Articles or Posts on LinkedIn?

Articles or Posts on LinkedIn?

by Sue Ellson BBus MIML MAHRI CDAA (Assoc) ASA MPC

I recently discussed the topic of LinkedIn on a webinar for Families in Global Transition and was asked the following question afterwards:

When you said you write articles - do you mean you simply post them on LinkedIn itself (for a LinkedIn audience?). I ask as I also want to start "talking my walk" with the odd article and my first thought for a platform was creating a blog. I never thought of LinkedIn for an audience?

My answer!

A great question, thanks! Okay, I have written posts/articles/pieces for all sorts of publications, both online and print. Once again, you need to think about your purpose. Ultimately, the best place to publish YOUR content is on YOUR website - but that may not be where people go looking first and it may be harder to connect potential readers to it.

Then you might also find that certain publications or websites have the ideal audience and your writing could really add enormous value by being there. Some years ago, I found the website tinybuddha.com and it took five attempts but I eventually had my content approved and I now have two articles there that continue to perform well (even several years after publication) - but they are more 'self help' rather than related to my purpose, so ultimately, that would not be my first choice platform.

Over time, other publications have contacted me and requested content - usually always expecting unique content that I cannot reproduce - for free! I have experimented with a few of these and then I have monitored the traffic to my website via my Google Analytics and to be perfectly frank, in most cases, they attract very few visits. Worse still, they don't rank well in Google Search Results either!

So, now, I try and decide WHERE I will publish before I publish it. I usually choose to publish on LinkedIn if I believe it will be relevant to my followers and I can potentially create something that can be search engine optimised (SEO) for Google Search Results and go viral within the platform.

What I like about Articles on LinkedIn is that they 'remain' with my LinkedIn Profile (https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/sueellson) and I can update them later, recycle them through the newsfeed if appropriate etc. I call this 'Lifetime Value.'

Posts may attract more interest in the newsfeed initially, but they 'disappear' over time. However, they can be excellent 'Dynamic Value' and generate a lot more interest immediately, especially now that the LinkedIn Newsfeed is becoming much more engaging and aligned with what individuals are interested in.

So in your case, a mix of both can be helpful. Technically, Google does NOT want to see duplicate content, so if you do decide to write something, make sure if you re-use some of it elsewhere (like on your own website), make sure it is at least 30% different and published at least one week apart (because in theory, the first edition will go into Google Search Results but because YOU wrote it, you are 'entitled' to re-publish it on your own website).

Alternatively, you could publish your writing on your own website and then share it with a link as a Post on LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed.

However, LinkedIn is an ideal platform to start publishing if you don't have your own website/blog yet or you want to supplement your own blog via a social media platform (which is what I do).

Publish on LinkedIn

You can write Articles on LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/post/new

If you would like to write a Post on LinkedIn, go to https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/?

You can see a list of all of your Articles by following the format of these two links:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sueellson/detail/recent-activity/posts/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/sueellson

(Replace sueellson with your LinkedIn URL - mine is https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sueellson and if you want to personalize your URL, go to https://www.dhirubhai.net/public-profile/settings. If your name as one word in lower case letters is not available, try putting a dash - between words or adding in a number - but nothing related to your date of birth as that is part of your identity and could be used for fraud)

You can see list of all of your Posts by following the format of this link:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sueellson/detail/recent-activity/shares/

(Replace sueellson with your LinkedIn URL)

I hope that helps! Happy writing! If writing isn't your thing, try curating other people's writing by Liking, Commenting or Sharing something you find useful - perhaps even Share this Article!! Cheers, Sue :)

Keywords

Articles on LinkedIn, Posts on LinkedIn, Publishing on LinkedIn

First Published: 20 October 2017

Last Update: 20 October 2017

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If you believe this article is helpful, please:

1) Like it right now - and add a personal comment or question

2) Share it as an update on LinkedIn

3) Add the link in your next post on social media

4) Provide a link in your next email newsletter

5) Ask me for more information about LinkedIn related to your Purpose

6) Bookmark this page so you can come back to it later!

Sue Ellson BBus MIML MAHRI CDAA (Assoc) ASA MPC

Connect with me at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sueellson

Learn more about me at https://sueellson.com 

Ask me a question via sueellson [at] sueellson.com

Call or message me direct via +61 402 243 271

Book a Skype appointment or WeChat via sueellson

See my other posts on LinkedIn at

https://www.dhirubhai.net/today/author/sueellson

See my other personal presentations at

https://sueellson.com/presentations (including videos)

See my other written articles at

https://sueellson.com/publications

See my podcasts at

https://sueellson.com/podcasts

See my books online at

https://120ways.com and https://sueellson.com/books