LinkedIn Post vs. LinkedIn Article: What's the difference?

My preferred digital networking channel is LinkedIn. While some argue that LinkedIn is becoming more and more like Facebook, it’s still the go-to place for business connections.

I wanted to make sure that the time I spend writing and posting to LinkedIn would actually provide value not just to me by growing my following, but more importantly to my community. For a business platform to be effective, it really needs to be more than just a place to get updates on your life. Since my latest business venture is specifically targeted at helping struggling entrepreneurs, I am poised to put more effort into my presence there.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share some of what I learned about using LinkedIn effectively. I noticed that my posts were getting more views than in the past. Since I haven’t been posting for a while, I was curious about what that metric actually meant. This led me to more in-depth research.

If you’re looking to get more visibility on LinkedIn, it’s important to not only post but to also write articles and engage with other members. No one strategy will bring you visibility, but rather a variety helps. While posting seems so much easier, writing articles has value too. What exactly is the difference?

Post vs. Article

To start, let me clarify, the language. A LinkedIn Post refers to a smaller idea that you write on your feed. It’s typically short, may contain a small image, and scrolls through the feed. Articles are generally longer form and contain a headline and possibly other media like video. An article is ‘published’ first, where it appears in your feed, it is also added to your activity and can be permanently attached to your profile. You can also post a published article to your feed.

How does a LinkedIn ‘Post’ differ from a LinkedIn ‘Article’?

What’s in a ‘view’?

This is the tricky part. A ‘post view’ simply means that your post was seen in someone’s feed – it doesn’t necessarily mean it was read. If someone scrolls right past your post, it was still considered a view. On the other hand, an ‘article view’ results when someone actively clicks the link to your article regardless of the source of the link. In the case of articles, readers are more likely engaging with your content.

Should I post or should I write an article?

While posting is easier and gets in front of more consumers, articles provide more value to your prospective customers. A combination of both done on a regular basis will likely get you the best results.