7 Things I Have Learned On Creating Content For LinkedIn
I am in the process of overhauling my website and was a little startled when I discovered that the section on posting and publishing content on LinkedIn will run over 34,000 words. Here are 650 of them.
1) Avoiding Content Drift
One of the big problems I see with many companies and people using LinkedIn for sales and marketing is what I think of as “content drift.” They start off with “what does the customer really want?” at the front of their mind, but over time their thinking somehow changes to “what do we really need? Sales leads!” And instead of being all about the prospective customer, the content becomes all about the company or person. And a piece basically listing how wonderful we are is not going to resonate with a customer who is trying to solve a problem.
Suggestion: write down who your ideal customer is, and what the problems are that they are trying to solve. When you are thinking about your content, test it against those two points.
2) Don’t Cut Corners
We’re all busy, so the temptation is to automate things, or use gimmicks like Pods on LinkedIn. Don’t. It’s too easy to spot, and LinkedIn doesn’t like it. But more importantly, I don’t think automation shows much respect for your prospective customers.
3) LinkedIn Doesn’t Always Reward What They Tell Us To Do
The poster child for this is sharing other people’s content. LinkedIn tells us we should be doing it, and it even was explicitly mentioned as part of the Social Selling Index (remember that?) a few years ago.
But, there is substantial evidence that posts that get shared go absolutely nowhere. This strikes me as one part of LinkedIn saying one thing, and then the part of LinkedIn responsible for making it happen – distribution of shared posts – not getting the message so it doesn’t happen.
4) Have A Plan For Your Readers And Followers
If you publish regularly and your stuff is good, you will build a following. Some of your followers will really take your content seriously. You need to figure out how to parse these people, decide whether they are worth following up with and how you are going to do so.
5) I Prefer Content On My Profile To Content In The Feed
Don’t get me wrong, I continue to depend on my newsletter and people reading and engaging with it. But, I want those people wanting more and going to my profile to find and get it.
I would rather someone see my content on my profile than in the feed. I have a lot of content accessible through my profile and that body of work helps build my credibility. In the end I don’t want notoriety, I want customers.
6) You Have As Much Right To Publish On LinkedIn As Anyone Else. So do so.
Get rid of your stage fright. You are an expert in what you do. You have answers to your customer’s questions. So write about their problems and the answers to their questions.
From a marketing standpoint, being the best kept secret in the industry isn’t a really smart idea.
7) Understand “Which LinkedIn” Your Customers Are Part Of
There is one LinkedIn for the people that use it a lot, and whose customers use it a lot, for example people in sales, marketing, recruiting and consulting. For those folks LinkedIn can be social and a place to find customers. The other LinkedIn is for the purchasing people and engineers and coders, the manufacturing workers and IT people. For them it’s a place to put their resume, look for jobs and maybe do the odd bit of research. Your job is to understand which LinkedIn your customers belong to and use your content accordingly.
