What Builds Your Brand
(And What Kills It)
You may be creating genuinely stellar content, but if you don’t know what fuels your visibility (and what kills it), your brand-building efforts will stall before they start.
#samsales Consulting • Brand & GTM Strategy • Reading Guide
Why this matters to building your brand
Having given hundreds of training sessions and keynote speeches on the topic of LinkedIn, there’s a consistent reaction each time we lay out how the algorithm works: frustration that they didn’t know these sooner and that they had been making mistakes for years.
Think of it this way: you’ve been running on the treadmill for six months in an effort to lose weight but were eating a pint of ice cream at the same time. Had an expert only told you sooner…
But there’s good news!
The algorithm isn’t nearly as much of a mystery as people often make it out to be. Below are some of the strategies that drive reach, our hacks that help signal you know what you’re doing, and the answers to some of the questions we hear most.
Visibility · 01
How to Get More Impressions on Every LinkedIn Post
“…see more” matters most
One of the key indicators to LinkedIn that you have interesting content is your ability to get this clicked and the forthcoming dwell time from the member on the post.
Your hook is your hero
So how does one get “…see more” clicked?
The hook (read: the headline/first 2-3 lines of text) is the most critical part. Don’t bury the lede here. Use the 2-3 lines available to showcase the strongest hook possible and pull readers in.
Dwell time = 4.9 seconds or more
The average dwell time on a post is 4.9 seconds, and the average dwell time on top-performing content is 32 seconds.
How far members can push a post above the 4.9 seconds is what they should chase. BUT longer posts don’t always mean higher dwell times.
Dwell time includes the time spent commenting on a post, if anyone comments at all.
A short post with a meme could perform just as well as a longer educational post if the audience sticks around longer. The key is: how does your content prompt a member to engage?
Readability (and scannability)
Attention spans are increasingly shorter so consider using short, scannable paragraph blocks to increase dwell time and avoid losing people in dense paragraphs.
Teach something specific
The posts that teach are the posts that will continue to succeed. It’s not teaching WHAT to do, it’s also teaching HOW to do it. The best way to earn an audience’s attention is to give them tangible, actionable value as often as possible.
As an example, a post that discusses giving great client service won’t get a lot of engagement, but one that says as much and lists three specific and/or unique ways to do so will have a higher chance of succeeding.
Penalties · 02
The Algorithm Penalties That Are Killing Your Impressions
Tagging multiple people in a post – post’er beware
Tagging one member? Have at it.
Tagging multiple? Make sure they know the post is citing them and send a link their way as soon as it’s live.
If 50% of our tagged audience don’t engage in the first hour, LinkedIn assumes the post is spamming them for artificial reach and will kill the further trajectory of your post.
Using words like “sign up,” “subscribe,” “register,” “link,” or including links in posts
All of these signal to LinkedIn that the author of the post is hoping to take people away from LinkedIn. This is counter to the behavior LinkedIn wants, which is to keep its members on the platform for as long as possible.
Be especially aware of using links with UTM/source codes, which signal deliberate diversion of members from LinkedIn.
Pro tip: Add a comment to your own post and put the link in the comment; for extra credit, have a team member do it instead of you as LinkedIn penalizes members for being the first to comment on their own post. The post can then later be edited after the first hour to include the link.
Can you elaborate on the links in posts?
First, some back story on LinkedIn’s revenue model. Ad spend is the primary driver of the company’s revenue and has been for nearly a decade, as of Microsoft’s 2026, Q3 earnings report.
In order to sell ads, they drive members to come to the platform as frequently as possible and stay as long as possible. Thus, dwell time is a critical metric.
When authors use links in their posts, they suggest an intent to drive their audience off the platform, and LinkedIn throttles the post to only 10-15% of the audience it would have netted without the link.
There are, of course, exceptions to this outcome, and influencers with large networks may still drive decent engagement, but never to the volume of their non-linked content.
You may also consider, “Well, 10-15% of my audience is still a great outcome – I’d rather they click the link than have to search for it.”, which is a common thought.
Note, still, that click-thru-rates (CTRs) are at an all-time-low, and the optics of a low performing post may outweigh the benefits of getting a handful of clicks.
Finally, you may have heard LinkedIn’s narrative that links don’t hurt your reach. Consider that LinkedIn has political capital to protect and has additionally admitted to not understanding how its own algorithms work. If you listen to the positioning of the language around links when formal statements are made, you may find that there’s some strategy in the words used, as well.
Instead, decades of research and reports across many agencies continue to support the practice of not including links in your posts.
Editing in the first hour
Making an edit within the first hour will suppress the post.
That said, the timing has changed over the course of the years, and there’s a long-standing debate on whether it’s still a full hour.
To err on the side of safety, our recommendation remains to wait, even if it’s painful to stare at a typo you didn’t see in the six times you proofread it.
Deleting a post that has typos and re-posting within an hour
Avoid this practice as well. We haven’t been able to nail the logic on this one yet, but we’ve seen the subsequent post get throttled time and time again. Patience pays off here.
Reposting vs. reposting with your thoughts
When you do the latter, your post won’t see the light of day, and yes, we find it as maddening as you do that LinkedIn even offers it as an option.
When members repost with their thoughts, it nets them 10-15% of the actual reach they’d get. Why? Because the algorithm is built with the extreme in mind. For example, say five people posted original content and the rest of the world reposted that content with their thoughts. The platform would be dull.
Further, the credit of engagement should go to the original author, not the member who reposted it and thus created a new post.
Despite the rules not being published, it wants to encourage members to either comment on the post or repost without their thoughts. When they do the latter, anyone new who sees the original post will engage with that original post and continue to give support to the author of the original piece.
While your action is an honor for the author, it doesn’t help them in the way you likely intended.
Again, to benefit the author, simply repost without thoughts. You can join the conversation by adding a comment to the original post instead.
Using an auto-share platform
Again, LinkedIn values two things over all else: how many times members come to the platform and how long they stay (their dwell time). So when members use an API-connected platform to share content, they don’t need to log in or stay on LinkedIn, thereby sharing content while skipping the steps LinkedIn cares about the most. That content is then throttled by LinkedIn. Give it a try – share a post directly on the platform and you’ll see it soar in comparison.
Using excessive hashtags
Hashtags have become a relic on LinkedIn, but there’s still a way to use them wisely.
Previously, members could follow hashtags and use them strategically in their posts to attract new audiences. Then, the algorithm changed and if members used more than five in their posts, the content would be suppressed as spam.
In the end, LinkedIn removed the ability to follow hashtags, and when they’re still used, it gives the impression that the author doesn’t understand how the platform works.
The strategic use, however, is around hashtags that are created and affiliated specifically with a theme or pillar of that author’s content.
For example, if you follow our CEO, Sam McKenna, on LinkedIn, you’ll see she always signs off on her posts with #samsales. You’ll also see her use ones like #LIEB or #perfectdiscoverycall. If a reader found a post with that # helpful, they can click on it and be directed to a whole host of content just like it.
Timing · 03
Best Time (and Frequency) to Post on LinkedIn
There’s no perfect day to post
If you’re working with an expert who tells you there is, it’s an easy red flag on their expertise. If everyone posted at the same time, the site would flood with traffic, just like an interstate during rush hour, and posts would struggle to be seen.
Members should vary the time they post throughout the morning and day, but post at a time when the audience they’re targeting is online. For example, if targeting the West Coast of the US, don’t post at 8 am ET, and if targeting the UK, don’t post at 5 pm ET.
Members can also consider posting later in the morning hours, if they’re on the East Coast of the US, as total online users will be higher given that more of the country is awake/online.
And while there isn’t a perfect time, there are some strategic plays members can put into practice.
If not posting often, avoid Mondays. It tends to be the highest traffic day of the week = more competition for your content.
Save a strategic post for the weekend. Execs spend an average of 42 minutes on LinkedIn on the weekends – reading, connecting, DM’ing. This is your time to get their attention.
Posting more than once every four hours
In the old days of LinkedIn, posting more frequently = additional visibility, but it’s no longer the case. In fact, posting daily may hurt your reach and oversaturate your readers. But consider that if you post 2x a day, you’ll want to space the posts out to have at least four hours between them, otherwise the second post will get killed.
That said, members can also use this tip strategically if they’re required to post something they’d rather not be widely seen. Just post it an hour or two after your first post of the day 😉
Posting at the same exact time each day so my followers know when to look for my content.
Unless you’re an A-list celebrity, I don’t think anyone is paying attention to any of our content that closely.
Consistency is key!
The platform rewards a consistent presence. It’s beneficial to post at least 2x per week.
Engagement · 04
How to Boost LinkedIn Post Engagement
Asking a question in the post to fuel engagement
This can work, potentially. Questions like, “Who else am I missing?” or “What do you most struggle with when working from home?” can be seen as engagement-bait, and often have an adverse reaction, not only on the success of a post, but on a member’s credibility as an author.
Questions can drive engagement if they’re authentic in nature. Perhaps a member shares a best practice with AI or something new that’s come to market, and they’re genuinely curious about how others use it. In these cases, it makes sense to ask, but be careful to use sparingly vs. consistently.
Ten comments in the first ten minutes
The goal is still to get ten comments on a post within the first ten minutes. And, no, we wouldn’t recommend members doing ten of their own comments. We would recommend engaging with the audience right away and using questions strategically here. If someone recently engaged with a post and the author replies quickly with a comment, they increase the chance that they’ll answer and increase their comment count quickly.
Conversation threads for the win
When a comment is dropped, the reply starts a conversation thread, and the algorithm loves to see these continue. So, tag in friends here, ask relevant questions that spark discussion, or even close the point with a simple, “…right?” which often prompts someone to reply again…which lets the author reply again. Before you know it, there’s a conversation thread AND four comments, just like that.
Keep going
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FAQs
FAQs
Tap any question to expand the answer.
Are AI-written posts penalized?+
While we think it’s too early to tell if AI-written posts are being actively penalized, note that copy-and-paste AI-generated content is easily spotted. It’s important to ask yourself, “Do I want my brand associated with a shortcut?” If there’s one thing not to outsource to AI, it’s your own thought leadership. The last thing you want is to sound like the C- average of the internet.
Should I delete old posts that performed poorly?+
It’s hard to watch a post flop, we know. But lower-than-ideal numbers don’t always mean failure. You never know if your next big client screenshotted that post and just didn’t engage. Leave it!
Is LinkedIn’s native scheduler safe to use?+
Yes! LinkedIn loves everything you do directly through the platform. Just remember that being present and engaging, especially around your post time, gives your posts a boost.
Can I post more than once per day?+
Sure, but consider too if the additional content you’re sharing that day is truly that important and/or beneficial. If it is, go ahead and post, but wait until at least four hours following your first post, and be mindful not to post too late in the day, as you might miss the online/engagement window.
Does the algorithm penalize me if I disappear for a while?+
This is not a concept we’ve been able to prove and see it as more of a myth than anything.
How do you decide whether to share an image with a post?+
When used thoughtfully, images can be real amplifiers (who doesn’t love to see your beautiful face?!). But should you share an unrelated selfie with every post? Probably not. Images can lead to higher engagement as your audience scrolls by and reacts to the photo, but sometimes it means the accompanying content doesn’t travel as far if people don’t also stop to leave thoughtful comments.
If a post flops after the first hour, is it dead?+
Not necessarily! While the first hour a post goes live tells the algorithm how interesting it is to your followers, it’s still possible for a post to gain traction down the line if “the right people” see it at “the right time.”
Assuming the user you’ve tagged engages with your post fairly quickly, it can help. Commenters bring the posts they’ve engaged with to their own feeds. So comments from a large account can mean more eyeballs on your post. But don’t forget… no spamming!
Is reposting your own content worthwhile? Can it hurt you?+
You’ll see creators do this relatively often, but it’s not a best practice, and can again harm your image and credibility by trying to artificially create more reposts of your content.
Should I like my own post?+
No. You should not like your own post.
Should I comment on my own post from multiple company pages I own?+
More often than not, no. We see this recommendation violated frequently. An author will post their content, struggle to get engagement, and jump in with five accounts to engage with it right away.
Not only does it feel a touch desperate, rather than letting the content stand on its own, it’s also building a negative brand for the author.
Does LinkedIn Premium give my content a boost?+
It does not. Premium is often not worth the expense and often make sense to either remain on the free version or level up LI Sales Navigator.
How often does the algorithm change? How do I keep up?!+
We can’t anticipate how often this changes or what those are, but we study it daily on behalf of our clients, and are as close to the speed of changes as a firm can be, given our ties to LinkedIn. To stay on top of announcements, subscribe to our newsletter here.
Do some reactions carry more weight than others?+
Different reactions, as in a like vs. a heart, have no weight differential. However, comments and comment types do. See our notes on conversation threads in this document.
What’s the typical lifespan of a post?+
As of the latest publishing of this article, we’ve seen as long as four weeks.
If a post tanks, does it affect the reach of my next post?+
It can if it’s a repeated occurrence as it suggests you aren’t connecting with your audience. LinkedIn will automatically surface your content less so that it fills member feeds with content that engages them. That said, it occasionally happens that a post tanks on day one and accelerates on day two, or that one net-new comment from an influencer sends your post soaring.
Are carousels worth it?+
It depends. They can be worth it to stop the scroll and increase dwell time, but the quality of the content will matter in the end. Ultimately, what matters with every post is: who is your audience and what is your targeted outcome?
Does tagging a large account help my reach?+
Tagging a large company page neither hurts nor helps your efforts. Tagging a member with a large following can help if they happen to engage, but won’t do anything to help otherwise. Please also refer to our notes in this article around tagging multiple people.