We’re big fans of LinkedIn Ads here at Clix. It’s one of our core channels for many reasons, including stellar audience targeting options like job titles, accounts, seniorities, etc. For our B2B clients, it’s a must. So, we’re always looking for new ways to test, learn and improve! Our amazing LinkedIn reps recently cued us into the Share of Feed metric. There isn’t a lot of information about this metric from LinkedIn directly or other online sources. I’ve done my best to investigate it to learn more about what it is and more importantly, how it impacts our clients’ ads.
Feed Definition
This might seem obvious, but it’s wise to define this. Every social network has a “feed.” The LinkedIn feed allows users to share updates, articles, photos, and videos with their connections and followers. However, not all shared content appears in every user’s feed. It can’t because there are just too many options out there, especially on the size of your network, number of groups you belong to, etc. LinkedIn uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine which content to show to which users, based on their interests, engagement history, and other factors.
What is Feed Ranking?
Feed Ranking is the algorithm that LinkedIn uses to determine which posts, updates and ads appear in a user’s news feed. It is designed to prioritize content that is most pertinent to users. When content is posted, the Share of Feed Ranking determines how relevant and interesting each post is to each user to know who get the “share” of the space in the feed. The Share of Feed Ranking is based on a number of factors including:
- Relevance: The algorithm considers the relevance of the shared content to the user’s interests, skills, and job title. For example, if a user is a marketing professional, the algorithm will prioritize content related to marketing.
- Engagement: The algorithm also considers the engagement history of the user. If the user has engaged with similar content in the past, the algorithm will prioritize similar content in their feed.
- Quality: The algorithm considers the quality of the shared content, such as the authenticity, uniqueness, and accuracy of the information presented.
- Source: The algorithm considers the source of the shared content, such as the authority and credibility of the publisher, the popularity of the author, and the publisher’s historical performance on LinkedIn.
- Recency: The algorithm also considers the recency of the shared content. Recent content is given more weight than older content.
Based on these factors, the algorithm assigns a score or rank to each piece of content. The higher the score, the more likely the content will appear in the user’s feed. The algorithm also takes into account the user’s engagement history with the content, such as likes, comments, shares, and views, to further refine the feed share ranking. Other platforms do this as well as it assumes if others are engaging with the content, you will too.
To ensure that users receive a diverse range of content, the algorithm also limits the number of times a user sees content from the same source or author in a given period. This prevents members from being overwhelmed with content from a single source and ensures that the feed is more diverse and engaging.
How Does Share of Feed Ranking Impact LinkedIn Ads?
Simply put, your ads are evaluated the same way as other content, using the same algorithm. If your ads aren’t deemed relevant, engaging, or quality, they will get a lower ranking. That means other advertisers reaching the same audience with a higher rank will be given a higher rank and therefore, higher priority, than your ads.
Additionally, if your ad appears in a user’s news feed but is surrounded by irrelevant or low-quality content, it may not receive the engagement and clicks it needs to be successful. On the other hand, if your ad appears in a highly-engaged and relevant news feed, it may receive more engagement and clicks, leading to better results.
How Can I Improve Share of Feed Ranking for my LinkedIn Ads?
- This might sound obvious, but make sure your content is stellar. If it’s not relevant or engaging, it’s going to rank lower.
- Make sure your message is clear with a strong CTA. If members don’t know what your ad is about or what to do, they can’t interact with it!
- Test your images! This is what stops users as they are scrolling through their feed and is usually the most compelling!
- Be sure you’re targeting the right audience or test audiences if you aren’t sure. This can make or break results.
- Create an “always on” or “evergreen” strategy. This one is key and I could go on for a while about this but here are a few key points.
- It keeps you regularly in front of your audience, building brand recognition.
- It lets your audience decide when to convert.
- It gives you more room to test, test and test some more.
- You get to build more remarketing audiences for further development and testing.
- It also keeps an edge over your competitors so they don’t get in front of your audience.
LinkedIn Share of Feed Ranking Bottom Line
Advertisers who optimize their LinkedIn Ads based on the above-mentioned factors will impact their Share of Feed Ranking and increase their chances of success on the platform. Period. If you have reps, ask them to pull your client’s rank vs their competitors! It’s helpful and provides insights into what you can be doing better and more consistently!
