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Are you using the new LinkedIn publishing platform?
Publishing content on LinkedIn Publisher can give your content and your reputation a boost.
In this article I’ll share the best practices for publishing your posts to LinkedIn for more visibility.
Why Use Publisher?
Posting articles to LinkedIn with Publisher makes the content searchable by keyword in LinkedIn’s post search box.
It’s a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise in any given area, and that’s a big part of content marketing!
Beyond visibility in search, both your connections AND your followers see your published posts just like on Facebook.
If your post is viewed enough times, it’ll get picked up by LinkedIn’s newsreader, Pulse. At that point, you’ll get exponential views, comments and shares.
Here’s a quick example showing just how powerful LinkedIn Publisher can be.
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Wendy McClelland wrote an article called, “Why I Say NO to Coffee Meetings.” On LinkedIn Publisher, that single article got almost 60,000 views, 2,100 shares on LinkedIn, 515 comments, 218 Facebook likes and 93 tweets. I don’t know about you—but that’s usually more visibility then I get on my own blog!
Wendy’s results?
- Over 10,000 views in two hours after being published
- The article has also been republished on over 60 other sites/blogs
- Over 150 new connections
- 2 radio interviews
- 2 new coaching clients
- Numerous joint venture offers
- 2 speaking gigs and a number of other future dates to be booked
Here’s how you can get started on Publisher and reap some of these rewards for yourself.
Know the Elements of a Good Post
What are the six key elements of a good Publisher post? The same as they are for your blog:
- A catchy title
- Attractive images (and video if you have it!)
- Brief but engaging content (300-600 words)
- Keywords
- Good marketing/sharing strategy for your post
- Luck
For more info on the steps to creating a post on LinkedIn, check out my video.
Decide What to Publish
Because you’ll be building your readership on Publisher from scratch, writing posts about LinkedIn influencers or influential people in your industry is a good place to start. If they decide to share your post with their network… kaboom! It might go viral.
Here are some ideas for influencer posts.
Write a post about the top 10 influencers on LinkedIn and why they’re so hot.
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Connect with an influencer in your network to ask some questions or get him or her on the phone. Use the answers to write an interview that’s interesting and likely to be shared by your audience. If your chosen subjects don’t respond, you can still write an opinion piece about why they rock. And then of course tell them. Just don’t be creepy.
Source influencers as experts. Talk to your five closest influential friends and have them send you a quote on a particular subject. Once the post is published, share it with them.
Of course, you can also repurpose your own previous blog content on LinkedIn Publisher. Since we don’t know what the effects of exact replication between Publisher and Google are yet, I recommend changing the text up a bit before you hit the Publish tab.
Take the time to customize your existing content for your LinkedIn audience, altering it enough so you don’t get a Google slap.
Choose a Publishing Frequency
Some people are going nuts with Publisher, publishing several articles a week. That’s probably too much, especially if the content isn’t very good.
Yeah, you’ll show up in people’s LinkedIn timeline, in their notifications and even in an email from LinkedIn, but if your content isn’t great, folks might start ignoring you.
I recommend you create more thoughtful and thorough posts, and limit your posting to once a week or so.
Share Your Post
Of course you aren’t limited to asking the subjects you write about to share your posts.
Be sure to take advantage of features like LinkedIn’s Updates, Messages and even InMails to disseminate your content on LinkedIn.
Share your post with your network and ask them to share it, too.
And don’t be afraid to mention your post and the influencers outside LinkedIn. Consider using Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to share your post as well.
Often I won’t see a mention for my Publisher article on LinkedIn, but it pops up in my Twitter notifications.
Apply for Publisher
Although initially open only to LinkedIn’s Influencer program membership of thought leaders, heads of state and corporate execs, Publisher is now open to everyone. If you don’t have it, you can apply for it.
To apply, you’ll need to give LinkedIn your name, email address, your LinkedIn URL and two examples of your writing. I recommend you submit your most shared post and the post you’re most proud of.
The examples you give don’t have to be from your own blog, but you do have to be the author.
You’ll know you have Publisher when LinkedIn sends you an email or you see the little gray pen in the update box on your home page.
Challenges and Final Thoughts
Not every post you write on Publisher is going to get tens of thousands of views.
I think the biggest problem with Publisher right now is that once people have it, they just throw up any old post. Many folks aren’t approaching what to write, whom to write about and how to disseminate their posts with any kind of strategy. This is resulting in more work and less impressive results than they’re expecting.
But with some consideration, strategy, testing and luck, you will get more visibility than you’ve previously had on LinkedIn. And that will lead to more engagement, brand recognition and possibly even more business for you!
What do you think? Have you received access to Publisher on LinkedIn? What changes in visibility and engagement have you seen? Let us know in the comments below.
