How to Share an Article on LinkedIn

Sharing an article on LinkedIn is more than just posting a link, it's a strategic move to build your brand, spark conversations, and establish yourself as an authority in your field. This guide walks you through not only the basic steps but also the expert strategies that turn a simple share into a powerful engagement tool. We’ll cover how to craft compelling captions, tag contacts effectively, and avoid common mistakes that limit your reach.

Why Share Articles on LinkedIn in the First Place?

Before getting into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." You're not just filling up your feed. Sharing relevant articles, whether your own or from other sources, accomplishes three important goals:

• Builds Thought Leadership: Consistently sharing insightful content demonstrates that you're knowledgeable and actively engaged in your industry. It positions you as a go-to resource for the latest trends and information.
• Drives Website Traffic: If you're sharing links to your own company blog or publications, it's a direct-to-consumer channel. You're bringing traffic from a professional network straight to your digital doorstep.
• Sparks Engaging Conversations: A link is a conversation starter. When you add your perspective and ask a question, you invite your network to share their opinions, creating valuable interactions that strengthen relationships and boost your post's visibility.

How to Share an Article on LinkedIn (The Simple Steps)

Let’s start with the basic mechanics. Sharing a link is easy, but doing it correctly sets the stage for a great post. Here's the most common and effective method: sharing an article in a new post.

1. Find Your Article: Copy the URL of the article you want to share. This could be a recent blog post from your company, an insightful report, or a news piece relevant to your industry.
2. Navigate to Your LinkedIn Feed: From your LinkedIn homepage, click the "Start a post" button at the top of the feed.
3. Paste the Link: In the post-creation box, paste the URL you copied. LinkedIn will automatically fetch a preview of the article, usually including the headline, a short description, and a featured image.
4. Wait for the Preview to Load: This is an important step often overlooked. Wait a few seconds for the link preview to appear below your text. Once it's loaded, you can delete the raw URL from the text box to make your post look cleaner. The preview will remain.
5. Write Your Caption: This is where the real work happens. We'll get into this in depth below, but this is your space to add context, your opinion, a question, tags, and hashtags.
6. Post it: Click the "Post" button to share it with your network immediately, or click the clock icon to schedule it for a later time.

Other Ways to Share an Article

While creating a new post is the best way to maximize visibility, you can also share articles in other places:

• Direct Messages: Paste a link directly into a message to share it privately with a connection or a group of connections. This is great for sending a personalized recommendation.
• LinkedIn Groups: If you're a member of a relevant industry group, you can share the article there to spark a more targeted discussion. Just make sure you read the group rules first, as some have strict policies against promotional links.
• The "Repost" Feature: If you see an article that someone else has already posted on LinkedIn, you can click the "Repost" button on their post. This is the quickest way to share but offers the least visibility. The LinkedIn algorithm prioritizes original content, so a repost won't reach as many people as creating a new post with your own unique caption.

How to Turn a Simple Link into an Engaging LinkedIn Post

Anyone can drop a link into their feed. Professionals who understand the platform use that link as a starting point for genuine engagement. Your goal isn't just to get clicks, it's to start a conversation. Here’s a framework for success.

1. Craft an Irresistible Introduction (The Hook)

The first one or two lines of your post are what people see before they have to click "see more." You have seconds to grab their attention. Don't waste it with a boring summary. Instead, lead with:

• A Provocative Question: "What's the one metric everyone ignores in marketing analytics? This article opened my eyes."
• A Surprising Stat or Fact: "75% of startups fail within the first five years. This author thinks they've found the common thread connecting them."
• A Bold or Contrarian Statement: "I think we've been approaching sales all wrong. Instead of hunting for leads, what if we focused on this one thing instead...?"

The hook makes people pause their scroll and want to know more - both about what you have to say and what the article contains.

2. Give Your Unique Perspective

After your hook, don't just state what the article is about. Say what you think about what the article is about. This is the single most important part of your caption. It transforms you from a content curator into a thought leader.

Here are a few ways to add your perspective:

• Share a key takeaway: "My biggest takeaway from this article is that company culture isn't foam dart battles and free snacks. It's built on a foundation of psychological safety. The author provides a brilliant four-step plan to start building it."
• Add a personal story: "This article on overcoming impostor syndrome hit home for me. Early in my career, I nearly sabotaged a huge project because of it. Here’s what I learned that the article doesn't cover..."
• Disagree respectfully: "This is a really interesting take on the future of remote work, but I have to disagree with point #3 about productivity. From what I’ve seen leading my own team, the exact opposite is true when you give people autonomy."

By adding your voice, you're not just sharing content, you're creating it.

3. Tag People and Companies Strategically

Tagging relevant people or companies can significantly boost your post's visibility by notifying them and potentially bringing their networks into the conversation. But there's an art to doing it right.

Do:

• Tag the Author and Publication: If the author and the publication are on LinkedIn, always tag them. It’s polite and often earns you a reshare or a comment. (@John Doe / @Forbes)
• Tag People Mentioned in the Article: If an article you’re sharing references a person or company, tag them.
• Tag Colleagues for Their Opinion: If you know a colleague who has deep expertise on the topic, tag them and ask for their thoughts. (e.g., "Would love to hear your take on this, @Jane Smith, especially the part about data security.")

Don't:

• Tag Random Influencers: Tagging a list of popular people to get their attention is spammy and transparent. Only tag someone if you have an authentic reason to.
• Tag Too Many People: A clean post might have 1-3 relevant tags. A post with 15 tags looks desperate and is hard to read.

4. Use 3-5 Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags help people who don't follow you discover your content. But less is more. LinkedIn is a platform where keyword stuffing with hashtags looks messy. Aim for 3 to 5 targeted hashtags.

Use a mix of broad and niche tags:

• Broad: Relate to the general industry (e.g., #Marketing, #SaaS, #Startups)
• Niche: Relate to the specific topic of the article (e.g., #ContentStrategy, #LeadGeneration, #B2Bsales)

Place them at the end of your post for a clean look.

5. End with a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Finally, end your post by telling your readers what to do next. The easiest way to do this is by asking an open-ended question to encourage comments.

For example:

• "What are your thoughts on this approach?"
• "Have you tried this technique before? I'd love to hear how it went."
• "What's one thing you think the author missed?"

This CTA is an explicit invitation to engage, and it works. When someone comments, make sure you reply to them to keep the conversation going. Engaging with comments shows both your audience and the LinkedIn algorithm that your post is valuable.

Final Thoughts

Sharing an article on LinkedIn is simple, but sharing it well is a skill. By shifting your mindset from just posting a link to starting a valuable conversation, you can use shared content to consistently build authority, expand your network, and engage with your community in a meaningful way.

To help build this consistency, we rely on a clear content calendar to plan our own posts ahead of time. I use our tool, Postbase, to schedule all our content - including strategic article shares - across LinkedIn and our other platforms from a single visual calendar. It saves us from jumping between apps and helps us see our whole content strategy at a glance, making it much easier to stay on track and focus on the conversations that matter.