The problem with applying a data mindset to LinkedIn organic content.
Deny the need for attention and you’ll ultimately win the business.
60-second read
Thinking in numbers alters your behavior. Continually focusing your attention (ahem, anxiety) on driving engagement metrics blinds you from the reality that 90% of the people whom you want to see your stuff (your ICP audience) never engage.
(Example: I read 3 long-form text posts yesterday about hyper-relevant topics to my job and never clicked the Like button once. And they were excellent posts. This is not uncommon for me.)
Over time, quantitative data manipulates you into softer and softer ideas because that’s the type of content that makes your engagement curve go up and to the right. People numbly clicking the Like button on trite, banal ideas all day long doesn’t mean you’re moving closer to anything of meaning or value.
It's all an illusion.
If you're doing the LinkedIn posting charade to drive business outcomes (and you are!), then you have to establish yourself as a subject matter expert—as the one with the domain expertise about the thing people pay you for.
Here’s the thing with SME content: it’s deep, narrow, and therefore generally doesn’t get high engagement. That’s kinda the point. If you’re only speaking to a specific audience—and not trying to engagement hack the entire platform by talking in over-generalized platitudes—the number of people who care about your ideas will by default be smaller.
Stay true to that approach—and disconnect from the dashboard and engagement numbers—and over time you will be the one people look to for insights in the niche corner of your industry.
Keep looking at dashboards and you'll eventually cave to the sweet sweet feeling of engagement—and the illusion that strangers actually like you. (Psst! They don’t.)
Final thought: The disconnect is between why business people post and what they post. They post to generate business (the why). But many of them are so desperate for attention that they post fluff in order to get the engagement boost (the what).
Deny the need for attention and you’ll ultimately win the business.
Oh, last thing: Don’t hire a LinkedIn expert to help you grow your personal brand. They’re a bunch of hucksters whose own anxious need for attention will only carry over to the advice they give—and tarnish your reputation as a professional. TL; DR: They follow the playbook I’m advocating against here.
If you’re smart, capable, and have some thoughts, opinions, and insights about your industry, you’re good to go. Just turn them into words and click post. Do this at some regular cadence (a couple of times a week) with no expectation of return for a long time and you’ll be the one people think about when they have a problem you can solve.