At this year’s Social Media Marketing World, the largest conference of its kind held annually in San Diego, fellow account executive Katie Byrne and I attended dozens of strategy sessions for every social media platform from TikTok to LinkedIn. One of those sessions was Viveka von Rosen’s How to Create a LinkedIn Content Strategy That Attracts Your Ideal Prospects.
It turned out to be the most valuable session I attended.
Luckily, many of the strategies she detailed were tailor-made to be applied during a crisis like the one we’re all now experiencing. Here are four easy, actionable strategies you can use right now to help you get noticed on LinkedIn. Make sure you read until the end to learn about a special package that we’re currently offering.
- Publish long-form posts.
Since the pandemic started, LinkedIn has seen record levels of engagement. More users than ever are flocking to the platform to network, learn and discover new opportunities. If you’re a leader at a company right now, you should be regularly publishing thought-provoking content on LinkedIn. And there’s no better or more engaging way to do that than through “long-form” posts.
What is a long-form post? It’s simply a blog post or opinion piece that’s shared natively on LinkedIn. These posts are incredibly effective and actually receive 24 percent more engagement than short posts. So, if you want to publish a blog post on LinkedIn, do it through the platform. Don’t post a link to a blog on your website. LinkedIn doesn’t want users to leave its platform, and will prioritize the content that keeps them there.
- Apply LinkedIn’s newest features.
Just as LinkedIn prioritizes native content, it also prioritizes content that incorporates its newest features, or “toys,” as Viveka calls them. The feature it’s currently pushing is LinkedIn Live, a tool that allows organizations to broadcast video content to their network in real time. This tool isn’t available to everyone yet (you must apply for it), but as we’ve seen with previous features like long-form posting, LinkedIn will likely eventually grant access to everyone.
If you aren’t able to use LinkedIn Live right away, that’s OK. Publish regular videos instead. According to Pete Davies, the director of product management at LinkedIn, video is the fastest growing format on the platform right now, and the one most likely to get people talking. Grab your smartphone, shoot a 30-90 second video offering valuable content and watch your engagement skyrocket.
- Use your employees as brand ambassadors.
After you publish a new post on LinkedIn, you should always encourage colleagues to engage with that content to extend the post’s shelf life. Let’s say you publish a long-form article on your page of 500 followers. If nobody engages with that post, it will only be seen by up to 500 people. Now, let’s say three employees with more than 500 connections share that article. The post will now be seen by up to 2,000 people (and that number will increase when the shared post gets further engagement).
Simply put, taking two minutes to encourage colleagues to share your LinkedIn post will increase the reach and publicity of your post exponentially.
- Engage with your network’s content.
Take five to 10 minutes every day to engage with potential clients or hiring managers. ‘Like’ a blog they’ve posted, congratulate them for an award they achieved, join groups they’re in, or send them a direct message about an admirable initiative they started.
Nobody wants to engage with someone who immediately tries to sell to them. We’ve all received emails along the lines of, “Your XYZ needs help. Do you want to buy my service to fix it?” That’s not how you’d interact with strangers in real life and that’s not how you should do it on LinkedIn, either. Your goal is to gradually transform your cold leads into warm ones. Start slow and build a natural connection before you try to sell.
There you have it. If you’re a business owner struggling to stay afloat, or you’ve recently been laid off, consider the many benefits of maintaining an active LinkedIn presence. After all, LinkedIn is the number one social media platform to help you attract prospects, network with like-minded professionals and stay abreast of industry trends. Spend a few minutes each day applying just one or two tips, and watch your network grow.
Interested in a guide that expands upon these LinkedIn-specific strategies, tools and best practices? We’ve got you covered. Email us at info@buchananpr.com to learn how you can receive our LinkedIn Strategy Guide at a reduced rate.