Well, I am a LinkedIn addict. Truth be told, the entire office is. No, Seriously! Every now and then, I could see my colleagues checking out their LinkedIn profiles to add contacts, check updates and more.
By the way, LinkedIn’s bug bit me for the same miscellaneous reasons mentioned above. But then, there’s no denying that promotion of my blog posts has always been my chief agenda on LinkedIn. I repeat: ALWAYS. Plus, to check the ‘update column,’ a LinkedIn home page feature, to see if my posts are getting enough views or not.
Needless to say, LinkedIn is emerging to be the best piece of digital real estate for professionals, globally – 433 million members, with two new members joining the network every second. And, with Microsoft’s takeover, we could expect a lot more professionals training their sights on LinkedIn. Sales professionals to drum up more business; HR professionals to track down that perfect candidate; CEO’s and marketers to establish their position as industry thought leaders and scores of other professionals looking for a job change.
So, just imagine the kind of traction your content is going to generate here. On top of that, the platform boasts of a multitude of content marketing tools, which makes LinkedIn content marketing platform of choice for tens of thousands of content marketers out there. Unsurprisingly, marketers are ready and eager to milk LinkedIn for all it’s worth. In for a penny, in for a pound, without slightest of misgivings.
How about you? Do these latest facts and stats inspire you to step up your LinkedIn content marketing efforts? If yes, then wade through these 10 easy tips to bolster your LinkedIn Content Marketing efforts.
#1. Create and Publish Outstanding Content – Learn from the Tech-titans
It’s a no-brainer, but it still deserves a mention that, “Only good content is viewed content”. So, first off, come up with a content that’s pertinent to your industry, and at the same time, addresses audience issues head-on. Second, give it one hundred percent. Make it sound super-awesome, in short. Third, publish it on LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform, or on your Company Page.
Take, for instance, top-tier tech companies like Microsoft (before the takeover), Google and IBM enjoy some of the highest Content Marketing Scores on LinkedIn because they come up with frequent content updates. These companies are using all kinds of LinkedIn features to post content frequently and consistently, so as to stay on the top of mind of their target audience, and even potential hires.
LinkedIn content marketing tools for businesses include Company Page Updates, LinkedIn Sponsored Content, in addition to Influencer and Employee Posts via LinkedIn Publisher. Leveraging LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform means you are setting up your company blog on world’s biggest social media network for professionals. For your information, more than 1 million people are taking advantage of LinkedIn’s publishing tool, of which 45% readers are mostly managers, VPs, and CEOs.
#2. Post Company Updates with Links Attached – The Updates Should be Damn Insightful
According to a post by Social Media Examiner, company updates with links enjoy 45% more engagement rate than content published otherwise. So, make sure your content updates come with links attached. Be it your white papers, ebooks, case studies, how-to content, visuals, or the online industry articles, just put in a line or two about the product, followed by a link, on your LinkedIn company page. For a change, let the links do all the talking for you.
But, for all the content sharing you do on LinkedIn, make sure it’s insightful and valuable for your targeted audience. Turns out, even question and answer posts could make for an interesting company update. No doubt it helps solve clientele queries, but more than that it develops rapport between the companies and clients.
#3. Be A LinkedIn Livewire – Post Updates 3-4 Times a Day
A long time ago you happened to build 1000+ connections on LinkedIn. Congratulations on that. But then, if you aren’t active lately, all the networking efforts you had put in initially would go down the sewer.
In short, no shares, no comments, and no interactions on your posts. In no time, you’d be a forgotten story for your customers.
Oh! Are you thinking, what I am thinking, now? As in, how many updates a day would be ideal to keep your LinkedIn profile up and running?
At least 3 to 4 times in a day, say Linkedin experts. Short updates, in the form of images, with clickable headlines, or just plain headlines, or for that matter, comments on various status updates would also work. Try any of these, or at best, a mix of these. For what it’s worth, attempt long form posts as well. Because it positions your company as an industry thought leader. It could in the form of a concrete advice addressing the challenges of your industry, or on trends, or something on how your industry has been changing since it started. Hub spot recommends publishing long form posts once or twice a week for maximum effect.
In case, you haven’t the slightest clue as to what to share on Linkedin, use Linkedin Today or LinkedIn app Pulse to get ideas on trend topics.
#4. Build a LinkedIn Group – Connect with Who’s Who of your Industry
Building groups on the basis of your industry type is literally a walk in the park, on LinkedIn. However, focus on associating with like-minded members, first. This could be your own company employees, let alone clients, partners, or vendors.
And, more importantly, in fact, most importantly, form connections with the top influencers in the industry. This would help you draw on more members, which in turn could lead to interesting discussions and debates, keeping your group alive and kicking in the process.
But then, how do you build a Linkedin group? Hover over ‘Interests” on your homepage. Click on “Groups,” and then on “My Groups.” Then, finally, click on “Create Group.” Here you will have to fill information such as group name, logo, website name, description among other things. Once the form has been filled up, go ahead and click on Create Group button. That’s it. Your LinkedIn group is ready to shoulder your content marketing goals and challenges. Good luck!
For more information, go through LinkedIn Groups: A Moderator’s Field Guide to learn how to grow your group.
According to LinkedIn research, employee shares get 2X higher CTRs than company shares for the same content. In fact, it has been observed that larger companies benefit more from employee shares. That said, even smaller companies stand to benefit from employee shares.
According to LinkedIn’s Nick Mangum, “Companies of every size benefit when their employees share content, but not everyone benefits equally. In our analysis, we found that the biggest beneficiaries were large, enterprise companies with more than 10,000 employees. For this group of large companies, the median CTR was over 2.4x higher. Companies with less than 10,000 employees still enjoyed a considerable boost with CTRs over 1.8x higher than the original company shares.”
According to LinkedIn, all verticals will be benefitting from employee share, especially Professional Services which saw the greatest CTR increase (2.4x). Other verticals benefitting from this include Education, Financial Services, and Technology, all saw over 2X increases from employee shares as well.
“These data points highlight that employees have an increasingly important voice in company conversations. Whether your company is looking to improve content marketing, talent branding, or lead generation, the activity and authenticity of employees can help companies drive meaningful business results,” added Mangum.
Bottom line: If you’ve got 200 or 400 employees working for you, get them all to share the content. The more, the merrier.
#6. Big Publishers and External Blogs Should Use LinkedIn App ‘Pulse’ – Even Small Publishers Stand to Gain
Linkedin’s news aggregation app Pulse has launched a new feature called ‘universal links,’ which makes sure that Pulse articles get loaded within the app itself, rather than directing the readers to the mobile web. Both Pulse and Publisher Recommendation feature combined, the latter which LinkedIn added last September, make it easier for Pulse users to find and read publisher content. The app has been downloaded almost 1.2 million times since August, according to Apptopia.
- Forbes witnessed a 127% increase in LinkedIn traffic from July to December.
- The Financial Times and Business Insider also enjoyed considerable traffic spike
Now, perhaps you are thinking, “How am I gonna use Pulse? “I am just a small time publisher.”
Agreed, the spike in traffic has been witnessed by big publishers. But, if you are running an external blog, with LinkedIn share button, then yes, of course, even your content could appear in Pulse. External blog means a blog that’s hosted outside your website.
#7. Leverage Linkedin Showcase Pages – Check out IBM’s LinkedIn Showcase Pages
It’s a given, content marketing is popular not in spite of targeted audience but because of targeted audience. Content that’s written with the broader audience in mind only goes down the rabbit hole.
But, thanks to LinkedIn Groups, now you can easily narrow down your target audience on the basis of your industry, job title, and even your company size, and then write for them. This largely helps in promotion of your posts. And, if in case you want to highlight a bestselling product of your company or a specific product line of your company, think of leveraging Linkedin Showcase pages.
By the way, these pages are just an extension of your company page. In other words, shortened version of your company profile pages. If you want more ideas on how to make the most these pages for content marketing, check out IBM’s Linkedin Showcase pages.
#8. Avoid Salesy Language No Matter What – Users Can See Right Through Them
Salesy language is a real bummer. It could piss off any Linkedin user and send out wrong signals to users. Not surprisingly, bigger brands are aware of the pitfalls of using a promotional language, and so they avoid using it in their posts.
Linkedin users are professionals who are looking forward to building their personal brands, which in turn might help them in enhancing their careers. They aren’t there to entertain your salesy pitches. Hope you got the drift?
Some interesting stats which will ensure that LinkedIn SlideShares become an integral part of your content marketing strategy :
- LinkedIn Slideshare gets almost 70 million monthly visitors
- Nearly 4 million visitors on any every average day
- 13,000 new pieces of content added daily
Now, the big question – What sort of content would be appreciable on LinkedIn SlideShares? Company videos, Webinars, Influencer videos, Product how-tos and tips, company presentations, and Infographics to name a few. To ensure that your LinkedIn Slideshare is a success, ensure to upload new content on a weekly basis, and then group them into playlists. Also, add lead forms to achieve all your targeted lead generation goals.
#10. Leverage LinkedIn Sponsored Updates
LinkedIn Sponsored Updates allows you to publish valuable content and also helps you connect with targeted LinkedIn professionals, which is in addition to your company page visitors and followers.
And, yes, of course, some of its features are similar to Google Adwords, specifically in terms of bid placements. But then, the similarity ends there. Because, in the case of Adwords, sponsored updates are distributed through Google search results and keywords, while in the case of LinkedIn, distribution happens within the network itself.
Further, content that could be made part of sponsored updates include company news, blog content, case studies, webinars, visuals and statistics, and also industry news and research.
Rounding Up
If you want your content marketing to be a sure-shot success, call the shots with LinkedIn. But then, first and foremost focus on coming up with incredible content and then leverage all the tools mentioned above to give it the best shot. If anything, try using memes as well. Agreed, LinkedIn is a professional network, but then, do not forget these professionals are humans first, who wouldn’t mind a good light-hearted banter once in a while.
Any other critical LinkedIn content marketing strategy that I failed to mention here? Go ahead! Share them in comments. I am all eyes and ears.
Image: BELCHATOW, POLAND – APRIL 11, 2014: Photo of social network homepage on a monitor screen.
