4 Rules I Use To Design Linked In Posts

In the Linked In world, readers are inundated with information as people try to gain awareness for their brand, product or service competing with brands, products and services around the globe - each trying to gain brand awareness by pounding frequency and trying all kinds of angles.

During the past 10 years of field testing, we've come up with a few rules that we try to follow in order to keep the posts hitting at a reasonably good clip. In this article, I'll try to show our rules, then follow that up with a sample that ran successfully on Linked In helping to attract new clients for our clients:

Rule #1 for Creating Interest in Your Linked In Posts - Use Professional Imagery

The article above started out with the photographs you see here. Mike Rudnicki, inventor of the Overhauler (overhead lifting rack installed on this side-by-side) came to our outdoor studio in Thunder Bay with the side-by-side on a trailer.

We unloaded it and parked it in the creek which runs through the acreage. I pulled the self-powered trailer over to that location and proceeded to unload the full studio onto stands - setting up using the power generator on the trailer. The result was some pretty well lit pieces of equipment which fostered more reading and longer attention time from viewers. I believe that the images had a lot to do with the success of the post. Now, many would consider it overkill - and it's really hard to tell when someone has done a good job at lighting - but, it's just something special in the image that you can't really put your finger on, you just know that it took time, attention to detail and good technical procedures. For sure, sloppy images get at best a quick glance...proven time after time.

Rule #2 for Creating Interest in Your Linked In Posts - Apply the Rules of Good Graphic Design, Always!

Fonts - don't use many different font families. Generally, I use one with many variations.

Look up at the post again, it's all the same family - but a nice combination of skinny, fat, medium - capitalisations and more.

If you can, keep it in the same, singular font family. For instance, I use good old Helvetica - which offers a ton of variation in the font family but still keeps the same shape.

For design and readability, I measure the width of the page I'm going to use, divide it by 3 or 7: then set the guides to that. This gives the page a nice inviting feel so that people will want to read on!

I always use a 7 column or 3 column pattern for the text positioning - so that stuff always lines up with something below it in a consistent pattern - also, spacing is key - I like to leave a ton of space where I can as it seems to invite the eye to read more, can't explain that one. Further, I like to wrap the text around photographs where I can and always leave a nice gap between the sides and top of equal space. Finally, using bold type is usually a good idea for the main theme of your post - since I most often create my posts in photoshop, I'm able to put things where I want without any auto-positioning which often looks kinda blah. (word is famous for this auto bs)

Rule #3 for Creating Interest in Your Linked In Posts - Have a target in mind: "Who am I trying to reach with this post?"

The first line generally contains the target of the post. Generally, the end benefit is a great thing to lead with along with the many features throughout the article. This way, the point is made quickly and emphasised within the context of the post.

Having testimonials are another great way of defining the target of the post - as they will have a title ideally similar to the readers being targeted. Although I didn't, it is a great idea to put the proper demographic targets right in the photo with the rest of the sell: it helps people see themselves in your content and they are able to imagine themselves being / doing / experiencing - this is an effective sales / marketing technique and has been for generations.

Nothing new here...You'll also want to hash tag after you've gotten the content onto Linked In as it really can attract the right people to your post. Using the @ prior to a name will surely attract that person to your post and hash tags can be used to attract the company you list, the industry or the specific group of people. You'll know when you get this part right, as you'll have thousands of views on your Linked In post.

Rule #4 for Creating Interest in Your Linked In Posts - Have a Great List of Benefits, Features and Functions!

If you are able to clearly outline your }Feature {Function and {Benefit to your targets in advance, it'll make writing your posts a lot easier. Photos of those features in use (function?) with a target demographic right in the scenes will punctuate your point and enhance your credibility position in the mind of the reader instantly. Endless pounding of features does little good without showing the functionality and benefits to the end user / target. Being mindful here goes a long way to succeeding in your delivery in the post. Just a little patience and thought can go a very long way in creating a successful Linked In document.

When you are finished, Linked In gives you these great stats to see if you've been successful in acquiring / attracting the right people with your post. In the case below, I had done a mining photography post and was interested in getting some high quality mine people views:

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