How to Boost a Post on LinkedIn

Boosting a post on LinkedIn is one of the fastest ways to get your content in front of a targeted professional audience, right when you need it most. It allows you to take a high-performing organic post and put a simple, targeted budget behind it to expand its reach. This guide will walk you through exactly what boosting is, when to use it, and the step-by-step process to launch a successful boost that gets results.

What Exactly Is Boosting a LinkedIn Post?

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand what boosting is and what it isn't. At its core, boosting is a form of paid advertising on LinkedIn, but it's much simpler than creating a full ad campaign from scratch in Campaign Manager. Think of it as a shortcut to promote something that's already on your Company Page.

Here’s the simple distinction:

• A Boosted Post takes an existing, organic post from your Company Page and adds a budget to show it to a wider, targeted audience. The process is streamlined and happens right from the post itself.
• A LinkedIn Ad Campaign is created in LinkedIn's Campaign Manager. It gives you far more advanced options, A/B testing capabilities, multiple ad formats (that don't have to exist on your page), and more complex bidding strategies.

Boosting is the perfect entry point. It's designed for speed and simplicity. You leverage content that's already resonating with your followers and give it a paid push to reach even more of the right people.

When Should You Boost a LinkedIn Post? The "Why" Before the "How"

Just because you can boost any post doesn't mean you should. The most successful boosts are strategic. A paid budget magnifies what's already there, so you want to put your money behind content that’s already proven itself or is tied to a specific business goal.

Here are the best times to hit that "Boost" button:

• When a post has strong organic engagement. If you share a post and it quickly racks up more likes, comments, and shares than usual, that's a signal from your audience that the content is valuable. Boosting this post adds fuel to a fire that's already burning, showing it to a larger group of professionals who will likely find it just as interesting.
• To promote high-value content. Have a detailed case study, an informative white paper, or a compelling new blog post? A boost can drive targeted traffic directly to that resource. Instead of just hoping people see it, you can place it directly in the feeds of professionals in your target industry or with specific job titles.
• For important announcements. Launching a new feature, announcing a company milestone, or promoting an upcoming webinar are all perfect opportunities for a boost. It gives your announcement the initial visibility it needs to make an impact.
• To increase brand awareness. For businesses looking to grow their presence on LinkedIn, boosting insightful or thought-provoking content can introduce your brand to a new, relevant audience. It’s a great way to get on the radar of potential customers, partners, or future employees.

Imagine you posted a short video sharing a customer success story. Within a few hours, it gets twice the comments you normally see. That's a clear signal. Wasting that momentum would be a shame. Boosting it to people with similar job titles as your ideal customer is an easy win.

How to Boost a LinkedIn Post: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to get started? The process is straightforward. Before you begin, just a couple of quick requirements: you need to be a "Super admin" or "Content admin" for your LinkedIn Company Page, and you need to have a payment method ready to connect to your LinkedIn Ad Account.

Step 1: Find the Post and Click "Boost"

Navigate to your LinkedIn Company Page and scroll to find the organic post you want to promote. Directly below the post, you’ll see a blue Boost button. Click it to open the setup screen.

Step 2: Define Your Objective

LinkedIn will ask you what you want to achieve with your boost. This helps optimize the campaign for the right kind of results. The options you see will depend on the content of your post (for example, you'll only see "Video views" if it's a video).

The most common objectives are:

• Brand Awareness: Get your post seen by as many people as possible in your target audience. This is measured in impressions.
• Engagement: Encourage more likes, comments, re-posts, and follows. This is great for starting conversations and building community.
• Website Visits: Drive traffic off of LinkedIn to your website, a blog post, or a landing page. This is measured in clicks.
• Video Views: Maximize the number of people who watch your video content.

Think about what you truly want someone to do after they see your post. If you're promoting a link to a new case study, "Website Visits" is the obvious choice. If you're sharing a thought-provoking industry question, "Engagement" is a better fit.

Step 3: Choose Your Audience

This is where the real power of LinkedIn lies. You can get incredibly specific about who sees your content. The main targeting options are fairly intuitive but powerful.

Profile-Based Targeting:

This lets you target professionals based on information in their LinkedIn profiles. You can combine categories to build a highly relevant audience. Some key options include:

• Location: Target by country, state, or city.
• Job Title: Enter specific job titles like "Marketing Manager" or "Software Engineer."
• Job Function & Seniority: Broaden your reach to entire departments (e.g., all "Marketing" functions) or levels of experience (e.g., "Director" level and above).
• Company Industry & Size: Focus on professionals in specific industries (like "Information Technology" or "Healthcare") at companies of a certain employee count.
• Skills & Interests: Target people who list specific skills on their profile or follow certain topics on LinkedIn.

Example: A cybersecurity firm might target people with "Head of IT" or "Chief Information Security Officer" job titles, at companies in the "Financial Services" industry with over 500 employees, located in the United States.

Audience from Profile or a Saved Audience

For more advanced users, you can use pre-built audiences, perhaps from a previous full ad campaign, or use an audience of people who follow your page or match other criteria, but beginners should stick with profile-based criteria to get started.

Step 4: Set Your Budget and Schedule

Next, you’ll decide how much you want to spend and for how long. You have two main settings:

• Total Budget: This is the maximum amount you'll spend over the entire duration of the boost. A good starting point for your first boost might be $50 to $100 to test the waters.
• Schedule: You can choose the number of days you want the boost to run (e.g., 7 days, 14 days, etc.) or set a specific end date.

As you adjust your budget and schedule, LinkedIn will provide an estimate of your expected results (like estimated impressions or clicks) on the right side of the screen. This helps you get a sense of what your money will buy you.

Step 5: Add Payment and Boost!

Finally, you’ll see a summary of your boost settings: objective, audience, budget, schedule, and total spend (including any applicable taxes). Double-check that everything looks correct. If you haven't already, you’ll be prompted to add a credit card. Once that's done, click the final blue Boost button at the bottom, and your post will be submitted for a quick review before it goes live.

Best Practices for a Successful LinkedIn Boost

Going through the motions is one thing. Getting actual results is another. Here are a few tips to make your LinkedIn boosts more effective.

• Choose the Right Content: Reiterating this because it’s so important. The best ad campaigns can't save bad content. Boost a post that has already demonstrated value through organic engagement. It's pre-validated by your audience.
• Double-Check Your Link & CTA: If your goal is website traffic, make sure the link in your post works perfectly. Also, ensure your post copy has a clear call-to-action (CTA). Don't just share a link, tell people why they should click it. For example, "Read our new report on AI trends to see where the industry is heading."
• Be Specific With Your Targeting, But Not Too Specific: While LinkedIn's targeting is powerful, creating an audience that's only 2,000-5,000 people might be too small to gain momentum. Aim for a sensible audience size - often 50,000+ is a good starting point - to give the platform enough people to work with.
• Monitor Performance: After your boost is live for a day or two, check its performance. You can see this by clicking the ellipsis (...) on the post and selecting "View insights." You'll see impressions, clicks, engagement rate, and more. If a boost is performing exceptionally well, you might consider extending its budget. If it's completely flat, you can pause it and re-evaluate your content or audience.
• Engage with Comments: Your job isn’t done once the boost is live. Paid promotion should spark organic conversation. When people leave comments on your boosted post, reply to them! Treating your boosted content like any other organic post will drive even more engagement and show new audiences that your brand is active and helpful.

Beyond the Boost: Building a Stronger LinkedIn Presence

A boost is a powerful tactic, but it's most effective as part of a larger, consistent strategy. You can't just log on once a month, boost a post, and expect to build a meaningful presence. Success on LinkedIn - or any social platform - comes from momentum.

Consistently publishing valuable content builds the organic foundation that makes your paid boosts more cost-effective. Regular posting keeps your brand top-of-mind, grows your follower base, and gives you a steady stream of "booster-worthy" content to choose from. When you boost, you're not starting from scratch, you're amplifying a presence your audience already knows and trusts.

Focus on creating a diverse content mix - share industry insights, celebrate team wins, publish video tutorials, and engage in conversations. The more consistently you provide value, the better your organic reach will be, and the more impactful every single boost will become.

Final Thoughts

Boosting a post on LinkedIn is an accessible way to get your best content more visibility and drive specific actions. By selecting content that already performs well and narrowing in on a well-defined audience, you can easily amplify your message and reach professionals who matter most to your business.

Consistently creating valuable content is the foundation of any great social strategy, and staying organized is what makes it possible. We built Postbase because we needed a simple way to plan our social media calendar, schedule content ahead of time, and easily spot the top-performing organic posts that were perfect candidates for a boost. When you can see your entire strategy at a glance, you make smarter decisions about both your organic and paid efforts.