I am somewhat disappointed by Linkedin. When I signed up 13 years ago, the premise was that you could build your professional network, and over the years it became a way to communicate with one’s network.
I have accumulated 2k+ contacts over the years, most of whom I have met in real-life.
But when posting content, the Linkedin algorithm decides – in a way that is not clear – who gets to see the content you shared.
Some of my closest connections – like my wife and former co-founder – do not see my posts in their feed (I know, there’s a joke in waiting with the example I used! 😂).
My content usually appears only in 10% of everyone's feeds, so only reaching a fraction of my network! Most of my posts get a few hundreds views at most.
But I had people reaching out to me, or just mention to me that they have seen and read my content, finding it valuable (or at least, interesting) – even though they have never “Liked” or engaged with the content on the platform.
So sharing does provide value, even if there is no way for the algorithm to know it.
It’s disappointing therefore that content posted does not get shared to all of one’s 1st level connections.
I have learned that the main way to get more exposure is to follow a recipe and format of what people engage with the most (which might not be the most valuable content) and use pods ("fake engagement"), as ways to "game" the algorithm.
I'm not keen in pursuing these tactics. I do not care about Likes. But I care about sharing with people I know, content that I think could be valuable (to you perhaps?), in the format that I feel comfortable with.
Am I the only one?
A better way?
There might be ways to help people share in a more targeted way.
I have moved industries quite a bit, so I understand sharing about the new industry I’m in, might not be relevant for some of my former contacts.
For example, contacts could be tagged (I would use keywords like Sales, Marketing, Automation, Business Aviation, Technology, Startups, etc..). And when sharing content, one could decide to which group(s) of contacts this content should be shared – or decide to share with all. But with the guarantee that it appears in everyone's feed in this group.