The LinkedIn Algorithm 2025: A Strategic Guide for Business Owners & Content Creators

LinkedIn’s algorithm in 2025 is engineered to surface relevant, engaging content for professionals. That has always been the goal of LinkedIn's feed. But today? They're getting better and better at it. As a business owner, founder, content creator, solopreneur, or anyone looking to grow on LinkedIn: this is for you. Understanding how this algorithm works will help you craft posts that gain more visibility, grow your network, and effectively market your product (or service, or solution). Below is a structured breakdown of key components – from how content is ranked in the feed to optimizing your profile for search – along with actionable, data-backed insights and recent changes you should know.

As someone who has been actively creating, selling, and building companies on LinkedIn for 8 years, this is going to include plenty of historical context, too. So for those of you who have been around LinkedIn for a while, we'll try to dispel some myths and misconceptions that you might have believed based on past information!

1. Content Ranking: How LinkedIn Prioritizes Feed Posts

LinkedIn uses a mix of automated filtering and relevance signals to decide which posts appear in a user’s feed. (The one exception to this is when a highly viral post eventually makes its way to the LinkedIn editorial desk, and a human decision can be made to make that post "superviral" based on their judgement. However, this is unlikely to happen to you, so don't worry about it.)

Here's how the initial automated filtration and signal system works:

Initially, every post is scanned by their machine learning algorithm for spam or low-quality content. Posts that misuse tags (more than ~3 hashtags or irrelevant tagging of users or company pages) or are posted too frequently (under 12 hours apart) risk being flagged as spam. If you've been flagged as spam in the past and you only ever post spam, this is what creators sometimes refer to as being "shadowbanned".

For that matter: if your posts normally get 3,000 impressions on average, and today your post got 800 impressions, you weren't shadowbanned. Your content just wasn't very good. Sorry. Now, please read on :)

Once a post passes the spam filter, the algorithm uses three main ranking factors to determine visibility:

• Whether You're Known And Connected In One Niche. LinkedIn looks at who you are and who you know. Your profile info (industry, job title, skills, location) and connections inform what content is relevant to you. Users tend to see posts from people they interact with often or those who share similar professional backgrounds. If you consistently post in a specific niche, LinkedIn tags you as a topic expert and will show your content more widely in that domain. This means that if you're consistently talking about one topic in an engaging way, you'll be rewarded for continuing to talk about that same topic.
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• If Your Content Is Relevant To That Niche, And Keeps Viewers' Attention. The platform favors content that is timely, professional, and likely to interest the viewer. It measures dwell time (how long someone spends on the post), the post’s engagement history, and whether the content provides knowledge or value. Fresh, original insights and industry-related topics get a boost. Posts that spark civil, constructive conversations in comments are seen as higher quality content. Native content formats (text updates, images, videos, documents) are prioritized over external links to keep users on the platform.
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• Your Past Engagement Signals. The algorithm learns from your past behavior. It notices what topics and types of people you’ve engaged with before, and then shows you more of that. For example, if you often interact with content about SEO or follow Kevin Indig and Gaetano Di Nardi, you’ll see more posts by them, about SEO, and about other people who it thinks are similar to those two people. Similarly, content from your first-degree connections and people you follow is more likely to appear. In short, LinkedIn tries to serve each user posts that match their professional interests and interaction history.
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Does Having More Followers Help?

Kind of. But here's the main point: More followers does not necessarily mean more reach.

It's logical, if you think about it: the overall number of LinkedIn users, at least in the United States for example, is increasing relatively slowly (Statista projects a little over 1% annual user growth rate). And LinkedIn's ad revenue is increasing faster than that (10-15% per year, with a recent predicted surge in 2024 to the higher end of that range as brands flee X due to its ownership by Elon Musk) or maybe less going forward.

Do the math: with even a 5-10% increase in ad revenue, assuming some corresponding growth in ad load in the feed, plus many more creators flocking to LinkedIn to get in on the action, and you have a lot less supply of organic reach than the 1% annual growth rate in users, if we extrapolate out the US data. (And I use the US data here because the lion's share of creators want to sell to US decision makers.)

All this is a recipe for a slowly-shrinking pie: less organic reach available per creator, on average. Remember, as more followers and connections are built? The pie is not getting bigger, it's just getting more connected. So the relationship between follower count and reach is going to continue to decouple over time.

Put simply: I follow WAY more people than the number of posts I view.

Right now I'm following about 20,000 people (mostly due to connections), but I maybe only end up viewing 1000-3000 posts per month on LinkedIn in total. In other words, I follow 10x more people than the number of posts that I end up viewing. Adding to that is this: the fact that I follow someone may or may not be the best determinant of whether I want to see that person’s posts. LinkedIn is smart: following is just one factor of many as to whether a post will be shown to any given user. Their algorithm is more complex than that.

The Data: Reach vs Followers

Among the top 10 creators by reach in Aware in 2024, 95% of them had over 40,000 followers. Of the rest of creators by reach (i.e. not the Top 10), fewer than 5% of them had 40,000+ followers. Obviously, this is a very strong relationship! But remember: the relationship only works one way.

Like we talked about:

‍Having a lot of engagement tends to create follower growth; having high follower count today, though, doesn't mean you'll keep that reach! Because the pie is shrinking.

It's true: your posts are first shown to an “inner circle” of people very likely to engage, then after that to a “medium circle”, and so forth. So your engagement rate is going to be really good at first, and then it's going to drop, as your reach goes up. But LinkedIn has clearly determined that just being a follower of someone doesn’t mean that you’ll see all their content, or that you want to see it every day. There just isn't enough dwell time to go around, as the number of creators rises. So the share of reach will become more and more unequal.

I remember that back in 2023 through early 2024, people were complaining about “only seeing the same people in their feed all the time”. This was valid! So LinkedIn has done a good job of adding feed diversity: you see more posts on certain topics, but not necessarily from the same people over and over. This complaint has largely gone away. (It's been replaced by other complaints, to be sure.)

The Data: Who is Gaining vs Losing Reach?

Our proprietary data show that some creators are gaining reach - sometimes, a LOT of it! - and some are losing. Most are in about the same ballpark as before, or slightly down:

We took that data and bucketed it:

• Fewer than a fifth of users are seeing declines of 50% or more in reach, year over year
• A little over a fifth are seeing 25-50% reach declines
• An eighth are seeing 0-25% reach growth
• One seventh are seeing 25-100% reach growth
• One seventh are seeing over 100%+ growth in reach

Wow: in other words, things are changing, but if you think the fact that there's less reach to go around means you're doomed? That is just not true!

👉 Recent Algorithm Updates (2025)

‍While LinkedIn has said they will soon down-rank engagement bait (e.g. “Please like/share!” or "Comment X to get Y" posts), we have seen that this is only partially true so far. The algorithm now better detects and has begun to penalize clickbait pleas for engagement, instead prioritizing posts that generate genuine discussions. Another 2025 shift is the increased emphasis on the first-hour performance (the “golden hour”) – if a post gets strong engagement quickly, it’s accelerated to more people’s feeds (beyond your immediate network) faster than before. This was always true, but it's even more true today. The corollary to this? Posts will either slow down much more quickly, such as after the first two hours; or, they will last much longer, such as a week or more.

In other words:

The first hour matters quite a bit, the first 24 hours matter less than before, and the days following a post are more important than before.

We'll get into engagement bait a lot more, in the next section.

One other thing to mention:

Hashtags Are Worthless In 2025.

Don't bother with them. There's some very marginal benefit to being found by creators who are searching for posts with particular hashtags, but this is going away in the AI age. For example, Aware's Influencer Discovery feature doesn't rely on hashtags at all, but rather programmatically defined Topics, Buckets, or Signals. LinkedIn's algorithm is working in much the same way.

1-2 hashtags probably won't hurt you, but why take up valuable real estate with them, when you could skip them?

My Take On The LinkedIn Algorithm:

2. Engagement is the Key To Increasing Post Visibility

Engagement is the currency of the LinkedIn feed algorithm. However, not all engagement is equal – LinkedIn values quality over quantity in interactions. Here are the engagement signals that most boost a post’s visibility:

• Meaningful Comments and Conversations: Thoughtful comments (especially from people in your industry or network) are the top signal of value. A post that sparks dialogue will outperform one with just reactions. The algorithm can tell the difference between a generic “Great post!” and a substantive comment that furthers the discussion, and it's getting better. Aim to get people asking questions or sharing perspectives that invite responses from you. In general, shoot for back-and-forth. When your post receives comments, reply and keep the conversation going – this not only builds relationships but also signals LinkedIn that your post is worth spreading.
  • 🚨 Ouch! Our data show that using automated engagement pods is likely to get you shadowbanned (in other words, your posts will be shown only to an extremely small set of people, unless your content already historically performs very well organically. We've routinely seen posts that we know are using pods get 100-200 reactions, but only 300-500 impressions. That stings.
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• Reposts Are The Best Signal: When people share your post with their own commentary, it extends your reach to new audiences. (Conversely, when you as a creator repost other posts with your own commentary, your repost is unlikely to see the light of day. Consider a "repost with comments" to be purely in service and support of the original author; this kind of post is not going to serve you, yourself.) Even more importantly, if those shares generate additional comments or reactions, LinkedIn interprets it as your content having broader relevance. So, encourage your audience (or team members) to repost with their insights added. A share that creates a new comment thread essentially multiplies the engagement value. But if your goal is to maximize your own reach? Cruelly, you shouldn't engage in this behavior in more than 5-10% of your posts.
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• Dwell Time: This measures how long users linger on your content. If people click “See more” and read your entire post or spend time watching your video, it increases the post’s rank. LinkedIn’s algorithm tracks time spent on a post as an indicator of interest. After all, their goal is to keep people in the feed to serve ads to them, so this makes sense. To improve dwell time, use formatting like line breaks or bullets to make posts easily readable, and deliver content that hooks readers early (so they click to read more). Rich media like documents or carousel posts that users scroll through also naturally boost dwell time.
  
  For example, this post has an intentionally difficult-to-read font size, unless the image is expanded. That's great for Sam! It means lots of good juicy dwell time on his post:

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• Reaction Volume and Speed: While comments carry the most weight, reactions (likes, celebrate, insightful, etc.) still count as positive signals. A higher number of reactions, especially in a short time after posting, tells LinkedIn people find the post relevant. The timing of engagement is crucial – the first 60 minutes after you post is often called the golden hour. Content that accumulates lots of engagement quickly in that window is more likely to be shown to second- and third-degree connections. This doesn’t mean you must get hundreds of likes in an hour, but it helps to post when your audience is active (so that initial engagement happens sooner – more on timing in section 4). The algorithm will continue to monitor engagement beyond the first hour, but that early boost can kickstart virality.
  • Personally, when my content gets <500 impressions in the first hour, I know that it's unlikely to do very well. But if it gets 1000+ impressions in the first hour, it's likely to have a really good second and third hour.
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• If You Engagement Bait, Make Sure You Deliver: As noted, LinkedIn now down-ranks posts that overtly ask for cheap engagement (e.g., “Like this if you agree,” or “Comment ‘YES’ for xyz”). The 2025 algorithm is trained to spot these and may even classify them as low-quality or spam, unless your audience responds very positively to what you deliver. Instead of baiting, focus on organic interaction. For instance, end your post with an open-ended question or call-to-action that genuinely invites opinions (“What’s your experience with this? I’d love to hear your thoughts.”) – this encourages replies without resorting to spammy tactics.

Lead Magnets - How Do They Work?

Speaking of asking for engagement:

We tested out a lead magnet post of roughly similar quality, format, and media roughly 10 months apart: May 2024, and March 2025. Here were the posts, and the stats:

March 2025 - The State Of LinkedIn

Results:

• 50,848 Impressions
• 330 Reactions
• 1,719 comments
• 9 Reposts

That's almost the same amount of comments, but a little over half the reach, of my similar post 10 months prior.

May 2024 - The B2B SEO Master Class

Results:

• 93,993 Impressions
• 280 Reactions
• 1,900 comments
• 5 Reposts

Summary, 2025 vs 2024 Lead Magnet Asset of Similar Quality:

• Down -45.9% Reach
• Up +17.9% Reactions
• Down -9.5% Comments

Curious! Now to be clear: I didn't find that this was a "worse" performance, at all. In fact, it felt about the same. The main difference is that fewer people saw the post, but the impact it had on my ecosystem and my community, was similar.

Conclusion: There was a moderate "reach penalty" around asking for engagement 2025 vs 2024. But the amount of engagement this generated was still far above average. While LinkedIn may "not want you" to post these kinds of formats, they still work.

Again: just make sure you deliver. Remember, user signals are an algorithmic proxy for people's trust in you. If you deliver, that creates trust and an algorithm boost for you.

Should You Comment On Others' Posts?

Engaging with others’ content can indirectly boost the visibility of your own posts. It also causes your profile to be seen up to 3x, 4x, or even 5x more on LinkedIn than the reach of your posts alone. When you regularly leave thoughtful comments on industry peers’ posts, you increase your profile’s visibility in those circles. Some of those people are likely to engage back on your content, completing a virtuous cycle. This means being an active commenter and participant on LinkedIn (not just a broadcaster of your own posts) helps the algorithm recognize you as a valuable contributor, which can lead to broader reach for your posts!

So: Does Engagement Help Your Reach?

YES. It does! While there are significant outliers, there is a strong correlation (0.57) between the quantity of comments you write, and the quantity of comments you receive. In fact, we’ve tabulated a number of correlations across this, and other, LinkedIn metrics and data points:

What is curious, but not surprising to us, is that Top Creators (defined as the top 5% by reach, in our 2024 study) are not adding that many new connections - they’re mostly adding followers. We also found it interesting that Reach was only somewhat correlated with the number of comments written. This aligns with our thesis that reach is volatile, changing every few months as the algorithm does, and is also not a very good predictor of actual business success. But engagement, especially high-quality engagement from the right people, IS a good predictor.

The chart below illustrates this with clarity:

I explore the data above, including what explains the extreme high and low outliers of the comments received vs written relationship (hint: the left end is “influencers who have so much reach they don’t feel they need to engage much, and the right end is “automated spam commenters who don’t add value”!), here on Youtube:

More data that has arrived from LinkedIn very recently is beginning to show the impact of commenting on Profile Appearances: in other words, how often your profile has been shown to someone on LinkedIn, anywhere. Some people are reporting that this number is 60% from comments, 10% from comments, etc.

But for my (Alex Boyd’s) profile for example, the number is 55.9% from posts, 41.5% from comments. To translate: almost half of the millions of times my profile is viewed each year, are from my comments. (And that’s not because I have low post reach: in the last 365 days, my posts have been viewed over 1.3M times.)

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Clearly, you can’t sleep on engagement if you want to grow on LinkedIn. Contribute to your market! And by the same token: post the kind of content that invites others to contribute, implicitly or directly.

3. Best Posting Strategies: Timing, Frequency & High-Performing Content Types

Getting the most out of the LinkedIn algorithm not only requires what you post but when and how often you post, as well as the format of content. Take this with a grain of salt, but here are best practices backed by LinkedIn data and social media studies:

1. Posting Frequency & Consistency‍

Aim for a regular posting cadence that you can sustain with quality content. LinkedIn’s own data shows that posting at least weekly can double the engagement rate compared to posting less often. Many find success posting about 1-3 times per week – enough to stay on your network’s radar, but not so much that quality dips. Consistency trains your audience (and the algorithm) that you’re an active contributor.

‍Avoid excessive posting in a single day, as LinkedIn may suppress posts if you don’t allow a ~12-hour gap between them. I find that if the quality is good, it's okay to post at - say, 8am and 4pm. The later post catches the wave of the other side of the globe waking up. But: it’s better to have one strong post a day (or a few per week) that gets good engagement than several sparse posts. Track your own analytics to find a sweet spot; some personal brands post daily, but for a business page or busy professional, twice a week of high-value content might outperform daily trivial updates.

But weekly is definitely better:

Our data show that, in 2024, those who posted at least weekly gained 9% engagement; those who posted less frequently than that, lost -25% median post engagements.

If you're able to design a content system that lets you post high quality content daily? All the better. Jut don't sacrifice substance.

2. Optimal Times to Post‍

As a rule, weekday mornings tend to yield the best engagement on LinkedIn, aligning with professionals’ work schedules. Studies have found that Tuesday 7–10 AM and Thursday around noon or early evening (post 5-6 PM) are particularly high-engagement windows for many industries. Mid-week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays) is often cited as the prime time for LinkedIn activity. Mondays can be hit-or-miss (some people catch up on emails first), and Fridays might see lower engagement in the afternoon as people log off for the weekend. Weekends generally have the lowest activity on LinkedIn for most professional audiences.

That said, know your audience – if you target, say, restaurant owners or healthcare workers, their schedules might differ. Use your Aware analytics or tools like Hootsuite’s “Best Time to Publish” to see when your followers are most often online. The key is to synchronize posting with when a critical mass of your network is scrolling the feed, to harness that golden first hour of engagement.

The Pattern of Engagement: Our own data at Aware, primarily from USA and Western Europe, show that there is a measurable spike in total and median post engagement starting at around 7AM Eastern Time, peaking at 8-9AM Eastern Time, and declining thereafter. This flattens out between 8PM through Midnight ET. Then, it picks up as Europe gets online, then peaking the next day, and so forth.

No doubt this data would be very different if our customer base were primarily based in Singapore, or Australia, or Japan, or Hawai'i, or somewhere else. But if you sell to the United States, this is very reliable.

3. Content Types That Perform Well‍

LinkedIn’s algorithm doesn’t just treat all posts equally – it has preferences based on format, largely tied to what keeps users engaged on the platform. As before, we'll share the general guidance and numbers, and then put them into context.

Here are some ideas on how to use each type of media:

• Text Posts with a “Hook”: A simple text-only post can go far if it’s well-written. Start with a strong hook in the first 2-3 lines to entice people to click “see more” (e.g., a surprising statistic, a bold question, or a compelling statement). Because lengthy thoughtful text posts often generate a lot of comments, they can perform exceptionally well. Make sure to break up long paragraphs (mobile users especially appreciate short, digestible chunks).
• Native Video: Video content began to see a surge on LinkedIn in late 2024, and is still heavily rewarded with impressions as of Spring 2025, though not as much as in Winter 2024. Due to extreme high outliers, LinkedIn videos reportedly get 5x more reach than text posts on average. A short video (e.g., 1-3 minutes) where you share a tip, demonstrate a product, or speak on industry news can capture attention. Even informal, selfie-style videos can perform great if they’re authentic and informative. Live videos (LinkedIn Live) tend to get high engagement as well – LinkedIn treats new features favorably, and live streams generate real-time interaction, which the algorithm loves.
• Images and Documents (Carousels): Posts with images generally get more reach – for example, LinkedIn data shows posts with images get 2x the comments of text-only posts. Infographics or charts relevant to your message can boost sharing. LinkedIn’s document post format (often used to create swipe-able carousel posts) is particularly effective for delivering value in a visual way. You can upload a PDF or PowerPoint and it becomes a slideshow in the feed. Creators use this to share things like “10 tips for X” or mini case studies – these tend to encourage dwell time as users scroll through. If you have data or step-by-step insights, a carousel can be gold.
• Polls and Interactive Posts: LinkedIn Polls (a built-in feature) often receive high engagement because they’re quick and interactive. Polls pose a question with multiple-choice options, which lowers the barrier for people to participate. When someone votes on your poll, it can appear in the feeds of their connections as well, amplifying reach. Use polls sparingly but strategically to drive engagement or gather opinions (which you can later post results from). LinkedIn’s algorithm does favor content that uses native features like polls, newsletters, or articles – the platform wants users exploring these tools​blog.hootsuite.com.
• Articles and Newsletters: While not directly in the main feed (a link to your article might appear in some followers’ feeds or notifications), long-form content like LinkedIn Articles can establish you as a thought leader and have long-term SEO benefits as discussed. If you consistently publish articles (or the new Newsletters feature), you might gain subscribers and see secondary engagement (e.g., someone finds your article via search and then connects with you or comments). That being said, as with other forms of content: if you're going to take on creating a newsletter series, I advise that you MAKE SURE you have the engagement base to support it. Do this once you are already getting lots of engagement, not as a means of getting lots of engagement.
• Avoiding External Links: If your goal is feed visibility, be cautious with posts that contain links to external sites. LinkedIn’s algorithm, like Facebook’s, tends to reduce the reach of posts that might take people off-platform (LinkedIn hasn’t outright said this, but creators have observed lower views on link posts). A common tactic: post a compelling teaser and mention “link in the comments” – then immediately comment on your own post with the link. This way, your main post isn’t flagged as an outbound link post, but interested viewers can still find the link. Also, consider using LinkedIn’s native article if you have a blog post to share; you can post it as an article on LinkedIn and then just share a snippet in the feed.

But: You Must Personalize All Of This To You!

For example, in my own content, my text posts have performed extremely well. So have my image posts. And this of course in part because the average is brought up by outliers:

The Format Conundrum: Is There A "Best"?

You might look at this and think: "But, didn't you just say that short form video was highly rewarded? Why is the video average engagement not very high?"

That's because of two things:

1. Just because short form video has the best chance of being included in LinkedIn's "reels-like" feature, it doesn't mean that all video is going to get more reach. In fact, video generally has lower reach than other forms of content, in part because of the way an impression is calculated for a video; and also because it's harder for some people to quickly skim a video. In other words: it's a commitment.
2. My video expertise gained steam toward the end of 2024. Whereas someone like Tiger Joseph as a video expert is naturally going to have a much different picture:

So is the idea that "video is better" or "carousels are better" or anything like that?

No!

Regardless of what the trends or overall numbers say: the important thing is to take into account

• what kind of content you are creating
• what your creative skills and gaps are
• what you have the capacity to hire for
• what your audience likes to consume

Maybe you're just a badass at carousels. Great. Do more of those.

Or maybe you just can't stand posting photos or screenshots or whatever, so you want to stick to text.

So be it.

Lean into your strengths.

Just to prove the point... here's Sam Browne's 2024 Wrapped Statistics:

He's getting INCREDIBLE engagement. 3X the average Aware user, almost. In total, at least.

My text posts, Sam Browne's carousels, Tiger's videos.... they're all playing to each of our strengths.

I rest my case.

4. LinkedIn Ads Algorithm: How Ads Targeting & Bidding Work

If you plan to use LinkedIn Ads to promote your business, it’s important to understand how LinkedIn’s advertising algorithm targets audiences and optimizes ad delivery. LinkedIn Ads are powerful for B2B marketing due to their precise targeting, but they can be costly, so strategy is key. Here’s a breakdown of how the system works:‍

1. Audience Targeting

‍LinkedIn’s ad platform lets you target users by extremely granular professional criteria. You can filter by job title, industry, company size, seniority, skills, interests, geography, and more. This means you can, for example, show an ad only to “Marketing Directors in Tech companies with 200+ employees in the US” or “HR professionals in healthcare in Seattle.” The algorithm will deliver your ads only to people who fit the targeting you set.

Precise targeting often yields higher quality leads (since the audience is very relevant) but note that it can also raise your costs due to competition for that specific segment. Conversely, broader targeting can lower costs (less competition) but might include less interested users. A best practice is to start with clear buyer persona criteria, then experiment by widening or narrowing the filters to find a cost-effective balance.

2. Ad Relevance Score

‍Behind the scenes, LinkedIn assigns a Relevance Score to your ads based on how well your ad is performing and resonating with the target audience. It takes into account factors like your ad’s click-through rate (CTR), impressions vs. interactions, and perhaps the relevance of the ad copy/creative to the audience. A higher relevance score means LinkedIn’s algorithm thinks users find your ad valuable. This score directly impacts the ad auction: ads with higher relevance are more likely to win placement and often cost less per click/impression because the platform rewards engaging ads. In practical terms, if two advertisers are bidding to show ads to the same audience, and you have a more relevant ad (higher engagement, better alignment to audience interests) than the other, you can win even if your bid is slightly lower.

This encourages advertisers to make quality ads, not just throw money at the problem. To improve relevance: make sure your ad messaging aligns closely with your target’s needs, use clear and professional visuals, and keep the content tightly focused on one offer or call-to-action. Also ensure the landing page your ad leads to is consistent with the ad (so users don’t bounce – LinkedIn tracks if people actually engage after clicking).

3. Bidding and Auction System

‍LinkedIn Ads run on an auction model similar to Google or Facebook. When there’s an opportunity to show an ad to a user, LinkedIn evaluates all advertisers targeting that user and decides whose ad gets shown. It considers your bid, your ad’s relevance score/quality, and your chosen bidding strategy.

LinkedIn uses a second-price auction, meaning if you win, you typically pay just a bit more than the next highest bidder’s bid, not necessarily your max bid. There are multiple bidding strategies:When you create a campaign, you’ll also choose an objective (like Brand Awareness, Website Visits, Lead Generation, etc.), and that can dictate which bidding options are available (for example, Lead Gen campaigns might allow cost-per-lead bidding). The algorithm will optimize delivery towards that objective – e.g., if you choose Lead Generation, it shows ads to people in your target likely to fill forms, whereas if you choose Website Visits, it optimizes for click likelihood.

• Maximum Delivery (Automated bidding): You let LinkedIn’s AI set your bids to spend your budget optimally. This aims to get the most results possible and will use your full daily budget. It’s simplest, good for beginners or if you’re unsure, and is the default for new campaigns​wordstream.com.
• Cost Cap (Automated with a target cost): You set a desired cost per result (e.g., $10 per click or $50 per lead). LinkedIn’s system will auto-bid but try to keep the average cost near your target (could fluctuate ~30%). This gives you some cost control while still auto-optimizing.
• Manual Bidding: You specify exactly how much you’re willing to pay per click or per 1000 impressions. You have full control, but it requires monitoring and adjustments. LinkedIn somewhat tucks this option away (indicating they prefer automated), but it’s available for most ad objectives if you look under advanced settings​wordstream.com. Experienced advertisers might start with manual bids low and increase gradually to find the point of getting impressions without overpaying.
• Ad Targeting Tools: Beyond basic targeting, LinkedIn Ads algorithm offers Matched Audiences which include retargeting and uploading lists. For instance, you can retarget people who visited your website (if you’ve installed the LinkedIn Insight Tag on your site) or upload a list of company names or email addresses and LinkedIn will match those to user profiles (handy for account-based marketing). These custom audiences often have high relevance since they’re not cold – the algorithm can prioritize these if you include them in campaigns, often yielding better conversion rates.
• Optimization & Machine Learning: As your campaign runs, LinkedIn’s algorithm learns which members are engaging with your ads. It will start to favor showing ads to segments of your audience that respond better. It’s wise to run campaigns for at least a couple of weeks to allow the algorithm to optimize (avoid turning them on and off too frequently). Also, run A/B tests: try different ad creatives or text to see which gets a better response. The algorithm will allocate more impressions to better-performing ads in a campaign (this is called optimized ad rotation). By refreshing underperforming ads and iterating on winners, you signal the algorithm with continually improving content, which can raise your relevance scores and efficiency.

4. Budget and Bidding Tips

‍LinkedIn recommends a sufficiently large daily budget (often around $50–100/day minimum) to gather data and let the algorithm work effectively. Costs on LinkedIn are typically higher than Facebook; average cost-per-click (CPC) might range $2–$7, and cost per 1000 impressions (CPM) around $5–$8, depending on audience competition. If you’re on a small budget, consider using manual bidding to cap bids, or focus on a very specific audience to avoid wasting spend.

Monitor your Campaign Performance metrics (like CTR, conversion rate if using Lead Gen Forms, etc.). A low CTR could hurt your relevance score, so tweak your ad copy or targeting if you see that. Aim for a CTR above 0.5% at least; on LinkedIn, 1%+ is quite good. By understanding these mechanics, you can let LinkedIn’s algorithm work for you – targeting the right professionals and optimizing delivery – without letting costs spiral out of control.

Overall? Our recommendation is to spend plenty of time dialing in your organic content foundations. The formats, media types, hooks, and - above all - the core message, the strategic narrative, that you want to take to the market. Once you have that completely nailed?

Awesome. Go nuts with boosting your posts with ads, running different types of ads, and in general focusing less on more content and more on how to scale.

Just don't put the cart before the horse.

5. LinkedIn Search & Profile Visibility: Ranking Higher and Getting Discovered

If you operate in a highly niche space where you are going to be discovered by people searching for someone who offers what you offer, rather than being found in the feed?

In that case: optimizing your LinkedIn presence isn’t just about posting content – it’s also about making your profile and company page easily discoverable through LinkedIn’s search algorithm. When users search for people (or services) on LinkedIn, you want to rank near the top for queries relevant to your business. Here’s how LinkedIn ranks profiles in search and how you can enhance your visibility:

• Complete and Keyword-Rich Profile: Much like Google SEO, LinkedIn’s search algorithm heavily relies on keywords. It scans all sections of your profile – headline, About summary, experience, skills, etc. – to match against search terms. To rank for terms related to your niche, strategically include those keywords in your profile. For example, if you are a social media consultant, your headline might read “Social Media Marketing Strategist | Facebook & LinkedIn Ads Expert” instead of just “Marketing Consultant.” The former packs in keywords someone might search (social media marketing, LinkedIn Ads) and instantly signals your specialties. Similarly, weave important keywords into your About section in a natural way (don’t just list buzzwords; contextualize them in describing what you do)
• LinkedIn’s algorithm can parse not only the dedicated Skills section, but also the text in your job titles and descriptions for relevant skills. So ensure your current and past job titles are clear (e.g., use “Project Manager – Healthcare Analytics” rather than a vague title), and in descriptions mention specific competencies (tools, techniques, certifications, etc. that are pertinent).

• Skills & Endorsements Matter: The Skills section is extremely important for search visibility. LinkedIn’s own engineers have noted that user-filled skills are key to visibility in searches by recruiters or others. You can add up to 50 skills – choose those that truly represent your expertise and that people in your field value. Skills act as keywords; if someone searches for “Adobe Photoshop”, profiles with that skill (especially with endorsements) will rank higher. Endorsements (when connections validate that you have a skill) and Recommendations add credibility. While LinkedIn hasn’t confirmed that having more endorsements directly boosts search rank, it likely influences profile strength and definitely influences human viewers to trust your profile. In any case, make sure your top 3 skills (which are most visible) are highly relevant to what you want to be known for. Pro tip: List your services on your profile (enable the “Providing Services” section if available for your profile type). Profiles that list specific service offerings (e.g., Consulting, Coaching, Freelance Writing) get a bump in search when those services are queried.
• Connection Degree and Network Factors: LinkedIn search results are personalized. Typically, people will see their 1st degree connections first (if relevant), then 2nd degree, and so on. This means that having a larger network of relevant connections can expand your visibility. For instance, if someone searches “Graphic Designer New York” and you’re a 3rd degree connection but another equally qualified person is a 2nd degree connection to the searcher, that person might appear higher. While you can’t directly control who is searching, by connecting with more people in your industry and region, you increase the chances of overlapping networks for searches. LinkedIn also sometimes filters or boosts results by commonalities (like if you and the searcher share a company or school, you might show up higher). So, being active in your industry community on LinkedIn (joining Groups, adding connections from events or mutual acquaintances) indirectly helps your search appearance.
• Profile Activity and Recency: Anecdotally, active users (who post content or at least engage regularly) seem to have their profiles show up more often. This could be because the algorithm interprets activity as a sign the profile is maintained and relevant. Also, if you have Creator Mode turned on and you list the hashtags/topics you talk about (e.g., “Talks about #FinTech, #Startups”), those topics may help you appear in searches for those keywords. Ensure those reflect your real expertise.
• Personalize Your URL and Headline: An easy win – customize your LinkedIn profile URL to be your name (e.g., linkedin.com/in/yourname). This is cleaner for sharing and might slightly help in Google SEO of your profile. And as mentioned, your headline is prime real estate for keywords – don’t waste it on a generic phrase. Use a formula like “Title | Skills/keywords | Benefit” (e.g., “B2B SaaS Founder | Growth Marketing & SEO Specialist | Helping Startups Scale”).
• Company Page SEO: If you have a LinkedIn Page for your business, optimize its tagline and About section similarly with keywords about your products/services. Company pages can rank in searches too, especially if someone filters by companies. Also, encourage employees to list your company as their workplace; more employee profiles associated can improve the company page’s credibility and visibility.
• Leveraging LinkedIn Search Appearances: LinkedIn provides a metric called “Search Appearances” (found on your profile dashboard) that shows how many times you appeared in search results in a given week, and it gives some insight like what companies those searchers work at and keywords they used. Monitor this. If the keywords listed are not what you expect, tweak your profile content to align with desired keywords. For example, if people find you by a technology you used years ago that you no longer focus on, you might de-emphasize that and add more of your current focus areas to shift how you get discovered.
• Stay Relevant and Up-to-Date: Finally, keep your profile updated. If you take a course or earn a certification, add it. If your focus shifts, rewrite your summary. A well-maintained profile signals to the algorithm (and to people) that it’s current. In 2025, LinkedIn wants to present active, relevant profiles in search results. As one LinkedIn expert put it, optimizing your profile with the right keywords and fresh content will “rank you higher in LinkedIn search results, making it easier for the right people to find you.” It’s like tending a garden – a little regular upkeep goes a long way in growing your visibility.

6. Networking & Connection Growth: Organic Tactics to Expand Your Audience

Growing your LinkedIn network organically is crucial for extending your content’s reach and building potential customer relationships. The larger and more relevant your network, the more people will see your posts (and the more opportunities will come your way).

But you shouldn't just spam connection requests, just because. In fact, doing that over time can cause algorithm confusion, where LinkedIn doesn't know what kind of creator or professional you are, and so it doesn't show your posts to the right people.

Here are best practices for audience growth:

1. Send Personalized Connection Requests Only If You Have Something To Say

‍When connecting with someone when you don't necessarily have a specific reason, don't add a note! Explaining who you are and why you’d like to connect is fine, if you have a reason they would recognize. Say, you met them at a conference or just spoke with them on a call. Fine.

If you're going to break this rule, always tailor it to them – e.g., mention a recent post of theirs you liked but you must be genuine. Your acceptance rate will be AWFUL if you try to use AI to craft your connect requests, if you disingenuously refer to their recent content but you haven't actually read it, or any such cheap tricks.

Over time, aim to connect with industry peers, potential clients, partners, and thought leaders in your space. Don’t add too many people outside of your industry; be strategic. Our advice? When you're first starting out, it's okay to focus on getting more connections that are even somewhat relevant. But above a few thousand connections and it's much better to try to

2. Engage with Your Connections’ Content

‍Networking isn’t just about adding connections; it’s about building relationships. Use Aware to craft a feed of specific people, industries, groups, or lists of profiles that are meaningful to you:

👉🏼 Don't have an account yet? Start a free trial today. Click the link on the top right to get going.

Drop meaningful comments, add to the conversation, build on what they said, congratulate people on their achievements, and message folks when appropriate (e.g., when something going on with them is relevant to a business purpose of yours; let's say they are hiring for a role that you know a candidate for, or they're talking about an initiative you have a lot of experience and can advise them on).

When you engage with others, you stay on their radar and often on the radar of their network (for example, your comment on a 2nd-degree connection’s post is visible to their network, with your headline; if it’s insightful, people might click through to your profile, leading to new connections). As highlighted earlier, commenting thoughtfully can “organically boost your profile” views and exposure. This is a genuine way to attract inbound connection requests too – people are more inclined to connect with someone who added value to their post discussion.

Remember how we talked about comments providing you anywhere from 2, 3, even 4X the Profile Reach of your posts? Yeah. That.

3. LinkedIn Groups Are Usually Terrible

‍Groups on LinkedIn are often centered around industries or interests (e.g., “Digital Marketing Professionals” or “HR Innovators Network”). But the trouble is, for whatever reason, they just have not really taken off. So they tend to be cesspools of spam, where no actual decision makers participate.

I do not, currently, know any successful professional LinkedIn users that consider groups to be anything more than a minor part of their strategy at best, and a distraction at worst.

So, take heed.

Now, if you are one of the extreme minority for whom a Group is working really well for? Please contact us. We'd love to interview you for this article!

4. Be Patient and Authentic

‍Real relationships take time, and they are largely built in private. You can and should begin them in public, and you can nurture them in public, but the 1-on-1 chats, whether these are zoom calls or coffee meetings or even exchanging voice notes in the DMs, are where the magic happens.

Avoid spammy behaviors like mass messaging new contacts with sales pitches (that can lead to people removing you or even reporting). You'll get blocked.

Instead, nurture your network by consistently offering help, insight, and engagement. Over time, you’ll find your follower count and connections growing through a mix of outbound effort and inbound interest. In LinkedIn’s eyes, this kind of organic growth, rooted in genuine professional interaction, is exactly what the platform is meant for – and the algorithm will keep rewarding your content as your network expands, creating a snowball effect.

One very annoying trend we are seeing about to start, in early 2025? Automated voice notes. It sucks, but the day has come. Be aware. This will be advertised to you. Don't use it.

7. Industry-Specific Considerations: Tailoring Your LinkedIn Strategy by Industry

While the core principles of the LinkedIn algorithm apply universally, there are nuances in how you might approach LinkedIn based on your industry or sector. Different industries have different norms and levels of activity on LinkedIn. Here are some trends and tips to consider:

• Professional Services and B2B (e.g., Marketing, Consulting, SaaS): These sectors have a strong presence on LinkedIn and typically embrace a mix of thought leadership and personal branding. To stand out, share insights and advice that showcase expertise. For example, marketers often post about latest trends or case studies, and this industry responds well to conversational content and storytelling (personal success stories, lessons learned) that spark engagement. Credentials - not academic, but work experience - are prized.
  
  Because these fields are crowded on LinkedIn, consistency in a niche is key – if you’re a HR consultant, regularly post HR tips or commentary on HR news to become “the HR person” people recognize. Also, don’t shy from using a bit of personality or even humor when appropriate; LinkedIn’s tone has become more informal over the years even for professionals. A marketing manager might post a meme about remote work that resonates widely – indeed, LinkedIn isn’t as “suit and tie” as it once was, and even a dash of humorous content can perform well if it’s workplace-appropriate.
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• Technology and Startups: Tech folks are very active on LinkedIn, and they tend to engage with content that is forward-looking (AI, blockchain, etc.), problem-solving, or community-driven (like supporting each other’s product launches). If you’re in tech, lean into demonstrating innovation – share quick demos, product updates, or thoughtful takes on industry news.
  
  Engineers or product managers might share lessons from projects or engineering culture insights, which do quite well as it establishes thought leadership. Also, tech audiences appreciate data – so if you can share statistics or research (even your own survey results), that content can earn shares. Hashtag communities like #DevCommunity or #TechAI might be relevant to follow and use. Tech startups also often leverage employee advocacy on LinkedIn: encouraging their team to share company posts or create content. This not only amplifies reach but can showcase your company culture (which helps in recruiting and marketing).
  
  The LinkedIn algorithm will favor content that gets engagement from employees and their networks, since that often means the content is interesting (plus employees are typically 1st-degree connections with others in the industry, creating a ripple effect).
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• Creative Industries (Design, Media, Fashion): These fields historically were more centered on visually-driven platforms like Instagram, but LinkedIn has a growing community of creative professionals too. Visual content is your strength – posting portfolios, project imagery, or even short design clips can set you apart in the LinkedIn feed (which has a lot of text posts).
  
  Use LinkedIn to narrate the business or strategy side of creative work (e.g., a designer might write “5 tips for client feedback management” alongside a project image). This positions you as not just a creator but a consultant who understands client/business needs. One nuance: some creative industries (like entertainment or fine arts) have less activity on LinkedIn, so you might repurpose some content from other platforms to LinkedIn with a professional spin, to tap into an unsaturated content space. Some say LinkedIn is a less inherently-visual network. And they're right. But with all kinds of media available to post, you have no excuse but to repurpose your visual media on LinkedIn! Why not?
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• Finance, Legal, and Heavily Regulated Industries: These sectors typically require a more formal tone and data-backed content. Though there are exceptions. Lawyers, for example, do well sharing explainers of new regulations, case law implications, or actionable compliance tips. In fact, posts that offer immediate value – like checklists or “Did you know?” legal insights – perform great for these audiences.
  
  Visual carousel posts summarizing a regulation or a flowchart of a legal process can attract saves and shares (people love handy reference guides). Because these industries might have to be careful about advice given publicly, make sure content is framed generally and helpfully, not as direct counsel.
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• Recruiting & HR: This group is extremely active on LinkedIn (unsurprisingly, as it’s a primary tool for them). If you are growing your network here, note that job-related content (interview tips, workplace culture topics, leadership and soft skills pieces) gets a lot of traction. HR professionals tend to engage with content about employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and recruiting hacks. Also, they often appreciate personal stories that are professional in nature (like a lesson learned as a manager overcoming a challenge).
  
  From an algorithm perspective, this industry forms tight-knit engagement pods (not in the spammy sense, but they rally around each other’s posts genuinely), so building relationships with a few HR influencers or engaging on their posts can plug you into that network’s feed circulation.
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In summary, know your niche. If it's what you live and breathe, this should be no problem! While the LinkedIn algorithm’s fundamentals remain constant, aligning your content strategy with your industry’s culture will help you ride the algorithm’s wave more effectively. Whether it’s the polished slideshows for consulting, code snippets for developers, or inspirational team photos for hospitality, choose content that fits your field’s vibe.

The algorithm will reward engagement from the community you cultivate – and that community will grow if you’re speaking to them in a way that resonates. Always stay updated on your industry news and LinkedIn features; early adopters of new content types (like LinkedIn Live or newsletters) in an industry often get an outsized share of attention, since the algorithm gives a slight edge to those trying new formats. Adapt and experiment, and you’ll find the LinkedIn algorithm in 2025 to be a powerful ally in building your brand and business network.

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8. Growing Your Business On LinkedIn (3 Paths)

Reach and engagement are not everything. In fact, they’re simply leading indicators of potential success: requirements to generate revenue from LinkedIn, but not predictors by themselves. You can’t grow revenue much at all, without any attention. This is basic marketing, and you can’t skip this step.

Yet while this may be oversimplifying, our analysis and experience show that there are broadly two aspects of someone’s public LinkedIn presence: the substance of their content (are they credible? have an accomplished background? speak intelligently about their field? engaging thoughtfully with their community?), and the production quality of it (well designed? mixed media formats? consistent brand?).

We have found that this quadrant largely explains a creator’s business results:

Let’s break that down.

What is necessary vs optional for growth?

In short: to grow a business via LinkedIn presence as the distribution channel, you do need attention. You get that, of course, by posting and engaging.

If you do a lot of consistent posting and engaging, AND the substance of what you are posting and engaging is high – meaning professionals in your industry or whoever you sell to think your contributions are relevant, meaningful, insightful – then you have a MUCH better chance at making a lot of money on LinkedIn.

So, substance is necessary for growing a real business. It’s not optional.

But you’ll have an even better chance of success if you combine a consistent, substantial LinkedIn presence with high production value. Thoughtful content AND excellent branding, copywriting, and media? That’s a mean combo.

What about if you post memes, pop culture and “pop workplace content”, and generally vapid stuff?

Well, then you’re unlikely to make much money from LinkedIn. You have a tiny but achievable shot at becoming a “huge personal brand” in terms of pure fame, and then you can sell sponsored posts, sponsored comments, and that kind of thing. But that’s not an asset you can really sell or exit for anything. And in general, you have a much lower ceiling.

The only way to get famous and make even medium revenue through vapid and unsubstantial content is through high production quality. Taking great pains to only post what is known to be popular, such as repurposing or even plagiarizing existing pop content from across the internet – and then ensuring your content is of a minimal reading level – is a clear path to LinkedIn fame, though not much revenue or business growth.

We don’t condone plagiarism, and we think copying others outright is both unethical and makes you look silly. But in terms of generating a medium amount of revenue with great effort, it does indeed “work”.

But the much clearer path to significant revenue, while mentally harder, is to draw on your authentic expertise and credibility to produce insightful and thoughtful posts and comments, and to come up with workflows to do that at some level of scale.

If you can introduce great branding and design to your presence? Even better.

The Paths to Growth: Recap

In short, here are the paths to business growth on LinkedIn, in order of likelihood of success:

1. Substantial, high quality LinkedIn content and engagement
   Typical Revenue Potential: High six to mid seven figures
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2. Substantial, casual quality LinkedIn presence
   Typical Revenue Potential: Mid six to low seven figures
   
   
3. Low substance but high gloss, high velocity content and engagement
   Typical Revenue Potential: Low six to mid six figures

Personally, I have long chosen path #2 above, and am slowly wrapping my head around moving to path #1 by investing in media and branding. Yet there are creators generating way more than I am, with minimal production quality.

There’s no one right answer.

There’s only one wrong answer: low substance, low quality. Obviously – if you’re not trying and not producing value, you’ll never succeed.

9. Algorithm-Friendly LinkedIn Creator Workflows

This brings us to a more practical discussion. How do you actually get all of this done? What are some steps you can take to create substantial content and comments, and to increase the production quality of your content? We’ll outline some beginner, intermediate, and advanced workflows at a high level.

Beginner Workflow

A simple beginner workflow involves focusing primarily on the substance of your content, while maximizing commenting over huge posting frequency.

Develop Messaging – Publish and Engage – Take Interactions Offline

1. Spend time coming up with your core message. You should be trying to say “one main thing” to your community. The common mistake is to think you should be saying different things all the time. That’s more confusing than anything. For me and Aware, that One Main Thing could be summed up as: “The way to succeed on LinkedIn is to grow a real business, distribute on LinkedIn, engage thoughtfully, and share your best insights freely – anything else is mostly burnout-inducing fluff.” We’ve then rephrased and reapproached that same exact concept from tons of angles. But if you’ve followed us or Aware you should be nodding your head, “Yep that’s what I’ve understood your perspective to be”.
   
   
2. Post about your core message at least weekly, and write 5-10 comments per day. Your core message should include all sorts of different stories, personal anecdotes, workplace conversations, business milestone announcements, so on and so forth. Your comments should be concise but thoughtful, usually between 10-40 words if possible, and written on the posts of people that are both reasonably active on LinkedIn, and relevant to the ecosystem you sell into (B2B marketing, corporate finance, shipping & logistics, whatever it is)
   

Be social, as if you were at a tradeshow. But digitally. If someone posts or comments something you find interesting or relevant, respond to them publicly. If it makes sense, consider sending them a direct message as a sidebar. You can suggest meetings or other offline interactions too – again, where it makes sense to do so. This should be seen not very differently from normal business networking behavior. You wouldn’t spam the same pitch to 100 people you meet at a conference, so don’t do that on LinkedIn either. Be a personable, thoughtful professional who is clearly developing their business but also listening actively and participating intentionally in their field.

To do this, consider using Aware (useaware.co) to analyze your performance consistently and learn where you can improve:

Intermediate Workflow

No surprise, but this is similar to the beginner workflow, just – more and better! As you wrap your head around the whole LinkedIn thing, get traction on your content and your message, build followers, and start to close deals and generate revenue, you’ll be motivated to take things to the next level.

1. Refine your messaging with learnings. You’ll have learned a ton from market feedback on your initial message. Take that feedback and use it to reforge your messaging to make it better.
2. ‍More publishing, more engaging. Post 2-3x/week instead of weekly: generally but not necessarily, 9:00AM - 11:30AM ET, or if you’re in Europe, about 6:00AM - 8:00AM CET. Write 10-15 comments per day just before your post for the day goes up. Consider using Aware (useaware.co) – that’s our product! – to create targeted Engagement Feeds. You might realize that you can write 20-30 decent comments in just fifteen mins a day, and it becomes a nice little engagement ritual for around the time your post will be published:

Start to improve your design. Get a branding specialist to create a consistent color scheme, look and feel, and even a design kit for your content. Also at this stage, you might hire a consultant or agency to come up with topics, ghostwrite content for you, and/or improve your hooks.

Advanced Workflow

Building on the Intermediate workflow, Advanced LinkedIn presence starts to involve more operational work in a few different areas, with the goal of chasing multiple millions of revenue per year from LinkedIn:

1. Content Ops. When you move to posting 5-7 times per week, it’ll be necessary to take your strategic core message, break it into distinct themes and topics, take each topic and flip it into different media types, and then repurpose all of those over and over, to get the sheer amount of content you need without going crazy. Basically, it’ll look a bit like this, every 6 months:
   - Topic 1, Theme 1, Carousel
   - Topic 1, Theme 1, Video
   - Topic 1, Theme 1, Text
   - Topic 1, Theme 2, Text
   - Topic 1, Theme 2, Image
   
   
2. Media Richness. This is where you’re combining substance with production quality. Consult with a video expert to build out a studio in your home or office with high-quality video gear, and begin integrating cinematic quality video into your content process. You’ll need a fractional video editor, video consultant, and possibly an on-camera-presence coach. On the static media side, your visuals can go from “consistent and cohesive brand presence” into “truly impressive graphic design”. Your carousels might get longer and more involved. You might shoot a full scripted commercial, in-depth funny skits where you make fun of your industry, or host an interview series with prominent people in your industry.
   
   
3. Extensive industry presence. This is way past just your own profile: you’re being interviewed on podcasts, you’re speaking at live events both virtually and in-person (but using the content for LinkedIn, of course!), and you’re beginning to potentially coin a new term for the industry-wide paradigm shift you’re spearheading.

If that sounds intimidating: don’t worry. Go step by step. Start small. It’ll be okay :)

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10. Preventing Burnout

Before recapping everything we’ve talked about so far in the State of LinkedIn, the Top Creator Difference, the Paths to Growth, and the Creator Workflows, let’s address a disease that afflicts many people who embark on this path:

The deadly illness of extreme LinkedIn burnout.

Burnout Kills This Process

The worst thing you can do to yourself in this process is to jump the ladder too quickly. You say to yourself, “I’m going to go straight to the top of the Intermediate level”. You resolve to produce high quality content every day. You’re armed with Justin Welsh’s fancy course, you have a content matrix, you’re going to write copy and create the heck out of carousels and videos and infographics and…

Suddenly, before you’ve given yourself any time to breathe and actually invest time in the people you’re supposed to get to know and work with, from LinkedIn… you’ve gone and given all of your energy to going through the motions.

Remember: the purpose of LinkedIn is ultimately to reach, meet, and build high-quality relationships with the right people. People you want to partner with, work with, or serve as your clients. People take time to build trust with you, so this won’t happen overnight. It will probably take a few months of consistently posting weekly and engaging with at least some consistency, to start seeing tangible results: inbound leads, quality connections, valuable conversations you wouldn’t otherwise have had.

If you dump the tanks of trying to learn, brand, message, write, publish, and engage right out of the gate, your chances of burning out and giving up too soon, before the process has had room to work – are very high.

Maybe you’re the type of person who, once you learn a system, can wholeheartedly commit to it in the face of any obstacle, for several months, investing time and money into it without seeing an immediate return. If that’s you – power to you. You may disregard this advice. But if you’re like most people? Give yourself time. Start slow. Ramp up. Get help. Allow yourself to take notice of the initial traction you’re getting, before you triple and quadruple down into it.

The growth of a personal brand on LinkedIn that fuels the growth of your company and digital assets – and ultimately, your wealth and richness of your career – is not something you should try to take lightly and to achieve in a very short period. Slow and steady as they say. (Medium and steady is fine, too. But don’t push it!)

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Closing Thoughts: The LinkedIn Game

LinkedIn is diverting more attention away from Organic and into ads, which is natural and not surprising. Their advertising revenue growth data, and our own proprietary research at Aware, confirm this to be true. That means the algorithm is changing. But crucially, the way to grow a business has remained fundamentally the same. While both intermediate and top creators, and Aware users, have a much better chance of having grown their presence over the last two years, the bar has indeed been raised for attention and engagement that used to flow more freely.

At the same time, while reach and engagement are good and necessary things to build LinkedIn into a valuable distribution channel for your business, remember that the point of this is to build a real business. Not just to get attention for the sake of it. That means you should be focused on reaching the right people with a substantive message, and engaging with your community and ecosystem, first and foremost. Only then does it make sense to start investing more time and money into production quality, gloss, video, and agency and consulting help.

And remember that preventing burnout and not moving too quickly through these steps is an essential part of making this whole process sustainable, especially when results typically don’t come immediately. We want to thank you immensely for reading this article, engaging with it and with us, and for being a great human. We hope this helps, and we wish you good health and a prosperous future. And we hope to be able to play a part in your growth and prosperity.

Very best,

- The Team at Aware

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Sources: The insights and recommendations above are based on LinkedIn’s documented best practices and analysis from 2024-2025 social media reports. Key references include LinkedIn’s own algorithm explanations, Hootsuite’s 2025 LinkedIn algorithm guide, expert commentary on engagement signals, Aware's data on posting times and engagements, Neil Patel’s 2025 LinkedIn Ads cost breakdown, and LinkedIn SEO advice from marketing experts​. These sources and LinkedIn’s own platform updates have informed the best practices in this report, ensuring the strategies are up-to-date and effective for the current algorithm.