10 tips to share content: “LinkedIn content strategy”
We continue today as promised, on the topic of how to improve personal branding using the tools that LinkedIn makes available. Here are the things you have learned if you read the two previous articles:
– how to fill out your profile properly and thoroughly
– actions to take every day to enlarge your network of contacts.
Among the actions to be taken, I have repeatedly emphasized how important it is to share content with others in groups or on the status of your own profile to keep your contacts and gain loyalty. But the question arises: “what content should I post and which content is best to achieve my goals”? To help you answer these questions, today I want to share with you some tips about the content to use on LinkedIn. At the end of this article you will learn what tools LinkedIn provides for the sharing of content.
Always remember a phrase that has been repeated for years on the web: “Content is King”. In fact, to become influential on this social network you will need to get used to sharing valuable content and materials created by you or taken from third parties that are interesting and enriching, including explanations, essays, discussions, and updates, or that are aimed at solving the problems of a certain type of person.
In recent years, both through the development of new features and the integration of new services, LinkedIn has become a giant hub of content for individuals and businesses. In this third part of the mini guide on Linkedin entitled “LinkedIn Content Strategy”, you will find 10 types of content that you can use based on the preferences of your customers and what best suits your personality and your skills:
- Video CV– In this historic moment on a social network such as LinkedIn, I think the most valuable content is a video-CV or resume video in which you share who you are and what experience you have; what is the added value you can bring to a company and what are your strengths? Publishing a resource of this type on your profile sets you apart from many competitors, giving immediacy and freshness to your profile. It highlights your personality and immediately transmits empathy for those who are consulting your profile because unlike the others, you can look directly into their eyes using this tool. To this end, I cite the example of the likeable Rudy Bandiera who recently released his new video CV.
- Blogging– LinkedIn has created a simple blog publishing platform that you can take advantage of.The blogging system on LinkedIn is very intuitive and pleasant to look at. The publication of a post of any length, with images included, is a wonderful opportunity to reach your ideal audience and support your personal brand. Remember to create a good editorial plan, to be regular and consistent in your publication, to arouse emotions, to give value, to always use keywords and to write keeping your goals in mind. LinkedIn lends itself to being a writing platform, so it’s perfect for micro blogging. In fact people are prepared to read even long texts and rarely leave a page because they’re alarmed by the length. In contrast, a well-structured and in-depth article is what people seek or expect. If you have a YouTube channel in which you give lessons in something or make tutorials, it is important to publish here regularly even if the platform is less visual than other outlets, as a study of this kind may be useful and adds variety and value.
- SlideShare– in 2012, LinkedIn acquiredSlideShare, the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and other professional content. SlideShare allows you to send presentations, infographics, documents, video and PDF files, and boasts 60 million unique visitors per month. Since SlideShare is integrated with LinkedIn, it’s easy to present your content on your profile page. One idea that I suggest to you is to put the presentation on your portfolio, or add some case studies or other types of content that strengthens your personal brand.
LinkedIn Pulse– in 2013, LinkedIn Today became LinkedIn Pulse, a system that provides professional information tailored to your interests. You can select the topics of your interest and receive notifications of the contents published in that area. I suggest you consult it every day, as it is a way to share with others the content that you deem useful or interesting, and to get ideas to write about, to comment on articles, and to share gratitude for the comments or discussions that you contribute to. The news aggregator Pulse is available on the website LinkedIn.com or through smartphone applications.- LinkedIn Premium– LinkedIn is mostly free.However, the company provides important services for a fee, called LinkedIn Premium. Initially you should use LinkedIn without investing a cent in paid services because what the platform offers is already enough to improve and make the most of your personal branding. However it is important to be aware of what a premium account offers. Premium provides a range of very useful services for advanced users, especially for those who work in human resources, for those looking for work and for sales professionals. Just select one of the following premium features as needed: Job Seeker, Business Plus, Sales Navigator, or Professional Recruiter Lite. In this case, your content can be shared in a more direct way thanks to the inMail option that lets you connect directly with a number of people via email even if they are not among your contacts.
- LinkedIn Analytics– The free analytics provided by LinkedIn to individual users are not very extensive, but are useful in revealing how many people have viewed your profile, how your profile ranks among your connections and other details that if well analyzed can be useful cues to improve your strategy. Pages Business, however, will have data about views, clicks, interaction and interest of published posts. These analytics can be an important type of content because you can use the data to build case studies and statistics to be published in an infographic or report (NB: reports and statistics are very popular content on a social network like this because they can offer insights or materials that other people can reuse for their studies).7. Advertising on LinkedIn – There are many LinkedIn advertising options many. The programs offer high functionality of B2B targeting to reach the right audience by choosing among its nearly 350 million members. Prices are not very low but the efficiency is high given the target business profiling that LinkedIn offers. You can then sponsor content in order to make yourself known, to get leads or generate traffic to your site or blog, or to reinforce your personal branding.
- Business pages– LinkedIn Company Pages play an important role in the strategy of your brand and give the ability to post content related to the brand.With its many functions, the business page can help you engage your customers even more with news and content and also has an excellent response in the lead generation strategy. Your image and logo should be added carefully so that they are clear and visible. The analysis provided by the business pages is better than those for personal profiles, as mentioned above, and you can even check the views, clicks, interaction and interest generated by each post.
- Jobs– companies have the ability to publish a different type of content, or even vacancies for recruitment.The ads are paid and you can choose between a single ad lasting 30 days or a package of 5 or 10 ads. It’s very important to add your own logo or image that hints immediately to your brand.
- Careers pages– companies have the ability to create a careers page, or a page that show candidates a personalized presentation of career opportunities in your company. In compiling this page it is useful to communicate your message well and highlight your brand with multimedia, customized information and testimonies of employees.
Needless to say, you can do much more with LinkedIn and with these ideas that I have shared, you can create endless combinations of content, and create a content marketing strategy that fits your brand and your goals. In sharing content, always be yourself, put all the passion and the enthusiasm you have into it, remember your mission and the values of your brand, take your place at the service of others and remember that the real purpose of creating content is to give and not receive! Give yourself, your wisdom, your knowledge, and your experience to others and put yourself at the service of those who need help to achieve their objectives. Create synergies, create empathy with the reader, think about how you can give value, and maintain a sincere interest in other people, and everyone will notice. This is also personal branding: staying true to yourself in a formal environment like LinkedIn and succeeding in making your good intentions and value perceivable even when covered with a suit and tie or a cover image!
I will share the fourth and final part of this guide on LinkedIn in the next article, where we will see the reasons why LinkedIn is the most powerful tool for personal branding for B2B and how to take advantage of it.
Let me remind you that if you want to know more, if you want to see firsthand our strategies and their results, if you want to be supported by a whole team dedicated to you that will help you bring out the best in you and really express your talent as you deserve, make an appointment with us for a free consultation and soon you’ll have the tools to soar. Fill out the Contact form on the home page, follow us on our Facebook Page Stand Out Communication and on our Twitter profile StandOutAgency to become part of our community dedicated to Personal Branding.
AUTHOR: Veronica Penzo – ( Twitter: LadyBitterHoney )
From a young age, used to playing with foreign children, with the desire to become friends with them, I thought: “the mind is not made to communicate in only one language! ” That’s why I chose to travel, to study 5 foreign languages, and to examine communication in all its forms, from PNL to verbal and non-verbal language! I decided to grow these passions for language and for people, first in international TV journalism working with NBC News, then in a communication field even more current: the web and mobile. I have therefore become an expert on all the major social networks, and am up-to-date on all topics of webmarketing, social ads, lead generation, neuromarketing and personal branding.
A social media influencer on Twitter and Instagram, I am now leading the social media management for Stand Out and HRD Training Group and I write and coordinate the Stand Out blog.