Ep 5: Stop Reposting. Start Growing on LinkedIn

Transcript

Transcript

In this episode of 'a splice of Life Science marketing', hosts Jasmine Gruia-Gray and Matt Wilkinson interview social media strategist Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez about LinkedIn growth strategies that don't require daily posting or salesy content. Valentina shares insights on algorithm behavior, strategic commenting, and how life science professionals can build authentic connections on the platform.

Introduction and LinkedIn Myths

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Welcome to a splice of Life Science marketing. I am Jasmine Gruia-Gray, and today Matt Wilkinson and I have the great pleasure of chatting with our friend Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez. Welcome Valentina.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Everyone excited to join you guys today.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Just a little bit of an intro for Valentina. She's a seasoned marketer, social media strategist, serial learner, speaker and marketing educator. She specialises in helping individuals and their businesses build authentic connections to their social media channels to boost customer relations and create a strong, purposeful community online. She also deeply understands digital content, social media platforms, social listening practices and digital marketing strategies. With over 10 years of experience in the world of social media, she is a co-author of this fabulous book with a fabulous title, the most amazing marketing book ever. And she collaborated with over 35 fellow marketers to share their combined top strategies. It is a must read, and I encourage our audience to get that book. She's been featured in multiple podcasts, which are available on her website, and has won several prestigious awards throughout her marketing career. Wow, amazing, amazing background. We're so glad to have to be able to host you. Valentina, welcome again.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Thank you. And I might add that if you prefer the audible version, you have different countries represented, so you hear 10 different accents. So it's gonna be so much fun if you do listen to the book, your audible.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

All right, so let's kick it off today with what are the three LinkedIn myths you wish people would stop repeating, and what actually matters in the first hour after posting?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Thank you for asking that question. I love the stuff that we're going to be talking today. It's going to be a very spicy discussion on LinkedIn for everyone that second guesses themselves and says, What am I doing wrong? I'm glad you asked that question. So one thing that I think a lot of people do that is probably wrong is reposting. I don't know if you know this Matt and Jasmine, but for every time you repost someone else's post, it only reaches 1% of your audience, and if you add your blurb or caption above the repost, it only gets 0.5% so here everyone's like, let me just repost someone else's stuff, or let me repost something from an organisation or association and that is a problem. No one's going to be seeing that. So that's one thing. The second thing is adding links. When you add a link, it reduces reach by 50% so if you're trying to tell people, hey, go to this link and I'm going to direct you outside of LinkedIn, that is going to reduce the reach. And finally, over posting, some of us might be a little bit guilty about this. We think that we have to post every day to be relevant. So those are the three things that I believe that might be hindering you with your LinkedIn strategy.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Wow. I had no idea that reposting reduces your reach that significantly.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Yeah. So a lot of people think that and I only do that if we're trying to be nice to someone or try to get brownie points. So if I repost your post, you'd be like, Oh my goodness, Valentina reposted my thing. That's so sweet of her, when I actually know that only 1% of my audience is going to see that post. You might not know that Jasmine, but you're like, Oh, she's so sweet to repost my post for the day.

Engagement Metrics and Dwell Time

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

So just as a follow up, how do saves or comments or likes or dwell time play from what you've seen?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

So I want to focus on dwell time. So when you post something on LinkedIn, I try to put the juicy or the hook, something that's going to be about one liner at the very beginning of the post. So then it compels people to click on that button that says, See More. So this is something that I heard Richard Bliss discuss, and he's the expert. He knows all the stuff about LinkedIn. He talks something about broetry. So when you write something, you're putting something and it's one line, it's a hook, a good line, and then you put a space, and then you put another line, and then you do another space and another line. It kind of looks like a haiku. So you just go, space, line, space, and discuss something in detail. So that's why I think dwell time is something that you should think about putting something very good at the very beginning of the post, and people are compelled to press See More, and then you get certain points based on the algorithm, based on that.

Video Content and Content Variety

Matt Wilkinson

If LinkedIn hid likes for a month and reposts, what would you post and how would you drive success?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I'm not a good writer. I've always admitted that writing comes, it's hard for me to put my words into just putting it in a sentence or in a paragraph. To me, if I could just cheat my way through LinkedIn, I would do video. Video to me is so much more easier. I can just hop on something and just say what I need to say, and I'm done for the day. That's what I would do if I could. But I know video has got a lot of reduction in reach lately, and I think another thing that people do is they post. Someone was telling me yesterday, oh, I'm going to batch all these videos out. I'm going to have video, video, video. And I didn't tell her, I didn't want to seem too opinionated, but I didn't want to tell her. But if you do the same content, type of content all the time, so to say you do picture, picture, picture or link, link, link or video, video, video, it reduces reach by 30% so you're trying to switch up your strategy. So don't just always do videos, switch it up and do a link or a post or a picture or text only. Text only gets a lot of reach on LinkedIn.

Key Metrics to Watch

Matt Wilkinson

What two metrics would you really be watching on LinkedIn?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

The big thing for me is the comments. If I can drive the comments, that would be ideal. I love to see what people are saying when you post something on LinkedIn, it gets 1/10 the reach. If you comment, it gets 1/3 the reach. So this is super important. So I'm always seeing if people are leaving me comments and then replying back to their comments in that first hour when you post something on LinkedIn, it gets 10% reach, so it's pushing it out there. So you don't want to post and go, so you don't want to be like, Okay, I'm going to post, I'm going to get up, I'm done for the day. You want to be close to your phone or your computer and monitor the comments. That's so important, so just keep that post up and relevant.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

I love that no posting and going. I think that also speaks to the engagement that LinkedIn is focused on.

Strategy for Life Science Companies

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

You just joined a 10 person life science tools startup company. 90 days to create a pipeline from LinkedIn. What does that look like? What's your weekly plan across different personal profiles and the company page?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I want to go back and ask you more details about the audience. I want to understand what makes them tick. What are they looking into? What is a typical day in their life? To understand what type of posts or strategy I found for them. So give me a little bit more substance about the audience.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

So the audience is typically scientists. They may post once a week, maybe even less frequently. The types of posts they may do is on their research itself. It could be a sharing of a recent publication, for example.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Most of the scientists that I know, they're always behind the scenes. They don't post. If they do post, they post maybe once a year, because they were forced to do it. So that's I always like to get that perspective. But when you're thinking about that, the strategy, I would say, just to make it simple and concise here, is maybe have the company page, post the publication and they share it. Because the thing is, these folks are so busy, they just need the quick fix. They just need to share something very quickly from the company page. So it looks official. I know from fact that the people that I know that are scientists don't like to toot their horn. So I don't know if that makes sense across the pond, but they don't like to talk about the amazing stuff that they're doing. So we need to be realistic. They are going to struggle posting about their publication. Right? Is that right? Jasmine, Matt, what do you think?

Matt Wilkinson

I think you're right. I think there's also the concern that if I say something that's just a little bit off or a little bit off company line, I might get embroiled in something. We know how toxic social media can get these days. So I think there's often a little bit of reluctance to promote themselves too much, because, honestly, they don't want or need the kickback.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

I agree. I think that there's also another segment of the audience that may be earlier on in their career. They may be a technician type, or they may be in the process of getting a degree, and they're much more comfortable with social media. And they look to social media to stay on top of what companies are doing, new launches and that sort of thing.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

And I want to pause and acknowledge those people that are doing that. That's great. But what about the Gen Xers? What about the elder millennials? I have a feeling that they need the nudge, and I think this would be a good time to pause and maybe Jasmine, you can say you need to do this. You need to do this for your career to be relevant in this age of AI, if you're not seeing yourself out there.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Couldn't agree with you more. Personal Branding doesn't have an age limit. Doesn't have a career limit. I actually recently wrote a blog about personal branding and how it changes over the course of your career and who you are and what you represent and what your values and ideals are, can change throughout the course of the year. And I think LinkedIn is a really strong professional social media platform to engage with.

Matt Wilkinson

I think there are other social media networks, like there's a lot of scientists to go on X or Blue Sky, but also places like Research Gate. So there are these other platforms where scientific discourse happens. But I think that HR, when you're going for that next role, they so often want to actually get to know who you are and what you're doing professionally via LinkedIn, rather than necessarily thinking about looking at ResearchGate or those other social media networks. So I think it really is important to have that presence there on LinkedIn, because it is more than just a glorified CV, but it becomes incredibly important for your personal brand.

The Power of Strategic Commenting

Matt Wilkinson

If you were banned from posting on social media for 90 days, how would you still grow and book meetings if you could only comment on other people's posts?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I kind of alluded to that earlier in our discussion. It's all about the comments. One of the things that Richard Bliss promotes is if you comment three times a day on three different people's posts for three to five days, it's going to increase your profile views by 300 to 500% increase. So let me repeat that again, because I'm from Miami and I talk fast. So you're gonna comment on people's posts three times a day. So breakfast, you go on, you have your cup of tea, your cup of coffee, and you're gonna look at LinkedIn. Then at lunchtime, you're gonna do this again. And then when you're doing your Netflix and chilling, you're gonna do this again. So you do this three times a day for three different people for five days, and that's going to increase your profile views from 300 to 500%.

And when we're thinking about comments, we're not going to be like, let's say you were at that event that you went to last week. I'm not going to just be like, Oh, that's so great that you were in the DC area. I am so happy that you were at this event. I actually attended that event two times in Boston when I was in college, and I got so much out of that event, and I only had access to the trade show ticket, so I like to get the people that are eavesdropping that comments showing up on their feed, they're gonna be like, Oh, that's so interesting. That Valentina went to that prestigious event when she was in college and she went to Boston. So there's so much substance behind that comment. You're not going to just say, hey, that's great that you went to that event. You're going to put some meaning.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

So sharing the point of view, I think, is trying to say, to add value in that comment.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Yeah, because the comment might show up in a network outside of yours. So people are like, how does she know that person? So if you put that context, that is going to provide some input for that audience, and people eavesdropping the conversation by looking at the comments they have some substance behind that relationship that that person has with you.

High-Performing Content Strategy

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Can you break down your highest performing post and what part of that post was the true driver? Earlier you spoke about the hook and sort of the formatting of the post, if you can sort of give us an insight into when Valentina is putting the posts together.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I love this because you both have been with me to the Mark Schaefer uprising event, and I've gone to several of the uprisings. This is one of the examples, my favourite example. I posted a recap of the uprising, and I put a carousel. So this is when you do a visual, you upload it as a PDF, and people are swiping through it. So for the visual people like myself, I put images of each of the speakers and a takeaway. One line takeaway. So I'm taking a selfie at the barbecue place. I'm taking a selfie right before they're about to speak, or when I'm at the breakfast, because that's what I do. I take advantage and I just sit with someone at breakfast. So I took a selfie then, and then I put a one liner saying what I learned from that person.

So that was the most viral post I've done. I put a blurb talking about what the uprising is, and then each visual was a selfie with that person and what I learned from that person. So the secret was, we had just attended Richard Bliss's presentation on LinkedIn, and we learned that if you tag someone, if that person does not respond, you get penalised if they don't respond quickly. So what I did is I tagged a couple of people, not everyone, and I secretly messaged them on LinkedIn, saying, Hey, I just posted, can you please like and comment? So I went out, I specifically was trying to be mindful of the fact, what is the best time to get the good comments, not the ones saying, hey, that's great that I saw you. When do people have the time to give me a good, juicy comment? On the weekends, when they're cycling, right before they go cycling, on Saturday mornings, when do they have more time to give me a really thoughtful comment? So that's what I did. I specifically posted that post on the weekend when someone could have more time to give me a good, substantial comment.

Conference Content Strategy

Matt Wilkinson

Conferences are content gold, as you've just mentioned, how would you turn a sales and marketing team present at the conference into 30 days of posts without sounding too salesy?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I love this question, and I was marinating on this question, and I was thinking about you, Matt, so let's take a couple of steps back. So when you post on LinkedIn, if you post every day, let's say you post multiple times in a day. So you post one time, let's say at nine o'clock in the morning. Let's say you post again at 11. You went to one session, then you went to another one. You found it very insightful, every time you post. So you post in the morning and you post maybe at lunch time, it hides subsequent posts by 99%. Let me repeat that. When you post on LinkedIn, if you post more than several times in a day, it hides the second posts 99%.

So when I'm posting on LinkedIn, I don't post every day. I post maybe once or twice a week. I'm not like you both, that you both are exceptional writers. I have that one post and I let it stay there, I let it marinate and let it cook in there a little longer. I try not to post too often, because I want that post that I did two days ago to get more traction before I decide to post again two days later. So when it comes to not being salesy, we have to go back to the psychology. The people that we're talking to today that are listening to this podcast, don't toot their horn as much. So you have to get past that imposter syndrome that you have to promote this event that you just attended, milk this conference. You have to take advantage of this conference and really amplify it once you get past that.

Let's talk the strategy. So we're going to share the fact that we're at this event where you take the picture with that awkward sign that says 2025, whatever conference you take that I've arrived, then you're going to attend a couple of events. I think that you shouldn't post every time you attend a session. I think people will appreciate what I do, which is the recap. You just post that one thing per day and you show off multiple speakers. People love that. Again, a lot of people are visual. So they're swiping and seeing who you saw, what you saw, what you learned. 30 days of content. That's 30 posts from you, Matt, I don't know if I want to see 30 days worth of content.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

I think also people want the quick, salient facts and then they've moved on, right? To a degree, we all have a little bit of ADHD. So give me everything all in one go or in two goes, and then move on. What else have you got to say?

Customer Retention Through Social Media

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

So this is something for the sales people, because I feel like I do marketing, but I'm a salesperson at heart. This is something that I've read from Forbes a couple years ago, it basically gave me like a panic attack. It says that 50 to 60% your business is from current customers, while 5 to 12% are new people. So here we are trying to engage all these new people. We just need to cultivate our current customers or current relationships.

So what does that mean? How do you translate that to social media? So what I do is, if a person becomes a customer, how do I not miss anything? I turn on the notifications. So on the person's profile, once you're connected to them, there's a little bell icon, turn on the bell icon, and that way I get notified immediately if that person posts. So right now, as I'm talking to you, I'm looking that way, and it's notifying me on my home screen, on my phone, that so and so has posted something on LinkedIn. So I have to, after this call, I'm going to jump in and start engaging with their posts. What does that mean? That means that makes me top of mind. So when they post, I see it, I comment, and they're like, at one point, my customers know this trick already. And they're like, Valentina, why haven't you commented? Because I'm on a podcast or I'm in a meeting with someone else. I can't stop what I'm doing to attend your post, but they expect it immediately.

Optimal Posting Times and Strategies

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

When I publish my LinkedIn newsletters, I try to do it on Sunday because I feel like people are just relaxing. They're having that nice brunch with their family, and they're just checking up on their phone. So my favourite day to post is Sundays for that reason.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

And any time of day.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

So according to Richard, he says Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8 to 11am your local time is probably the best time to post something on LinkedIn. But I feel like when is the best time that people actually have time to comment so that I kind of reverse the question back to you, it makes you think about that as well.

Matt Wilkinson

It's really interesting, especially when you work across multiple time zones. So I tend to try and get the late lunch crew. So people when they're coming back from lunch in the UK, try to hit them then, which means it should be around coffee break time on the east coast, but people are maybe getting up in the West Coast. You're trying to hit a convenient time zone for everybody, but it's really hard.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

So you can repost your own post, those people like you that have the multiple time zones. So let's say you post at eight o'clock your time, and then you cater to the people in the other time zone, four hours away, or whatever it is. And then you can also repost your posts two days later to get even more reach. So all you need to do is just press the repost button, and two days later you can get even more reach by doing that, because maybe earlier in the week it was busy.

Matt Wilkinson

And you don't get any penalty for reposting your own posts.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

Not that I know of. And one more thing, reposts don't count against your daily post. So when you repost something from someone else, it doesn't count as your daily post. Remember, we were talking about the fact that if you post more than several times a day, it hides subsequent posts by 99% the only thing is, reposts don't count towards your daily post.

Key Takeaways

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

So as we sort of wind down this amazing discussion, what are the three take homes you'd like to leave our audience with?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I feel like we went in so many directions today, right? I feel like we were all over the place today. If anyone was tuning in today, I really hope you had that cup of coffee or tea before jumping in. But the thing is, I want people to, I really want to harp on this. I really want you to put yourself out there. I want you to be intentional about what you're posting. And if you don't like posting, maybe you're going to be more comfortable commenting and you say, Okay, I'm going to stop being a lurker. I'm going to stop looking at people's posts and actually take the time to comment. Because I heard about the value of commenting. I think that's one. Put yourself out there, stop lurking and start commenting.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

And if people want to get in touch with you, Valentina, how can they reach you?

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

The best way to find me is going to my website, beyond hyphen engagement.com, as you can see, I'm glad to talk. I talk a lot. I'm glad to help you and push you if you need that push, or someone that give you that perspective that no one else can give you. I'm here for you. I'm here for my clients.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Oh my gosh. Valentina, thank you so much for sharing your marketing wisdom, your personal branding wisdom, and certainly the LinkedIn experiences. Most of all, thanks for helping to keep things spicy, as you like to say, and being part of a splice of life, science marketing community.

Valentina Escobar-Gonzalez

I'm excited to be here. And again, you guys, whoever is listening to this, I believe in you. I know you're doing great things, and just need to put yourself out there. You need to stand out and put yourself out there. And even if it's just commenting. You don't have to post, but just commenting and just putting yourself out there, that's so helpful right now.

Jasmine Gruia-Gray

Thank you so much.

Matt Wilkinson

Thank you.

Q&A

How can I grow my LinkedIn presence without posting every day?

Focus on strategic commenting using the 3x3x5 method: comment on three different people's posts, three times per day (morning, lunch, evening), for five days straight. According to Valentina's experience, this can increase your profile views by 300-500%. Make your comments substantive by adding personal context and insights that provide value to others reading the conversation.

What should I avoid doing on LinkedIn that kills my reach?

Stop reposting others' content (reaches only 1% of your audience), adding direct links (reduces reach by 50%), and posting multiple times per day (subsequent posts get 99% less reach). Also avoid posting the same content type repeatedly - vary between text, images, videos, and links to maintain algorithm favour and audience interest.

How do I make my posts more engaging for scientists who don't typically engage much?

Use the "broetry" format: start with a compelling one-liner hook, then space out your content line by line to encourage people to click "See More." Focus on sharing insights and learnings rather than self-promotion. Consider having your company page post publications and research, then share from there to make it feel more official and less like personal bragging.

What's the most important thing to do in the first hour after posting?

Stay near your phone or computer and actively monitor comments. Posts get 10% of their total reach in the first hour, so this is critical time. Respond to every comment quickly and meaningfully. If you're tagging people, message them beforehand asking them to engage quickly, as LinkedIn penalises posts where tagged people don't respond promptly.

How can I turn one conference into weeks of content without being salesy?

Create recap posts with carousel formats showing selfies with speakers and one-line key takeaways from each. Post once or twice per week maximum, letting each post "marinate" for several days. Focus on what you learned rather than promoting your company. Use the weekend for posting when people have more time to give thoughtful comments, and avoid posting every session attendance in real-time.