Using LinkedIn as a Blogging Platform

Alongside LinkedIn’s reputation as a ‘professional social network’, it is also a crucial marketing platform enabling businesses to connect with clients. Once only available for LinkedIn ‘influencers’, their platform allows users to publish original content that immediately becomes part of their own professional profile and is shared with their network. Users are also given the opportunity to follow content produced by other individuals not in your network.
In this post we discuss the advantages of using LinkedIn in your content marketing strategy.

1. Create Attractive Content

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but ensuring that your content is interesting, exciting and even attractive to your readers is vital. Similar to the content that you publish, keeping a consistency when you’re blogging with theme, style and voice is important to keep your readers fascinated.
Although there is no formal editing, LinkedIn does make it clear that any content that is sales-orientated won’t be tolerated. Look at what you’re trying to achieve and keep your blogging as relevant to that as possible. If your business deals with interior design look at topics surrounding it – they don’t need to be specific to the main subject but your audience need to want to read them.
LinkedIn’s content guidelines recommend keeping posts between 400 and 600 words similar to the word counts many company blogs employ. Experimenting with these parameters will help you figure out what works best for your business. Don’t feel restricted to just using copy – try breaking posts up with Youtube videos or images.

2. It’s all About Sharing

Don’t assume that by publishing content on your LinkedIn profile it will be seen by everyone. Similarly to sharing blog posts, the most networks that you target the greater potential you have to reach a wider audience. To maximise your reach and user engagement levels share your post on other social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ but don’t forget to share your blog on relevant LinkedIn groups. Not only will this add to your credibility but act as an SEO device adding to your online visibility.

3. Manage Your Comments

Online engagement doesn’t just mean a flurry of ‘likes’ and shares. On LinkedIn users tend to comment on a post if they’ve spent the time reading it, whether it’s to praise you for your observations or offer up a new perspective. Unlike friends-based social media, you’ll find the people commenting on your posts are not currently connected to you. Responding and interacting with these users will enable you to start up a discussion and connect with new people.

4. Evaluate

Fortunately for the marketers out there, LinkedIn lets you access the number of views, shares and comments that your post generates straight away. Using these post metrics is important to determine how well your content is resonating with your audience. If one post is outperforming another, why is that? If you’ve tried different writing styles – which one is receiving the most feedback? Researching which times of day work better for scheduling your post may also increase your views amongst online communities.

5. Use Your Existing Blog

Don’t try to duplicate content used on your company blog, you should always think of your blog as an extension of your brand. Apart from adding to your SEO attempts, your blog should be a reason why your customers or interested potential customers are also viewing your website. LinkedIn shouldn’t be your only blogging platform, it should showcase the existing content of your own blog. If you feel unable to come up with separate topics, try varying the posts slightly – changing the specific audience or tweaking the angle slightly to appeal to the broader audience associated with LinkedIn.

To Wrap Up…

LinkedIn can make a huge difference to your engagement levels and ultimately your page views but only if it’s employed in the right way. Keeping engaged with your audience will help you develop a following that look forward to your posts and make the effort to offer their own thoughts on the topic.