LinkedIn Wants to Put an End to Broetry

LinkedIn Wants to Put an End to Broetry in Favor of This Writing in the “broetry” style on LinkedIn helped me rack up 200 million views. …and in only six months. BuzzFeed, Forbes, Inc, and even Reuters noted that my writing had fundamentally changed LinkedIn. Or had it? LinkedIn didn’t like the style. The spaced out paragraphs, the ease of read on mobile, and wave-like flow.  So they pinged it.

I went from averaging 5,000 engagements per a long-form post to 300! At first, I thought it was just me. Then they rolled out these changes to many influencers on LinkedIn – Reducing their reach by upwards to 90 percent! I knew there was something off. So I tested a new type of content: one-liners. 

I posted a one-liner every other day. These posts were racking up 5X more engagement than my long-form content. Things didn’t add up. I was determined to find a solution. Why not short-form broetry? I tested it out instead of long-form broetry. The results? Negative. I was stumped. Then Ben Wise, our senior writer for our BAMF Media LinkedIn services pointed something out: we could go in the opposite direction. Take many of the copywriting principles I’ve studied over time and scrap them. So I did something the exact opposite of broetry. I posted chunky paragraphs.  In exactly 24 hrs, I racked up over eight hundred engagements. The post is on track for over a 1000. By writing in a style that makes it harder for people to read on mobile, LinkedIn pushed my content out. Counterintuitive? I think not. After talking to many of the people who work at LinkedIn, I realized they’re just as confused as I am. I asked them why my posts got dinged. Everyone replied, “The algorithm has thousands of variables.” They wouldn’t say more than that. As an avid student of statistics, I realized this was complete B.S. Because the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) says that only a few variables REALLY matter.

So what are these principles?

I don’t know all of them, but one – in particular – is not posting the same type of content over again based not on wording, but on structure. If that means making it harder for people to read it on mobile, then so be it. Because according to the data, LinkedIn’s algorithm will sometimes favor bad content over good content. The hard truth: You don’t own your personal brand on a social platform. Even if you stay nimble to adjust fast you won’t always win. The goal should always be to own the data. That means driving email subscribers. It’s the only way.

If you don’t have their email?

Then you can’t complain when a social network destroys your reach. As we’ve seen with the new Facebook algorithm changes as well, thousands of businesses can go bankrupt overnight. Never rely on a social platform to build a business with longevity. You need your business to be more flexible than a social algorithm.]]>