I Hacked LinkedIn

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Friday mood, or how I hacked LinkedIn…

Are you reading this? That means you clicked …see more, so the headline caught your attention.

Now for the official part: This week, another paper of mine in English was published in a journal with a fairly good impact factor. End of the official part.

In theory, this is another professional achievement that would be worth posting about on LinkedIn. What would that look like?

  • An announcement (see the official part);
  • A link to the paper (an external resource);
  • An image of the journal cover, downloaded from the publisher’s website.

LinkedIn would immediately downrank a post like that because of the external link. The drab cover would not grab anyone’s attention. The text would not spark any comments. A couple of people would tap Like. In short, the post would not take off.

Let me fix that.

First, I need to deal with the link to the paper.

For anyone interested, I have already added it to the Publications section of my profile.

Are you still reading this? So you did not rush over to my profile? Somehow, I am not surprised…

Fine, I will post the link in a comment. But…

If the author is the first person to comment on their own post, LinkedIn downranks it. So please, somebody comment on this post. But…

A comment that is too short might be mistaken for a bot, so write 5–15 words first, and then I will post the link. But…

Comments are shown by relevance by default. So, besides the link, I will write something like this in my comment too. And please like my comment, so it definitely gets shown.

Does that not feel like too many “buts” just to publish a link?

Now for the visuals. To avoid being downranked, the content needs to be original, engaging, and short. I have just the video—from my recent birthday celebration. What does it have to do with the post? At this point, I really do not care.

So, the final result:

  • A compelling headline;
  • No external links;
  • Original text presenting me as an expert;
  • Visuals that are fire—in every sense;
  • I even crammed some bullet points into the text;
  • And here is #FridayMood—a hashtag for good measure.

LinkedIn, I have a question for you: am I right in thinking that, in your view, this is exactly what the perfect post about a professional achievement should look like???