LinkedIn introduced “long-form posts” earlier this year. Initially the option was only open to a few, then you could apply to use it, now it is available to everyone. But because the feature is relatively hidden, many LinkedIn users aren’t taking advantage of it.
Should you blog on LinkedIn? The short answer is yes.
Let’s look at the benefits …
Publishing high quality and valuable content for your readers expands your visibility, backs up your expertise and feeds your content to search engines. Many visit LinkedIn daily, allowing you to tap into a large audience outside of your business website and connections.
Expand your audience
LinkedIn instantly shares published contents with the author’s connections and followers, many of whom may not have subscribed to your blog. So you get additional exposure for your ideas.
You’ll be able to share the LinkedIn blog post on other social networks and check the analytics page to see how it performs.
Search engine optimization
Published posts are searchable within and outside of LinkedIn. You may have noticed LinkedIn blog posts coming up near the top of the search results when you are searching on various topics.
While LinkedIn blog posts drive traffic to your LinkedIn profile instead of to your website, this still brings you visitors .
A blog post published on LinkedIn will rank higher than the same blog post on your own site, because LinkedIn is such a heavily trafficked site.
Things to know before publishing long-form posts
Here are a few caveats before start writing. Right now, members can only publish posts in English, but that could change. LinkedIn makes it clear that writing long-form posts doesn’t mean someone is a LinkedIn Influencer. It also discourages content that reads like an ad.
Of course, plagiarism is forbidden as the service could suspend an account for content infringement. The service asks you get permission to share anything you write in your posts and give credit for quotes, images and so on. For everything you wanted to know about publishing on LinkedIn, refer to Long-Form Posts on LinkedIn — Overview.
LinkedIn policy states that you can republish your own content you’ve published elsewhere as long as you own the rights. Before you consider doing this, beware that publishing duplicate content doesn’t always go over well with search engines. We like to edit content slightly before reposting on LinkedIn.
Take heed that the Rights and Responsibilities for Your Posts on LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform says, “LinkedIn may distribute your content, annotate your content (e.g., to highlight that your views may not be the views of LinkedIn), and sell advertising on pages where your content appears.”
What should you share?
Write about your experiences, challenges and topics of interest to your target market and industry. Passion for the topic helps. Too often, people write about topics that don’t interest them because it’s a “moneymaker.” But that shows in the writing.
In sharing your experiences, focus on telling stories. They’re more memorable than generic advice. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Lessons you’ve learned.
- How you solved a problem (without being self-serving).
- Memorable professional experiences.
- Career advice for people interested in your industry, position or company.
- Current industry trends.
- A challenge you or your industry faces.
LinkedIn’s editor allows you to enhance your posts with links, visuals and video.
To start writing, just click the pencil icon in the status update to open the editor as the images show. LinkedIn provides instructions on how to use the editor.
What do you think of LinkedIn’s long-form post platform? What suggestions do you have for what to write about?