LinkedIn is the largest and most famous professional social network, focused on generating connections and relationships. There professionals can create their resumes, look for work and make contact with people from all over the world. Companies can find ideal candidates for their vacancies and potential client profiles.
One of the great advantages of Digital Marketing is the possibility of working communication in highly segmented channels, which allow a relationship with a much more qualified audience.
One of the classic examples of this directed communication, mainly for the B2B market, is LinkedIn, since this network is focused on relationships with professionals. Therefore, this is very important for that segment, both to search for professionals and to talk with your target audience and prospect potential clients.
On LinkedIn, there are some tools that are very important to enable that relationship. One of them is the publication platform of the network – LinkedIn Pulse, which is available to users since 2014. This is a great opportunity for those who want to make their content available to the public that is on LinkedIn and should be used in a Digital Marketing strategy.
Using this platform, it is possible to publish longer content on LinkedIn, which will appear for your connections and for the people who follow you. These texts become part of your profile, and can make reference to you in the matters about which you write.
Although this functionality is only possible for network user profiles (and not for company pages) it is still interesting. This is because, according to research conducted by LinkedIn, 75% of its users read or interact with content on the platform at least once a week. In addition, the research showed that, on LinkedIn, the tendency is for users to want to know more about the company and to trust it when officials post content.
Despite the platform having gone through some updates recently, posting a post on LinkedIn Pulse is still a breeze. See the step by step below:
- On your news feed page, in the “Share an article, a photo or an update” space, click the “Write an article” button.
- Once the button is clicked, a new tab opens: the text tool, very similar to any blog tool.
Now, let’s get to work: take advantage of this space to write about a subject that you master. Include links to other interesting and relevant content, choose an attractive title, add images to illustrate your content, and don’t forget to include references when you mention content from other authors.
- When the text is ready, you will only have to publish it, by clicking on the “Publish” button in the upper right corner of the page.
Even after the text is published, it is possible to edit it. For that, you just have to go to the publication page and click on the “Edit article” button.
Once the text has been altered, you just have to publish it again and it will be updated and accessible in your profile.
- To increase the reach of your publication, share it with your contacts on other social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and send it by email to contacts who may be interested in the subject.
- After publishing, we suggest that you constantly return to your publication to check the statistics.
It is possible to analyze how many people liked it, how many shared it and how many commented. If there are comments, don’t forget to reply to them to create a dialogue with the public that follows you and is interested in the topics you address.
It is always important to evaluate the interactions with your content on LinkedIn Pulse to see if it brought results, if these results are in accordance with your goals and analyze if it makes sense to continue with that strategy.
Always remember that this is a channel to expand the reach of your content. That is, many people who do not follow your content on other channels will be reached on LinkedIn Pulse.
However, the opposite also occurs: the LinkedIn publishing platform is a “rented space”, so it is important that you also invest in your company’s blog to guarantee your authority in matters related to your business.
Social networks change very frequently and create functionalities that can generate profit for themselves in the future. An example is Facebook’s EdgeRank, which limits how much your posts appear to your contacts or to people who follow your page.
Therefore, do not trust 100% of your strategy to channels that are not yours. Invest in creating content on your own platforms, taking advantage of social networks to increase the reach of your content.
LinkedIn vs blog
Generally, however, posting to LinkedIn Pulse can be a dilemma. This is because the content is limited to the platform and does not allow you to have control over various elements (the design and other links on the page, for example), as is the case with your own blog.
For that, there are some solutions. The first is to publish just a summary or introduction to the topic and then use a link that leads to the blog.
Another alternative is to publish the post on the company blog and wait some time (it can be about a week) before publishing it on LinkedIn Pulse. At first, that tactic may seem problematic because you are going to generate duplicate content, so Google could penalize your site. However, some research reveals that this does not happen if it is done correctly, because if you publish the content before on your site, the search mechanisms recognize that it is “owner” of that content, and they do not penalize it for duplication.
A third option is to write a post similar to what was published on the blog, but with a different approach. For example, if your blog post is “10 ways to produce efficient content”, your LinkedIn post could be “10 reasons why your content is not efficient”.
Whichever alternative you choose, take the opportunity to include links to other content on your blog or site in the publication. Start measuring the number of visitors coming from that channel to see if it is worth investing in.
Finally, don’t forget: LinkedIn Pulse is a channel for content, not an advertising channel. Therefore, very commercial messages can generate a negative image for your audience. So, pay attention to that and publish content that generates value for your audience.
And you, do you use the LinkedIn publishing platform? What insights have you already had using that tool? To learn more about this and other possibilities of using LinkedIn and other social networks in your Digital Marketing strategies, download our eBook Introduction to Social Network Management !
Tags:
- Digital Marketing Strategy
- Social Networks