There’s so much you can do outside of the simple yellow smiley face!

Three hashtags

We know that LinkedIn prioritises posts with relevant hashtags, and now the platform even auto-generates a list of recommended hashtags at the end of each post – so use them. Choose three hashtags, either from the suggested list or from your existing marketing strategy. Keep an eye on the terms that work and use them regularly, eventually, you will get to a place where you have a couple of dozen common hashtags that work well for you that you can use on rotation.

I hope these tips helped you to write LinkedIn posts that turn lurkers into commenters, so you can start building meaningful relationships and establish yourself as an authority in your niche. If you liked this article and want more, why not sign up for my LinkedIn Toolkit? Starting from just £15 a month, I provide a bounty of resources to inspire you to create content for your small business. Find out more on my Patreon