Your higher education institution is creating great organic LinkedIn content, but is it reaching the right audience? Despite investing time and resources into crafting compelling posts—including faculty research, student success stories, and program highlights—limited organic reach means even the best content may not get the visibility it deserves.
That’s where LinkedIn Boosted Posts come in. By strategically amplifying organic content, your institution can expand its reach, capture leads, and maximize the impact of your social media efforts, all without the need to create entirely new ads.
What are LinkedIn Boosted Posts?
Boosted Posts transform your institution’s organic LinkedIn content into paid ads within a LinkedIn advertising campaign. By combining organic posts from a company page with LinkedIn’s powerful targeting tools, Boosted Posts push your page’s organic posts onto the feeds of your ideal audience–whether that’s prospective students, alumni, donors, or other key stakeholders.
Unlike Thought Leader Ads, which feature content from individual LinkedIn profiles, Boosted Posts amplify content from your institution’s LinkedIn page.
While LinkedIn offers a variety of campaign objectives for Boosted Posts, as of October 2024, advertisers can use a lead generation objective, making it easier than ever to collect leads.
Why Higher Ed Institutions Should Leverage LinkedIn Boosted Posts
Boosted Posts are a powerful way to extend your reach, foster greater interaction, and enhance the visibility of your organic content. Here are three key benefits of including them in your marketing strategy:
1. Maximize the Reach of High-Performing Content
Organic posts from a university’s LinkedIn page can have limited visibility due to platform algorithms. Boosting allows your institution to extend the lifespan of its best content, ensuring it reaches prospective students, alumni, and industry professionals who may not already follow your page.
2. Enhance Existing Paid LinkedIn Campaigns
Boosted Posts can be a strategic complement to existing paid LinkedIn campaigns. By layering them into existing campaigns, they can help your institution reinforce key messages without the need for net-new copy and creative assets. For example, layering in boosted posts to an existing campaign with a lead generation objective allows you to extend the reach of high-performing organic posts while driving actionable results like capturing leads.
Organic content tends to be more community-oriented and highlights personal stories—something that resonates deeply with audiences and tends to be more engaging than traditional marketing and advertising language. A strong strategy is to guide prospective students through a journey. Use organic posts to drive engagement with compelling student stories or faculty insights, then retarget those engaged users with a lead form. This approach fosters more informed and intent-driven prospects, improving both the quality and efficiency of lead generation efforts.
3. Improve Engagement & Page Growth
Boosted Posts increase post interactions, leading to more followers, shares, and discussions. A higher ed institution with an engaged LinkedIn presence is more likely to build trust and attract prospective students. For example, if your institution is promoting an open house, virtual tour, or info session, boosting a post can quickly increase visibility among your existing audience and new audiences.
Campaign Requirements and Settings
To get the most out of your Boosted Posts, keep these key factors in mind:
- Only organic, original posts from LinkedIn pages are eligible as Boosted Posts—reposts are not allowed.
- Boosted Posts are compatible with five objectives: Awareness, Engagement, Video Views, Website Visits, and Lead Generation.
- To be eligible as a Boosted Post, organic content may contain text only, single images, events, single videos, documents, LinkedIn articles, or newsletter articles.
- LinkedIn does not allow additional copy, images, or URLs to be added to organic posts during ad set up.
- Boosted Posts are limited to a single format per campaign (such as an image or video). Each post is treated independently and retains the format of the original organic content. If you want to showcase different formats, you’ll need to boost each post individually in separate campaigns.
Best Practices for Boosted Posts
Boost Content That Delivers Value
Select content that highlights key program details, unique value propositions, and educational offerings. Your boosted posts should focus on delivering value to your audience, offering them meaningful insights about your institution’s programs. Showcase real initiatives, testimonials, and features that demonstrate the impact of your programs.
Learn more about best practices for Boosted Posts.
Select Posts with Strong Engagement
When choosing posts to boost, start by selecting posts that are already receiving high engagement, such as likes, comments, and shares. Content that is already performing well is more likely to deliver successful results when boosted.
Ensure Your LinkedIn Page is Optimized
Before you boost a post, make sure your LinkedIn Page is fully optimized. A complete page with an updated logo, accurate descriptions, and regular posts maximizes credibility and creates a stronger foundation for your boosted content to perform effectively.
Provide Adequate Run Time
To see clear results, give your boosted posts enough time to perform.
- For adding a post to an existing paid campaign: A minimum run time of one week is recommended to achieve measurable results.
- For a standalone boosted post campaign: Aim for a minimum of one month to fully gauge performance and make any necessary adjustments to optimize your campaign.
Visual Assets Matter
High-quality visual content can significantly boost engagement. Incorporate eye-catching images, videos, or infographics that align with the message of your post and “stop the scroll.”
Elevate Your Higher Ed Marketing Strategy With LinkedIn Boosted Posts
LinkedIn Boosted Posts are an impactful way to amplify and repurpose your institution’s existing organic content in a paid advertising campaign. By increasing visibility and offering a variety of objectives, Boosted Posts help to achieve your marketing goals, such as in-platform lead generation or brand awareness. Ultimately, they’re a powerful tool for enhancing your marketing efforts and delivering tangible results.
Ready to add Boosted Posts to your higher ed marketing strategy? Start a conversation with Carnegie today.