Yes, LinkedIn is now a social network for professionals, but it has also evolved into a platform for social selling, talent acquisition, brand reach and much more. As a LinkedIn marketer, your success on the platform will depend on the quality of your content strategy and not appearing as a marketer. A curly one I know!
I’ll get into some of my top tips if you are struggling to find ideas food your posts shortly, but first here are some of the types of content you should be looking to create:
- Newsletters
- Document Posts
- Polls
- Text/Image Posts
- Native Video Posts
- LinkedIn Live
- LinkedIn Audio
Here are some of my top tips:
Original Long Form Content
The general rule of any content strategy is to provide VALUE for your audience. Some examples of long-form content ideas are:
- How to guides
- Research reports
- Case studies
The key here is to keep it interesting throughout use images and break up large sections of text into smaller more visually appealing paragraphs.
LinkedIn Newsletters are the best option for your long-form content
Newsletters can be set up easily with a bespoke logo and title and a brief explanation of the topic covered. You then nominate the frequency of publishing from daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
When you publish your first Newsletter, every single member in your network receives an invitation to subscribe. This is a once-only invitation and if subscribed they will receive a notification every time a new issue is published.
The invitation itself is a powerful tool to put your brand and name on the radar, but you get only one free hit, so make your first newsletter memorable.
LinkedIn newsletters are a great way to deliver industry expertise information, how-to’s, new features updates of your product or business plus many more.
Check out an example of one of my most recent newsletters.
Native Video
You can get a lot of mileage out of videos. You don’t need to rely on posting the whole thing as one content piece. You can extract clips that laser in on specific points/ideas and post those on LinkedIn. One minute seems to be the sweet spot for your video duration. This should give you enough time to cover one topic in enough detail and hold your audience’s attention to the end.
Make sure to also add subtitles so people can view them without the audio. This way, they can start getting the gist of the video clip as soon as they scroll to it.
Edit a longer post into 2 or 3 smaller ones
Your status posts can be up to 3,000 characters each, however, it is rarely ideal to create post of this length. We find that 1,200 to 1,500 characters get the best traction.
You may have a lot to say, but it’s never a good idea to force it into one super long post. It may occasionally work especially when you have really valuable information. But for the most part, you’re better off breaking that one long post into three or more small ones.
Reach out to industry leaders
Another way to get LinkedIn posts to get noticed is to engage other LinkedIn users.
Try speaking to experts, thought leaders, customers, employees and others. Use their insights as part of your content and share that with your channels.
Not only does this give your content more credibility, but it gives you a natural way to tag or mention others. So, for example, if you interview someone, tag their LinkedIn profile to your post. This could give your LinkedIn post more reach and engagement.
Best Practices for posting on LinkedIn
Be relatable
How do you get people to engage with your content? You make sure that most of it is NOT self-promotional. This ensures the reader gets to know your human side which is far more interesting to them. Building trust and rapport among your audience will go a long way in improving engagement and interactions on your posts. It additionally positions you as highly knowledgeable in your area of expertise.
Self-promotion is fine but keep it to small doses.
Catch your audience’s attention
Capture your audience’s attention with a catchy visual, a striking headline, or a video. You want to stop them from scrolling past your content so make it worth their while.
Engage your audience
Building relationships with your audience and customers is crucial to an effective content strategy. Reply to comments, and be sure that your tone is consistent throughout any post or interaction.
Ensure your content is easy to follow
Make your content easy to read. Bullet points or smaller, one-sentence paragraphs get people reading on so make sure it’s formatted in a way that will want people to click on the ‘read more’ button. By doing this, you can also create a little bit of suspense, but make sure it makes sense to do so.
Be Consistent
Consistency is the most important practice. There is no point doing all of the research regarding target audiences, hashtags, content, etc. if you’re going to post once a month. Post 3-4 times a week during the hours that your customers and audience are online. Some businesses post every day, again it might work for you but make sure to post at least 3 days a week.
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