What do Successful Content Marketers Do to Make LinkedIn Work for them?

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500+ million professionals! That is the number of users on LinkedIn.

Over the years, the platform has not reached the levels of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and the likes, but it continues being a professional network and has its own merits (let’s not get into the demerits here).

The first and the foremost benefit that LinkedIn offers is a fixed user demographic. This reduces the number of steps and efforts for content marketing whizz, who are doing what they are already good at on the platform.

Let us step into their shoes and follow their footsteps on the social networking channel:

1. Reap the Benefits Of Publishing Regularly

LinkedIn introduced its new publishing experience about a year ago and those who are publishing on it vouch for its many advantages.

Content marketers post short status updates or write long-form articles to share with their connections, which in a way also helps them take a step forward to becoming a thought leader.

Uploading video is another new addition and takes publishing to new levels.

A post on LinkedIn receives massive exposure which is evident from the views and comments, which often start pouring within a few hours. This includes audience from both first and second-degree networks. This is because when someone in a network likes or shares an update, it shows up on their connections’ feed. And because LinkedIn is a trusted platform, their views will be taken seriously.

Posting regularly also leads to the marketers gaining new connections and followers, which help them, expand their network.

Ergo, make efforts in the right direction to reach the masses on LinkedIn and you’ll get there in a short span of time.

2. Create High-Quality Content

Articles published on LinkedIn tend to get high visibility on Google because the search engine giant actively crawls it.

That said, if you use the keywords within the article, it is definitely going to work for you. Similarly, using the right hashtags (although not too many of them) in the article or in the status update, you can ensure that the post is going to get the top spot on the SERPs.

The catch lies in the fact that like every other social media platform, there’s low quality and high-quality content on LinkedIn. And then, there are people who simply paste their articles from other platforms or post #Copied content without a single thought.

Your end-goal should be to create high-quality content and gain credibility on the platform. That shouldn’t be too hard, especially if you plan ahead!

3. Work On Building Your Personal Brand Like Never Before

LinkedIn is the best place for building your personal brand.

It is the place where you can boast about all your achievements, accolades, accomplishments; display all your recommendations and no one will complain! It will only draw the attention of like-minded individuals who would want to know more and get connected with you on the professional channel.

Even for those who don’t have their own websites, building a personal brand becomes a cakewalk by taking the LinkedIn route. If you’re a greenhorn in content marketing, this is one area you definitely need to focus on.

4. Know That It Is a Professional Network

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Anyone and everyone slightly familiar with the social media landscape knows that LinkedIn is a professional network and there’s no space for sharing memes, cat videos and DIYs.

Nobody on LinkedIn needs to know where you are vacationing in the Holidays or what Halloween costume you bought this year. They would rather want to know about a course that you recently took or a popular networking event that you were a part of.

Content marketers steer clear of all such irrelevant posts and use the network to share more meaningful content with their connections.

5. Don’t Spam

Posting several Tweets in a minute is acceptable but not on LinkedIn. It is a good practice to limit your updates per day. While the status update can be limited to about 2-3 a day, the long-form posts can be kept to about 3 in a week and not more.

And while mentioning people in your posts is a good practice, constantly tagging them in unrelated posts is overkill and you may end up losing followers and connections in the long run.

6. Know When To Post

Timing is one of the crucial factors to gain traction on any social media channel. But for LinkedIn, it takes the front seat. This is because people may check their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account several times a day, even on weekends. Not LinkedIn. Content marketers know that they need to publish on the platform during business hours, depending on the location and the industry. Otherwise, they would simply be wasting their time posting in a ghost town!

Planning and scheduling your posts in advance is the right thing to do here.

As they say, when in Rome, do what Romans do!

7. Constantly Build Quality Network

Content marketers work in close quarters with several top influencers and industry leaders. They also stay in touch and follow the works of different journalists, editors, and publishers. While following them on Twitter is by far the best option they have, using LinkedIn to connect with them looks more professional and will be much appreciated.

Building quality network starts with sending connection requests to professionals who belong to your industry, even if you don’t know them or know very little about them.

A good practice is to add a note or LinkedIn message when you send them a connection request. Sending blind requests only make you look like a stalker and create a bad impression.

To Conclude

For the uninitiated in content marketing, LinkedIn can be a great place to get started. With new features, the platform is being revived and provides the immense scope of generating attention. The best thing is that you can leverage the platform’s best features organically.  It might take some time, but it will be worth the wait!