LinkedIn Sharing vs. Posting

The LinkedIn publish a post option has been active for almost two years but is just starting to get more widespread use. For those that don’t know what a LinkedIn post is, you can think of it as a blog post that resides in a blogroll of other LinkedIn posts on the LinkedIn site. Sharing and posting on LinkedIn sound like the same thing but each offers its own advantages.

Let’s start with the simpler of the two, sharing. Sharing is the tried and true version of listing information on LinkedIn. Due to the character limitations it’s often advantageous to link to a document or a webpage. For instance, a share might be an event with a link to a registration page or the title and link to a blog article on your website. The power of sharing is the simplicity of the information you are providing and an opportunity to move to a platform with specific calls to action that reference that share.

Posts are better suited for lengthy information or content designed for a larger audience. There are not character limitations so posts can get much more in depth. Assuming you have sufficient content to warrant a post, it has three primary advantages over sharing. The first is that your content will be provided for a larger audience as anyone reviewing the LinkedIn posts blogroll will have access to your content. The second is that the information will be served up directly on LinkedIn without the need to entice a click or secondary navigation. The third is that posts will be featured into the future on your profile (shares are available for only about a month).

The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive either. For example, an article could be posted on LinkedIn and then shared through an individual and/or a company account.

In both cases, review your shares and posts for solid calls to action. Simple shares should provide a straightforward idea of what you are communicating and an obvious navigation to take advantage of the offer or information. Posts will obviously have more content but should similarly include a next step or offer that correlates to that content.

It’s valuable to use sharing and posting as intended because it makes it easier for your audience to get to your marketing communications and take action on them with a solid call to action.