Way less impressions on LinkedIn when posting from HubSpot

[mphed]

Has anyone noticed a big difference in LinkedIn stats for your updates depending on if it's posted from HubSpot or created manually on LinkedIn?

I looked at our updates for 2019 so far and for our 90 updates about 55 are created from HubSpot and the rest created on LinkedIn webpage.

Our average impression per update from HubSpot is 580 and 1760 if created on LinkedIn. Following CTR are 1,8 % (HubSpot) and 3,6 % (LinkedIn). Big big difference. And the difference in the actual content created is not very noticable.

I found this post on the topic, but their conclusion doesn't seem to be similar to mine, https://www.clariantcreative.com/blog/does-posting-on-social-media-via-hubspot-hurt-social-reach

Does anyone know if LinkedIn "punishes" posts created/posted from HubSpot to LinkedIn as compared if they are created directly on LinkedIn. We are evaluating if we should stop using HubSpot for automatic posting and startdoing it manually or start using other tool to post on SoMe.

I am happy to share numbers/screenshots if anyone is interested.

[jennysowyrda]

Hi @mphed,

I want to pull in a few subject matter experts who may have experience with posting through LinkedIn. @MFrankJohnson, @himanshurauthan,@ConnorSlivensky, @MatthewShepherd  do you have any experience posting through HubSpot to LinkedIn?

Thank you,
Jenny

[MFrankJohnson]

Thanks for the tag @jennysowyrda ...

Sure do. Also, via Buffer. Honestly, there are simply waaay too many (unknowable) variables when posting to LinkedIn to draw any meaningful inferences. Meaning, trying to establish correlations between social post tools used with LinkedIn is ... in a word, a futile effort. Oh wait, that's 3 words! haha 😉

Our LinkedIn Crystal BallHere's what we know.
- LinkedIn reach can vary significantly depending on the LinkedIn account being used to post. Meaning, the number of connections, who the connections are, and the account history are all factors in post distribution -- no matter what the post.
[Think LinkedIn Influencer favoritism.]

- A LinkedIn account status can (and does) change depending on BOTH user behavior AND connected tool behavior. For example, if you connect a tool to your LinkedIn account and that tool does something like cause you to hit your profile view limit too quickly on a consistent basis, LinkedIn can (and usually will) throttle reach on that account -- WITH NO NOTICE. And that's just for 'legal' tools used with paid LinkedIn accounts.

- LinkedIn has the capability to monitor your post performance in real-time -- sorta like Google monitors bounce rate on webpages. Poor post performance over time can (and usually does) hurt future reach. LinkedIn has become increasingly sensitive to poor performing posts. Post frequency simply isn't enough any longer.
[Think, how similar to a high number of page bounces can kill page rank in Google SERPS.]

- Free LinkedIn accounts are another matter entirely. They're even more sensitive. We can literally post the exact same content from different paid accounts and account tiers and see ENORMOUS variations in reach across our LinkedIn-connected networks (~8K).

All the above withstanding, remember ... LinkedIn is now a Microsoft company. Expect things to change. A lot. And without notice -- sorta like Windows and Skype! (head shaking)

Change. Not the least of which is LinkedIn's ad platform -- which has undergone major revisions this year.
- see LinkedIn Advertising: New Features Every Marketer Should Know (May 2019)

While many like to think of LinkedIn as a social network, it's really an ads platform 1st -- JOB ADS, an impending publishing platform 2nd, and a social platform 3rd. Any and everything that interferes with or otherwise detracts from that locus of focus is deprioritized -- probably by the 'LinkedIn police'. haha 🙂

[seriously, there is such a thing]

Hope that helps.

Going back to my cave now.

PEACE

-ps
Virtually anything written more than 6-12 months ago about LinkedIn performance has limited relevance today. That especially includes LinkedIn's own content. Sad, but true.

-pps
Agree with @ConnorSlivensky -- impressions numbers should be very close to the same. It's could be a LinkedIn problem. If not, re-check your tracking (multiple instances of tracking installed?).
[Think, "what's changed?"]

Also, (as indicated above) LinkedIn recently made major revisions to their ad platform -- e.g., they added conversion tracking. Double-check everything. We've seen ads running that shouldn't AND ads not running that should across multiple accounts for no reason whatsoever. (weird)

[ConnorSlivensky]

There should be no difference in Impressions as that definition doesn't change across platforms.  I do find it odd that HubSpot is reporting exactly half as much as LinkedIn. We're running a paid campaign on LinkedIn right now and seem to be having a similar issue. Hopefully somebody can help a bit more.

[jennysowyrda]

Hi all,

I wanted to circle back with an update that was sent to me by a member of our product team. 

As outlined in this resource, "By default social reports include data for posts published in HubSpot and directly in your social media accounts, except for posts created in your personal LinkedIn account outside of HubSpot."

Thank you,
Jenny

[MFrankJohnson]

This could account for large differences in reporting between HubSpot posts and LinkedIn posts, and would mean the HubSpot-reported CTR (1.8%) being half of the LinkedIn-reported CTR (3.6%) is just a coincidence. 😐

[OanaNeumayer]

Have you found the answer to this? I am experiencing the same issues.

Thanks for your time,

Oana

[mphed]

Hi Oana,

Well, I couldn't say I have found a solution, but I looked into our LinkedIn stats for all our posts for the last year and I came to the following conclusion:

- We have to different kind of posts on LinkedIn; either employer branding related material which is manually created posts on LinkedIn or knowledge related material created in and coming from our HubSpot blog.

- Our employer branding posts are more "personal" and use our own images with our employees or our offices. The text in the posts are also less "corporate".

- Our knowledge related posts from our HubSpot blog are automaticaly created thus using text and images from HubSpot, and here we use more generic images and "corporate" language.

- In general our followers tend to engage much more with our "personal" posts. I think that they think it´s easier to relate to those posts. As I said it is not as corporate. The people engaging are both employees, partners and customers. The type of engagment differs and I haven't figured whether likes, comments or shares of your post are more or less valuable. But I would assume a share is best...

To sum it up, I don't think the fact that the posts are created from HubSpot will have any negative impact as such on the number of impressions your posts get. It's more that we have to create more engaging content and maybe start using more personal images and text in our blogposts.

Anyone else out there who has come to the same conclusion?

[OanaNeumayer]

Ok, thank you for your clarifications.

We're testing a mix of content (like yourselves) but still see a significant difference. We've decided to continue the monitoring and discuss pros and cons when we have at least 1 month worth of data points.

All the best,

Oana 

[CasperBjerg]

Hi Oana

Did you get any conclusion on this subject? We're getting the same question from a client, so it would be great with your feedback. 

Best, 
Casper