Reaching out through LinkedIn

In the fall of 2012, LinkedIn announced the launch of its Influencer program, which featured content from the business world’s top thought leaders, including Richard Branson, Tony Robbins and Bill Gates. The insights they shared resonated so well with followers that LinkedIn decided to roll out its publishing platform to all members.

It being the go-to social network for all things business, as well as serving as a place where professionals across the globe connect and engage with other professionals, this presents an incredible opportunity.

The publishing platform gives advisers the chance to showcase their knowledge by sharing valuable concepts with their network, potentially broadening their reach and attracting new followers. Once you publish a long-form post, it becomes a part of your LinkedIn profile, visible on the “Posts” section of your profile page. It is also shared with your connections and followers, thus allowing LinkedIn members not in your network exposure to you and your content.

Access to LinkedIn’s publishing platform feature is expected for all users within the next few months. Once you have been granted access to publish long-form posts, you will see a pencil icon at the top right side of the “Share an update” box on your home page. Simply click on the icon and you’re ready to get started. (The first time you use the publisher platform, you will be taken through a brief tutorial that walks you through the posting process.)

Here are a few tips to help you maximize this platform:

Be authentic and engaging. As I recommend with any content creation, speak in your own voice. Make sure the content you publish on LinkedIn is authentic and centered on topics and concepts in which you have expertise. This allows you to engage more readers, as well as increase your following.

Stay focused. Ensure each long-form post focuses on only one topic. This allows you to share valuable, targeted information to exactly the right audience. Write on a particular concept important to your target market or about a current trend in the industry. Offer a solution to a problem common to your market.

Be consistent. Whenever you develop content that is of value to your audience, share it on LinkedIn. Many posts I have viewed and enjoyed on LinkedIn were simply content the writer developed for another media outlet and repurposed for use as a long-form post on LinkedIn. Develop a plan to share content with your audience consistently. This will allow you to establish credibility and beef up your profile.

Make it snazzy. First and foremost, make sure you have a catchy title. Readers choose whether to read a post based on whether the title grabs their attention. The platform also lets you include pictures, which makes the content more visually appealing. That has been shown to drive engagement. You can also incorporate bulleted or numbered lists into your post, as well as utilize “block quotes” to highlight a certain portion of your post. This offers you the opportunity to give your posts a little pizzazz, and make them something readers really pay attention to.

Preview before you publish. Once you’ve captured your content, and enhanced it with graphics and bullet points, you will want to ensure it looks good. Prior to publishing your long-form post, click on the “Preview” button at the bottom of the page. This will allow you to see exactly what your readers will. Once you’re satisfied with the look of it, simply hit the “Publish” button and your content will be added to your profile and will appear on the home page of your connections and followers.

Share on your other social media sites. The platform is linked to Twitter, allowing your post to be tweeted to your Twitter followers automatically via a simple checkbox at the bottom of the content creation page. (The box is already checked for you.) Once published, the finished post also makes it easier for you and your readers to share, with badges that enable sharing via LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Proactive marketing of your post will help increase your reach.

A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

The LinkedIn publishing platform has, in effect, taken sharing content with a broad audience to a whole new level. In my opinion, it’s blogging on steroids — putting your content in front of far more sets of eyes than simply blogging on your own. With some creative writing, a few clicks and a couple of shares, you can very efficiently and effectively increase your reach — and your potential opportunities.

Kristin Andree (kristin @andreemedia.com) is president of Andree Media & Consulting.