10 Reasons to Take Advantage of the LinkedIn Publishing Platform
While more and more people are using LinkedIn for lead generation, many people are not yet taking advantage of one of its most powerful features: the LinkedIn publishing platform.
While the ability to publish long-form posts on LinkedIn was once reserved for the elite of the network – aka LinkedIn Influencers like Richard Branson or Arianna Huffington – the platform evolved to allow every person with a LinkedIn account to become “influencers” of their own network with the ability to post on LinkedIn Publisher.
Now everyone can and should be making use of the LinkedIn publishing platform, as there are many benefits you can reap if you are active on the network.
You may be wondering what possible benefits you could get that blogging doesn’t already provide, but there are several and I am going to share them in this article.
10 Reasons to Use the LinkedIn Publishing Platform
1. Give old content new life
Get new eyes on your valuable, older content. This is especially good for evergreen content.
Post your older content that is still relevant using the LinkedIn publishing platform. I’ve done this with my most popular blog post, and it’s resulted in additional exposure, more engagement, and some great leads.
One of my most popular blog posts on the Top Dog Social Media blog was on LinkedIn etiquette. I decided to republish that blog post on LinkedIn Publisher, and currently, I have had over 220,000 views of that article since I posted it.
2. Position yourself as an authority
Blogging may already do this for you, but now you have a convenient distribution platform the moment you hit “Publish.”
LinkedIn helps you bolsters your authority with those who are doing a little research on you by showcasing your latest Publisher post right on your profile, in the Featured section just under your About section.
It can also offer social proof, when people start to engage – like, comment or share – your article, it further increases your reach and your authority.
The more you use the LinkedIn publishing platform, the more your network will become familiar with you and the content you publish.
Over time your network will see you as the go-to authority in your field… as long as your content is of high quality.
3. LinkedIn Publisher posts are indexed on Google
LinkedIn Publisher posts are also indexed by Google and show up in organic search results. To me, this is one of the best features of it. Your website will never have the same ability as a site like LinkedIn to rank at the top of the search results.
For example, if you Google the term “LinkedIn etiquette” you’ll see the article I published years ago on LinkedIn Publisher that still ranks as the number one result for that search term at the time of this writing. It even appears above a more recent post on LinkedIn etiquette and best practices I posted on LinkedIn Publisher, which shows up in the google search results in second position as well as in the People also ask section,
What’s even more interesting, this article was published first on my site, Top Dog Social Media, where it shows up several positions below the post on LinkedIn, in the search results.
So, take advantage of the powerful Google indexing that is available by posting articles to LinkedIn Publisher.
4. Reach your 2nd and 3rd-level connections
It’s a given that many of your 1st-level connections will be seeing your posts but as soon as they begin to like, comment and share, your content, it will be seen beyond your immediate network.
You can check to see if your 2nd and 3rd level connections are seeing your posts by checking out your notifications.
When you see someone has liked your post, you can see if you are already connected.
If you aren’t, this is an excellent example of a social selling trigger event you can take advantage of – a prospect who has positively engaged with your content – by sending them a personalized connection request.
5. Anyone on LinkedIn can follow your posts
People don’t have to be connected to you on LinkedIn, to stay updated on your posts.
They can use the “Follow” button.
If you are regularly publishing content, and have built up a following, there is again additional social proof here, as everyone can also see how many followers you have. Your followers are a combination you’re your 1st-level connections combined with those who have clicked the follow button.
6. Small networks don’t hold back great content
If you think that you won’t get any traction because your LinkedIn network is too small, think again.
After you publish your post, LinkedIn encourages you to share your article as a status update and add a couple of relevant hashtags that lets readers know what it’s about.
The benefit of this is that people can follow different hashtags on topics that interest them on LinkedIn. Then when a person searches for a topic with a hashtag, any articles published with that hashtag will show up in the results, even if you are not directly connected.
This is an excellent way for potential prospects to find and follow you.
The list of hashtags you follow can be found on the left side of your homepage under Followed Hashtags.
7. Learn more about your readers with analytics
Sure, you’ve got Google Analytics to track your web statistics, but does it tell you the most common industries and positions that are following your blog?
Heck no!
Learn more information about your readers with demographic insights from the LinkedIn publishing platform. Note that advanced analytics are only available for two years after an article is published.
8. Engagement is high
If you are regularly providing helpful, professional and high-quality content, you will start to notice you get more and more engagement.
I’ve noticed that engagement is impressively high for both myself, my clients and many small business owners that I see using the LinkedIn publishing platform. I’m getting comments almost instantly after publishing, which is rare for my Top Dog Social Media, blog even though I get a ton of traffic on it.
Topics that resonate with the LinkedIn community have a great shot at getting higher exposure and engagement, so experiment to find the content that works best for you.
9. Reach a unique, high-quality audience
A 2018 survey concluded that 60% of LinkedIn users have a household income of over $100,000 and more stats have shown that it’s 277% more effective for B2B lead generation than Twitter or Facebook.
So, if you’re ideal clients are those with a higher than average income, views to your LinkedIn Publisher posts can be worth a lot more than those to your blog.
10. Gauge your best content
If you’ve done a good job building your LinkedIn network with relevant connections and prospects, the posts that perform well via the LinkedIn Publisher platform will be a reliable indicator of what resonates with your target audience.
You can use this knowledge to plan future articles that will be of interest and value to your network and prospects.
LinkedIn publishing platform: best practices & tips
As you can see, there are many good reasons for you to be taking advantage of the LinkedIn publishing platform.
Ultimately, posting on LinkedIn Publisher will help you to be seen, to gain authority on your topic and to create natural conversations with your prospects, which will support your lead generation efforts.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when posting content on the LinkedIn publishing platform:
- Write in a conversational tone
- Be specific, clear and concise
- Write on topics that are current and timely to increase engagement
- Avoid being self-promotional, aim to provide high value instead
- Ensure that your post has a custom cover image and is laid out in a reader-friendly manner
Master creating high-quality content and have a strategy for generating new leads and clients proactively by watching my free LinkedIn Leads video series. Register for it here.
