January 12, 2015
It was once open to an exclusive club of only the most respected and the most influential, with the likes of Richard Branson and Barack Obama being part of the elite. But now, LinkedIn has opened its gates to all.
It was announced last week that the LinkedIn publisher platform is now available to all of the social network’s 17 million UK members, after being available on an invite-only basis for the last year.
For those that have not used it before, the LinkedIn publisher platform allows users to essentially write a blog post, that is then shared with the user’s connections and followers and then, if your post is viewed enough times, it’ll get picked up by LinkedIn’s newsreader, Pulse.
The advantage of such a feature on LinkedIn is that it is a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise in any given area, which is why the publisher platform holds such appeal for subject matter experts, as it is an arena to share highly insightful content that the industry can read and discuss, that would not usually visit places such as the company blog.
But opening up the doors does one thing: it potentially opens up Pulse to a deluge of crap content, with the platform flooded with sales messaging from anyone looking to take advantage of the platform’s popularity.
But of course, that’s not where the publisher platform holds its true value. For those that want to improve their thought leadership online and have lots of valuable content and insight to share, Pulse should be a focus this year. Compared to LinkedIn groups, where your message is at the mercy of group admins and other posters clogging up timelines, this is a good way to get your message across.
But what does good look like on the LinkedIn publisher platform? Here’s 3 tips to adhere to when creating content on LinkedIn:
1. Avoid the sell
Sounds obvious, but no one wants to read about your company’s mission statement or about your latest product. They want to hear about your insight around a particular topic that concerns or affects them. So avoid any product or company mentions and keep it all focused on you and why your insight is important to the audience.
2. Keep it helpful
Following on from the point above, it’s important to keep your posts clear and concise. Between 300-600 words is ideal, as is embedding videos and images where possible. Also be sure to optimise your post around a specified keyword, as this will ensure the posts is seen when searching on LinkedIn.
It is also important to include a catchy title: ‘8 ways to…’ or ‘5 reasons why you should care about…’ has proved to be very popular.
3. The key is amplification
It’s no good writing something and expecting them to come to you. If you want your opinion to be heard, you have to amplify your content. Post into your usual set of LinkedIn Groups, get involved in discussions and post on your company pages on LinkedIn to drive users to read your post.