Do LinkedIn Pods Work? (Or Are They Principally Embarrassing?)

This previous November, I made a decision to do an experiment. I needed to see if LinkedIn pods truly labored or in the event that they have been only a waste of time.

For these of you who don’t know what a LinkedIn pod is, it’s principally a bunch of people that agree to love, remark and have interaction with one another’s posts. The idea is that by doing this, your content material will likely be boosted by the LinkedIn algorithm. So, I made a decision to affix a number of pods and check it out for myself.

I’m not essentially a longtime LinkedIn thought chief with 1000’s of followers, however I put up about my writing work on a reasonably common foundation and have even gotten a number of purchasers by way of LinkedIn. So a number of extra followers and engagements with my posts undoubtedly wouldn’t harm.

Right here’s what I discovered from my expertise with LinkedIn pods.

• Amplify the attain of your content material
• Make it easier to get extra engagement in your content material (likes, feedback, shares)
• Provide prolonged networking alternatives
• Interact staff to assist your model

The idea is that LinkedIn favors posts with extra engagement, so if you may get extra likes and feedback, your put up will carry out higher.

That is particularly necessary as a result of the LinkedIn algorithm divides content material on the platform into three varieties:

1. Spam: Posts with dangerous grammar, too many hashtags, or accounts that put up too steadily could also be marked as spam.
2. Low-quality posts: Posts that don’t observe greatest practices, or don’t get sufficient engagement, will likely be labeled “low-quality.”
3. Excessive-quality posts: Posts which can be straightforward to learn, encourage questions, and incorporate robust key phrases will likely be labeled high-quality and, due to this fact, will likely be proven to extra customers on LinkedIn.

The query is: is engagement sufficient to make a put up “high-quality” within the eyes of the LinkedIn algorithm? I got down to put this concept to the take a look at.

Learn how to be a part of a LinkedIn pod

There are a few other ways to affix a LinkedIn engagement pod.

First, you can begin your individual pod by creating a bunch message thread with LinkedIn customers you’d wish to pod with. We’ll name this a guide LinkedIn pod.

Second, you need to use LinkedIn-specific pods, the place you be a part of LinkedIn teams centered on creating pods. Search “LinkedIn pods” or “engagement pods” in your LinkedIn search bar and see which of them relate to your business.

There are additionally third-party apps like lempod particularly constructed for automating LinkedIn engagement pods.

Lastly, LinkedIn pod teams exist on different social media websites. There’s the LinkedIn Development Hackers pod on Fb and varied different pods on platforms like Telegram.

Methodology

I experimented with all 4 varieties of engagement pods to see which of them labored greatest. I used a special LinkedIn put up for every methodology in order that I may precisely monitor any variations in engagement throughout strategies.

Right here’s a breakdown of that course of.

Handbook pods: I used a weblog put up on scheduling Instagram reels.

Earlier than the experiment began, I had 12 likes, 487 impressions, 0 shares, and a couple of feedback.

LinkedIn-specific pods: For this methodology, I used a weblog put up I’d shared on recession advertising.

Earlier than the experiment began, I had 5 likes, 189 impressions, 1 share, and a couple of feedback.

Automated LinkedIn pods: I used a put up I wrote for Hootsuite on social media share of voice.

Earlier than the experiment began, I had 2 likes, 191 impressions, 0 shares, and 0 feedback.

Cross-platform LinkedIn pods:

I used to be not capable of be a part of any cross-platform pods, so no posts have been used right here.

Handbook LinkedIn pod methodology

I began off by making a guide LinkedIn pod of my very own. I selected a small group of my author associates (as a result of they perceive the analysis course of) to pod up with. I despatched them a fast message outlining the technique and inspired them to work together with one another.

Fortunately, they’re all good sports activities, and I instantly began receiving a barrage of LinkedIn notifications displaying the assist of my buddies.

I additionally instantly observed some new (stranger) accounts creeping my LinkedIn profile.

And I even bought this message from a random “LinkedIn” worker (fairly sure this was spam).

That every one occurred in simply a few hours!

LinkedIn-specific pod methodology

I additionally joined a number of LinkedIn group pods centered on digital advertising and social media.

The variety of members actually diverse in these teams. One had over 1,000,000 members, on the others had only a few dozen. I selected a combination of high-member pods in addition to a number of smaller ones. If self-importance metrics have taught me something, it’s that simply because lots of people are in your circle, it doesn’t imply they’re truly paying consideration.

A number of the pods I discovered in my search have been described as inactive, so I stayed away from these.

Of all of the teams I joined, Sport of Content material was the one one which appeared to have common posts from different customers.

The foundations of GoC have been fairly easy:

There is just one put up ever current within the group, and it’s made by an admin. They repopulate this put up each couple of days so it stays related. Group members can then touch upon the put up with their LinkedIn put up hyperlink and different members are supposed to have interaction with them.

As I went by way of the weekday put up feedback, I did see a number of folks replying to feedback with phrases like, “Executed! Right here’s my hyperlink.”

After I clicked by way of to their posts, I may see likes and feedback from those self same group members.

So, yeah, this was working. A minimum of when it comes to garnering extra likes and feedback.

I went in and adopted go well with, partaking with posted hyperlinks and commenting with my very own hyperlink after I used to be executed.

And I slowly began to see engagement reciprocated by myself posts.

Automated LinkedIn pods with lempod methodology

I additionally put in the lempod extension on my Google Chrome browser. lempod gives a digital market filled with LinkedIn engagement pods you may be a part of.

I joined a number of pods centered on digital advertising and social media.

The primary one I used to be accepted to was known as “Content material + Social Media Advertising pod”. That appeared related.

I instantly posted the hyperlink to my put up. As soon as I shared the hyperlink, the display opened as much as a giant graph, with an inventory of individuals “Members who will have interaction” and “Members who’ve already engaged.”

I cross-checked the “Members who’ve already engaged” tab with my precise put up.

And, yep. Certain sufficient, these customers have been now proven as new likes on my put up.

Inside only a few minutes, my impressions had grown from 191 to 206. I additionally had six new feedback. I watched this quantity steadily climb over the following hour.

Whereas I used to be seeing a number of engagement, I wasn’t seeing any profile views, direct messages, or the rest that may point out these customers have been truly considering my work.

To not point out, the engagement was coming in quick. Each 45 seconds there was one other notification! Perhaps LinkedIn would contemplate my put up viral? Or, possibly it could get labeled as spam.

I let the automation run till I noticed that each member of the pod had engaged.

Two hours later, I had 54 likes, 261 impressions and 24 feedback!

Cross-platform LinkedIn pods

I did strive becoming a member of the “LinkedIn Development Hackers” group on Fb, however I used to be by no means authorized. It appears this group could also be inactive now. I didn’t discover every other lively LinkedIn pods to affix on different channels.

Outcomes

TL;DR: At first look, it might appear like the Automated LinkedIn pod was the simplest pod, however I truly assume it was the Handbook pod for causes that I’ll clarify beneath. Both means, not one of the LinkedIn pods actually made a giant distinction for me or helped develop my presence on the platform considerably.

Hold studying for extra particulars and context on these outcomes.

Handbook pods

This appeared like probably the most natural, most constant methodology. As a result of I used to be leveraging folks I already knew, the feedback have been genuine, related, and honest.

To not point out, these individuals are truly in my business–which means if my posts present up of their feeds to their connections, it would assist me community additional.

Nothing about this methodology got here off as spammy, although I don’t understand how real looking it’s to ask my associates to do that each week.

Over the course of 1 week, my put up bought:

• 13 likes
• 3 feedback
• 0 shares
• 507 impressions

LinkedIn-specific pods

Whereas this methodology introduced in probably the most feedback, responses have been obscure and fewer related than these present in my guide pods. Plus, most of those folks labored outdoors of my business. So, there seemingly isn’t a lot profit to my content material displaying up of their feeds or networks.

After the weeklong experiment, my put up bought:

• 13 likes
• 364 impressions
• 2 shares
• 6 feedback

Automated LinkedIn pods

This methodology definitely introduced in probably the most likes and feedback. However, I didn’t see any related profile visits, direct messages, or connection requests come by way of.

Additionally, whereas there have been numerous new feedback, they have been all just about the identical:

• “Actually cool Hannah!”
• “Nice put up, Hannah!”
• “Thanks for sharing Hannah!”

To me, these obscure feedback sign that none of those customers truly learn my put up (which is smart, contemplating their profiles are being automated).

I can solely think about that different customers may see this and assume the identical factor. My spam alert is sounding.

After three hours, my put up bought:

• 54 likes
• 24 feedback
• 261 impressions
• 0 shares

Cross-platform LinkedIn pods

I didn’t collect any additional engagement from this methodology.

What do the outcomes imply?

Listed here are the principle takeaways from my experiment.

Genuine pods have benefit

There’s definitely some engagement to be gained from utilizing LinkedIn pods. Pods which can be made up of related, genuine connections inside your business can definitely assist to amplify your content material and get you extra views, likes, and feedback.

Spammy pods received’t get you far

However, in the event you’re making an attempt to recreation the system by becoming a member of pods which can be full of pretend accounts or which can be unrelated to your business, you’re not going to see a lot profit. So what in the event you bought 50, 100, or 200 likes? They don’t imply a lot in the event that they’re coming from accounts that may by no means do enterprise with you.

LinkedIn pods ARE embarrassing

I feel what struck me most about this experiment was the discomfort that got here with having so many unconnected strangers current on my posts. Certain, from a look it appears cool to have 50+ likes, but when anybody took a more in-depth look it could be fairly apparent the engagement was spam.

Simply as I wouldn’t recommend companies purchase their Instagram followers, I wouldn’t recommend they use engagement pods. Perhaps, in some instances, the place the pod members are hyper-relevant to your area of interest, it’s value it. But when it appears suspicious, chances are high your viewers will discover. And the very last thing you need is to lose their belief.

Give attention to shut, related connections

In the event you nonetheless wish to be a part of a LinkedIn pod after studying this, one of the best ways to make use of them is to affix ones which can be related to your business and which can be made up of connections which you could authentically have interaction with. This fashion, you’re getting focused engagement that may result in worthwhile relationships (and, hopefully, actual clients).

Listed here are a number of ideas for locating the precise LinkedIn pods:

• Take a look at teams associated to your business or area of interest. Many of those can have pods related to them.
• Ask trusted connections in the event that they know of any good pods to affix.
• Create your individual pod with a bunch of like-minded people.
• Keep away from overly spammy pods which can be solely centered on selling content material and never partaking in actual conversations.
• Most of all, give attention to good, previous, natural LinkedIn advertising. Whereas “hacking the algorithm” by way of pods is interesting, nothing beats placing within the work, one put up at a time.

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