I wanted to write this blog post for both my potential clients, which are small to large businesses trying to promote themselves through content marketing, and my blogger friends who seem to be missing in action when it comes to using LinkedIn to promote their online business.
You may not know this, but back in 2012 when LinkedIn started their publishing feature, it was opened only to a very small privileged group.
Then in February 2014, they opened that opportunity to 25,000 users, and I was one of them.
Today, all members of LinkeIn are able to publish articles on their platform for everyone to see. Yet a fraction of those people are using this very valuable fearture.
So let see why you should use this LinkedIn publishing tool, and what this could do for you and your business.
Why I Use LinkedIn Publishing
Even though I’ve published a couple of articles right after I’ve received their invitation last year, I quickly left it to the side to concentrate more on my blog.
However, earlier this year, I faced the facts, and came to the realization that even though I may be partial to my blog, it’s not necessarily the place where my work has the best chance to be read.
Actually, when I look at the numbers of views that my latest posts have gotten, and the numbers of comments I’m getting by professionals and potential clients, I know that it wouldn’t have happened if I had written those same articles on my blog.
This is my last post, 3 days after I published it… (comment counts on linkedIn don’t include your own) by the way…
Here is another one I wrote back in July.
This is why I wanted to sound the alarm for all of you guys, whether you are one of my blogger friends whom I never see on LinkedIn, or a business owner who needs to have as many eyes on their content as possible.
That certainly doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a blog of course, because you most definitely should. But what it means is that you have to be smart enough to use both of those options the best way possible, so you can attract as much as business as possible.
Why you should Invest some Time Posting on Linkedin
Unless your blog is super popular, and unless most of the people who are making your blog popular are ALSO your target market, you should definitely invest some of your time to post once a week, or at least twice a month, on LinkedIn.
As a matter of fact, even if your blog is popular and most of your visitors are you market, if you want more business, there is no doubt that you should use Linkedin publishing feature.
Now, truth be told I have only 10 posts on Linkedin so far, but since June of this year, I’ve posted an average of twice a month.
My goal is to constantly post once a week.
The difference I noticed in my case, between my posts on my blog and my posts on LinkedIn, are the following items:
- All my contacts on Linkedin are notified as soon as I hit the publish tab.
- My posts get noticed by professional people, some of them being my potential clients.
- I get comments from people who have no reason other than genuinely commenting about what they’ve read.
- People tend to be more honest in their comments. If they disagree with what you’re saying, they’ll tell you to your face.
- I usually get 200+ views during the first 24 hours of my post being published.
It’s the same “me”, and the same writing style, yet, I feel that people, really, truly appreciate my work there.
Now how does that contrast with my own blog?
- Zero people in my Linkedin network would be notified of my post, unless I manually make sure that some of them know about it. But there is no way I can reach them all.
- Most of my comments on my blog are made by my fellow bloggers, not so much my market and even less likely by my potential clients.
- Many of the comments I get, are from fellow bloggers who comment on my blog because I comment on theirs, and because they are my friends.
- Comments tend to always agree with what I say. Rarely people will comment to tell you they don’t agree with what you’re saying, even if they don’t.
- I certainly don’t get that many views on my personal posts on my blog.
4 Great and Immediate Benefits of Posting on LinkedIn
1- Engagement on LinkedIn is High
People will read, like and comment on your post very quickly on LinkedIn.
Now if I compared the engagement I’m getting on my blog, and the engagement I’m getting on linkedin, there is no doubt that Linkedin works best for me as far as seeing motivated people reading my articles.
The other side of the coin is that if you are someone with less than a good doze of self-confidence, you might think twice about posting on Linkedin, because people there won’t be as soft spoken at times, as they are on your little personal blog.
But the reason that I really feel the true value of this, is that when people don’t agree with what you’re saying they are not shy to let you know.
For example, when I wrote an article about traveling with a dual citizenship last month, I had a comment from a lawyer who said that what I was saying was wrong.
I didn’t care about what he said, because what I was saying is what I’ve JUST DONE myself, while traveling to Europe. And because I made sure before I left not to mess up with my dual citizenship and two passports, which frankly, can be quite confusing, when you don’t know what you’re doing.
So if I wasn’t sure about what I was talking about in my article, that comment from that corporate lawyer could have intimidated me.
But it didn’t, because for one thing, I used to work for an immigration lawyer myself few years ago, and I know for a FACT that what I wrote is correct information, because I’ve been there and done that.
So, just be prepared to have some people that may not agree with you when you write on Linkedin, but don’t be alarmed as long as you know what you’re talking about.
2- Posting on LinkedIn will Help Promote you as an Expert
Hopefully, your own blog is portraying you as an expert at what you do and promote to be.
But for the reasons that I’ve mentioned above, your LinkedIn posts will help you go beyond being an expert for your own community, and the occasional visitor.
It will show you as an expert among your peers and market.
Since I’ve been posting more regularly on LinkedIn, I’ve noticed that I’m receiving many more requests to connect from professionals, and some of those connections have proved to be very valuable to me.
Remember that your LinkedIn posts are viewed by many people that are not in your direct network. I am still a bit short of a thousand direct connections on Linkedin, but my posts can be viewed by many more than that. And my numbers prove that they are.
You will notice that you’ll have more views per article than you have followers just about any time you publish, because people can just follow your posts, without being a connection. This is because the more your posts get likes and comments the more people outside of your network will be able to see your article and choose to follow you.
3- You’ll learn more about your Readers’ Demographic
Even if you go to the Google Analytics of your blog, there is no way that you will know as precisely as LinkedIn lets you know about who’s visiting your posts.
Here it tells my exactly what occupation those people have and more…
4- You’ll be Spending more Time where the Money is
A 2012 survey said that about half (49% in 2012) of the average household of LinkedIn users have a $100,000 income per year, which means that the average person who sees your article is most likely to become your client if they are looking for someone just like you.
That is not the case of most people who visit my blog, so by posting on LinkedIn my chances of getting clients that way is greatly increased.
The reason I’m saying this is a proven one. More times than not, when a blogger who comments on my blog requires a quote for having articles written for them, they can’t afford my fees.
So, when I publish a post on LinkedIn which is read by someone who would potentially be interested in my work, their average income puts them in better position to hire me.
The proof is in the pudding, since I’ve got two new clients from guess where?
That’s right, my published articles on LinkedIn.
Since I am both a writer and a coach, I can easily showcase both features there, and it works for me.
Very well, indeed.
Besides the blunt one that may give you negative comments at times, most of them will sound just like these…
I hope you enjoyed. Your turn now. Let me know what your thoughts are…
Hey Sylviane,
Sounds like I need to pay more attention to LinkedIn. Although I share everyone’s post there I don’t use the other features or read articles like I should from there.
A couple of years ago I was a member of quite a few groups but at that time I had the wrong etiquette lol…but now I know better and for you to show the benefits of LinkedIn indicates that no one should sleep on it. Especially for the fact that it notifies all of the members of your LinkedIn network when you publish an article. This alone should tell you something!
Thanks for sharing your experience Sylviane! I believe I have enough tough skin to handle some criticism.
Sherman Smith invites you to read..9 Ways To Not Waste Your Time Blogging
Hi Sherman,
I’m sure that if you posted the type quality of the posts you’re writing on your blog these days, you’d have lots of successful posts on Linkedin as well. Something to consider.
Thanks for coming by and have a great week.
Sylviane
Hello Sylviane,
I’ve noticed the publish feature on LinkedIn but I haven’t published an article there. I think I would be intimidated to publish there seeing as most people on there are experts in their field. Still, I’m not totally closed to the idea, I just need to find a great topic that I know inside and out and write about it. 🙂
I’ll be looking for your next post on LinkedIn. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the benefits with us. In looking at your screenshots, it looks like it’s a great platform to get our name out there. I just need to be like Sherman and get tougher skin :).
Hope you’re enjoying your travels! Have a great week.
Cori
Corina Ramos invites you to read..An Insider’s Guide To Blogging: How To Create Engaging Content #Infographic
Hi Corina,
Sure it’s better to do this when you feel ready, however, don’t be too scared, and if you know what you’re talking about, it doesn’t matter what kind of experts are out there.
I’m naturally not easily intimated, so I guess it helps, but again why should we be intimidated by anything that is in our reach?
Thanks for coming and hope you can write on Linkedin soon 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
For the past few days I was thinking that I needed to start publishing on LinkedIn. Did you read my mind?
I know there are more serious people there and I’ve been sharing and commenting on that platform.
You have given all the benefits I needed to hear about doing this. Now, I have to structure time to do it. I love the response you have gotten and also the fact that I can learn more about a reader’s demographic. Hmmm
I plan my week in advance. Now I’m sold on this and will have to plan next week to start posting there.
Many thanks!
-Donna
Donna Merrill invites you to read..Promoting Your Blog Just Got Easier
Hi Donna,
That’s great. I’m sure that your type of business has a large audience on Linkedin. I think most people do, even though some may do more than others. As for me, I long understood that my market is on Linkedin more than anywhere else.
I’m glad this post could encourage you to give this a go.
Thanks for coming and sharing.
~Sylviane
Hey Sylviane,
I don’t think everyone’s audience is on LinkedIn but for those that are you’re absolutely right. I think that our content should be spread around to all the different networks so that those who aren’t necessarily interested in visiting our blogs will still see what we share and what we’re about.
I’ve shared content about how powerful LinkedIn is as well but have yet to start sharing my own there. My blog posts are shared with my network but I know I need to start implementing the power of Pulse moving forward. I’m already considering implementing a few new things into my marketing as I move into winding down this year.
Thanks for that slap in the face again, I needed it! LOL!!! Seriously though, you’re right!
Enjoy your week my friend and I’m off to share your post.
~Adrienne
Adrienne invites you to read..How To Write For Your Target Audience
Hi Adrienne,
Well, I hope not to bad of a slap in the face 🙂
I’m glad that you want to implement this into your marketing strategy, I am sure that it can only be good for you.
Glad to see you, and you too have a wonderful week ahead.
~Sylviane
Hi Sylviane,
First time here on your blog. I agree with you in that LinkedIn is a great resource for online business exposure and is often underutilized. Now I don’t know about you, but I would expect my friends of all people to disagree with me from time to time. Especially, about what I have written or said.
I think all of us would benefit from publishing on LinkedIn, but are stuck in the habit of using more common social networks – i.e. Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Breaking a habit is very hard to do, but sometimes like Nike says “Just Do It.”
Thanks for sharing your experience on LinkedIn Sylviane.
Have a great day.
Kurt
Kurt Kummerer invites you to read..Not Selling Enough Stuff On Your Blog? Well Maybe You Should Connect The Dots!
Hi Kurt, and welcome here.
Yeah, you would think that friends would disagree from time to time, but it’s actually very rare as opposed to Linkedin where it’s not so rare at all 🙂
Are you on Linkedin by the way? If so, we could connect there. Maybe that’s where you found that post to start with.
Thanks for coming.
Hi Sylviane,
I am on LinkedIn. I’ll send you a connection request. I found you via Enstine’s blog where he had mentioned you on a recent blog post.
By the way if I disagree with you I promise to let you know:)
Kurt
Kurt Kummerer invites you to read..Not Selling Enough Stuff On Your Blog? Well Maybe You Should Connect The Dots!
Hi Kurt,
Ah great. I haven’t visited Enstine in a while, but I’m so glad you found me through him. Thanks for wanting to connect with me.
~Sylviane
Hi Sylviane,
I can validate what you’re saying here and your points are excellent. I get more business and visibility from LinkedIn than any other social media site – but that’s where my audience is at.
I have nearly 4,500 I’m connected to and growing daily. Almost all are business owners and entrepreneurs. Can you say BINGO!
Posts were really well for the reason you explained and I try to do several a month, but I’m not adding my daily video posts as well there so I’ll be interested to see the long-term benefits of that tactic.
I sometimes get the occassional person who is it a know it all as well; but I also get those who it’s obvious they didn’t read the article and then leave a completely off the wall comment. I find it a little humorous at times but more importantly they actually give me some great ideas sometimes. Who would have thought it?
Thanks sharing your experience Sylviane!!!!
Have an awesome week.
~ Don Purdum
Don Purdum invites you to read..How am I Suppose to Blog, Do Social Media and Engage When I Don’t Have Time?
Well, I think i should use linkedin site to promote my blog posts more and more. After reading this post i feel should do it. I hope i will get some visitors from linkedin. What do you think about reddit and others social sharing sites ? I knew that reddit is very helpful for the content marketer because it gives huge amounts of traffic. But the problem is there is need much better time to engage with reddit and they are consistently blocking accounts from their site, if they find any violence. Do you have any posts or ideas that how people can get engage with reddit and stop blocking ?
Romjan Dhayan invites you to read..8 easy effective tips to make your wife happy
Hi Romjan,
I think that you should definitely post on Linkedin and I am sure that if you address your specific market, that market will respond well to your articles.
I have not posted anything on Redit in a long time, but I hear that some people have great results with it.
NO, I definitely don’t think and never said that any of these should ever replace your blog. You still need to post great value on your blog at least once a week.
Hope this helped, and thank you for coming.
~Sylviane
Golly Sylviane this is getting weird
Your last post I read was on France, which is a country that is often on my mind
And then i see this one about Linked In. It’s uncanny because right now I am starting a big shift to this platform.
You make so many valuable points but the ones about the limitations of blog commenting hit the spot for me.
Although I am new to blog commenting I see one of the limitations of this activity is that bloggers are not really my target market, just like you have discovered. Frankly I would rather work with real businesses with at least $2m a year in revenues. I don’t see many (any?) bloggers doing those sorts of numbers!
Blog commenting etc is pleasant, easy work, but if bloggers want to make money from content creation activities (including blogging) they should not lose sight of this basic fact: you are running a business, NOT a feel good hobby.
Thanks once again Sylviane!
Kim
Kim Willis invites you to read..Your About Page Revamp
Hi Kim,
Sorry for the late reply here, one of those crazy weeks.
Well, welcome to the club. Same here, my market is not bloggers who comment on my blog, for the reason that as you said, most of them are not in the bracket income that my target market needs to be. Plus on top of that they may just not be the type entrepreneurs that is looking for someone else to write for them, or who are much in touch with personal development issues. Actually, when it comes to blog commenting we run into that a whole lot.
That’s why it’s 10 times more likely that you will find more potential clients through Linkedin. Actually some people have built their whole business on Linkedin.
Indeed, we should never forget that our blog is a window to our business, not a feel good hobby as you said.
Thanks for your excellent point, and thanks for coming.
Hi Sylviane,
I won’t say I have to agree with your stand in publishing on LinkedIn, but I just have to put your advice into practice.
This is because I once published on LinkedIn too when they extend the pulse publication to 25,000 others, but like many other people……I didn’t do much with it.
Just after two posts over there, I dump the idea and concentrate most on my blog.
But after reading this post, I need to do more than just trying, I need to get the best out of LinkedIn pulse.
Overall, my social traffic hadn’t been that good compared to organic traffic……a reason I should see how this will work out fine.
Thanks Sylviane.
Shamsudeen invites you to read..3 Effective Strategies to Run Affiliate Marketing Without a Website
Hi Shamsudeen,
Indeed, if you posted there just twice and then forgot about it, it’s normal that you wouldn’t see much of a favorable effect. Like everything in life it takes a constant effort, as in regular effort, and that’s what works.
I’m glad that you want to try this again, and I hope you can do it on a regular basis to reap the full benefits.
Thanks for you input.
Gosh, Sylviane…
Would you believe I’ve never published a thing on LinkedIn?
I was looking back at my original “to do” list from last year when I launched Brent Jones Online… you know what was at the top of the list?
Publish to LinkedIn.
Never did it. Don’t know why. Don’t have a good reason.
I’d better look into it. Thanks for the reminder!
Best,
Brent
Brent Jones invites you to read..Publish Your Writing with Don Easton
Hi Brent,
This is the kind of post I like, because replies like yours. I hope you are going to act on this reminder. Donna Merrill just posted this week there for the first time because of my post, so my work is done here 🙂
So glad to hear and thanks for dropping by.
Hey Sylviane,
I am glad to be back here, Linkedin is a very potent tool for enhancing your blogging career anyday, there are a lot of benefits therein.
Like you pointed out: “Unless your blog is super popular, and unless most of the people who are making your blog popular are ALSO your target market, you should definitely invest some of your time to post once a week, or at least twice a month, on LinkedIn.”
ignoring Linkedin is doing your blog no good; Linkedin is good.
Hey Sylviane,
Of course, Linkedin is one of the best application which engage more views to our blog. But sadly that’s not working for me.
Since, I read this post, I never think to give more attention on Linkedin. Basically, I posted 1 or 2 posts in every month on Linkedin. But that’s not enough, I could realise.
I strongly believe on FB, G+ and Twitter as those social networking sites send me some visitors in my blog.
But, from this time, I’m going to give some more attention on Linkedin as well.
Thanks for guide me to Linkedin and I wish you have a great weekend.
Thyrone Charles invites you to read..10 Of The Best Laptops For Music Production Under $1000
Hi Thyrone, sorry for the late reply and thanks for checking my blog post and commenting.
Depending on what business you’re in, Linkedin might not be the best social media for you. I think that you should put the most efforts where your market hangs out the most. Also maybe try posting once a week on Linkedin see if it makes a difference.
Let’s keep in touch and let me know how it goes.
~Sylviane
Hey Sylviane,
I have always been active on Linkedin. Ages back when I joined Linkedin, social media was the least of my concerns. My idea with linkedin was to find a job. In the course of time, all that changed rapidly – and I had been using linkedin to promote my blog posts and building a strong profile.
When Linkedin opened up their publishing platform for the rest of us and gave me access, I too got excited and started writing on it actively. It is a good move, really helpful for people like us who are trying to build connection.
Along with other benefits of publishing longform content on Linkedin, I also find that my average shares for linkedin post-sharing has increased. When I share something on Linkedin, I get a lot more shares, than what I used to get in the past – which is really exciting!
thanks,
Uttoran Sen,
Uttoran Sen invites you to read..10 Years of SEO – What’s In, What’s Out and What’s In Again
Hi uttoran,
Thanks for your detailed feedback here. I’m glad that Linkedin works for you and that you are showing that it also takes time. People want things yesterday, but it does take some effort to build relationships on social media and getting positive results, but if we do, I think that it does work.
Thanks for your comment and have a great day!
Hey Sylviane,
Absolutely right linkedin is much easier to get people to contact you if you have displays of your work. Add links, images, and other documents to show what work you’ve completed, if it applies and sure you get more benefit.
Hi Steve,
Yes, we always need to make our content as attractive as possible.
Thanks for coming.
Great post Sylviane. I have been hesitant to jump on the LinkedIn bandwagon. For some reason it makes me uncomfortable. I think because I personally know all my connections at this point, I’m hesitant to start bombarding them with notifications about my writing when I know most of them aren’t interested.
Unfortunately LinkedIn started like a “serious facebook” and thus my profile has been largely built of friends as opposed to business contacts. Maybe I need to suck it up and stop ignoring the opportunity.
Jonathan
I am actually in the same boat. I guess I have always felt maybe a little shy (not sure if that’s the right word?) about posting on there.
Hi Caroline,
Don’t be shy, and go for it. I hope you do and let me know.
Thanks for coming to my blog.
~Sylviane
I actually never knew the advantages of writing and publishing on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for opening my eyes. I’m sharing this!
Hi Dan,
Yes, there are some cool advantages, I hope you give it a try. Let me know 🙂
~Sylviane
I am fairly new to publishing on Linkedin myself but the results have been really good so far. Because I write CVs, resumes and Linkedin profiles for clients, it’s my ideal target market and I’ve gained a number of orders on the back of my posts. I do need to start writing posts on there more often and this post has given me the push I need.
Hi Claire and welcome to my blog.
I’m so glad that you’ve experiences some of the positive results of posting on Linkedin, and that this post motivated you to keep going.
Thank you so much for sharing this with me and my readers.
~Sylviane
I’m glad I came across this article. I have used the publishing platform on Linkedin with mixed success. When the ability to write articles was introduced, I was excited as I loved the professional atmosphere Linkedin provided. When I began posting, I was reaping the benefits of more connections, book sales, and greater engagement.
However, over time, I noticed that a change was made by Linkedin and my articles was not being shared with my contacts and my views and comments fell dramatically. With this massive drop, from a few hundred views to barely over 20, I lost my enthusiasm for this channel. Of course, I blamed it on the updates and not MY content which was likely the cause of the drop but your post has inspired me to give it another shot.
Wish me luck!
Frank invites you to read..The Essential Guide to Set Meaningful Priorities in Life
Hi Frank,
Sorry for the late reply.
That’s interesting. I was not aware of Linkedin doing something about how many people could see our articles. Regardless, I feel that’s worth it, and I hope you keep publishing on Linkedin.
Have a great weekend.
~Sylviane
I left a long comment but your blog said I’d disabled javascript and erased it. This time I’m just going to say that I’ve been posting on LinkedIn since January, and after initial success my numbers dropped off drastically. So I’m going to reevaluate it all when I get 101 posts there.
Mitch Mitchell invites you to read..Of Course We All Look Good On Social Media
Hi Mitch,
I’m sorry about the java thing, unfortunately, it’s not something I can control. I was told that by my tech person.
How often do you post on Linkedin? Sometimes, posting too often could do more bad than good. The recommendation is to post no more than once a week.
Also, maybe try to intrigue the reader more with your post.
Just my two cents 🙂
Thanks for the feedback.
~Sylviane
Thanks for sharing those eyeopening stats Sylviane!
And while I hate to have to admit it, I
have definitely dropped the ball, with regards to consistently utilizing the
Linkedin platform!
But I must say, what you’ve shared in your excellent post, is definitely making
me want to not only rethink my not using it effectively, but getting really
consistent on it asap!
And I’ve definitely seen that same stat shared about the median income
of the subscribers to the platform, which is really encouraging!
Thank again and I’l definitely share your excellent post!
Mark invites you to read..How To Consistently Generate 25% More Gross Profit From Your Small Business!
Hi Mark,
Like you I haven’t been as regular as I would have wanted to, because it’s an extra thing to insert in my schedule and it’s not always easy to do, but I know that I MUST do it, because it does put more eyes on my content.
I hope you can find the time to be more present on Linkedin as well.
Thanks for coming and wonderful holiday seasons.
~Sylviane