Experiment: Do LinkedIn Modules Work? (Or are they mostly embarrassing?)

Last November, I decided to do an experiment. I wanted to check if LinkedIn modules really work or if it’s just a waste of time.

For those of you who don’t know what a LinkedIn group is, it’s basically a group of people who agree to like, comment, and interact with each other’s posts. The theory is that in this way your content will be strengthened by the LinkedIn algorithm. So, I decided to join a few pods and test it out for myself.

I’m not necessarily a recognized LinkedIn thought leader with thousands of followers, but I post about my writing work fairly regularly and have even gotten a few clients through LinkedIn. So a few more followers and interactions with my posts definitely won’t hurt.

Here’s what I’ve learned from my experience with LinkedIn modules.

What is a LinkedIn module?

Let’s start with the basics.

A LinkedIn pod, often referred to as an engagement pod, is a group of people who have agreed to communicate and interact with each other’s content on LinkedIn. The idea is that by being in a group, you will be able to increase your connections and therefore your opportunities.

In the Engagement Module, members agree to like, comment, share, and respond to each other’s posts on a regular basis. This is often done by posting your LinkedIn post to a group or app where members can view and interact with it.

Most engagement capsules work on the principle of reciprocity. So, if you want people to like, comment, or share your content, you need to do the same for them.

Why Use the Interaction Module on LinkedIn?

Engagement capsules are said to be beneficial because they can:

• Increase the reach of your content
• Help you get more attention for your content (likes, comments, shares)
• Offer advanced networking options
• Engage employees to support your brand

The theory is that LinkedIn prioritizes posts with more engagement, so if you can get more likes and comments, your post will perform better.

This is especially important as the LinkedIn algorithm divides the content on the platform into three types:

1. Spam. Posts with incorrect grammar, too many hashtags, or accounts that post too often can be flagged as spam.
2. Publications of low quality. Posts that don’t follow best practices or don’t receive enough attention will be flagged as “poor quality”.
3. High-Quality Posts: Posts that are easy to read, prompt questions, and contain strong keywords will be tagged as high-quality and therefore shown to more users on LinkedIn.

The question is, is there enough engagement to make a post “quality” in the eyes of the LinkedIn algorithm? I decided to test this idea.

How to join a LinkedIn group

There are several ways to join the LinkedIn Engagement Module.

First, you can start your own module by creating a group message thread with the LinkedIn users you want to chat with. We’ll call this a LinkedIn manual module.

Second, you can use dedicated LinkedIn pods, where you join LinkedIn groups focused on creating pods. Search for “LinkedIn modules”or “engagement modules”in the LinkedIn search bar and see which ones apply to your industry.

There are also third-party apps, like lempod, specifically built to automate LinkedIn interaction modules.

Finally, LinkedIn module groups exist on other social networking sites as well. Facebook has the LinkedIn Growth Hackers module and various other modules on platforms like Telegram.

Methodology

I experimented with all four types of engagement capsules to see which worked best. I used a separate LinkedIn post for each method to accurately track any differences in engagement across methods.

Here is a breakdown of this process.

Hand pods: I used a blog post about scheduling Instagram videos.

Before the experiment, I had 12 likes, 487 impressions, 0 reposts and 2 comments.

LinkedIn-specific modules: For this method, I used a blog post I shared about recession marketing.

Before the experiment, I had 5 likes, 189 impressions, 1 repost and 2 comments.

LinkedIn Automated Modules: I used a post I wrote for Hootsuite on social media.

Before the experiment, I had 2 likes, 191 impressions, 0 reposts and 0 comments.

Cross-Platform LinkedIn Modules:

I wasn’t able to join any cross-platform modules so messages weren’t used here.

LinkedIn module manual method

I started by creating my own LinkedIn pod by hand. I chose a small group of my writer friends (because they are good at the research process) to join them. I sent them a short message outlining the strategy and encouraged them to interact with each other.

Luckily, they are all good and I immediately started getting a flurry of LinkedIn notifications showing my friends’ support.

I also immediately noticed several new (foreign) accounts crawling up my LinkedIn profile.

And I even got this message from a random LinkedIn employee (pretty sure it’s spam).

All this happened in just a couple of hours!

LinkedIn-Specific Pod Method

I have also joined several LinkedIn group modules on digital marketing and social media.

The number of members in these groups did vary. One had over a million members, others only a few dozen. I chose a mix of high membership pods as well as a few smaller ones. If vanity metrics taught me anything, it’s that just because there are a lot of people in your circle, it doesn’t mean they’re actually paying attention to you.

Some modules I found while searching were described as inactive so I stayed away from them.

Of all the groups I joined, Game of Content was the only one that regularly posted messages from other users.

The GoC rules were pretty simple:

There is always only one post in the group, and it is made by the admin. They update this post every couple of days so it stays up to date. Team members can then comment on the post with their link to the LinkedIn post, and other members should interact with them.

When I reviewed comments on weekday posts, I saw many people respond to comments with phrases such as “Done! Here is my link.”

When I clicked on their posts, I could see likes and comments from the same group members.

So yes, it worked. At least in terms of getting more likes and comments.

I went in and followed suit, interacting with posted links and commenting on my own link after I was done.

And gradually I began to notice the response to my posts.

Automated LinkedIn Pods with the lempod Method

I also installed the lempod extension in my Google Chrome browser. lempod offers a digital marketplace full of LinkedIn engagement modules that you can join.

I have joined several digital marketing and social media groups.

The first program I was accepted to was called Content + Social Media Marketing. It seemed relevant.

I immediately posted a link to my post. As soon as I shared the link, a big graph appeared on the screen with a list of people “Participants who will participate”and “Participants who have already participated.”

I checked the “Participants who have already participated”tab against my actual post.

And yes. Sure enough, those users now showed up as new likes on my post.

In just a few minutes, my impressions went from 191 to 206. I also got six new comments. I watched this number rise steadily over the next hour.

Even though I’ve seen a lot of engagement, I haven’t seen profile views, direct messages, or anything else that would indicate these users are actually interested in my work.

Not to mention, the engagement was fast approaching. Every 45 seconds there was a new notification! Maybe LinkedIn will consider my post viral? Or maybe it will be marked as spam.

I let the automation work until I saw that every member of the group turned on.

Two hours later I had 54 likes, 261 impressions and 24 comments!

Cross-Platform LinkedIn Modules

I tried to join the “LinkedIn Growth Hackers”group on Facebook, but I was never approved. It seems this group may not be active at the moment. I didn’t find any other active LinkedIn pods to join on other channels.

Results

In short: at first glance it might seem that LinkedIn’s automatic module was the most effective, but in fact I think it was the manual module for reasons I will explain below. In any case, none of the LinkedIn modules made a big difference to me or helped me significantly expand my presence on the platform.

Keep reading to find out the details and context of these results.

hand pods

It seemed like the most organic, most consistent method. Because I used people I already knew, the comments were genuine, relevant, and sincere.

Not to mention that these people actually work in my industry, which means that if my posts appear in their feeds for their contacts, it can help me further develop the network.

Nothing in this method looked like spam, although I don’t know how realistic it is to ask my friends to do this every week.

Within a week, my post received:

• 13 likes
• 3 comments
• 0 shares
• 507 views

Modules for LinkedIn

While this method generated the most comments, the answers were vague and less relevant than the answers found in my manual modules. Also, most of these people worked outside of my industry. So there probably isn’t much benefit to having my content show up on their channels or networks.

After a week of experimenting, my post turned out to be:

• 13 likes
• 364 impressions
• 2 shares
• 6 comments

LinkedIn Automated Modules

This method certainly brought in the most likes and comments. But I didn’t see any relevant profile visits, direct messages, or connection requests.

Also, even though there were a lot of new comments, they were all pretty much the same:

• “Very cool Hannah!”
• “Great post, Hannah!”
• Thanks for sharing Hannah!

To me, these vague comments signal that none of these users actually read my post (which makes sense given that their profiles are automated).

I can only imagine that other users might see this and think the same. I have a spam alert.

Three hours later I received my post:

• 54 likes
• 24 comments
• 261 impressions
• 0 shares

Cross-Platform LinkedIn Modules

I didn’t get any additional involvement from this method.

What do the results mean?

Here are the main findings from my experiment.

The original capsules have advantages

To be sure, using LinkedIn pods can bring some engagement. Pods that are made up of relevant, authentic connections in your industry can certainly help amplify your content and get more views, likes, and comments.

Spam packages won’t get you far

But if you’re trying to cheat the system by joining groups that are full of fake accounts or not related to your industry, you won’t get much benefit. So what if you got 50, 100 or 200 likes? They don’t matter much if they come from clients who will never do business with you.

LinkedIn modules are confusing

I think what struck me the most about this experiment was the inconvenience of having so many strangers on my posts. Of course, at first glance it looks cool to have 50+ likes, but if someone takes a closer look, it becomes obvious that this is spam.

Just as I wouldn’t advise companies to buy their Instagram followers, I wouldn’t advise them to use engagement capsules. Perhaps in some cases where group members are very important to your niche, it’s worth it. But if it looks fishy, ​​chances are your audience will notice. And the last thing you want is to lose their trust.

Focus on close, relevant connections

If you still want to join a LinkedIn group after reading this, the best way to use them is to join ones that are relevant to your industry and made up of connections that you can really interact with. This way you get targeted interactions that can lead to valuable relationships (and hopefully real customers).

Here are some tips for finding the right LinkedIn modules: