LinkedIn Performance Tracking: Your Key Figures

From Friends to Algorithms: A Social Media Paradigm Shift

In order to use LinkedIn metrics correctly, it is important to understand the evolution of how content distribution works on social media. This can be roughly divided into three “eras”.

Age 1: My Friends and Me

Facebook has enabled us to make digital friends without borders. LinkedIn also requires both users to agree to a “connection”. The digital connection is often a reflection of an existing friendship or business relationship in real life. The rule was simple: in your feed, you see content from your “connections” as well as posts that have been liked by them.

Important LinkedIn key figures in this age:

1. Number of “connections”
2. Number of engagements (likes etc.)
3. Profile views

Age 2: Friends, Followers and Me

Instagram has softened the rigid concept of mutual connections. Similarly, users can now also follow a profile on LinkedIn unilaterally and subscribe to its content without a mutual connection.

Important LinkedIn key figures in this age:

1. Number of followers
2. Number of connections
3. Number of engagements (likes etc.)
4. Content views

Age 3: The Algorithm and Me

We can no longer take note of all the content that is posted in our LinkedIn network.

This is where the algorithm comes into play. It knows our interests and selects the content displayed to us based on them. The relevant content should make our LinkedIn visit exciting and keep us on the platform for as long as possible.

The “WHAT” (content) becomes more important than the “WHO” (author).

This means that the principle of “connection” and “followers” takes a back seat. If you look at reels on Instagram, for example, you are fed content that no longer has anything to do with the profiles you follow. The reels displayed are selected exclusively according to anticipated interests. Such tendencies are also clearly visible on LinkedIn

Connections and followers still remain important on LinkedIn. The proximity between you and other people and the extent of mutual interaction are taken into account in the algorithm. 

Important LinkedIn key figures in this age:

1. Reach: Number of impressions
2. Number of views
3. Engagement (likes etc.)
4. Followers
5. Connections

Interim Conclusion

• Social media have evolved from networks of people to interest-based content platforms.
• WHAT is more important than WHO: Success comes to those who use specific content to attract the attention of their target groups and arouse their interests.
• LinkedIn thus enables you to reach target persons outside your existing network. 
• Scope and precision: The success of social media communication is measured by the reach within the right target group.

Today's Key Figures on LinkedIn

1 Likes: The most important key figure... right?

As seen: “Historically”, likes were the trigger for your own content to be shared beyond your own network. Even today, many people attach great importance to likes in their analysis.

Of course, likes, comments and shares are still important today because they encourage the algorithm to display your content to more users. But be careful: Likes alone say little about the actual impact of your post. Today, the algorithms are much smarter. LinkedIn analyzes how many users actually look at your post.

• How many users click on the image?
• How many users click on the “More” link in the text to read the full text?
• How many users comment?
• etc.

An example: A post with 100 likes but no further interaction (e.g. comments) often has less visibility than one with 20 likes and 10 comments.

Tip: Analyze the likes of your posts. They show the platform that your content is popular. More important, however, are the measures that increase the reach of your posts.

2. Reach and Impressions

LinkedIn tells you how many “impressions” your posts achieve and how many users you have reached. An impression is counted when a user views your content. With the people reached, you can track how many individual people have seen your post. As content is often viewed multiple times, the number of impressions is naturally higher than the number of people reached.

This reach is currently the most important key figure on LinkedIn for many brands.

To increase this, it is important that your target groups interact with your content. Take note:

• Good visuals increase awareness and recognition
• “Catch phrase": Start your posts with a concise introduction that encourages users to read the text hidden at the beginning.
• Comments are important: Controversial topics, interesting questions and other techniques encourage comments. If you receive comments, make sure you answer them.
• Mentions: Link the profiles of other users in the post. Attention spam: Only link to users who are actually relevant.
• Speed: The faster you can generate interactions with your post, the better. The first hour after posting is crucial for success.

3. Connections and Followers

The quality of your connections is more important than their number. It won't do you any good if you collect 5,000 LinkedIn followers who don't benefit from your messages. They will ignore your content and therefore not bring you any added value. Build a network of interesting partners and relevant targets.

Tip: Cut the connection to users whose content doesn't interest you.

You don't have to delete them, but can “unfollow” them. They won't notice and your feed will remain relevant for you!

The number of followers you have is also an interesting indicator. If users with whom you have no “connection” follow you, this is an indication that your content is distributed across your network and that your content is perceived as exciting (“worth following”).

Note: You still need the “connection” for certain actions.

For example, you can only invite your “connections” to follow a company profile or take part in an event. Followers from your core target group can therefore continue to develop into a more solid connection.

4. Engagement Rate

The engagement rate is an important key figure for measuring the success of your posts. It is calculated by dividing the reach of a post by the number of interactions (e.g. likes, comments, shares).

Example: If your post reaches 500 people and has 50 interactions, your engagement rate is 10%. A high rate shows that your content is well received.

5. Follower Demographics

Do you know who follows you and views your content? LinkedIn shows you the demographics of your followers: Industry, location, position. We use this information as a “sanity check” to qualitatively check whether we are reaching the right people.

6. Analytics of the Company Profiles

Analyzing the activities of company profiles on LinkedIn differs slightly from personal profiles. This will be discussed in detail in a separate post.

Conclusion: Understand the Numbers

Analyzing performance on LinkedIn today is far more complex than simply counting likes. The various metrics allow us to make more precise optimizations. From a quantitative perspective, the reach of your communication is the most important key figure. You should not forget two things:

1. Apples and oranges: comparisons with others can lead you astray. Not everyone pursues the same strategies and target groups. 
2. Quality: Increase the reach within your target group. Lots of impressions with irrelevant people won't get you anywhere.

And of course, metrics are only as good as your interpretation of them and the decisions you make based on them. Use them to understand what works for you on LinkedIn - and what doesn't.