LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 850 million members worldwide. As a professional networking platform, LinkedIn allows users to create professional profiles, connect with other professionals, join groups, follow companies, and apply for jobs. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability to share updates with your network to showcase your experiences, accomplishments, and perspectives.
Profile Updates
On LinkedIn, users can share various types of updates to their profiles to keep their connections informed. These include:
- Status updates – short messages shared in the ‘Share an update’ field.
- Articles – longer-form posts typically with images and embedded links.
- Photos and videos – visual content to complement written updates.
- Links – URLs can be shared alone or accompanied by a status update.
- News articles – links to news stories from external publications.
- Documents – PDFs, presentations, and other files can be uploaded.
- Events – creating or sharing events that connections can see and RSVP to.
- Skills and endorsements – adding new skills or endorsing connections for theirs.
- Projects – visual representations of projects with descriptions, images, videos, and links.
- Job changes and education updates – new positions, learning accomplishments, and courses.
- Location updates – sharing new locations to your profile.
- Hashtags – using hashtags to join in on trending topics and increase visibility.
Visibility Settings
When sharing updates on LinkedIn, users can choose who is able to see the content. There are a few options:
- Public: Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn.
- Connections: Visible only to your 1st-degree connections.
- Group members: Visible only to members of selected groups.
Public visibility generates the most reach and engagement on updates. However, connections or group-only visibility allows for sharing content in a more exclusive, targeted way.
Feed Visibility
When sharing an update, you also choose which feeds it appears in:
- Shared with: Appears only on your profile.
- Public + your network: Appears in both public and connection feeds.
- Connections only: Appears only in your connections’ feeds.
Choosing “Public + your network” maximizes visibility, as both your connections and the general public can engage with the content. “Connections only” limits exposure exclusively to your network.
Algorithmic Feed
It’s important to note that not all connections will necessarily see every update you share. LinkedIn’s feed algorithm selectively surfaces content in users’ feeds based on factors like:
- Relationship closeness – how frequently you interact with connections.
- Post relevancy – if the post is related to the viewer’s industry or interests.
- Engagement levels – content with high engagement is more likely to be amplified.
So even if you share an update publicly or with your full network, LinkedIn’s algorithm controls which connections actually see it in their feeds. Only your most engaged followers are likely to see every post.
Content Recommendations
To increase visibility, LinkedIn recommends sharing updates that:
- Provide value – teach or inform connections about relevant topics.
- Start conversations – ask questions and encourage comments.
- Share insights – perspectives and experiences that connections can relate to.
- Drive engagement – polls, quizzes, calls-to-action, etc.
Updates should be authentic and add to the professional discourse on LinkedIn. Purely promotional or overly-personal content tends to have limited organic reach.
LinkedIn Pages
Companies, organizations, brands, and public figures can also create LinkedIn Pages to establish an official presence and share updates. Pages have additional options like:
- Showcase Pages – highlight products, services, and projects.
- Jobs Pages – list and promote available positions.
- Targeted status updates – share with followers or a specific geography/industry.
Pages can publish a wide range of update types like regular user profiles. But company and industry-relevant content tends to perform best in terms of engagement and reactions.
Paid Promotion
Beyond organic sharing, LinkedIn also provides paid options to boost the visibility of profile updates and sponsored content through ads. Some options include:
- Sponsored updates – promotes existing status updates to a wider audience beyond your connections.
- Sponsored InMail – sends a targeted message to members via LinkedIn InMail.
- Text ads – displays targeted text ads alongside organic posts in the LinkedIn feed.
- Dynamic ads – highly-targeted ads based on member demographic and profile data.
Paid promotion can significantly increase engagement on updates when used strategically. But organic content remains important for maintaining authentic connections and discussions.
Metrics and Analytics
LinkedIn provides robust analytics so page admins and users can assess the performance of their updates. Some key metrics include:
- Impressions – the number of times the post was displayed.
- Reach – the number of unique people who saw the update.
- Engagement rate – how many impressions led to engagement.
- Reactions – likes, comments, shares, etc.
- Video views – for video updates.
- Follower growth – for Company and Showcase Pages.
Analyzing these metrics helps determine which types of updates resonate most with your audience and can inform content strategy.
Conclusion
LinkedIn profile updates enable professionals to actively engage with their network by sharing insights, starting discussions, and posting multimedia content. While updates are visible based on chosen privacy settings, feed algorithms also influence which connections actually see the content in their feeds. Creating value-driven updates tailored to your audience can help increase organic visibility. At the same time, paid promotion provides options to further amplify reach and engagement.