Writing LinkedIn Articles
Lately, I’ve been exploring the benefits of using LinkedIn
as part of my marketing strategy. I’d always thought that LinkedIn was a
platform for job searchers and recruiters – but in actual fact, I’ve come to realise
that it can be a very powerful tool in finding leads for my business, and
connecting with people in my own industry.
Now I’ll start with a bit of a disclaimer – while LinkedIn
is extremely useful for gaining B2B contacts (which is great for me, as my clients
are primarily other businesses), if you’re targeting consumers i.e. the general
public, you might find that LinkedIn is less affective for you. As a general
rule, those customers tend to go for other platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook
or Instagram.
BUT – if, like me, your main bread and butter comes from
other businesses, LinkedIn might be the option for you.
You’ll see from the title of this post that I’ll be covering
how and why to write articles on LinkedIn – I’ll get to that in a minute, but I
feel that I should mention a few other important things about LinkedIn as a platform
first.
Before you even consider your marketing strategy on
LinkedIn, you do have to put a little bit of effort in (sorry). There are plenty
of articles and tutorials online about how to get the best out of LinkedIn (I
highly recommend spending some time learning from an expert – look up Helen
Pritchard, who does a fantastic FREE online course a few times a year). The
gist of it is this…
1. Spend some time and effort searching for people in the right industries with whom to connect. LinkedIn allows you to be quite specific in this – you can search by location, by industry, even by company name. The key is to gain as many eyes on you as you can – I know this can be scary, but in order to grow, you need a decent sized audience. I’m talking at least 1000, more if you can. Searching and adding people to your audience, just 10- or so every day, will soon add up.
2. TALK TO PEOPLE!! This is one of the main reasons why people fail at social media. Guys, the clue is in the name! For God’s sake, PLEASE don’t just automate a private message and leave it at that. Read other people’s posts, like them, share them, and COMMENT on them. And they will do the same for you.
If you can’t get that bit right, or are not prepared to put
the effort in, then perhaps you need to stop reading now. Because next, we’re
talking about the potential of writing articles for LinkedIn.
Why LinkedIn Articles?
LinkedIn has a unique feature in its articles which allows you
to do something that other platforms don’t – showcase your writing. Sure,
people can get to know you through your posts, but the limited length means
that you are not always able to say everything you need to say. And this is why
LinkedIn articles are so great.
No matter what your field, you can use LinkedIn Articles to
show your customers exactly what it is that you have to offer – and show them
your expertise in your industry.
It gives you the unique opportunity to talk, at length,
about subjects that your customers are asking about. By thinking about the
questions that your potential customers might ask before deciding to buy from you,
you can write an in-depth article answering all their questions, therefore
showing them that you are the right person to buy from.
You can also use it to tell people about past successes you’ve
had – how you’ve helped someone else in their situation to overcome a problem.
What better way is there to convince someone you’re the best person for the job
than a recommendation from a past project/client?
Taking it further
Once you’re confident in your writing, you can use your new
skill, and create blog posts using the same techniques. This opens up a whole
new audience, and you can then move on to share your work on other social media
platforms.
There’s also opportunity to get known offline – plenty of
print-publications offer spaces (at cost) to write advertorials. You can
consider doing something like this, or even print-articles, brochures and
newsletters, eBooks, videos…. The possibilities are endless!
If you want to know more, or need help in writing content
for your own LinkedIn Articles, blog posts, or anything else, I’d be happy to
help. Email me at shirecopywriting@outlook.com