Over 30 million companies have a politician page on LinkedIn, and 92% of marketers include LinkedIn in their digital channel mix. However, many marketers are missing an enormous content opportunity on LinkedIn: long-form articles.
LinkedIn originally introduced the long-form publishing functionality in 2012 to a couple of hundred targeted influencers. Those LinkedIn power-users could pen articles of several thousand words, with additional features like image embeds, formatting options, and therefore the ability to interact with commenters.
Fast-forward a couple of years, and LinkedIn made those editorial opportunities available to its entire user community.
Benefits of Publishing on LinkedIn
Company pages cannot publish long-form articles to their pages, but they will share articles authored by and published to employees’ personal pages, which translates to excellent opportunities for brand-building, awareness, and conversations for workers and their organizations.
The benefits include…
Reaching a replacement audience. Employee networks increase the reach of content.
Drive authentic conversations. Your employees are a trusted source of data for his or her networks because they need a private connection. they have a reputation , face, and unique reputation without the standard spin that’s related to a brand. Having employees write and share content on LinkedIn drives deeper discussion and authentic conversation.
An inside check out projects, company culture, and problem-solving. Most owned channels have a selected audience, narrow purpose, and, often, a sales motive. But what about the good stories of company culture that drive recruiting efforts? Or the superb technical solve that shows customers how smart your solutions are, outside of the normal product feature checklist?
Ultimately, companies are made from people—and the ideas and work they produce. Empowering your employees to write down on LinkedIn allows them to share all the smart ideas behind the products or services, the outstanding moments that make an excellent team, and ins and outs of a sensible solve.
Your Three-Step LinkedIn Content Strategy
1. Re-Using Content from Another Channel
LinkedIn are often used as a second-run platform for content published elsewhere—to improve reach and increase referral traffic to the first piece of content. Here are a few of approaches to republishing content on LinkedIn:
Publish content in its entirety. Simply copy and paste the whole piece into LinkedIn. Add a note at the highest or bottom of the piece with a link back to the first .
If you’re re-using content in its entirety from a 3rd party, confirm you understand your republishing rights. Some outlets will only allow some of the text to be published, while others may require you to attend for a specified amount of your time before republishing to a different channel, so double-check your agreement before republishing. confirm to line the canonical link once you originally publish.
See a real-world example: 5 questions on the potential (and limits) of AI with John Maeda.
Summarize content with a link back to the first . Use the first introduction to the piece, and include a summary of the key takeaways from the first content.
For example, if you’ve got a piece of writing with three points, you would possibly write a one-sentence insight for every point on LinkedIn, rather than a paragraph for every point within the original piece. Alternatively, you would possibly pose some questions that folks should ask themselves when considering a drag , with a link to the first piece that has answers or more questions.
Although the goal is to get referral traffic to the complete piece on another site, make sure the article can stand alone on LinkedIn which it adds value for readers, albeit they are doing not click through. It shouldn’t be thinly veiled clickbait for your main piece. Refer and link to the complete piece of content.
See a real-world example: The Science of the Deal.
2. Promotional or Company-Focused Content
Promoting a product, service, or company-focused information are often tricky during a LinkedIn article, which shouldn’t be used as sales enablement/product feature datasheet. Though you’ll share information about what our company does/sells, you ought to specialise in educating the reader in another way.
For example, what did you learn while you were building the product? What process did you employ to urge the project to return in on time and under budget? What workarounds/tools/hacks did you employ to make the product? The piece should stand on its own and add value, whether the reader clicks to try to to a product tour, or starts an attempt .
If you merely want to announce a replacement feature, that information belongs as a standing update in your LinkedIn feed. Republishing press releases about features or partnerships should be shared as links during a status vs. posting it on LinkedIn as a piece of writing on someone’s profile.
See real-world samples of product announcements: Fixing Online Learning One eCourse at a Time and therefore the Most Overlooked Vehicle for creating Ideas Go Viral.
3. Cross-Linked Content or Back-Linking Content
Post the matter or “why it matters” statement on LinkedIn, cross-link to the answer published on an company-owned property. Sharing an in depth article to assist your audience define the scope of a drag or understand why a drag matters may be a good way to offer value, while also piquing their curiosity about solutions to the solve the matter .
The alternative is to post the small print of an answer on LinkedIn and link to the “why it matters” on a company-owned property. during this case, the worth to the reader is that the unique insight into an ingenious solution.
See a real-world example: the way to Make Yourself appear as if the foremost Obvious fit the Position.
Post a summary of the matter and solution; cross-link case studies or research that proves this works. Many companies sponsor or commission research to bolster their claims that a drag matters or an answer works. Often, “download the report” is that the key success metric.
In addition to sharing the link to download as a standing update, consider posting a brief summary of the matter and solution, with a couple of insights from the report that support the conclusions for why this challenge is worth solving and why your solution proves useful. Then, link to the complete download of the report for extra insights.
See a real-world example: New data reveals where we actually stand with diversity within the tech industry.
Audience and Tone
For the LinkedIn audience, you would like to form connections to the “lessons learned” from each experience, story, or exercise showcased within the article. a few of distinctions from posts you would possibly publish on Medium or a private blog:
Personal posts are more narrative-driven (hero, obstacle or challenge, special skill or lesson, overcoming or arriving) vs. linear “arguments” (the traditional thesis or hypothesis, supporting points 1-5, and conclusion at the end)
Is the key takeaway obvious to readers, or are they alleged to come to their own conclusion? LinkedIn readers want actionable steps, so posts should aim to form the takeaways obvious to the reader vs. personal posts that leave it hospitable interpretation for the reader.
Is it just alleged to “resonate” with the reader, or provide practical or actionable advice? Most LinkedIn posts attempt to provide tactical tips, so what is the “so what” for your post?
See real-world examples that give actionable insights or tactics to the reader:
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Incorporating LinkedIn articles into your content strategy yields significant benefits for both the worker and therefore the company. So grab an exec, influencer, or great storyteller, and provides it a shot: you would possibly be pleasantly surprised at the results!