Yes, Your LinkedIn is PR

Most people think of appearing on the Today Show or being featured on the front page of the New York Times when they think about what it means to do PR. But, particularly for small business owners concerned about growing their brand's visibility and awareness among their target audience, LinkedIn is an important public relations channel that shouldn’t be neglected.?

Public relations includes any communications that impact how the outside world—and that includes potential customers who spend their time on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has 830 million users, 40% of whom visit the platform daily.? And, if you’re wanting to show up in the news, some journalists even use LinkedIn to gather sources.

By sharing articles with your unique input, LinkedIn is one easy way to be seen as a subject matter expert and build brand authority.

LinkedIn is a great place to get started if you’re ready to start owning your story. And really, you should start already, because no posts or an outdated profile sends its own message. LinkedIn is a great place to get started publishing first-person “thought leadership” articles, which 89% of decision-makers say can enhance their perceptions of an organization. Thought leadership sounds more intimidating than it should. Basically, it’s a way to share the value you deliver to clients and customers every day with a wider audience through your original insights, anecdotes, or case studies, which others are likely to learn or benefit from.?

Since there aren’t strict deadlines and guidelines that often accompany pitching to magazines, blogs, or newspapers, publishing articles on LinkedIn is a great way to begin to “put yourself out there” as an expert in your industry.

Here are three keys to increasing the impact of your LinkedIn:

1. Connect with people you know. Think past jobs, colleagues, supervisors, or mentors. Include friends and acquaintances. Are you on a board, involved with a faith community, or part of a volunteer organization? On the PTA? If you went to college or grad school, stay in touch with professors or alumni directors. If it was a small college, you can even connect with the president and other high-level administrators. You never know who might help you in your career.
2. Give yourself a calendar invite to spend one hour a week engaging on LinkedIn. Use hashtags to find topics that are relevant to your community, industry, demographics, or business. Use your expertise to add value to the conversations that are already taking place. Follow what is trending and chime in with your insights. Don’t be sales-y or promote yourself or your business directly in the comments. If one hour doesn’t fit in your schedule, shorten it to 30 minutes.
3. Write an article for LinkedIn once a month, or if that’s too much, try once a quarter. If you have a blog on your website, you can repurpose that content for a wider audience on LI. Be sure to share your article as a post personally, as well as on your company page. In your articles, you should break down the sort of problems you solve for clients and explain solutions.

A solid LinkedIn article is not unlike a guest essay for a news outlet, and it’s a great way to get your feet wet. Our clients have seen increases in in-bound sales leads once they begin posting articles regularly. Plus, writing LinkedIn articles can help you feel more comfortable sharing your story and attracting new opportunities like business relationships, board opportunities, and speaking engagements.

If you already use a content calendar, make sure your initial LinkedIn topics align so that you don’t have to start from ground zero. Using a content calendar allows you to capitalize on what you’re already doing for say, your email newsletter or other social media channels, by reworking it.?

Here’s a free template of the content calendar I use to help you get started. Let me know how it goes for you!