When is the Best Day to Post on LinkedIn?

When is the Best Day to Post on LinkedIn?

by | Feb 18, 2022 | Business Intelligence & Analytics, Insights, Paul Ferguson

When is the Best Day to Post on LinkedIn?

&Marketing, and marketing, outsourced marketing strategy

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For most companies, LinkedIn is the most important social channel for their overall awareness and lead generation efforts. Yet so many organizations (we’re even guilty sometimes) just blindly post without knowing when they can best reach their audience. “When is the best day to post on LinkedIn to ensure my audience sees and engages with my awesome content?” is an age-old question and has layers to it.

But the good news is, we now have access to data that can help us answer that question. So, when is the best time to post on LinkedIn?

Well, the TLDR version of the answer is – it varies based on your audience. However, we at &Marketing don’t particularly love that answer. We also like to dig a little bit deeper and have some fun by leaning into data and building fun dashboards. So when we were posed this question, we decided to create something new that could give us an answer and potentially add to our Business Intelligence services. Here’s what we did and learned.

While you might generate some leads and back into your business goals with this approach, you’ll likely just be wasting time and money when you could be working smarter, not harder.

However, with all of the tools and data out there, it can be overwhelming or down right impossible to even know where to begin and how to leverage all of these glorious resources. Therefore, we’re going to help you find the elusive needle in the hay sack and show you three tools &Marketing leverages to save time, stop guessing, and still generate big results for our clients (and ourselves).

Business Questions to Answer:

  1. When is the best day to post on Linkedin for audience engagement?
  2. What days drive the most users to our website?
  3. Which days generate the most goal completions on our website?
  4. What type of posts generate the most engagement?
  5. What days have the best goal conversion rate?

Data Used:

We gathered three years of LinkedIn data from a combination of sources. 

  1. We used a combination of Supermetrics post data (posts, post date, images, outbound URLs, likes, comments, shares, etc.) (Sidebar: Supermetrics is a tool that aggregates data from multiple sources and brings it to your go-to reporting, analytics, or storage platform.)
  2. We took our own LinkedIn acquisition source data from Google Analytics (LinkedIn traffic, pages, goal completions, users, etc.)
  3. We used LinkedIn data from LinkedIn itself (Post content, engagement, etc.) to gather information about our audiences (unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn’t break down post data by audience demographics which would’ve been super cool. Get on that LinkedIn)

Methodology:

Taking all of this data, we built several dashboards via Microsoft Power B.I. to help us mine through the 500+ LinkedIn posts and the thousands of website sessions from LinkedIn. These dashboards helped us easily uncover insights that could apply to our business questions.

Pro Tip: Do NOT use Bitly links with your LinkedIn posts. It makes it harder to match up the data with your Analytics.

What We Uncovered

After sifting through 500+ posts and all of our LinkedIn analytics data, here is what we uncovered:

 

  • When is the best day to post on LinkedIn for audience engagement?
    For us, it is Wednesday. 38% of our most engaged posts occur on Wednesdays, encompassing roughly 33% of all our LinkedIn engagement. Interestingly enough, only 16% of all of our posts are released on Wednesdays. The day we post the most? Tuesday, closely followed by Thursday. Our least engaged day? Sunday. However, we don’t post a lot on the weekends, as both Saturday and Sunday only make up about 8% of our LinkedIn posts. The weekday with the least engagement is Friday.
  • What days drive the most users to our website?
    Since 2019, LinkedIn has driven about 5% of all our website traffic. Based on the above, one would assume it would be Wednesday. However, Tuesdays barely eked out Thursdays and Wednesdays for the most traffic to our site. Even though our Wednesday posts generate more clicks, it’s the type of post that is driving those clicks (more on that in a second). Tuesdays are generating 20% of all of our LinkedIn traffic, which means posts on Monday and Tuesday are driving the most people to our site. The post that received the most traffic was our work culture post. However, the most engaged users are users who come to our site from LinkedIn on Wednesdays, as they have the lowest bounce rate, visit the most pages, and have the longest time on site.
  • Which days generate the most goal completions on our website?
    Since 2019, LinkedIn is responsible for 9% of all our website goal completions. The day that drives the most overall goal completions is Tuesday, followed closely by Monday, which shows that the information we’re posting on Mondays and Tuesdays is more geared towards our audience taking an action on our site. 67% of all the goals generated from LinkedIn on our site are job submissions, which means our audience is highly engaged with our company and is passing along our open positions. Tuesday is also the day most responsible for non job related goal completions, think downloads or contact us.
  • What type of posts generate the most engagement on LinkedIn?
    As we stated before, Wednesday drives the most engagement, but not necessarily the most users to our site or overall goal completions. This is due to the type of posts we’ve generally posted on Wednesdays. Our most engaged LinkedIn posts are cultural posts. Our post on Women’s History Month generated almost 3 times as many clicks as the next post, which was also cultural and focused on Martin Luther King Day and our volunteer efforts. Our three most engaged posts on Tuesdays deal with inviting people to our webinars or a webinar recap, which serves to drive people back to our site.
  • What days have the best goal conversion rate?
    Though only making up 14% of all goal completions, Saturday posts have the best overall goal conversion rate of 8%. But these users only make up 8% of our LinkedIn traffic. Sunday is around 7%, but again, users only make up 7% of our LinkedIn traffic. What does this mean? We simply just don’t post enough on the weekends. Mondays make up 16% of our LinkedIn traffic and have a 6% goal conversion rate, which is the highest conversion rate for a weekday.

    What Does All This Mean About the Best Day to Post on LinkedIn? 

    We’d be silly to look at all of this data and just say, “we’re doing great!” We now have actionable insights that will help us optimize our organic LinkedIn strategy. What can we do based on the above is:

    • Take advantage of high engagement days. Post more content that drives people back to our site on Wednesdays, Tuesdays, and Mondays, as these are the days that:

    1. Our audience is most engaged with our LinkedIn content and engagement with our site.
    2. Have the best conversion rates on our site.

    • Shift our cultural posts to lower engaged days like Friday and make sure we’re driving people back to our site via a blog post or video.
    • Experiment posting on the weekends more often to take advantage of high conversion rates. Though there is not a lot of traffic from LinkedIn on these days, the quality of traffic is clearly strong and engaged. Our assumption: those who are getting on LinkedIn during the weekend have the spare time to actually explore and engage a little.

    As we mentioned in the beginning, everyone’s audience and social presence is different, so this data may be vastly different than what you uncover. The important takeaway is that all of this data is FREE and available to you via LinkedIn and your Google Analytics. When thinking about and crafting your organic social strategy, don’t neglect these valuable insights. Lean on them to make your LinkedIn presence felt by the most people. Don’t waste your valuable time just posting randomly without actually figuring out what works.

     

    Want &Marketing to perform a free analysis of your LinkedIn? Contact us today! 

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    About the Author

    Marketing Director Paul Ferguson helps clients develop fully integrated marketing solutions that make impressions and drive results. Whether it be design-oriented campaigns or digital market execution, Paul skillfully creates strategies to effectively reach client’s desired audiences. Follow Paul on LinkedIn.

    About &Marketing

    &Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

    Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’ growth goals?

    We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

    Lessons Learned in a Leadership Laboratory

    Lessons Learned in a Leadership Laboratory

    by | Feb 10, 2022 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Insights

    Lessons Learned in a Leadership Laboratory

    &Marketing, and marketing, outsourced marketing strategy

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    This blog was originally published at: https://mynetworkmag.com/2022/01/lessons-learned-in-a-leadership-laboratory%e2%80%af/

    After more than 25 years of working in different functions across various companies, managers, and geographies, I have come to learn a lot about leadership.  By no means am I an expert, yet I pride myself in practicing, watching others, and seeing how leaders’ actions impact the actions of others.  Maybe call me a student of leadership.

    Personal and professional life is a leadership laboratory. Every day, there are opportunities to further develop and grow your capabilities. I have learned over the years it isn’t about making big decisions or what books you read or quote, but more about how you engage, inspire, and energize people, helping them maximize their contributions.

    Below are some of these key learnings, many of which I have learned from my heralded leaders. In these somewhat tumultuous times of the “Great Resignation,” I hope something here strikes a useful chord to help you help your people.

    Treat people like people.

    “Walk the floor” and take time to know your people and what they are working on. Be authentic, sensitive, caring, and even vulnerable. Recognize that employees have unique work-life balance needs and support them in pursuing them. Remember – no matter your rank or role, we are all human.

    Communicate often, broadly, effectively.

    Never assume communications transfer correctly. Don’t hide behind electronics – balance verbal, visual, and electronic forms of communication. Read the room and look for the unspoken words via body language – bring disengaged people into the discussion. Praise in public, but provide constructive feedback in private. Performance discussions should be ongoing.

    Trust, empower, delegate, and take ownership.

    Engage the “bowling alley bumpers,” but let your team “bowl!” Be there to coach along the way, showing your team you are willing to get your hands dirty too. Empower others to own their world, but you are responsible for the team’s outcomes. If the team succeeds, it’s “we” succeeded. If the team fails, it’s “I” failed. Do your best to not be the holdup for things your team is trying to accomplish.

    Be humble; keep your ego in check.

    Always remember where you started. Put yourself in the shoes of your employees, shoes you likely wore somewhere along your path. Allow your employees to make mistakes and seek to fully understand when they do. Recognize when you may be at fault for a misstep and seek to correct it with proper communication, training, and support. Your job as a leader is to serve, not be served!

    Use appropriate energy, stay nimble.

    Know when to have a garden hose and when to have a fire hose – not every situation requires the same energy. Surround yourself with talent that complements your strength and development areas. Tap into each person’s individuality and talents to maximize overall team success. Embrace change, and always remember your role in helping others around you through that change.

    Align your team.

    Usually, teams struggle most because of a lack of alignment, primarily when this occurs at the highest levels of an organization. Always do your best to get team members bought into the mission, especially as it relates to internal and external customers.

    Mentor others.

    Take the time to mentor and train others, be it at work and/or in the larger community. I have always found added energy and personal joy in helping others be successful. And if you are being honest with yourself, you know you got to where you are in part because someone helped you.

    Be a good neighbor.

    Giving back to the community has long been a part of my personal mission. Engaging your team with the community and allowing them to give back through donations or volunteerism is a powerful way to unite and build a team.

    Build bridges, stay connected.

    Careers are long, and you never know when someone from your past turns out to be part of your future. I have also learned repeatedly that the fastest path to go from “A” to “B” sometimes requires you to pass through “C” first, where “C” involves bringing other people along for the journey.

    Some days will feel like a giant experiment – you can find a winning formula, or things may just blow up in your face! People are variables. The daily challenges of work are the constants.

    As I continue my own leadership journey, I know that wherever I go, the art, science, and language of leadership remain the same. I will do my best to keep these life learnings in front of me as my guide, and I hope they serve you well too!

    About the Author

    Eric B. Luftig is currently the Managing Director of EBL Consulting, LLC. Prior to this position, Eric held various Senior Leadership positions at Victaulic, Nordson, and General Electric across Operations, Engineering, and Commercial functions. Eric’s Teams have a long-standing history of delivering business growth and receiving industry recognition for their efforts. Eric currently also serves on the Advisory Board for “Lafayette College’s Dyer Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship” and as a Senior Advisor to the “&Marketing” consultancy firm. He is also the recent past Board Chair for Valley Youth House and also served on the Boards of LVEDC, Northampton Community College, and the State Theatre of Easton. Eric’s strong leadership and commitment to the community through these and several other organizations led him to receive a Spirit of Volunteerism award in 2018 from the Volunteer Center of Lehigh Valley, PA.

    About &Marketing

    &Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

    Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’ growth goals?

    We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.

    Why Your Content Marketing Plan Needs a Solid SEO Strategy

    Why Your Content Marketing Plan Needs a Solid SEO Strategy

    by | Feb 9, 2022 | Business & Marketing Strategy, Dexter Burgess, Insights, Marketing Planning & Execution

    Why Your Content Marketing Plan Needs a Solid SEO Strategy

    &Marketing, and marketing, outsourced marketing strategy

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    Most businesses are starting to learn the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) and why it matters, though developing a content marketing strategy optimized for SEO turns out to be a much more difficult task. Not only do businesses need to do quality research, content must be clear and engaging for their target audience. 

    By having a combined SEO and content marketing strategy, your business can maximize the time it takes to begin receiving quality traffic through organic search while driving valuable conversions on your site—meaning the right people are visiting and taking action.

    What is an SEO Content Marketing Strategy?

    A content marketing strategy is an organized plan to drive organic traffic and convert quality visitors into leads through publishing and distributing frequent and highly engaging content. The most effective content marketing strategies pair SEO research and tactics with content that addresses your audience’s needs, builds trust, helps them solve a problem, and encourages them to take action toward resolving their challenges.

    How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy in 3 Steps

    A content marketing strategy is a roadmap that combines SEO research, marketing planning, and creation and distribution of content. Here are the most important steps in creating a content marketing strategy:

    Step 1: Research SEO Keywords to Target through Content

    Content marketing starts with researching SEO keywords that you will target through quality content creation. Think about your business and what services you offer and utilize tools, like SEMRush or Ubersuggest, that help you understand the search market. 

    In most cases, you will want to target keywords that generate several monthly searches and have low competition. In other words, lots of people are searching Google for those terms and phrases and not a lot of other businesses are targeting them, too. These terms also need to harmonize with:

    1. Your products or services
    2. The specific problem those products and services solve for your customers
    3. What your audience is searching for in order to help them solve that problem

    It can be a fun challenge to hunt down the right terms, and our data team loves spending time finding the right ones for our clients! Once you have identified your keyword targets, prioritize and plan with a content calendar.

    Step 2: Create a Content Calendar

    Without a content calendar, your content marketing strategy will be inconsistent and difficult to maintain. Content calendars can be simple, but most importantly, the calendar must establish content topics and keywords, due dates, and goals for the content. As a baseline, &Marketing recommends posting one new blog per month, though if time allows, two blogs per month is the most optimal. 

    Struggling with planning? Check out our sample content calendar inside our marketing planning workbook to help you get started.

    Download our Marketing Planning eBook

    Step 3: Write Engaging and SEO-Optimized Content

    Once you have planned your content, activate your writing superpowers. Ensure that your target keyword appears in the title, first header, and first paragraph of your content, while making sure that your target audience will be engaged with your words. This may be the trickiest part of a good content marketing plan, as you are writing for both robots (Google) and humans. 

    In addition to good grammar, keep engaging storytelling top-of-mind while you write. Channel that favorite high school English teacher of yours and make sure your article has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Finally, be clear about what you want your reader to do when they finish reading. Should they move on to another piece of content? Download a helpful guide? Call you? Buy a product? Tell them what to do next, or they’ll do nothing at all (aka leave your website).

    Don’t forget to post your content on all social media and share through email! 

    Need help with the process?

    SEO and content marketing plans, although they require time and planning, have the potential to drive high quality organic leads for your business. Hold yourself accountable by creating a content calendar that sets your keyword targets and establishes due dates for your content creation. If you have questions or need help with any part of the process, reach out to us! We can guide you through keyword research, help provide topics for your calendar, or even execute the entire plan for you.

    If you’re curious about some of the keywords and how they might perform, try our content marketing ROI calculator to truly understand the Return on Investment content marketing can provide your business.

    Try our Content Marketing Calculator
    About the Author

    Marketing Manager Dexter Burgess takes the lead on implementing new tactics and promoting change through data-driven strategies. Dex works hard at client relations through consistent communication and positive feedback, never settling until the customer is understood and happy. 

    About &Marketing

    &Marketing provides the robust outsourced marketing department growing companies need without the high overhead costs of big agencies or full-time employees. Our variable model empowers businesses to reach their growth goals through access to the guidance and expertise of senior level strategists and a flexible execution team.

    Are you facing challenges of your own in generating leads and meeting your business’ growth goals?

    We’d love to learn more about your challenges and how a coordinated marketing approach might help take your organization to the next level.