By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity
In March, you may recall that I wrote a short blog on the new LinkedIn Publishing platform. This is not yet available to everyone, but you can register for early access by requesting to get on the waiting list: click here for more information.
Having had a few months to get familiar with the platform, I am now in a good position to provide you with a little more information on how it works, what kind of knowledge you require, and what sort of content you should publish.
Let me take you through the process, step by step, and give you my thoughts about this new LinkedIn functionality.
How do I know that I can publish?
Oh, you won't miss it :-) When you go to your home page you will be welcomed by a pop-up window that indicates that you are now invited to publish on LinkedIn. You will also see the little pencil next to the paper clip.
What will be your LinkedIn Content Strategy?
Immediately after LinkedIn has given access to the first 25'000 users, people started to discuss how they were going to use this new publishing option. Some bloggers announced that they would simply copy paste their blog content, others said they would create teaser posts, similar to what we see on Google+ and then add a link to their blog to read the full text, and yet another group said they would create unique, LinkedIn specific content that could not be found anywhere else.
So before you go in and publish your first post, I'd like you to think about your strategy. And read the LinkedIn Publishing Guidelines.
Who are you writing for ?
I thinks it's important to remember that LinkedIn has a very unique audience. It's a very business oriented platform, people are here to learn something about their industry, build professional relationships or develop themselves on a personal level. The typical LinkedIn user is highly educated, is either employed or runs his own company. If he's active on this platform it's because he prefers it over the more 'playful' networks such as Facebook for example and is looking to build his network. Lately he has also noticed that he can get his daily dose of quality content and information directly on LinkedIn.
Your First Post on LinkedIn Publisher
Now that you have thought about your LinkedIn Content Strategy and know what kind of audience you are writing for you can get started ! Watch the video below to give you a quick overview of the available editing options which include:
- different headings
- include pictures
- formatting of text
- including hyperlinks
- embedding rich media such as this video
Click here to watch my video on how to post your first LinkedIn Publisher content.
After you publish
Share on other networks
After you published your article, you will notice that your post includes social share buttons. Go ahead and give them a little love. Share your first article on all your other networks!
Respond to comments
Don't just publish and disappear. If you've written an engaging article, you will most likely get some comments. Respond to them, engage with your new audience, thank them for sharing your article.
Gain followers
If people like your content, they can now follow you, just like you were able to follow influencers. This increases your reach, without having to add everyone into your immediate network.
Post will be added to your profile
In the intro I mentioned that people were upset that we lost the 'recent activity' feed on people's profile. The nice thing with the publishing feature is that your posts will be added underneath your profile header, in a new section called 'Publications'. Wow! What a great addition to increase your credibility and demonstrate your expertise and know-how.
Author's Bio
Sarah Santacroce is a certified social media, internet marketing, and virtual event specialist. She enjoys every aspect of small business marketing. It is her mission to help other small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility and use social media tools as part of their marketing strategy.
Sarah draws on 12 years of experience in Business Administration, in fields ranging from Employee Training to Public Relations at big and small companies. She became interested in Online Marketing and Social Media to promote her own business and after lots of research and numerous classes and webinars she is now offering that knowledge to other small- to mid-sized businesses who struggle to find their place on the web.
This article is part of a series of regular contributions that Sarah will be making to her guest blog on knowitall.ch. You can see more articles from Sarah on her own website at: www.simplicitysmallbiz.com
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