Posting a job on LinkedIn for free is a great way to reach qualified candidates. However, with over 722 million members on LinkedIn, your free job post can easily get buried among the clutter. Boosting your post is key to getting it seen by more of your target audience.
Why should I boost my free LinkedIn job post?
There are a few key reasons to boost your free LinkedIn job post:
- Increased visibility – Boosting gets your post seen by more relevant candidates in your target location and industry.
- Higher applications – A boosted post can garner up to 40% more applicants than an unboosted post.
- Brand awareness – Boosting helps showcase your employer brand and open roles to passive candidates.
- Cost-effective – Boosting a job post costs a fraction compared to job board listings and can yield better candidates.
In short, boosting expands the reach of your post to give your job opening better exposure and more qualified applicants.
How does boosting work for LinkedIn job posts?
LinkedIn’s algorithm determines which members will be most interested in your job post based on their profile, search history, and more. When you boost a post, LinkedIn promotes it higher and more frequently in the feed of targeted members.
You can choose to boost your post to a wider audience or laser target it. Options include boosting by:
- Job title
- Job function
- Industry
- Location
- Company size
- Seniority level
- Specific skills
Narrowing your target parameters allows your boosted job to be seen by those most likely to be interested. You can also set a daily budget cap when boosting.
How much does it cost to boost a LinkedIn job post?
Boosting job posts is based on a cost-per-click model. You are only charged when someone clicks on your boosted job post.
The minimum bid for a click currently starts from $1.10. However, the more competitive your targeting, the more you may need to bid to outrank other promoted job posts.
LinkedIn provides suggested bid estimates during the boosting setup process. Typical bid ranges for clicks are:
Targeting | Suggested Bid Range |
Broad reach | $1.10 – $2.50 |
Moderately targeted | $3.00 – $5.00 |
Highly targeted | $5.50 – $8.00+ |
You can set a daily budget cap, which gets paused once reached. This allows you to control the maximum amount you pay per day for boosting.
How long should I boost my LinkedIn job post for?
You can choose to boost your job post from a minimum of 3 days up to a maximum of 30 days.
In most cases, setting a boost duration between 10-15 days is recommended. This gives your post enough time to be seen and clicked by your target audience.
Longer boosting durations of 20-30 days work well if you have a broader target audience or want extended exposure for an important hiring need.
How do I create an effective boosted job post?
Follow these best practices when creating a LinkedIn job post to boost:
- Use a catchy, descriptive job title that will capture attention, like “Digital Marketing Guru Wanted”.
- Highlight the location if it’s important, such as “Remote” or “London”.
- Focus the job description on selling the role and what makes it appealing.
- List the must-have skills and experience for candidates to assess fit.
- Use formatting like bullet points and call-outs to improve skimmability.
- Add a customized image to reinforce your employer brand.
- Include any incentives like remote work options, equity, training, etc.
- Provide clear call-to-actions for applying like “Click below to learn more and apply now!”
Crafting an engaging job post with relevant details will maximize interest when boosted.
What boosting strategies work best?
Here are some proven boosting strategies to increase your quality job applicants:
- Target by a specific skill or certification that your ideal candidate needs.
- Focus on niche job titles rather than broad ones to attract specialized talent.
- Geo-target major hub cities where talent in your industry congregates.
- Boost posts in the morning and afternoon when LinkedIn engagement peaks.
- Re-boost a post that performed well to further extend its reach.
- Create a series of duplicate boosted posts to A/B test different targeting.
- Boost posts advertising internal promotions to engage your existing employees.
Get creative and test different targeting approaches to see what performs best in generating applicants.
How do I measure the results of a boosted job post?
LinkedIn provides robust analytics so you can monitor the performance of your boosted job posts. Key metrics to analyze include:
- Reach – The number of unique members who saw your post.
- Impressions – Total number of times your post was displayed.
- Clicks – Count of clicks on your boosted job post.
- Apply rate – Percentage of clicks that resulted in an application.
- Cost per apply – The average amount spent to generate each application.
- InMail leads – Number of InMails sent to members who clicked your post.
Assessing these metrics allows you to calculate your exact cost per hire and optimize future boosts to lower it.
Best practices for boosting free LinkedIn job posts
Follow these best practices to maximize your results from boosting:
- Target locations where you have open roles or want to build employer brand.
- Create separate boosted posts for each open position instead of aggregating.
- Tailor your job post messaging to resonate with your target audience.
- A/B test different images, headlines, and content to refine effectiveness.
- Analyze your metrics and double down on what converts best.
- Stay on top of your daily budget to avoid overspending.
- Repurpose well-performing posts by boosting again.
Common questions about boosting LinkedIn job posts
Does a boosted post expire?
Yes, a boosted post will expire once the duration you set ends. It will revert to a normal organic post with lower visibility. You can re-boost expired posts.
Can I pause or adjust a boosted post?
Yes, you can pause, resume, or adjust the targeting and daily budget of a boosted post from LinkedIn’s self-serve ads platform at any time.
Is there a limit to how many posts I can boost?
No, there is no limit to the number of job posts you can boost. You are only limited by your daily boosting budget.
How quickly are my boosted posts reviewed?
LinkedIn reviews boosted posts within 1 business day in most cases. Rarely, a post may take up to 3 days if it requires additional vetting.
Can I create new job posts directly from the boosting platform?
No, boosting is only available for existing published job posts. You need to first create and publish a post on LinkedIn before being able to boost it.
Conclusion
Boosting your LinkedIn jobs posts is a smart, affordable way to expand your reach and applicant pool. By targeting your posts, analyzing metrics, and testing different strategies, you can continuously refine your approach to reduce cost per hire. Follow these best practices to get the most bang for your buck from boosting free job posts on LinkedIn.