Think back to when you first signed up to LinkedIn.
Like most people, you were probably putting your resume online to share with employers or show the internet your expertise.
LinkedIn, which has more than 575 million users, has evolved from a static career tool to a buzzing online environment in recent years, where career-minded individuals ask questions and strike up debates on the state of work and business.
Since the platform became more engaging and user-friendly, many LinkedIn members have taken advantage of posts and articles to spruik new ideas, comment on the news of the day, and offer advice.
In addition, marketers and businesses have leveraged the platform to spread the word about their activities and add their voices to debates.
But there is much more to LinkedIn than tapping out a few lines if you want to gain traction.
Here are 5 ways to improve your posts and articles:
1. Start strong
The headline of a LinkedIn article or post must be clear, concise, and capture the reader’s attention immediately.
Headlines featuring the phrases ‘How to …’, ‘You need to …’ and ‘Why you should …’ have been shown to gain higher levels of shares on average, according to an analysis of 10,000 LinkedIn posts from marketing website BuzzSumo.
Also keep in mind that many users look to LinkedIn for workplace advice and inspiration, so consider using relevant words like career, success and leader in the headline where you can.
2. Get visual
Adding images to your LinkedIn post or article make them pop in the newsfeed, but they also drive a greater level of engagement.
Marketing blog OkDork analysed about 3,000 of the most popular posts on LinkedIn and found that having at least one image more than doubled the average number of views.
Attaching eight images to a LinkedIn post was also shown to deliver the highest number of LinkedIn shares, likes, comments and views overall.
3. Break it up
Publishing a solid block of text in a post is a sure-fire way to frustrate readers, especially if they are on their phones.
Subheadings are particularly effective at breaking up text into more palatable chunks and guiding readers to the parts that specifically interest them.
Keep subheadings short and on point.
People love to read and share lists as well. See if you can group certain ideas or examples from your post into a list to save time for readers.
4. Add hashtags
LinkedIn introduced hashtags last year to help make content more discoverable. They work similarly to hashtags on other social media platforms, where users can search and follow hashtags like #marketing to track down the stories and posts that matter to them.
Here are some simple tips to nail hashtags on LinkedIn:
- One or two hashtags per post is effective. Keep it to less than five hashtags.
- Avoid spaces and capitalise each word for multi-word hashtags. For example, #WorkingTogether rather than #working #together
- Do not use symbols or punctuation marks in your hashtag
For more tips on hashtags, check out this Hootsuite guide.
5. Build momentum
So now that you’ve crafted a killer LinkedIn post, you can sit back and reap the rewards as a thought leader and expert forever and ever, right? Sadly not.
The more you post and share on LinkedIn, the more your ideas and thoughts are likely to be discovered, according to Chip Cutter, former managing editor at LinkedIn.
That doesn’t mean posting multiple times a day, however it does mean getting into the habit of creating articles regularly.
Also remember quality trumps quantity when it comes to content, so take your time to flesh out your ideas and frame it in simple concepts.