As part of our overall marketing strategy, we spend a tremendous amount of time producing targeted thought leadership content. Now that we have a bank of it, we’re always thinking about ways to creatively reuse and leverage what we’ve already created to continually share useful intel with our audience.
One of the things we’ve been exploring a lot lately is how, when, and where to repost to avoid issues related to duplicate content, etc. For example, if we share a post here on our blog, we typically wait a week to repost the article on LinkedIn, and when we do repost, we do things like change the title, adjust or truncate the content, and layer in additional information. Other times, we post original content on LinkedIn first in order to experiment and test out alternate approaches.
Many people are still figuring out reposting best practices and how to make the most of LinkedIn Pulse publishing. So let’s explore a few ways you can amplify your content on LinkedIn, regardless of how you get multiple-use out of the original work.
- Look to LinkedIn Pulse’s “Influencers” for posting best practices.
Follow a few of the more than 500 LinkedIn Pulse Influencers, from Mark Cuban to Lena Dunham, and start studying what they cover and how often they publish. Think about how their posts are positioning them as industry pundits, notice if they publish certain pieces of content elsewhere by doing a quick Google search of article titles, and take note of nuances such as article length and imagery. Are they backlinking to posts on their blog or to other influencers’ posts? What are people commenting about?
- Everytime you post on LinkedIn, think about authenticity, not self-promotion.
Chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and LinkedIn Influencer Bernard J. Tyson’s examination of race relations in response to Ferguson reached half a million people on LinkedIn. Why? The authenticity and passion that resonated from Tyson’s post not only brought positive attention to him as an influential thought leader, but also drew positive recognition for his company just by virtue of the post.
Remember, the key to thought leadership is to publish your perspective on highly relevant topics, not shouting out your brand (because, simply put, that’s called advertising).
- Make sure you’re using visuals.
As you know from blog, social media, and media relations best practices, a picture is worth a thousand words. LinkedIn profiles with a photo are 14 times more likely to be viewed than those without so give your posts some image love too.
Not sure where to snag free stock imagery? Try Pixabay, Gratisography (if you’re feeling a little cray), or Death to the Stock Photo which sends free photos to your inbox every month.
- Engage, engage, engage.
After you post, your work is not done. Actively engage with your network by creating conversations in response to LinkedIn Pulse post comments. If someone likes your post, be “pat-their-back proactive” by checking out what they’ve written on LinkedIn and share the love as you would on any other social platform.
Bonus points if your LinkedIn post includes a highly shareable graphic created using Canva or any other graphic design platform that empowers non-designers to turn their thoughts into visual hooks.
- Encourage fellow employees to join in.
If you publish something you think your colleagues will find interesting, send them the link via email, Slack, or anywhere else outside of LinkedIn that could help the post gain off-site exposure. (Sharing the post via your social media channels should be a given at this point… )
The results? A) Your colleagues will probably read it. B) Some of them will “Like” it. C) Some will comment. D) You may just inspire them to write and publish a thought leadership post of their own.
LinkedIn is no longer just about making connections with other business professionals. It’s become a one-stop-shop for communicating thoughts, ideas, experience, and useful information with a highly targeted group (your carefully curated network). How are you making the most of LinkedIn Pulse?
A version of this article appeared on Inc.
Thanks, Rebekah. Meet another bright mind behind the scenes at AirPR:
