The Anatomy of a LinkedIn Post

#TheLinkedInGuru Gazette

Hello again everyone and welcome to another edition of #TheLinkedInGuru Gazette! As always, I hope this will help you be more effective on LinkedIn!

Today I would like to talk about what I believe are some best practices when you are posting on LinkedIn. Those of you who know me already know I am all about my three "C"s - Coffee, Conversation and occasionally Chocolate! When it comes to posting on LinkedIn I have found these three "C"s to be true:

1. Content is King
2. Context is King Kong
3. Consistency is King Kong's MOTHER!

I'll talk more about these three points later, but first let's set some background. This newsletter is a bit unusual because of another "C" - collaboration (global).

I'm really glad I decided to continue with the newsletter because I suggested to ??Stella Da Silva??(a friend from Muscat, Oman - 8 time zones ahead of me) that we collaborate on this edition and she graciously agreed!

So, we have both written our thoughts. I will highlight her perspectives below by showing Stella's name and contribution in bold.

Stella's Thoughts:

Content on LinkedIn is an opportunity for potential clients, employers and the rest of your network to get to know you.    

People will tend to get the ‘buy in’ through your content. Deals, jobs, leads can be generated through good content on LinkedIn.

Content shouldn’t always be about you. Content is a great way of supporting others. I champion my connections, I support Jobseekers. I credit connections who share invaluable tips and I can use content either as a post or a comment to introduce connections.

Why Post in the First Place?

Why should you even consider posting on LinkedIn? Well, first and foremost it is one of the best things you can do to build your brand and differentiate yourself. Did you know that out of over 700 million people on LinkedIn "only 3 million LinkedIn users share content on a weekly basis"? Here is where I found that statistic LinkedIn by the Numbers 2020. Your content helps tell your story. And secondly, your story helps build your brand.

Stella's Thoughts:

Simple answer is visibility. Having profile is one thing, but how are people going to get to know about you, your services, your products, your skills and abilities if you don’t put content out? Whole point of being on LinkedIn is to engage. What better way is there to engage?

How Often Should I Post?

IMHO there is no ONE answer to this question. The information at the link below WORKS great for me. Will it work for you? I have no idea. It is up to each of us to find our "tribe" and find our sweet spot. Check out more at this link: One Size Does Not Fit All

Stella's Thoughts:

Key thing is to be consistent. If you post twice a week, then post twice a week, if it’s 3 times or more then stick to it. People are also very fickle I find, don’t show up, then why should they?

I tend to inform my connections through content that I will be off LinkedIn if I’m going away and may not be as active. LinkedIn doesn’t like you gone for very long in any event and you tend to get punished through the algorithm like a naughty school child who has been absent from school without permission.

Content is King

If your content doesn't pass the G.I.V.E. test then perhaps you should change your content so it does. By G.I.V.E test I mean:

Is your content GENEROUS? Is your content INTERESTING? Is your content VALUABLE? And finally, is your content EXCEPTIONAL? If you can say yes to all these things, then your network will come to know you, like you and trust you. G.I.V.E. to others...

Context is King Kong

I believe that your content should not focus on you. The context of your content should be on OTHERS. Those others can be your "tribe", your customer, your prospect or even the person who might hire you for your next job. If your content is FOCUSED on conversing and helping your audience, it will come across better every time!

Consistency is King Kong's MOTHER!

If you got the other two "C"s right you are well on your way, but the final "C" is where the payoff really happens when you get it right. If you are consistent for long enough you will make a difference. Consistency has a couple different aspects.

First of all, there is consistent from a timing perspective. For me, (you need to decide for you) posting twice a week has worked out best. I try to post on Sunday/Monday and again on Thursday/Friday. There are all kinds of statistics about what day is better and what time of day is better. Honestly, I think you will find that in a global Social Media environment as long as you keep things the same you can potentially ignore all of the statistics if you are consistent from a timing standpoint and DON'T ignore your audience!

Second, there is the aspect of consistency from a branding, tone and style perspective. My brand is kindness. My tone is conversational. My style is informal. That seems to resonate with my audience so far. Most people like my GIFs, my emojis, my openness, my candor, my "attitude of gratitude" and if I get lucky, sometimes they even laugh at my jokes.

You need to find YOUR brand, your tone and your style. It goes a long way to helping you find YOUR audience.

Components of a Post

Now let's talk about a few things that make up the mechanics of a post that assist the Content, Context and Consistency.

1. A branded hashtag. For me that has turned out to be #TheLinkedInGuru and #GuruGoodNews. For much more on this, please check out Use Hashtags and Follow Topics on LinkedIn.
2. An eye-catching title. A title that engages your audience and gives them a taste of what is to come.
3. An interesting graphic. A graphic that tells a bit of the story and attracts the eye of your audience.
4. A call to action. Something that asks your audience to DO something. For an example, see the summary below...

Stella's Thoughts:

A good branded hashtag is key to your content. All my Content has #Stellalicious #KeepItStellaliciouslySimple. I’m all about simplicity in content and in language and it’s part of my brand on LinkedIn.

I tend to ask a question at the end of my post as it’s gets my audience to reflect about my content but more importantly it gets them to engage. It also helps people not to think too much about what to say when I have asked a specific question sometimes.

Pick trending news stories that may have a real impact professionally. Be prepared to have some people not appreciate your content and be vocal about it. Be prepared for a few people to say ‘This belongs on Facebook and not LinkedIn”. My response is ‘until LinkedIn directly approach me saying I cannot put up a particular piece of content, anything goes’. Don’t let the unofficial, un-appointed, non badge wearing or having LinkedIn police intimidate you with nasty comments. As for the trolls, a couple of options: Shower them with Love hearts- they’re deprived of love or just BLOCK them.

In Summary

As some say, "That's my story and I am sticking to it"! I hope you enjoyed this edition and found it useful. Please give me feedback and click "subscribe" if you would like to see more.

As always, If you liked this, please go to my Profile and click the “Follow” button to see more tips in your feed. If you would like access to a whole lot more of my content, do a Google search for #TheLinkedInGuru

Namaste ????

Stella's Thoughts:

In Stellaliciously simple fashion...

Enjoy putting content out, Empower yourself with good content, Inspire others with your Content, be you with your content.

#socialmedia #linkedin #networking #branding #training #tips #careerdevelopment #autoban