Schedule Linkedin Posts for Free by Following These Steps

LinkedIn is arguably one of the best social media platforms for job hunting, professional networking, and more. If you’re not already on LinkedIn, you’re missing out on a fantastic space where you can build your brand, grow your network, and find opportunities to boost your career or business.

With the world becoming increasingly more digitized, having a solid LinkedIn presence is more necessary than ever in 2022. It allows you to connect with professionals in your industry, build relationships online, and use features like groups, messaging, and events to market yourself or your business more effectively.

With more than 830 million members in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is a surefire way to connect with professionals around the globe. However, many users aren't doing enough to maximize their time on this social network. 

For instance, posting written content on your page is a great way to show people that you are active on LinkedIn and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. But if writing and posting consistently feels like a daunting task, never fear: there are ways to schedule your posts ahead of time so you can optimize your efficiency and your marketing.

In this guide, we'll cover the benefits of scheduling your LinkedIn posts to boost your content marketing efforts.

Related: Check out our guide to creating a LinkedIn profile that stands out. 

Why you should schedule your LinkedIn posts

Did you know that LinkedIn generates 277% more conversions and leads than Twitter or Facebook? 

There are a few reasons why scheduling your LinkedIn posts is the secret to growing your platform. We'll dive into a handful of them below. 

Create batch content

You can create a content schedule for the week, month, or even the year, and plan out exactly what you want to post and when. This allows you to set up a batch of posts—from longform articles or quick updates to pictures, videos, and more—that will be published automatically. 

This is ideal for when you have a stockpile of content ready to go, because you can ensure it all goes out at a consistent pace without having to monitor it manually.  Don’t worry about ideas, we have over 70 LinkedIn content ideas waiting for you to dig into to help get your campaign launched quickly and effectively.

In fact, by posting regularly every weekday, you can consistently reach 60% of your audience. This means you'll be more likely to have people engage with your content since it's getting in front of the majority of your followers. 

Save time and effort

Logging in once a day to plan, write, and publish content can quickly eat up a huge chunk of your time. But what if you could get that time back to spend it on other tasks? Scheduling and automating your content creation frees up time you wouldn't otherwise have and saves you the effort of manual posting. 

While the benefits are clear for one person, they're even better when you're managing a team. You can delegate content planning, creation, and scheduling to someone else, leaving you to handle the tasks you actually want to do. 

Build consistency

Consistency breeds loyalty. In fact, people like consistency so much that they usually prefer it over change. 

The same goes for social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms understand that a steady flow of content allows users to grow familiar with your brand and become loyal followers. If you consistently post engaging content, your fans will come back again and again.

This is especially true on LinkedIn, where people spend most of their time consuming information. A great way to build trust among your existing connections and prospects is to provide regular updates on your work, how you’re doing, and what you’ve accomplished.

But consistency goes beyond content—it also applies to time. For example, if you subscribe to a newsletter that drops every Tuesday at 9 a.m., you will look forward to and expect that weekly post. If it's not in your inbox when it's supposed to be, you'll probably be disappointed and less likely to look forward to the next one. 

This is where content scheduling can give you an edge over your competitors. By setting up a consistent daily, weekly, or monthly schedule with a range of content types your followers can depend on, you’ll gain their trust and hold their attention. 

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?

Generally, the best time to post on LinkedIn is between typical business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), with mornings between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. slightly preferable. Research shows that Wednesday is the ideal day to post, with Thursday coming in as a close second. Keep this in mind when you're planning your content schedule so you can be sure to reach more of your audience. 

Related: Curious about how best to use LinkedIn to boost your company? Read our guide to harnessing the power of LinkedIn for business. 

Does LinkedIn have a scheduling feature?

The short answer is no. LinkedIn does not have a native post-scheduling feature. While this may be something the platform adds in the future, there is an easy workaround for now: third-party apps. 

How to use third-party apps to schedule your LinkedIn post

There are a variety of apps and platforms you can use to manage your LinkedIn post scheduling. For this guide, we've picked our top three options and included some details and instructions for how to use them. 

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a popular social network profile management platform. Anyone can use it, whether you're a solo content creator, influencer, marketing professional, or company. 

They have a free plan that includes:

• Up to two linked social media accounts
• Five scheduled posts
• Support access
• Basic app integration

You can upgrade to their paid plans for expanded features like more accounts and unlimited post-scheduling. 

How to use Hootsuite to schedule a post on LinkedIn

1. Create a free account. Make sure you select No Thanks, I Want The Free Plan, otherwise you'll be prompted to select one of the paid options. 

All screenshots by author

2. Fill in your account details to create your account. 

3. Fill out some information about your business and goals for using Hootsuite. 

4. Connect your social media accounts. Make sure you choose LinkedIn as one of them. The site will prompt you to select an additional social network account, so feel free to choose whichever additional platform you'd like to use. 

5. Click on Schedule your first post to get started. 

6. Select which accounts you'd like to post to. Make sure your LinkedIn account is selected.

7. Follow the steps for adding text and media to your post. You can either create something from scratch or copy/paste from another source if you have pre-written content ready. 

8. Finally, choose a date/time to schedule your LinkedIn post for publishing. 

Congrats! You just scheduled your first LinkedIn post using Hootsuite!

2. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is another social media management tool. While they don’t offer a dedicated free plan, they do offer 14-day free trials of their paid plan options so you can give their features a try without spending anything. 

How to schedule a LinkedIn post with SocialPilot

1. Select a plan and start your free trial. 

2. Fill in your details to create your account.

3. Connect your social network accounts. Make sure you select LinkedIn and fill in your account details to finish connecting your profile or page.

4. From the sidebar, click Create Post.

5. Create your post and add any relevant content. Generate your LinkedIn headline for the content. You can also choose to schedule a batch of posts, create a new group, and more. For now, just write a simple post. Then, from the dropdown menu under Add To Queue, select Schedule Post. Pick a date and a time, and you're done!

3. Later

Our third pick for LinkedIn post scheduling is Later.

It's another social media management platform, but it utilizes a drag-and-drop calendar interface for a more visual content schedule. It also offers a basic free plan and several upgrade options (each with a free trial), so you can choose the best plan. 

How to schedule a LinkedIn post with Later

1. Create a free account. 

2. Fill in a few questions about your business and goals for using Later. 

3. Choose a paid plan with a 14-day free trial, or continue with the basic free plan by selecting Not Now at the bottom of the screen. 

4. Connect to your social media profiles. Make sure you choose LinkedIn as one of your accounts. 

5. Make sure your LinkedIn profile bubble is checked at the top of the screen, then click Create Text Post.

6. Create your post by writing or copy/pasting pre-written content into the text box. Feel free to add media as well. Choose a date and time, and voila! Your post is scheduled to be automatically published. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, this guide helped you learn how to schedule a LinkedIn post using HootSuite, SocialPilot, and Later. But more importantly, I hope you learned how creating a content schedule can boost your content marketing efforts and vastly improve your success on LinkedIn.

Whether you're looking to build consistency and loyalty with your followers or just save time and effort in the content creation process, a LinkedIn scheduling tool can be the solution you've been waiting for. 

Plus, don't forget about the other tools that can further maximize your marketing productivity. Copy.ai has the best ai writing generators to help you craft content that will keep your audience engaged and save you valuable time.This article is part of an ongoing series on LinkedIn for business. It includes, but is not limited to the following topics: how to cold message on LinkedIn and how to write a LinkedIn recommendation.