LinkedIn Growth and Metrics: Encouraging Salespeople to Share More Links

LinkedIn wants sales professionals to share more links in their posts. How would you get them to do it, and which metrics would you use to judge the effort? ### Clarifying Questions - Why does LinkedIn want more links from this group: more useful content in the feed, more value for salespeople reaching buyers, or something else? Links also send viewers off LinkedIn, so the reason matters. - Which links count: articles from other sites, the salesperson's own company content, or content hosted on LinkedIn such as articles and newsletters? - Which sales professionals are in scope: early-career prospectors, account executives, sales leaders, or everyone in a sales role? ### Part 1 — Drive more link posts Explain how you would get sales professionals to post more links on LinkedIn. ```hint Look at one share Picture a salesperson who comes across a useful article and does not share it, and list what stops them and what they would gain if they did. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - The goal behind more link posts, including the tension between feed engagement and viewers leaving LinkedIn - Sales-professional segments compared, with one chosen and the reason - Barriers to sharing links, and solutions prioritized with explicit criteria ### Part 2 — Choose the metrics Say which metrics you would look at to know whether the effort works, and how you would read them. ```hint Separate count from value Decide which metric shows that more links were posted and which ones show that the posts were worth it to the poster, the readers and LinkedIn. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A primary metric tied to the goal, defined precisely - Guardrails for feed quality and for viewers, not only for posters - How the metrics would be read in an experiment, given that posts reach members outside the test ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal clarified before solutions, including whether more links is the end or a means - Solutions that fit how salespeople work and what they are rewarded for - Awareness of side effects such as promotional spam, lower feed quality and traffic leaving LinkedIn - Metrics that connect posting behavior to value for posters, viewers and LinkedIn ### Follow-up Questions - Link posts rise, but viewers' feed engagement dips slightly. What do you do? - How would you keep the push from producing a wave of thin sales pitches? - How would your plan change if LinkedIn wanted the links to point to content hosted on LinkedIn rather than other sites?