The Difference Between a LinkedIn Update and a LinkedIn Post

Note: This post was revised to reflect the new changes on LinkedIn. Click here for the updated version.

The other day one of my long-time clients asked me to explain the difference between an update and a post on LinkedIn. I was so glad she did because I was confused for a while and I thought you guys may be, too. As it turns out, if you blog for your business and don’t use LinkedIn Posts you’re missing out on a great free tool! 

When you log into your LinkedIn account and go to the Home tab you see three options: Share An Update, Upload A Photo, and Publish A Post. Let’s go through them one by one:

Share An Update: Best for sharing short content such as a blurb and a link to your blog or or a link to curated content (like a blog you read on someone else’s website). Or just an idea, a thought or a quote. But you are limited to only 600 characters and that’s not much.

How Your Connections See Your Updates: Your LinkedIn Updates appear in your connection’s newsfeed. But if he or she wasn’t watching their newsfeed at that specific time when you created your update, they miss the update. Kaput.

Publish A Post: The LinkedIn Post platform lets you publish long-form blogs and articles right on the platform. You easily format your content the same way you would in a Word document. And it’s a snap to upload hi-res images. They look really great:

How Your Connections See Your Posts: Unlike updates, your connections get a notification when you’ve published a LinkedIn Post. And some people may even get your post in their email inbox directly from LinkedIn, if they’ve adjusted their settings to receive them. This is a big benefit to publishing your blog as a LinkedIn Post. It’s amazing how I’ll often notice a blog that was emailed to me from LinkedIn, but not from the original author. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Bonus: Google Shows ‘Em! Another awesome reason to re-publish your blogs as LinkedIn Posts is because Google indexes them. When your content is displayed from LinkedIn Google gives you some extra credibility. Second, having more real estate on the Google results page means much more visibility, baby!

Also, the last time I checked, the limit for a LinkedIn Post is 40,000 characters!

Give It A Double Whammy – Use Both! First, publish a blog on your website. Then publish the same blog on LinkedIn as a Post. Finally, create a LinkedIn Update with little bit of juicy text with a link to the blog on your website. 

You work hard on your blogs, right? Let them work hard for you! Don’t stop with your website…publish your blogs wherever your ideal customers hang out. 

Oops! I almost forgot to explain the third option, Upload A Photo: With this function you can post an image by itself with no text. I suppose there might be a time when you would want to do this – can you think of a one?

By the way, have you identified your ideal customer yet? Download my free checklist…it’s a great start to the process:

Betsy Kent

I work with ambitious entrepreneurs and businesses to uncover exactly who their ideal customers really are, what they want more than anything else in the world, and the perfect words to use on their websites, in their marketing, and when they talk about their business. I've guided hundreds of clients through my signature process and formula, and as a result, they’ve generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in new business revenue with more ease and confidence than ever before.