Only 1% of the one billion LinkedIn® members post messages each week. This means that one million messages a week appear on the LinkedIn® feed worldwide. Nevertheless, capturing the scroller’s attention is a constant battle.
After only a few seconds of scrolling, your messages often fall into oblivion. To make your content stand out and grab the attention of your target audience, you need scrollstoppers. In this article, you’ll learn what scrollstoppers are, how to incorporate them into your content and why they’re essential for increasing your visibility and engagement on LinkedIn®.
Need help?
At Winger Academy, we’re not satisfied until you get results. We turn your LinkedIn® company page and profile into a golden business card and create LinkedIn® content that really scores.
Want to stay up to date on the latest LinkedIn® features?
🔥 Then subscribe to my monthly newsletter on LinkedIn®
🔥 Follow our Winger Academy company page
🔥 Follow me or connect with me and click the 🔔 in the upper right corner on my profile
🔥 Contact us if you want to know more about our trainings and services
What are scrollstoppers?
Scrollstoppers are elements of your content that grab the scroller’s attention and compel them to stop scrolling. These can be visual elements, such as eye-catching images or videos, but also textual elements, such as intriguing questions, relevant messages or provocative statements.
Using these techniques, your message will stand out among the many other publications on LinkedIn® and will actually be read.
Why are scrollstoppers important?
Studies show that people only spend a few seconds looking at a LinkedIn® message. Content with images is three times more likely to be viewed, and videos generate five times more engagement than static images. Questions are 86% more likely to be answered than statements. All this goes to show how essential it is to use scrollstoppers to capture your audience’s attention.
The LinkedIn® algorithm precisely measures the behaviour of scrollstoppers. For example, it measures the time users spend on each article. The higher the “dwell time”, the higher your score in the algorithm.
The algorithm also takes account of user behaviour. For example, clicks on personal content are not measurable, but they do help to determine the visibility of your message. After all, a click means it’s worth clicking, and that’s precisely why scrollstoppers are important.
There are two main types of scrollstoppers: visual and textual.
Visual scrollstoppers
Our brains decide in 13 milliseconds whether something is recognizable, interesting, or relevant. Images are processed 50,000 times faster by our brains than text. Visual scrollstoppers play a crucial role in grabbing attention.
A recognizable photo of yourself, a group photo with familiar faces from your network, or visuals in a distinctive brand style can make people stop scrolling.
If you have a fan base that loves your content, they are more likely to stop and check out your latest post.
Dynamic elements such as GIFs or videos can also be effective. A GIF that launches automatically or a video with an attractive thumbnail and catchy text can arouse the curiosity of web users. These visual stimuli allow your content to stand out and interest visitors in what you have to say.
Textual scrollstoppers
Textual scrollstoppers are just as important as visual elements. The opening sentence of your post, also known as the hook, needs to be intriguing enough to entice the reader to continue reading. Ask questions that make your audience think or use provocative statements that challenge them to respond.
Hook vs title
When writing a post, start your text with a strong hook. This is the first piece of text visible at the top of your post. This text appears in the feed just before “…see more.” When your hook is written in a way that motivates the reader to click on “…see more,” it is factored into the algorithm’s scoring of your post.
Based on our measurements, a click on “view more” produces
a higher score within the algorithm than a like.
CTA vs CTV
Use clear calls-to-action (CTAs) to tell your readers what you want them to do after reading your post. This could be visiting your website, following your profile, or contacting you.
Want to try something different? Consider adding CTVs, or call to values, to your post. Read all about it in this article.
Scrollstoppers are a powerful tool for grabbing your audience’s attention and engaging them with your content. By using strong visual and textual elements, you can ensure that your LinkedIn® posts are not ignored.
Experiment with different techniques and find out what works best for your audience. Take advantage of scrolling behavior and fine-tune your LinkedIn® content by adding these elements.
Additional tip: write your article first and then work on the scrollstoppers. It’s often easier than the other way round.