5 new things on LinkedIn (and what they mean for your MSP)

I think LinkedIn must have a new product manager, because they've been shipping new features at a pace that makes me feel slightly old and tired. Nine in the last few weeks alone.

Anyway, I've had a good lie down, and now I'm ready to talk you through the ones that matter most to MSPs.

Here’s what’s changed, filtered down to the things that actually matter if you’re an MSP owner ready to win new clients.

1) The algorithm is now penalising AI slop (GREAT)

LinkedIn has officially confirmed it’s building systems to detect and suppress generic, low-quality AI-generated content (aka AI slop).

If their algorithm detects you've posted something which doesn't really have any original thinking, or there's no specific insight or genuine perspective, then they're not showing it to as many people.

LinkedIn says it isn’t penalising AI-assisted content, only content without substance. This means if you use AI to help you articulate something you genuinely know and think, that’s fine. But if you stick a topic into ChatGPT and just post whatever it spits out, expect your reach to suffer.

I believe this is a good thing, don't you? I follow many people on LinkedIn, and I see a LOT of them who are not writing their posts any more. They're not even editing what AI is churning out. And it's soooooooooooooooooo obvious to spot. It makes me think less of those people. They're "doing LinkedIn" rather than using it as a tool to build and influence a targeted audience.

~ What this means for your MSP ~

This is very good news for MSPs who post genuine content. If you’ve been frustrated that generic AI posts seem to get the same reach as your actual original work, that’s about to change. Your real voice, experience, and opinions about technology and business is what LinkedIn is prioritising. I'm delighted that writing like a human is becoming a competitive advantage.

This is especially good news for members of my MSP Marketing Edge. Of course we use AI tools as part of our content creation process, but five different humans (Clare, Sarah, Laura, Steph and Ami) shape, edit, check and double check every single piece of content before it reaches our members.

2) You can now search in plain English. This could be a game changer

LinkedIn has added conversational search powered by AI. Instead of stacking filters and hoping for the best, you can now type something like “managing directors of manufacturing companies in Birmingham” and get a genuinely relevant list of people back.

This is a significant change when you are doing prospecting on LinkedIn. Previously, finding your ideal client profile required a combination of filters, luck, and patience. Now you can describe your ideal prospect in plain English and let LinkedIn do the work.

~ What this means for your MSP ~

If you’ve got a clear ideal client profile (a specific type of business, location, and decision maker) you can now find those people much faster. Find the right people, send a connection request, and start building a bigger audience on LinkedIn.

3) People can now choose how much of your content they are notified about.

LinkedIn now shows a bell icon on personal profiles. Your connections and followers can click it to choose exactly how much of your content they want to see. All of it, less of it, or none at all.

£5/$5 says LinkedIn copied this from YouTube 🤣

~ What this means for your MSP ~

This is a quality signal. People who choose “see all content” from your profile are your most engaged audience. I wonder if soon people will start asking followers to click the bell in the same way YouTubers do.

4) Vertical video is back

LinkedIn has relaunched its vertical video feed, designed for full-screen mobile viewing. Video on LinkedIn has been growing fast, up 36% year on year. And the algorithm is currently giving native video a big distribution boost.

Short clips of 30 to 90 seconds work best for reaching new people. Longer videos work better for audiences who already know you.

~ What this means for your MSP ~

Get in the habit of grabbing your phone and filming a short video for LinkedIn. A 60 second video of you answering a question your clients ask all the time, filmed in your office or your car, will outperform a polished graphic every single time. Video builds trust faster than text.

5) In-network vs out-of-network reach: A new metric

LinkedIn has added a new analytics breakdown showing what percentage of your post’s reach came from within your network versus outside it. Out-of-network reach means LinkedIn’s algorithm understood your content well enough to push it to strangers who care about your topic.

~ What this means for your MSP ~

This is a useful sanity check on whether your content is doing what you want it to do. If all your reach is in-network, you’re talking to people who already know you. That’s not bad, but it’s not growth. If you’re getting strong out-of-network reach, you’re building a new audience. Check this figure on your next few posts and use it to understand what’s working.

The overall picture

LinkedIn is becoming more useful for MSPs, not less. None of these features do anything on their own though. The MSPs who benefit from them are the ones who show up consistently, sound like real people, and have something worth saying.

Which of these is most useful to you right now? Let me know. I read and reply to every email 😃