Going VIRAL on LinkedIn!
I had a post go a little bonkers on LinkedIn. In this article I tease out how it happened so that you can give yourself the best chance of doing so too.
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Recently, I shared a LinkedIn post that took off in a way I never expected:
Over 600 likes
55 comments
13 reposts
53,000+ impressions
At first, I remember thinking, “A few likes—great!” But then the engagement kept rolling in, and I was left wondering…. Why this post? Why now?
Before diving into how and why it happened, here’s the post.
And included this graphic:
The visual I shared wasn’t just eye candy.
It showed every National Rail station in the UK as a coloured “blob,” each sized according to the 2023/24 entries and exits data recently released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). This made the image more than just a map—it was a story of how people move around the country, an insight into which stations saw growth and which were steady performers.
The engagement stats were off the scale. Here is impressions:
It was interesting to see how the post performed in the days following publication. I pushed it out around early afternoon and after taking a couple of hours to warm up it spread rapidly for two days before tapering off.
Plus there was also a massive spike in people following me.
Here’s the best part the strategies to unlock this aren’t rocket science.
They’re things you can apply to your own posts. Incorporate a visually striking element, pose a question, use data in a surprising way, engage early, and stay active in the comments. See how your audience responds.
Test and learn.
Here are the SEVEN elements that I believe helped it resonate.
1. The Visual Impact
The image itself was vibrant and thought-provoking but the colours weren’t random.
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