How to change a post from connections only to anyone on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a popular social media platform used primarily for professional networking and career development. On LinkedIn, users can share content with their connections through posts. By default, posts on LinkedIn are only visible to your 1st-degree connections. However, you can change the audience for a post so that it is visible to anyone on LinkedIn, not just your connections.

Changing a post’s audience from connections only to anyone on LinkedIn allows your content to reach a much broader audience. This can be helpful if you want to promote your business, share an important update, or spread information more widely. In this guide, we will walk through the simple steps to change who can see your posts on LinkedIn.

Why Change a Post to Anyone on LinkedIn?

Here are some common reasons you may want to change a post’s audience to anyone on LinkedIn:

• Promote your business or services to a wider audience beyond just your connections
• Share job openings at your company to recruit potential candidates
• Spread awareness about an event, campaign, or fundraiser
• Share insightful content, resources, or tips with professionals outside your network
• Increase engagement and reach for important posts
• Establish yourself as an industry thought leader

Expanding your posts’ audience beyond your connections allows you to get your message out to a larger pool of relevant people. This can help amplify your brand, campaign, or cause.

How to Change Post Audience on LinkedIn

Changing the audience for your posts is easy to do right from LinkedIn’s interface. Here are the steps:

1. From your LinkedIn homepage, click on “Write a post” to begin creating a new post.
2. Write out your post content as you normally would, adding text, images, links, hashtags, mentions, etc.
3. Once your post is drafted, click on the globe icon below your text. This opens up the audience selector.
4. By default, it will say “Your connections.” Click on this dropdown menu.
5. Select “Anyone” from the dropdown menu options.
6. Click the blue “Post” button to publish your post.

And that’s it! Your post will now be visible to any LinkedIn user, not just your connections.

Here is a quick summary of the steps:

• Create a new post
• Click the globe icon to open audience selector
• Change audience from “Your connections” to “Anyone”
• Click “Post” to publish

Who Can See Posts Set to Anyone?

When you select “Anyone” as the audience for your post, it will be visible to:

• All LinkedIn members, whether they are connections or not
• Unpaid LinkedIn members with free accounts
• Members who are signed out of their LinkedIn accounts

However, some limitations apply:

• Your post may not appear for members who have muted you
• Members can filter posts based on content preferences
• Visibility can depend on LinkedIn’s feed algorithm

So while anyone technically can see it, LinkedIn’s feed curation algorithms will ultimately decide whose feeds the post appears in.

Tips for Changing Post Audience to Anyone

Here are some tips to make the most of the ability to share posts with anyone on LinkedIn:

• Strategically choose which posts to amplify. Don’t spam everyone with every update.
• Craft content tailored to interests outside your niche connections.
• Include keywords and hashtags to increase discoverability.
• Engage with comments and reactions from new audiences.
• Analyze post metrics to see how broader audiences respond.
• Follow up with non-connections who engage with your posts.
• Repurpose evergreen content periodically to increase reach.

Being thoughtful about which posts you broadcast widely will enable you to maximize the benefits.

Pros of Sharing to Anyone on LinkedIn

Here are some of the main pros for changing a post’s audience to anyone on LinkedIn:

• Increased reach beyond your limited connections
• Ability to engage audiences outside your immediate network
• More opportunities for engagement with likes, comments, shares, etc.
• Greater discoverability in LinkedIn’s feed algorithm
• Boosts personal or company brand awareness
• Draws traffic to your LinkedIn profile and other websites
• Allows you to establish thought leadership in your industry

In short, it greatly magnifies the impact and visibility of your posts.

Cons of Sharing to Anyone on LinkedIn

However, there are also a few potential cons to keep in mind:

• Content may reach some irrelevant audiences
• You lose a degree of control over who sees your content
• It increases risk of negative feedback or trolling in comments
• Too much irrelevant content could disengage your core audience
• Need to manage interactions with people outside your network
• Visibility still limited by LinkedIn’s algorithms
• Some connections may prefer more exclusive content

To mitigate these, selectively choose which posts to share more widely and closely monitor comments and engagement.

LinkedIn Post Audience Settings

In addition to connections only or anyone on LinkedIn, there are a few other audience options you can select for your posts:

• Your connections + Twitter followers. This extends the reach to your Twitter network.
• Your connections + a group. Choose a LinkedIn group to share the post with its members too.
• Only followers. Limits visibility to only your LinkedIn followers.
• A specific group. Share just with members of one chosen group.

Mixing up your audience settings allows you to tier content and strategically segment your networks.

How LinkedIn Curates Feed Content

Even if you share a post with “anyone,” LinkedIn’s feed algorithm controls which members actually see it. Factors that influence visibility include:

• How often you engage with someone’s content
• Shared connections and interactions
• Relevance based on profile data
• Post age and recency
• Keywords and hashtags used
• Current events and trending topics

So changing your audience increases the potential reach, but does not guarantee everyone will see your posts.

Alternatives to Adjust Post Audience

If you want to stay connected-only but still widen your reach, here are a couple alternatives:

• Repost content to LinkedIn groups. This exposes it to group members.
• Promote your post using LinkedIn’s advertising tools.
• Share a public post link on other channels.
• Highlight key posts on your LinkedIn profile.

These can selectively boost the visibility of your content.

LinkedIn Post Visibility Analytics

To see how changing your audience to “anyone” impacts engagement, check your LinkedIn post analytics:

• Impressions show how many times your post appeared in feeds.
• Clicks indicate how many clicked your post to read further.
• Reactions and comments quantify engagement.
• Shares display how often it was reshared.
• Followers gained after posting show your expanded reach.

Compare these metrics on posts with different audience settings to optimize your strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some commonly asked questions about changing who can see your posts on LinkedIn:

Does changing to anyone last forever or can I switch it back?

You can change the audience setting as often as you want, even after posting. Switch between connections only or anyone depending on your goals for each post.

Can I target a custom list or segment instead of everyone?

Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not currently allow you to post to a custom contact list. Your options are limited to connections, all LinkedIn members, followers, or groups.

Will everyone see the post if I change it to anyone?

Not necessarily. LinkedIn’s feed curation algorithms will still filter whose feeds display your posts, even if set to anyone. It increases the potential audience but does not guarantee universal visibility.

Do posts shared with anyone appear differently in feeds?

No, posts look the same regardless of audience setting. Readers cannot immediately tell the audience scope, unless they try to share it themselves.

Is switching to anyone risky or could it be seen negatively?

It carries minimal risk on LinkedIn. Many use the anyone setting selectively without issues. Just avoid changing every single post, which could overwhelm connections. Monitor responses and revert back if needed.

Conclusion

Changing your LinkedIn posts’ audience from just connections to anyone provides an excellent way to extend your reach and engagement on relevant content. Take advantage of it selectively to promote your brand, services, content, and thought leadership. Monitor how broader audiences respond and continue posting content tailored to your expanded visibility. With the right strategy, you can build fruitful new connections and opportunities.