How, and why, to write great content on LinkedIn

Whether you’re a solo-preneur, an employee who is part of an employee advocacy programme, or a team leader, I’m here to help you write great content for your personal profile.?

On LinkedIn you don’t need to post every single day. Posting good quality content less often is easier and more effective than posting poor quality content just for the sake of ‘getting something out’.?

People often ask me ‘How often should I post on LinkedIn?’. I always reply – ‘As often as you can create great content on LinkedIn’!? Good quality content which is getting engagement will stick around on LinkedIn far longer than posts which ‘bomb’ without activity.?

What is ‘good quality content’ on LinkedIn?

Great content has the following features:

1. It is relevant to your audience
2. It talks about only one thing
3. It resonates with the reader
4. It evokes emotion
5. It adds value

1) Great content is relevant to your audience

I’m a LinkedIn trainer.? People read my content on LinkedIn because they want to learn about LinkedIn. If one day I posted a blog: ‘How to upload photos to YouTube’ and the next day I posted: ‘How to post on Pinterest’, it’s likely I would lose you. You want to learn about LinkedIn and that’s why you read my content. If you want to read about Pinterest or You Tube, you will go to an expert in those areas.?

2) Talk about ONE thing only!

Don’t confuse your audience by trying to pack too much into one post. LinkedIn is moving fast, the people that are scrolling through LinkedIn are moving fast. They don’t have time to consume huge tones of long articles about different subjects. Focusing each post about ONE thing will increase the readability of your content.

3) Great content resonates with your audience

How often have you seen or read something, and you get that feeling of ‘familiarity’? You really understand what it is ‘talking about’, you can identify with what the article or billboard says? That, my friend is because, what you have just read truly resonates with you. ?If you can produce content which resonates with your readers you are on the way to creating yourself real fans, an audience who will want to read and support all your posts – and will be waiting for the next one!

4) If your content evokes an emotion in your reader – it’s great content!

Making your audience FEEL something is vital to producing great content. As Maya Angelou famously said:?

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

It doesn’t matter WHAT you made them feel, just as long as they feel something! You don’t need to start writing jokes about SEO, or telling sad, emotive stories in your posts about financial advice, it could be ‘Aha, I didn’t know that!’ or ‘that’s interesting’ Stir something in your audience and they are much more likely to remember you.

5) Content should add value to your reader

Whether you’re teaching your audience something, making them laugh or encouraging them to think in a different way, you’re adding value to their lives. Whenever you create a piece of content, ask yourself what value this adds to your readers. Even if it’s something small, try to make a tiny change in the way someone may do or think about something with every post you write. Think of the problems they have which you can solve.? Address one of those problems in your post, show them how to approach that problem in a different way and BOOM!, they’re doing or thinking differently.?

Why is it important to create good quality content?

If you start producing content which consistently does these 5 things, you are well on your way to increasing your LinkedIn audience. A bigger and more relevant audience will increase your brand awareness and visibility across LinkedIn – for you and your company. A bigger and more relevant audience is a step towards increasing sales, which is certainly a key factor in successfully leveraging LinkedIn to grow your business. Do you feel you need some help with content creation for your business?? If it’s for yourself, then I urge you to open that word doc and get writing! If it’s for your team, please share this newsletter with them so they can feel more confident and empowered to start creating their own posts on LinkedIn!?

Sarah ??