💡 The LinkedIn Post Matrix

Your LinkedIn (and other) content will fall into one of these categories. Choose wisely.

The LinkedIn Post Matrix

LinkedIn has become a can't-miss platform for publishing professional content.

There are a lot of folks out there offering advice on how to build a LinkedIn content strategy. They focus on content clusters, post frequency, strategic engagement with other accounts, and other people's content.

All great. All important.

But the one part of the equation that many people skip is giving proper consideration to what type of post each post will be.

Whether you know it or not, every time you post on LinkedIn, you choose to put your genius post into one of four buckets on the LinkedIn Post Matrix. Knowing these categories will help you to be more deliberate with how you craft your content, and how you track which types of posts are most effective for you.

Here's my breakdown of the four types of LinkedIn posts including:

• What it's called

• What it communicates to the reader

• What it asks the reader to do

• The relative content value (how much readers are likely to care)

• The relative CTA (call to action) value (how readers are likely to care about the action you're asking them to take in your post)

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(1) 💪 Flex posts

• 👉 What it communicates: I won this award. I gave this speech. I am so productive. I am so successful.

• 👉 What it asks you to do: Look at me. Pat me on the back.

• Content value (for the reader)= low🔻

• CTA value (for the reader) = low🔻

(2) 👀 Promotional posts

• 👉 What it communicates: This is my product/service/event/company. It’s awesome.

• 👉 What it asks you to do: Buy it/try it/apply for it/call me.

• Content value = low🔻

• CTA value = high🔺

(3) 🤔 Thoughtful posts

• 👉 What it communicates: Here’s an (often high-level, general) insight, observation, or new perspective that you might find interesting.

• 👉 What it asks you to do: Think about it yourself. consider sharing your own perspectives and experiences.

• Content value = high🔺

• CTA value = low🔻

(4) 💡 Informative posts

• 👉 What it communicates: Here’s some information (tool, recommendation, playbook, etc.) that I have that you might find valuable + actionable.

• 👉 What it asks you to do: Learn this/use this/try this to move ahead in a tangible, quantifiable way.

• Content value = high🔺

• CTA value = high🔺

A couple of quick thoughts based on this premise:

• I'm not post-shaming. There’s a legitimate time and place for all four types.

• Some people try to mix and match within the same post. They'll write a 'thoughtful' post for example, and then quickly end it with a 'promotional' CTA to call them or hire them as a guru/consultant. Curious if this approach converts well.

• Buckets 3 and 4 are self-sufficient. You can probably get good engagement and reach by only posting this content. But 1 and 2 get old quickly if left to fend for themselves. So share as many insights and tactics as you want. Don’t talk only about yourself.

• This isn’t exclusive to LinkedIn content. You can apply these categories to most other content that is created on other platforms.