Are you posting on LinkedIn to gain more reach and popularity? While you are posting, do you see the number of impressions? Do you wonder what are Impressions on LinkedIn and how they matter?

In this blog, we will learn what impressions, reach, views, reactions, likes, etc., are on LinkedIn, how they impact engagement, and what we can do to get more engagement.

What do impressions mean on LinkedIn?

Whenever an object is placed on a surface, it leaves an impression. Similarly, when you post content on any digital platform, it leaves an “impression” on the platform.

In this context, an impression refers to the number of times your content is shown on someone’s feed or screen. Whether or not the person interacts with or clicks on the content is their choice, but the impression is counted simply because it was shown to them.

But you should remember that.

• People might watch the content or may not.
• It is only the count of how many times the content was displayed on LinkedIn.
• When content has a more significant number of impressions, it means your content is getting a larger reach and more eyeballs.
• A more significant number of impressions is a good sign.

Impression Rate = (Impressions / Followers) x 100

LinkedIn impressions vs. views

If you are also confused between LinkedIn impressions and views, then do not worry; you are not the only one.

Impression

Impression is the impression of your content on the platform, i.e., the number of times it is displayed on the platform.

Views

Views refer to the number of times people viewed your content. They have clicked on the content and seen it. When someone watches a video for 3 seconds(minimum), it is counted as a view.

What is the difference between impressions and reach on LinkedIn?

Impressions: Number of times your post has been visible for at least 0.3 seconds by a user. The same account can generate multiple impressions.
Reach (Unique Views): Number of unique accounts that have seen your post. Each account is counted only once.

Types of LinkedIn Impressions

Organic Impressions

The impressions that happen solely because of your content and strategy on LinkedIn are called Organic impressions. Your content is shown to your followers and connections on LinkedIn.

Viral Impressions

When you post content, the content gets shared among many people who are not in your contacts. The content gets attention because someone in your contacts shares it among their contacts.

Paid Impressions

These are the impressions that happen because you have paid the LinkedIn platform to show your content to others via LinkedIn ads.

The content gets a high number of impressions and performs better.

Which kind of impression is better for you on LinkedIn?

All three impressions have their pros and cons.

Organic Impression

Pros

• Helpful in building trust and broad reach
• Value is seen in the long run
• Authentic engagement

Cons

• Slow reach
• Time-consuming
• Requires consistent effort

Viral Impression

Pros

• Can build your visibility beyond your network
• Helps in gaining recognition
• Faster and effective

    Cons

• The recognition built might be short-lived
• It does not help in building an authentic or valuable connection

    Paid Impression

    Pros

• It gives a broader reach
• Very helpful in getting targeted reach
• Gives faster results

     Cons

• It is costlier
• It is effective, but it can lose its effectiveness if it is not followed up with consistent posting.

So, which is best?

What is a good number of impressions on a LinkedIn post?

• A good number of impressions on your post depends on
• Your number of followers
• Your niche
• Your posting frequency

But, generally, it can be categorized according to your followers/connection count.

Note: If your post gets more than 10,000 impressions, it can be said as viral.

But worrying about what impressions on LinkedIn and the number of impressions is not the right way, as content performance based on impressions is not the only thing; other factors that matter are:

• Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares)
• Number of views
• Profile views/messages after a post — these show genuine interest.
• Number of reposts

Do impressions matter on LinkedIn?

If you have been reading this blog, you know the answer is “Yes,” but let us explore why.

• Views and engagement matter for content on LinkedIn, but it comes mainly from the people who are in your connections or are your followers.
• Impressions also come from people who are not on your follower or connection list.
• LinkedIn algorithm prefers expanding your network beyond your connections, and that is why it weighs engagement received beyond your connections.

       So, in this case, impressions are more important.

• Impressions talk about reach, visibility, and brand awareness. More impressions mean more recognition and more eyes on your content, and who knows, you could be in the minds of many people.
• Impressions tell you about
  1. What types of content perform well
  2. When your audience is most active
  3. Which formats (text, video, image, poll, etc.) get the most visibility

How to increase LinkedIn impressions?

Be it LinkedIn or any other social media platform, it wants people to spend more and more time on their platform.

 It wants people to stay safe on their platform and be genuinely interested in the platform.

Therefore, LinkedIn does it all to filter out spam posts and people. Protect its users and maintain relevancy and genuineness on the platform.

DON’TS

DO’s

Three types of content perform well on LinkedIn,

• Make content that adds value to people’s lives.

LinkedIn prefers content that helps people, and people also enjoy that content, which adds value to their lives. You should make this type of content.

• Please keep it simple.

Whenever you write an article on LinkedIn, try to make it simpler, point-wise, and engaging.

• Make video content

Videos are more engaging than any other type of content format and can draw people’s attention while scrolling. If you are targeting to increase the number of impressions, making more video content would be a good idea

• Add an interesting hook to your content

Any interesting hook can keep the audience engaged for some time in your content. You may post any form of content. Add an interesting hook to your content.

• Make people engage with your content.

Encourage people to engage more with your content. For example, you can try saying, “comment what you feel about this,” or “Share your experience with us,” or add polls or questions to your content.

• Take advantage of articles.

Articles get fewer impressions or engagement than other forms of content. But they weigh more than the video form of content.

• Run Paid Ads

Running LinkedIn ads is a great way to increase the impression rate and get a broader reach.

• Post expertise content

People on LinkedIn like and respect the content that shows depth and expertise; they love to grow and learn on LinkedIn

FAQs

1. What does unique impressions mean on LinkedIn?

Unique impressions mean unique people getting impressions of your content.

LinkedIn Impressions: The total number of times your content appears on a user’s screen, including multiple views by the same person.

Unique Impressions: The number of individual people who have seen your content at least once, excluding multiple views by the same person.

2. Why are my LinkedIn impressions going down?

There are various reasons for LinkedIn impressions going down      

• Low content quality
• Algorithm changes on LinkedIn
• Inconsistent Posting Frequency
• Posting general content, not having any particular niche

3. Is 1000 impressions on LinkedIn good?

This entirely depends on the number of followers or connections you have on LinkedIn. If you have a connection/follower count of 500–1,000 or below, then 1000 impressions are good.

4. What is more critical, impressions or engagement?

Both impressions and engagement are essential, but on a platform like LinkedIn, it is vital that your content reaches more people who are beyond your connections or followers.

For this reason, LinkedIn prefers impressions or engagement that come from beyond your connections or followers (people who are not in your connections/followers list).

5. Is 100 impressions on LinkedIn good?

Suppose you have followers or connections between 0 to 500. Then, 100 impressions are suitable for your content. You can follow this table for reference.

Connections/Followers Good Impressions (Per Post)

Key Takeaway

Suppose you are just starting on LinkedIn, upskilling yourself, looking for a job, or trying to build a network. In that case, it is okay if your content is getting low impressions. You should take it easy and slowly.

And suppose you are someone who is trying to build a brand on LinkedIn, get attention on LinkedIn, or seek more opportunities via LinkedIn. In that case, you should keep track of your impressions on LinkedIn.

Always try to ensure that your content is getting more and more impressions than before. In this blog, we have mentioned various ways by which you can increase your impression rate. Now, there should be no reason to worry about what are impressions on LinkedIn and what to do about it.