This is not a LinkedIn optimization newsletter, but one of their new engagement tracking features caught my eye.

As of a few weeks ago (I think), you can now see Saves & Sends of your posts.

The numbers will inherently be much (MUCH) lower than vanity metrics like Impressions and Likes...

But they’re also much (MUCH) more indicative of whether you’ve created something relevant to your audience.

And from what I can tell, a few early Saves are actually a trigger for more algo reach, far beyond your connected audience.

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Why I think it’s interesting:

👀 Take a look through your Saved items.

Notice the format of items you’re saving.

How many are posts vs. articles vs. videos vs. visuals?

My mix is probably 10/5/5/80.

Yes, I work in visual design, so mine might be a little more skewed towards visuals than most.

But, my hypothesis is that visuals make up 50+% of your saved list.

Why? I think people know they won’t actually come back and read something later. So why bother saving it.

Similarly, most LI videos are short enough that you either watch it now or not at all.

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But visuals are a different beast.

A good, crisp, clever visual hits a special spot in your audience’s (i.e. your prospective client’s) brain that ignites instant clarity, curiosity and/or delight.

And when you find something like that ‘in the wild’, you tend to want to hang onto it.

File it away to revisit or reuse it later. And perhaps share it with a friend or your team.

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That’s the long-tail stickiness of visuals that makes them rise out of the sea of otherwise ephemeral shares.

It’s that stickiness that we’re after because it leads to repeated touchpoints, organic trust, and eventually inbound calls.

And I guess if a few Saves trigger a few thousand more impressions, we’ll take that too. 😊

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💡

-Wes

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P.S. Ready to build your visuals together - for LinkedIn and beyond? Let's chat.

I'm out next week, but I've opened a couple free consults this Thursday if you want to get the wheels turning for a late Oct one-on-one Headshot sprint.

Check out Sprint details and available dates here.

(Email me if you need an EMEA-friendly consult time. Just hit reply.)