My Secret Weapon On LinkedIn To Reach My Target Audience

Last year I ran a 7-day poll on my LinkedIn profile entitled To Pod or Not to Pod – That is the Question. In the poll, which I created using LinkedIn’s poll feature, I asked individuals for their opinion on the use of LinkedIn pods.

I introduced my poll with the following statement: In your opinion are LinkedIn Pods cheating the system or amplifying a good idea?

The poll was super simple. Users were only given two options to choose from:

✅ LinkedIn pods are a cheat

✅ LinkedIn pods are awesome

The goal of this poll was not to just hear my connections’ opinions on podding (although I thoroughly loved reading them all) but to test the effectiveness of pods on post engagement and reach.

I’m guilty. I occasionally use a LinkedIn Engagement Pod to amplify my posts. My pod is small, just a handful of friends and colleagues and professionals that I admire, and whose work and content I respect.

On average, the organic engagement my posts receive when I don’t pod is anywhere from 30 – 50 engagements, 5-10 comments, and about 2K in views.

For this experiment, however, I went all in and posted not to just one but three pods during a 30-minute period. Here’s how it unrolled:

Day 1:

• I created and published a poll on LinkedIn. I supported the poll with a post on my profile and two very neutral hashtags: #linkedinpoll and #linkedinmarketing.

• I shared a link to the post on 3 pods

• I shared the post on about 3-4 LinkedIn Groups

• I shared the link with 5 friends outside of my pods

That’s it.

The Results

The poll engagement was fine but not earth-shattering, garnering 133 votes, 35 reactions, and 80 comments, from a variety of enterprise companies in some marketing or sales capacity as per the screenshot below.

Poll, post, and reaction results followed the same pattern, with day 1 of the poll providing the highest level of engagement.

The real surprise was the reach, which generated 6 times more reach than a “no pod” post, garnering over 12K in reach.

The Last Word

Thanks to all of those folks who unwittingly ended up as part of my social experiment. I genuinely thank you for your impassioned, funny, and thoughtful comments. On some level, I respect and agree with all sides of the poll.

However, there is no doubt that “to pod” definitely garners a lot more reach and engagement than a “not to pod” approach.

Join our pod today - A LinkedIn Platform For Content Distribution & Lead Generation

Get Access To Exclusive Events organized for you to make you visible, Educational Resources to establish your Thought Leadership and Monthly Members Networking Events. Our Goal Is To Make It As Simple As Possible For You To Generate New Leads Using The Power Of LinkedIn And The Support Of Our Loyal Community.

Any questions or comments? Drop me a line at linkedinleadmachine@gmail.com.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know!

Ramona