How to Find Trending Posts on LinkedIn

Spotting a trending post on LinkedIn can feel like watching lightning strike - it's powerful, impressive, and seems to come out of nowhere. But finding those viral topics isn't about luck, it's about having a system to listen to what the platform and its users are talking about. This guide will walk you through actionable methods for uncovering trending posts and topics on LinkedIn, helping you create content that resonates, gains traction, and builds your authority in your niche.

Why Finding Trending Posts on LinkedIn Matters

Before jumping into the "how," it's worth understanding the "why." Actively looking for trending content isn't just about copying what's popular, it's a core part of a smart content strategy. Here's what you gain:

• Endless Content Inspiration: Say goodbye to writer's block. Analyzing trending posts gives you a constant stream of proven ideas, formats, and angles that you can adapt for your own audience.
• Deep Audience Insight: Trends reveal what your target audience cares about right now. By paying attention, you learn about their pain points, aspirations, and the language they use, allowing you to create more relevant and empathetic content.
• Increased Organic Reach: LinkedIn's algorithm is designed to promote timely and engaging conversations. When you tap into a topic that's already gaining momentum, you significantly increase the chances of your post being shown to a wider network beyond your existing followers.
• Builds Authority and Relevance: Consistently contributing to current, important industry conversations positions you as an informed and relevant voice. You become known as someone who has their finger on the pulse of your niche, which builds trust and authority.

Method 1: Master LinkedIn's Built-In Tools

You don't need a complex suite of paid tools to get started. LinkedIn itself offers powerful, and often overlooked, features for spotting trends right on the platform. These are your foundational go-to methods.

Follow Key Hashtags in Your Niche

Hashtags are the connective tissue of conversations on LinkedIn. Following them is one of the most direct ways to bring trending topics directly into your daily feed.

How to Do It:

1. Search for a Hashtag: Use the main search bar to look for a term relevant to your industry, like #DigitalMarketing, #FutureOfWork, or #SaaS.
2. Follow It: On the search results page dedicated to that hashtag, you'll see a blue "Follow" button near the top. Click it.
3. Monitor Your Feed: LinkedIn will now start integrating top-performing posts using this hashtag directly into your homepage feed. You'll begin to organically see what's popular without actively searching.

Pro-Tip: Don't just follow the giant, generic hashtags. The real magic often happens in more specific, niche hashtags like #B2BContentMarketing or #UXdesignTips. The content is more targeted, and emerging trends are easier to spot before they become mainstream.

Filter for "Top" Posts in Your Searches

By default, LinkedIn search often prioritizes recent content, but the real gold is in sorting by engagement.

How to Do It:

1. Search for a Topic: Enter a keyword or phrase related to your industry (e.g., "customer retention strategies") into the search bar.
2. Filter by "Posts": Below the search bar on the results page, click the "Posts" button to filter out people, jobs, and companies.
3. Sort by "Top": Look for the "Sort by" dropdown menu on the right, which is typically set to "Recent." Change this to "Top."

Instantly, you'll see a feed of the most-liked, most-commented-on, and most-reposted content related to your search term. This is an incredible resource for analyzing what works. Pay close attention to the format (e.g., text-only post, poll, carousel document, video) and the angle (e.g., a provocative opinion, a personal story, tactical advice).

Keep an Eye on the "Top Voices"

Some people don't just follow trends - they create them. Identifying and following the "Top Voices" (previously known as LinkedIn Influencers) and other thought leaders in your space is a shortcut to knowing what's about to be a major conversation.

How It Works:

LinkedIn algorithmically and editorially identifies users who consistently create high-engagement content on specific topics. You can find them by searching for specific skill sets or by noticing the "Top [Topic] Voice" badge on profiles. Follow these individuals. Study their content religiously. What topics are they hitting repeatedly? How do they structure their posts? What questions do they ask to spark engagement?

Use the LinkedIn News Module

That little "LinkedIn News" box on the right sidebar of your desktop homepage is more than just filler. It's curated by LinkedIn's own editorial team to highlight the biggest developing stories and trending conversations on the platform. These stories are a direct signal of what LinkedIn wants people to talk about.

If you see a news item relevant to your industry, consider it a prompt. You can write a post sharing your take, add a unique perspective, or ask your network a related question. It's an easy way to join a conversation that already has momentum.

Method 2: Become a Smart Observer of Your Industry

Algorithms can only tell you part of the story. The sharpest professionals find trends by becoming astute observers of human behavior and conversation within their digital communities.

Intentionally Curate Your Feed

Your LinkedIn feed can either be a distracting river of noise or a fine-tuned trend-spotting machine. The choice is yours. Instead of passively accepting what the algorithm gives you, actively shape it.

How to Do It:

• Identify 20-30 people who are central to your industry. This includes key thought leaders, direct competitors, influential customers, and niche publications.
• Follow them and make a point to engage with their content regularly (liking, commenting). This signals to the algorithm that their content is important to you.
• For the 3-5 most important accounts, use the "bell" icon on their profile to get notifications whenever they post. This ensures you never miss content from the most critical voices in your space.

By doing this, your feed will gradually transform into a highly relevant, curated dashboard of the most important conversations happening in your industry every single day.

Dissect High-Engagement Posts

When you come across a post with a ton of likes and hundreds of comments, don't just scroll past. Stop and analyze it like you're studying a masterpiece. Ask yourself:

• The Hook: How did the first sentence or two grab my attention and make me stop scrolling?
• The Format: Why did they choose this format? Why a poll instead of a text post? Why a carousel teasing a story?
• The Core Idea: What is the main point? Is it a controversial opinion, a vulnerable personal story, a helpful list of tips, or a celebration of a win?
• The Call to Engagement: How did they prompt comments? Did they ask a direct question? Did they state a bold claim and ask for opinions?
• The Comments Section: This is a hidden goldmine. Read the comments. What follow-up questions are people asking? What are they debating? The seeds of your next successful post are often planted in the comment section of someone else's trend.

Monitor Relevant LinkedIn Groups

While some LinkedIn Groups can be spammy, a well-moderated, active group is an incredible place for raw, unfiltered insights. Members often share their biggest challenges, ask pressing questions, and debate new ideas. Pay attention to:

• Recurring Questions: If lots of people are asking the same question, a post that provides a clear solution is almost guaranteed to do well.
• Hotly Debated Topics: Where there's disagreement, there's passion. Crafting a post that explores both sides of a popular debate can generate incredible engagement.
• Shared Resources: What articles, tools, or resources are members sharing most frequently? This shows you what the community finds valuable.

Method 3: Go Beyond LinkedIn for Deeper Insights

Sometimes, spotting a trend means looking outside the platform itself. Broader digital trends often signal what will soon be taking over the professional conversations on LinkedIn.

Use Clever Google Searches

You can use Google's search operators to find highly popular LinkedIn posts on any topic, and it's completely free. It's a great way to cut through the noise and see what has performed well over time.

Try this search string in Google:

site:linkedin.com/pulse/ "your keyword"site:linkedin.com/posts/ "your keyword"

The first query is excellent for finding popular long-form articles, while the second surfaces individual posts. You can enhance this by using Google's "Tools" menu to filter results by time (e.g., "Past month") to see what's been successful recently.

Watch for Cross-Platform Trends

Ideas rarely live on a single platform. A topic blowing up on X (formerly Twitter) among industry professionals, a recurring theme in industry podcasts, or a popular discussion in a relevant Subreddit are all strong indicators of a topic that's ripe for LinkedIn. The key is to adapt the trend for the LinkedIn context. A meme might dominate on X, but on LinkedIn, you would reframe it as a relatable professional observation or a lesson learned.

Final Thoughts

Spotting trending content on LinkedIn isn't a passive activity, it's an ongoing system of listening. By combining LinkedIn's native tools with your own sharp observations and a little external research, you can build a content strategy that's consistently relevant, engaging, and in-tune with what your audience wants to discuss.

Once you've identified trending topics, turning those insights into a consistent stream of content is the next big step. For my team, that's precisely why we built Postbase. We use our visual calendar to map out content ideas inspired by these trends, then schedule everything across multiple platforms without ever having to leave one simple dashboard. It closes the gap between finding a great idea and actually getting that content published, reliably and without the usual chaos.