Is LinkedIn on your marketing to-do list for 2025?
Competition on LinkedIn is increasing as more people are realizing the power of the platform. At the same time over the past year users have seen a significant drop in both reach and engagement of their LinkedIn posts due to changes in its algorithm. LinkedIn is increasingly favoring active users with real connections over users who only use LinkedIn as a means to broadcast their content.
Here are a few things to think about for your 2025 LinkedIn strategy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Even if you haven’t subscribed to a specific AI service or purchased a stand-alone AI tool, AI is being integrated into every piece of software and online application. It is even being integrated into LinkedIn.
But with the rise of AI comes more demand for authenticity. AI is not a substitute for human interaction, including on LinkedIn. According to the experts, your best bet is to not use AI tools to interact with others on LinkedIn (think auto-generated comments, invitations to connect and messages), or even to create your LinkedIn content. While AI may have its place in helping you to generate ideas or refine your message, it is the human element of your LinkedIn activity that will get you the best results.
Most people who are serious about using LinkedIn are using it to develop business relationships, whether those relationships are with clients, referral sources or collaborative partners. They are using LinkedIn to find and connect with people who can help them in their business. No one is on LinkedIn to read AI-generated content or to interact with a bot. Allowing AI to interact for you diminishes both you and the person with whom you are trying to connect.
Although LinkedIn has incorporated AI tools into its platform, LinkedIn doesn’t want AI to interact for you on the platform either. LinkedIn wants users to stay on the platform as long as possible. The longer you stay on the platform, the more ads you will see, and advertising is one of the main ways LinkedIn makes money. Similarly, the longer you stay on the platform, the more ways LinkedIn can convince you to sign up for one of their premium subscriptions, another way LinkedIn makes money. Bots don’t buy from advertisers and can’t be convinced to subscribe.
LinkedIn needs real human users to engage on the platform. As a result, generic, unhelpful content, or content that doesn’t align with what is on your profile, is likely to be disfavored. Your posts don’t have to be perfect––in fact, it may be better not to be perfect. Don’t be afraid to post a video that isn’t flawlessly produced or a photo that hasn’t been professionally edited. They are more genuine; they show that you’re human. As LinkedIn’s help section notes, “members, not AI, power the best engagement on LinkedIn.”
Is it more important to have a huge network of connections on LinkedIn, or a smaller number of connections that you interact with regularly? Is it better to post frequently, or to post higher quality content?
In the past, you may have heard that the larger your network on LinkedIn, the better because your content would reach more people. But now LinkedIn is taking more steps to reduce or eliminate spam. For example, LinkedIn is now limiting the number of invitations to connect that you can send out in a given period of time. As a result, you need to be more strategic in who you invite to connect with you on LinkedIn. LinkedIn uses your connection list to determine who to show your content to; if your connections are not largely made up of your target audience, the people you want most to see your content may be missing it. Consider following someone you are interested in forming a connection with first and interacting with their posts before sending a connections request.
Spend time developing a strategy for how you will interact with new connections after your invitation is accepted. Put more emphasis on conversations in your direct messages and on leaving thoughtful comments on new posts. Don’t think of direct messages as a way to offer your services directly to a LinkedIn connection; instead, focus on establishing a relationship with them and getting to know them.
These activities focus more on connections than on trying to game the system or on the current LinkedIn algorithm. But it is still important to share ideas and information with your LinkedIn audience. Since your content may be seeing less organic reach on LinkedIn than it has in the past, your 2025 strategy should be to get laser focused on your target audience and their needs, and to tailor your content to those needs.
Since brand new connections see a larger percentage of your posts, think strategically about your recent connections and what content might interest them. Make sure that what you post showcases your experience, is relevant to your work and helps your target audience accomplish their goals. Ask whether your posts and comments add value to the conversation or contribute a perspective others might not have considered.
LinkedIn learns user preferences. The more a user engages with a particular type of content, the more they will see that content type. . Because your audience is likely to engage with different types of content, you will want to vary the type of content you post to reach all of the members of your audience. Change it up between video, long-form and short-form posts, articles and images.
LinkedIn company pages are seeing even less reach than posts from personal profiles. But that doesn’t mean that you should forget about your firm or organization’s company page. Company pages can be found in organic searches outside of LinkedIn and will be visible if someone searches on your firm or company name on LinkedIn. When someone lands on your company page, you want them to find the most up-to-date information, not a single post from a year ago.
Company pages increase your firm’s footprint online and can help boost traffic to your website. Having a LinkedIn company page can also help you reach a wider audience for your events and service offerings, as well as being a way to engage with clients, employees and referral sources.
Given the limited reach of company pages it is important for all your employees to engage with the company page and share the content posted on the company page. It is much more likely that your firm or business’s posts will be seen when they are shared by your employees than they will be seen directly from your company page. Company page administrators can now also comment on other users’ LinkedIn posts directly from their feed, bringing more visibility to the page and to the firm.
LinkedIn has recently rolled out premium company pages with new features that are not available to free users. New features on premium company pages include company highlights that show why your firm is different, a custom testimonial that appears on your company page with an image, a custom call to action button and automatic invitations to help you grow your company page followers. The cost as of this writing is approximately $100/month with a discount if you pay for an annual plan. As with LinkedIn premium accounts for individual users, there is a 30-day free trial if you want to test it out.
If you want to get the most out of LinkedIn in 2025, get clear on who your LinkedIn audience is, focus on sincere interactions and post relevant, quality content to respond to their needs.
