Creating a strategy for commenting on LinkedIn posts
Creating a strategy for commenting on LinkedIn posts
At The Thinking Cap, much of our social media management and training revolves around using LinkedIn as a platform to generate business enquiries. When used properly, LinkedIn can open many doors. One of the quickest and most effective ways to build relationships is through commenting on LinkedIn posts.
Why you should be commenting on LinkedIn posts
A great LinkedIn comment strategy can build authority in your network. Even shy LinkedIn users who lack confidence to share their own content can get in front of the right people by simply commenting on LinkedIn posts.
Comments are the best form of engagement on LinkedIn. When you leave a comment on another user’s post, it notifies your connections in the feed. But it also gets seen by anyone else who’s following or connected with the original creator. That means if you leave an insightful or valuable comment on someone else’s post, you’re being seen by more people.
If you’re getting started on your LinkedIn journey, commenting on LinkedIn posts can feel far less daunting than sharing your own posts. Responding to other people’s posts is a great way to share an opinion and point of view – without thinking of the topic yourself.
Commenting on LinkedIn posts can accelerate the amount of people the content gets shown to. When people comment on a post in the first hour, it helps the post to perform 20% better as the LinkedIn algorithm sees it as engaging.
Replying to comments on your own posts also helps to increase the post reach, which is why creators with a big following are usually great at responding to comments.
Tips for writing interesting comments
One trap some people fall into is commenting for the sake of it. Don’t do that!
When commenting on LinkedIn posts, it should add something interesting or help continue the conversation.
Here are six tips to help you get started –
- Ask the post creator follow-up questions about the topic.
- Share how their post made you feel or how it changed your perspective.
- If you disagree, explain why (respectfully) and share your own insights.
- Tell people another resource or similar example relating to the topic.
- Tag another LinkedIn user to encourage them to share their thoughts.
- Summarise the post takeaways to show your understanding.
Your aim is to get to know your connections and be seen as a trusted expert. So, you’re either sharing something useful or you’re sparking a conversation to find out more about people.
A few things to consider –
- Longer comments, of 12 words or more, perform better than shorter comments.
- Commenting on your own posts first harms the reach, however, it can also help to relaunch a post again into the feed by tagging or replying to people hours after publishing.
- Always reply to people’s comments on your posts – it's best to do so in the first 90mins after posting, but still good to do even if it’s a day later.
- If you have a LinkedIn company page, LinkedIn now allows you to comment in your feed as yourself and easily switch to engage and comment as your business. See how easy it is by watching my 'how to' video below.
You can build great relationships by getting to know your connections through commenting on LinkedIn posts.
Things to avoid when commenting on LinkedIn posts
The common mistake when commenting on LinkedIn is writing vague, boring, or spammy comments. ‘Great post’ or ‘thanks for sharing’ don’t count as useful or interesting comments. Nor do self-promotion comments that don’t add anything to the topic.
Although commenting on your own post is helpful in most cases, you should let others comment first. The algorithm no longer likes the ‘link in comments’ approach.
Writing LinkedIn posts to encourage comments
You need a strategy for creating your posts, too. As our LINGO training explores, you need people to read past the ‘see more’ button. But you also need to consider encouraging comments by writing engaging content.
The best way to encourage comments is to share your content topic and then ask your audience a question. If you’re sharing a story, you could ask if anyone has experienced a similar situation. You can also ask your audience for advice or recommendations, prompting them to share in the comments.
There’s a reason why ‘unpopular opinion’ posts usually perform well – they cause people to respond.
Creating a successful LinkedIn commenting strategy
Now you know some of the best practises for commenting on LinkedIn posts, it’s time to create a strategy.
Ring the bell of your favourite creators 🔔.
A great way to up your strategy for commenting on LinkedIn is to find creators who share a similar target audience to you. If you ring their notification bell, which can be found on the top right-hand corner of their profile, you will be notified when they post. Try it here by clicking on my profile bell.
You can choose between all posts and top posts. If you comment on their posts soon after it’s published, your comment will be seen by many others. This is great for leveraging the audience of creators with a big following. The more you show up in their comments, the more they’ll recognise you.
Engage daily on LinkedIn
The best way to see results from commenting on LinkedIn posts is to engage with your connections daily. Many people suggest blocking out 15-30 minutes every morning to comment on other people’s posts.
Another great tip if you’re sharing your own LinkedIn content is to do this engagement activity before you publish your own post. It boosts the reach of your content because you’re active beforehand.
Continue the conversation
When you’ve shared an interesting comment and someone replies, use it to continue the conversation in a direct message. It’s a great way to build your relationship. Thank them for their insights and ask them more about themselves.
Or if you’re not yet connected, use it as an opportunity to send a connection request with a personalised note relating to the comment thread.
LinkedIn strategy training for business owners
This guide will hopefully have given you inspiration to start taking commenting on LinkedIn posts seriously and adding them to your daily social media marketing routine. If you need help with your own LinkedIn strategy, the LINGO training is perfect for you, or maybe you need a more bespoke LinkedIn approach, if this is the case simply get in touch for more support on using LinkedIn for your business.
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post.
If you’d like further help, let’s jump on a call and have a chat.
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