035: Selling on LinkedIn (Without Being Salesy)—Part 3: Engagement Strategy
Stay top of mind with prospects (without annoying follow-ups) by making every interaction, repost, and comment count.
Today’s email is for you if you’re experiencing these problems:
Your LinkedIn efforts aren't generating qualified prospects.
You’re struggling to stay top of mind with prospects without coming across as pushy.
You feel awkward or uncertain about how to engage with prospects' content authentically.
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Review
This is the ninth installment of the 4-Farmland Matrix (4FM) series. In it, we unpack a simple four-part framework that helps you identify and capitalize on your most promising sales opportunities—whether they’re new prospects, current clients, or ones that got away.
So far, we’ve covered these topics:
The 4-Farmland Matrix: Overview
Farmland 1: New (Desirable fields yet to be acquired)
033: Selling on LinkedIn (Without Being Salesy)—Part 1: Your Connections Strategy.
034: Selling on LinkedIn (Without Being Salesy)—Part 2: Your DM Strategy
Preview
In a previous article, I introduced the four ‘components’ of Systematic Prospecting in your sales process:
Systematic Social Selling
Systematic Outreach.
Systematic Referrals.
In the past two articles, we’ve discussed the second component—Systematic Social Selling—with our ‘Selling on LinkedIn’ series: Part 1: Your Connections Strategy and Part 2: Your DM Strategy.
Today, we break down Part 3: Your Engagement Strategy.
Overview
What
Your Engagement Strategy on LinkedIn involves intentionally interacting with posts and updates to build relationships, establish credibility, and increase your visibility within and outside your network.
Why
Get ‘free’ opportunities to stay ‘top of mind’ (without annoying follow-ups).
Meaningful interactions keep you relevant with your prospects, so they’ll think of you when they have a need for your expertise or services.Raise the other person’s status on LinkedIn, which triggers the persuasion principle of reciprocity.
Interacting with their content helps expand their reach on the platform, making them more likely to reciprocate and engage with you.Show gratitude to those who engage with you.
When someone takes the time to comment on or interact with your posts, responding to their input fosters goodwill and encourages future interactions.Grow your audience.
The more you engage with others’ content, the more visibility you gain. Comments and reactions on posts appear in the feeds of mutual connections, increasing your exposure and attracting new followers who align with your expertise and messaging.
Who
Potential clients.
Interact with prospects by engaging with their posts, offering thoughtful comments, and showing up consistently in their notifications. This helps you stay on their radar in a non-salesy way.
Industry leaders & influencers.
Commenting on high-engagement posts from industry influencers gets you visibility with their audience and establishes you as someone who adds value to relevant conversations.
Partners & collaborators.
Engaging with complementary owners and professionals can open doors to partnerships, referrals, and cross-promotions.
Existing clients & supporters.
Strengthen relationships with those who already know and trust you by supporting their content.
Where
Main feed (Scroll roulette).
Open your LinkedIn feed and scroll for posts that catch your attention and make you feel compelled to interact with them.Topic search.
Use LinkedIn’s search bar to find posts and conversations around key industry topics, hashtags, or keywords to engage beyond your immediate network and discover new potential connections.Groups.
Look for and join active LinkedIn Groups where your ideal customer profile (ICP) are members.Checking who’s engaging with your content.
Look at who likes and comments on your posts. These are people who are already showing interest in your thoughts, so engaging with them helps build the relationship.Intentional cultivation (e.g., follow their ‘Activity’ link).
For high-priority connections, such as key prospects and industry influencers, follow their activity feed (by visiting their LinkedIn profile and clicking “See all activity”). Then, put this link in your CRM or spreadsheet where you track these contacts. This way, you can cultivate the relationship by intentionally and consistently engaging with their content.
How
There are three types of LinkedIn interactions to consider in your LinkedIn Engagement Strategy:
Reactions.
Reposts.
Comments.
Here’s the breakdown for each.
1. Reactions
A reaction on LinkedIn is a quick, expressive response to a post or comment—by clicking the Like, Celebrate, Support, Love, Insightful, or Laugh button—that engages with their content and puts your name in the other person’s notifications.
Go beyond the “Like” button.
Instead of the standard “Like,” choose the more emotive reactions that make you stand out in the person’s notifications.Why?
Put yourself in the other person’s position. Who do you notice and appreciate more when people react to your content? Those who give you standard Likes? Or those who react with the more expressive Loves, Insightfuls, etc.?
In a sea of blue (Likes), stand out with the red (Love), yellow (Insightful), purple (Support), or green (Laugh), whichever one is most appropriate to the post.
Acknowledge every comment on your posts with a reaction.
Even if you don’t have time to reply to every comment on your posts, at minimum, acknowledge them with a reaction.Why?
That person took the time to read your post and comment about it. That split second of your time to react to their comment encourages the person to engage with you again because they feel heard and not ignored. And with every comment you receive, the further your content spreads.
Acknowledge every repost of your content with a reaction.
When someone reshares your post and adds their own thoughts to it, take a moment to react to their share.Why?
When people reshare your posts, they tie their reputation to your content. You want to show your appreciation by, at least, reacting to their reshare to increase the likelihood of them reposting your content in the future.
2. Reposts
Thoughtful reposting on LinkedIn helps nurture relationships, position you as a valuable connection, and create more visibility for both you and the original author. Here’s how to be intentional with what and how you repost:
What Should You Repost?
Prioritize:
Impactful content: Does the post genuinely resonate with you? Share it because it brings value to your audience and to that connection.
Job postings: If a key connection posts a hiring opportunity, resharing it shows your support and increases their chances of finding the right candidate.
Posts seeking advice/feedback: When a connection asks a great question or seeks input, resharing their post with a comment expands the visibility of their request and adds value to that person.
Should You Repost with or Without a Comment?
Before resharing, ask yourself:
Do I have time to craft a meaningful comment on this repost?
Do I have something valuable to add to the original post?
If Yes to Both: Repost with a comment adding a personal insight or highlighting a key takeaway.
If No to either: A simple repost is still beneficial. It helps their post reach a wider audience and keeps you visible in their notifications.
3. Comments
Instead of leaving generic (or AI-generated comments), use the 3 Cs—Contribute, Celebrate, Compliment—as your guide for making your comments more thoughtful…and human.
1. Contribute
Add value to their post by sharing relevant insights and experiences.
Examples:
“I had a start-up in the Dot Com era (late 90s) that Dot Bombed after 2 years. I took a job selling commercial trucks to get back on my feet. No professional sales experience going into it. But, by the end of Year 3, was among the top 25 GM medium-duty truck sales reps in the nation. That ‘second chance’ career set me up for success in building my current company.” [tag the author]
“That's exactly right, [tag the author]. A common mistake too many founders make is hiring sales reps before they have market clarity—thinking that adding sales headcount will naturally increase sales results.”
“Would this be your first sales hire for the company? If so, I'd lean W2 vs. 1099. Start by offloading specific sales tasks that have been your bottleneck—by using them in more of a sales support and SDR role. And then gradually develop them into a full-cycle rep. This way, the new rep adds value (to begin covering their base) by freeing you up to do higher-leverage sales activities—while they're also learning your business and sales processes. [tag the author].”
2. Celebrate
Celebrate your connections’ achievements, milestones, and successes in a way that builds goodwill and strengthens professional relationships.
Examples:
“Welcome to the ‘first grandson club,’ my friend—congratulations! 👊 [tag the author]”
“Awesome honor, [tag the author]—congrats to you and your team 👊”
“That’s amazing. Well done, [tag the author]!”
3. Compliment
Always look for opportunities to compliment your connections.
Examples:
“Now THAT’s proper perspective. Thanks for sharing your experience, [tag the author]”
“Thanks for having me on, [tag the author]! You did a fantastic job—GREAT questions!”
“Thanks for the rec, [tag the author]. This book looks like it’s right up my alley right now!”
A Few Recommended Guidelines for Comments
✅ Do:
Be authentic (not overly flattering).
Be respectful (especially when offering counterpoints).
❌ Don’t:
Use AI-generated comments.
Argue on political, emotionally charged posts.
The Bottom Line
LinkedIn is a networking platform, not merely a content-posting platform. So, be intentional and active in building human relationships on this platform. Don’t just post and ghost. Show appreciation, and it will be shown to you with:
Increased engagement
Increased DM requests for meetings
Increased sales.
The Next Step
Notice how we’ve talked about how to sell on LinkedIn in three articles so far, and we have yet to discuss posting on LinkedIn.
Why?
To demonstrate that you can start using LinkedIn as a valuable component of your Systematic Prospecting before investing time in crafting compelling posts.
But now it’s time to take that next step, which we’ll do in Part 4 of the “Selling on LinkedIn” series in the March 14th edition of the Systematic Selling Newsletter, when we talk about Your Post Strategy.
See you then 👊
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Sean M. Lyden is the founder and CEO of Systematic Selling, a sales systems and coaching company for growth-minded SMB founders and owners looking to scale their sales (without the chaos).
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