LinkedIn Reach

LinkedIn shipped three changes this year that I think every executive should understand, and together they change how I think about the platform. Your profile can now take paid bookings. Your analytics now tell you who is actually seeing your posts. And LinkedIn is testing a feed made only of the people you're connected to.

Each one on its own is a feature. Put together, they turn LinkedIn into something closer to a storefront, with a way to see who walks past the window. Here's how each one works, where to find it, and what I'd do with it this week.

I'd take 5,000 ideal clients over 100,000 strangers who will never buy. Every time.

Part 1: Your profile can take bookings now

Advice Sessions

LinkedIn now lets you sell paid one-to-one calls straight from your profile. Visitors see a Get advice from me button, pick a time from your availability, pay, and get the video link, all without leaving LinkedIn. You set the title, the description, the price, the length of the session and when you're available. LinkedIn has said it isn't taking a cut for now.

Right now it's available to Premium Business subscribers in the United States, with other countries expected later. If you don't see the option yet, that's why.

The button is the easy part. What makes someone book is everything around it, so before I turned it on I'd look at three places on the profile:

• Your headline says who you help and the result you get them, in plain words.
• Your About section opens with a real client result, so the case for booking is made before anyone scrolls.
• Your Featured section holds the proof: case studies, testimonials, a talk.

Then make the session itself specific. "A 45-minute call to fix your executive headline and About section" gets booked. "Career advice" doesn't.

Pinned comments

You can pin one comment to the top of your own posts again, and it stays there no matter how many likes or replies the other comments get. To do it, click the … on the comment, choose Pin comment, then Yes, pin. It can be your own comment or someone else's.

When a post takes off, the first comment people see does a lot of work. I use that spot for one of three things: a client sharing the result we got together, a link to a free resource like this one, or one clear line on how to work with me. The post earns the attention, and the pinned comment tells people what to do with it.

Part 2: Your reach has two sources

Open the analytics on any of your posts and look at Impressions in the Discovery section. LinkedIn now splits that number in two.

• In-network: your connections and followers. People who already know you.
• Out-of-network: people who have never met you and found the post through the feed, recommendations, reshares or search.

If you've posted on Instagram, the out-of-network side will feel a lot like trial reels. The difference is that here it isn't a test run. It happens live, on every post you publish.

How I read it

Two posts can reach the same number of people and do completely different jobs. A post with strong in-network reach is building credibility with people who already know you, and that's where most of your buyers sit. A post with strong out-of-network reach is telling you an idea is getting into new rooms.

Neither one is better. What matters is whether the split matches what the post was meant to do. A case study or an offer post should land mostly with your network. A point-of-view post meant to grow your audience should travel further out. When the out-of-network number is high, I go one step further and look at who followed me or viewed my profile afterwards. Reach from the wrong people looks great on a dashboard and does nothing for the business.

Here's a simple habit: once a week, write down the split for each post next to what you wanted that post to do. After a month you'll know which kinds of posts build trust with your network and which ones bring new people in.

Part 3: A feed made only of your network

In September, LinkedIn's Chief Product Officer, Hari Srinivasan, announced a test of a Network tab. It sits alongside the main feed and shows only updates from people you've connected with or followed. In his words, it "helps you stay connected to your network, ie the people you have explicitly connected or followed."

That gives you two places your posts can show up. The main feed mixes people you know with recommended posts from strangers, which is where your out-of-network reach comes from. The Network tab is only the people who chose to connect with you or follow you.

It's still a test, so not everyone has it and LinkedIn may change it. What it already tells me is where the platform is heading. If your connections can open a feed where you're not competing with strangers for their attention, then who is in your network matters more than how big it is.

So I'd spend time on the network itself. Connect with the people you want to work with, accept the requests that make sense for your business, and talk to your existing connections in the comments, not only on your own posts.

What I watch for

• Advice Sessions are only in the US on Premium Business for now. Don't pay for an upgrade until you've checked it's available for your account.
• A booking button on a weak profile won't get booked. Fix the headline, About and Featured sections first.
• Only one comment can be pinned at a time, so choose the one that moves someone closer to working with you.
• A big out-of-network number feels good. Check who those people are before you write more posts like it.
• The Network tab is a test. Build your network for the people in it, not for a feature that may change.

If you only do this much this week

1. Today: open your last five posts and write down the in-network and out-of-network split for each.
2. Today: pin a comment on your best-performing post with a client result or a link to a free resource.
3. This week: rewrite your headline and the first lines of your About section around who you help and the result.
4. This week: if you're in the US on Premium Business, set up one specific Advice Session.
5. This week: send connection requests to ten people you'd love to have as clients.

Want to build this with me, one on one?

LinkedIn Elevate Executive+ is my 1:1 program. You and I work together, directly, on your LinkedIn presence, your content and the profile that turns attention into conversations, built around your voice and where you want your career to go.

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