9 Things you're Getting Wrong on your Linkedin Company Page

We're edging towards the close of the year and Linkedin continues to be one of the most exciting platforms for B2B businesses and thought-leaders - unless they're already making waves on Youtube, Instagram, or Tik Tok dare I say. But too often, people realize that Linkedin is not being as generous to them as they initially thought. Content that they put time and effort in making, repeatedly falls flat. And for businesses that depend more and more on digital channels these days, that's a concern.

Thankfully this problem has an easy solution: to stop posting the way that Linkedin does not want you to post. Okay, maybe not so simple. I'll break it down.

Here's a countdown of the 9 worst mistakes to be making on Linkedin Company Pages right now.

9. Posting Irrelevant Content

Your company page is a landing page for your target audience. If what you post there is unclear or irrelevant for them, they will not interact with it. The best way to keep this from happening:

• Make sure every piece of content you post has a purpose for your target audience. So it has a clear and relevant takeaway for them, or a customer painpoint it helps resolve.
• Make sure every piece of content aims at a business objective. Does it want to increase brand awareness by educating your audience? Does it aim to generate leads by offering a free resource?

8. Endlessly Posting External Links

There is an obvious move away from external links by Linkedin. If you scroll down your Linkedin feed right now, you won't find posts with external links in them very easily. The reason is simple. Linkedin doesn't want people to click on a link that takes them to another website away from Linkedin. So it limits the reach of such posts.

If you're still posting links to your favorite Medium blogs on Linkedin, you should reconsider. Try to instead extract a few points from that blog, put them into a text post or image, and tag the person who wrote it.

7. Overusing Hashtags

Let's call a spade a spade, shall we? A Linkedin post with too many hashtags looks spammy. It's a great strategy for Instagram, but Linkedin encourages you to use no more than 3 hashtags per post.

For best results, use two of the suggested hashtags on Linkedin. It'll be relevant to the content you're posting and to your audience who follow that hashtag. Use broad and niche hashtags to make your post more visible.

6. Posting Videos Without Subtitles

Videos have taken off on every platform. But some businesses and thought-leaders still make the mistake of posting their videos without subtitles, or without visible subtitles. That's a huge mistake to make at a time when 80% of people on social media watch videos in the feed on mute.

There are two ways to solve that problem.

1. You can either upload an .srt file into Linkedin when you're uploading the video. The subtitles appear as an overlay on your video when it autoplays in your Linkedin feed.
2. You can also add subtitles to your video using an app like Kapwing. In this case, you can choose the styling, the position, the size, and the timing of your subtitles.

5. Writing Boring Captions

Coming up with a good caption is incredibly important. To understand what a good caption is, you should be able to first spot a bad caption when you see it. Here are some things to avoid.

❌ The caption basically just repeats the title of your attached link.

❌ It uses complicated language or buzzwords.

❌ It doesn't address the target audience.

❌ The first line doesn't hook the reader.

Needless to say, writing a caption is also difficult. Contento's autogenerate caption feature lets you (yes, you guessed it) autogenerate captions with a click. Our customers find it incredibly helpful, even if it's just to get some inspiration to write a good caption.

We also wrote a short guide about How to Write a Great Caption, using examples from some of the best in the copywriting business.

4. Posting Adhoc or Overthinking it

Two different ends of the spectrum. Only posting on Linkedin when you feel like it, on a whim is not always the ideal approach. Also not encouraged: not posting because you're overthinking the post.

What's the ideal approach to posting on Linkedin then?

1. Start with a monthly calendar. Pick 2-3 slots every week choosing equal number of
2. high traffic (high competition) times for eg. Wednesday mornings,  and
3. low traffic (low competition) times for eg. Monday mornings and weekends.
4. Match each slot with a Business Objective you want to aim for.
5. When you have a plan in place that you follow every week, don't be afraid to color outside the lines. Post urgent or fun Linkedin posts outside of your plan too. Try a different format. Sometimes that's where viral content originates from.

3. Posting Promotional Content All the Time

I get it. You're excited about your product. God knows we are. But waxing lyrical about your product or services in every other post on Linkedin will do you no good.

Linkedin's algorithm might not mind too much. But people - who are the engine of Linkedin - will  get annoyed. People have become more wary of getting interrupted with ads and spam.

But you need to talk about your product and services to sell them right? The best way to do so on Linkedin is by balancing your promotional content with helpful and educational content.

In that way, people will come to your Linkedin page and website for the free advice and education, and if they're interested, they'll check out your products.

Perhaps the best example of this is Hubspot, which leads posts educational content on Linkedin. And then people check out their solutions on their website because they're convinced of Hubspot's expertise in inbound marketing.

2. One-Way Communication

This is a cardinal sin in the social media world. It's pretty shocking to see that a lot of businesses post content just for the sake of posting content. It defeats the purpose of having a Linkedin page to ignore your followers' comments, what they like more importantly, what they don't like.

Linkedin, like most social media is like a walkie talkie. Listening is just as important as speaking. How do you that?

• See what kind of Linkedin post gets a good reaction from your audience. A monthly analysis of your posts should reveal what do like the most and what gets them to comment on your posts the most. You then start prioritizing those type of posts in your social media plan.
• Be quick to respond positively to people who comment on your posts. It opens up a channel of communication with them, encouraging them to keep interacting in the future too.
• Respond as a Company Page on relevant posts. Linkedin notifies you when posts related to your interests get popular. Commenting on popular posts will allow your page to ride that wave, and get some visibility. Important note: Your comment should feel genuine rather than a blatant attempt to promote yourself.

1. Not Involving Employees

If you don't actively encourage your coworkers and employees to interact with your Linkedin Company Page posts, you're missing out on a free distribution channel.

There are multiple opportunities you're missing out on with employees & coworkers.

• Encouraging them to interact with content posted from the Company page can make your Linkedin content visible to their connections.
• Your employees and coworkers are a great source of content. For eg. Showcase an employee/coworker as an expert. Allow them the platform to share their business related expertise with your audience.
• Make your content accessible to your employees so they can share it on their Linkedin platforms. This gives them the freedom to frame the caption to the needs of their audience.

Just to be clear, the purpose of this article is not to bash businesses-owners, but to put into black and white what Linkedin recognizes as bad, outdated practices.

Want to avoid these mistakes on Linkedin and other social media channels?

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How will it help?

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