How to Build a Winning LinkedIn Strategy for Education Brands
If you're in education, you’ve probably noticed more education leaders posting updates, teachers sharing classroom wins, and colleagues weighing in on the latest trends in education. It’s not just your feed. This shift is real.
We’ve seen it firsthand. Education leaders are turning to LinkedIn more and more to learn, connect, and build trust, often without a clear strategy to guide them.
That’s exactly why we partnered with EdWeb to host a session on how education organizations (school districts or education organizations) can use LinkedIn more strategically, and in a way they can sustain over time. During the conversation, our CEO Elana Leoni, LCG’s Vice President Porter Palmer, and the Krause Center for Innovation’s Director of Strategy & Marketing, Jen Gibson, walked through the core framework we use at LCG to help brands find clarity, build consistency, and show up in ways that actually resonate.
As Elana shared during the session, “I don’t want you to be on LinkedIn just for LinkedIn’s sake. I want you to be strategic. I want you to use your time wisely and provide as much value as possible.”
Whether you're a school leader, teacher, or nonprofit communicator, building a meaningful presence on LinkedIn doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. In this post, we break down a clear, repeatable strategy that education professionals can use to clarify your goals and voice, create content that resonates, and engage in ways that grow trust and visibility over time.
This is the same approach we use with education brands every day, and now, we’re sharing it with you.
If you want to go deeper, our new self-paced course, Level Up Your Education Brand on LinkedIn, has you covered.
Why LinkedIn Matters in Education
LinkedIn isn’t just for job posts anymore. For educators, nonprofits, and edtech professionals, it’s becoming a key space for learning, connection, and storytelling.
“LinkedIn is now my favorite platform to connect and learn from so many of you,” Elana shared during the session. “It’s one of the only places I see educators engaging critically, whether it’s about AI, data privacy, or how we show up for teachers.”
Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn content tends to stay visible longer, giving your ideas more time to reach the right audience. “Even a standard post gets seen for a couple of days,” Elana noted.
As we’ve reflected on before, LinkedIn is where you can build relationships with decision-makers, grow your brand presence, connect your team to your audience, and show up as your full, authentic self.
But showing up well and consistently takes more than good intentions. Porter summed it up well: “We kept hearing from educators who were trying to be active on LinkedIn but feeling overwhelmed or unsure if it was working. That’s where a simple strategy can make a huge difference.”
If you’re ready to turn LinkedIn into more than just a place to scroll, and start using it to build real connections and momentum, our course will show you how.
With limited time and capacity, most education teams don’t need a complicated social strategy, they need something that’s doable and drives results. That’s why we use a simple three-part framework to help teams get clear, stay consistent, and grow their impact on LinkedIn.
A 3-Part Framework for LinkedIn Success
Many education organizations are posting on LinkedIn without a clear sense of what’s working or what audience they are intentionally building and talking to. That’s why we recommend starting with a basic, 3-step process you can return to again and again: Audit, Strategy, and Engagement.
Hint: the course walks you through every step of our 3-part framework so your team can show up with clarity and consistency.
Step 1: Audit
Start with an honest look at your LinkedIn presence.
We recommend focusing on four core metrics:
Impressions
Engagement rate
Click-throughs
Follower growth.
These give you a baseline and help you identify what’s resonating and what isn’t.
You should also look at who’s engaging with your content. Are they your target audience? What roles do they hold? Are you showing up with a voice that reflects your mission?
Jen Gibson shared how this step helped her clarify a confusing LinkedIn presence. “When I first came on board, there were multiple accounts and no clear sense of what was working. Once I completed the audit, I could finally see, through concrete data, what was resonating with our audience and where we could focus our efforts.”
And if defining your voice feels fuzzy, you’re not alone. Many teams struggle to turn their values into a consistent, human tone on LinkedIn, and to know whether it’s actually landing. That’s where AI can help.
You can use AI to:
Analyze the tone of your recent posts
Compare drafts with different voices (“make this more confident but still warm”)
Create a simple voice guide to align your team
Want help with all of that? Our course includes guided exercises to help your team audit your current presence, define the voice you want to be known for, and refine your tone over time. Whether you’re a team of one or many, these tools will help you show up with more clarity and consistency.
Step 2: Strategy
Strategy starts with clarity. What is your goal, and what kind of content will help you get there?
We encourage education teams to identify 2–3 content pillars that feel authentic to their voice, relevant to their audience, and derive from your area of expertise. These pillars can align with what’s already resonating or speak to areas where you want to build trust over time—like spotlighting school culture, elevating staff, or sharing resources for teachers and families. Elana asked some helpful questions to wayfind to your pillars, “What do you want to be known for? What are you already known for? And how does that connect back to your mission?”
The best education brands on LinkedIn feel less like marketers and more like thought partners—sharing insights, sparking conversation, and offering real value to their community. Elana emphasized, “When we show up as learners and leaders, not just as promoters, people want to engage.”
That’s where the 80/20 rule comes in:
80% of your content should offer value—insights, ideas, educator stories, research, behind-the-scenes reflections, or practical resources. This is what builds thought leadership and keeps people coming back.
20% can be promotional—highlighting new initiatives, launches, or ways to get involved.
When you show up consistently with value-driven content, you position your organization as a trusted resource, not just a vendor. It’s about earning attention with content people actually want to engage with, and then making the most of it when they do.
Then, set realistic goals for frequency. Maybe you post once a week. Maybe it’s once a month. The key is consistency. “You don’t need to post every day,” Elana reminded the audience. “But you do want to show up regularly in a way your audience can come to expect.”
Porter emphasized that a strategy should feel doable, not overwhelming. “Start with what you have. Most teams already have great content and just need a plan to repurpose it in a way that makes sense on LinkedIn.”
A good strategy also includes basic systems: Who’s drafting posts? Who’s responding to comments or messages? How are you collecting wins from across your team? Answering these questions up front makes it easier to keep going when things get busy.
If your team is posting without a plan, or not posting at all, Level up Your Education Brand on LinkedIn will help you get focused, aligned, and moving in the right direction.
Step 3: Engagement
To build meaningful connections on LinkedIn, you need to engage with others, not just post and scroll away. LinkedIn rewards users who are active and social.
"Relationships really drive the reach," Porter explained. "You need to be hanging out on other people’s pages, interacting with them, so you show up.”
That means:
Responding to every comment
Commenting on other posts before and after you publish your own
Encouraging your team to help amplify your posts within the first two hours (otherwise known as “the Golden Window”)
That doesn’t mean you need to comment on 50 posts a day. “You can be intentional with just 10 minutes a day,” Elana noted. “Set a timer. Comment thoughtfully. Celebrate others. Add your perspective.”
Educators in particular thrive when their contributions are acknowledged. A like or a comment can go a long way in deepening a relationship or opening the door to future collaboration. Porter encouraged teams to celebrate their staff and peers in public ways: “Tag them. Name them. That kind of recognition builds culture and boosts visibility.”
Even if you’re a team of one, you can still see results. Jen shared, “I'm the only person on my team for marketing. I can only spend a few hours a week on social media. This framework helped me stop feeling overwhelmed.”
Individual accounts typically have bigger reach than company pages. “Posts from individuals can reach five times more people than a brand post,” Porter said. That’s why it’s so powerful to activate your staff, your advocates, and your community.
What to Post (and How to Make It Count) on LinkedIn
You don’t need flashy graphics or a long editorial calendar. What you need is content that feels relevant, real, and worth someone’s time.
The best-performing LinkedIn posts often start with something simple: a clear idea, a thoughtful reflection, a moment worth sharing. As Elana put it, “Don’t overthink it. If it’s something that would help your peers or make them nod along, it’s probably worth posting.”
Start by paying attention to the questions your team is hearing from the field. The stories that make it into internal emails. The quotes you wish more people heard. The best content is usually already there—it just hasn’t been posted yet.
Porter added, “It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to feel real.” That’s true whether you’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at your work or reflecting on a moment that challenged your thinking.
Try framing your posts around:
Something you’ve learned from a recent experience or conversation
A resource or tool your team has found useful
A quote or moment from an educator that deserves more visibility
A specific question to spark reflection or feedback
An event you recently attended (pictures, reflection, and more)
Every post should offer something. A reason to think. A way to connect. A small moment of recognition. If people see value in your content, they’ll keep coming back and start associating your brand with that value.
Need help turning what’s in your head into content your audience actually wants? This course gives you the prompts, examples, and structure to post with purpose.
And while tone and content matter, format can help, too. Here’s what’s working best on LinkedIn right now:
Carousels (PDFs): Great for sharing insights or tips in swipeable form
Image posts: Pair visuals with captions that teach or inspire
Short videos: Use vertical video clips from PD, events, or webinars
Polls: Easy engagement and insight-gathering
LinkedIn Newsletters: Repurpose your email content and extend your reach
Avoid these:
Link-only posts: They receive less reach. Instead, pair your link with an image and a strong caption.
Every post should offer something: a moment of recognition, a new idea, a small shift in perspective. If people feel like they gain something by following you, they’ll keep coming back—and start to associate your brand with that kind of value.
Ready to start posting with more purpose? The course offers post templates, prompts, and examples to help you make the most of every idea without reinventing the wheel.
If You’re in Education, LinkedIn Should Be in Your Toolbox
LinkedIn is no longer optional for education professionals and organizations that want to lead with clarity, build authentic relationships, grow their impact, and tell their story. But showing up consistently, with strategy, intention, and value, takes more than good intentions. It takes a simple, repeatable approach that aligns your goals, your voice, and your capacity.
Whether you're a team of one or part of a larger organization, this isn’t about chasing trends or adding more to your plate. It’s about focusing on what works: showing up with purpose, engaging with your community, and turning the work you’re already doing into content that resonates.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and start showing up on LinkedIn in a way that’s strategic and sustainable, our self-paced course, Level Up Your Education Brand on LinkedIn, will walk you through every step.
The course will help you audit what’s working, build a strategy that feels doable, and engage in ways that spark real connection. You don’t need more content. You need a plan that amplifies what you already have.
