As noted in several of the posts highlighted below, LinkedIn is no longer just a hangout for job-seeking professionals, who largely abandon it in between job searches. A wave of changes over the past couple of years have transformed it into a major publishing hub, a platform for personal branding, and a place to ask and answer questions from like-minded professionals across nearly 2 million LinkedIn groups.
Image credit: Cox Business
What’s more, as reported here previously, LinkedIn is the top social network for B2B marketing; 83% of marketers say they prefer to use LinkedIn for distributing B2B content. And yes, it’s still a key site for job seekers and employers—91 of the Fortune 100 companies (along with thousands of smaller firms) use LinkedIn for candidate searches.
The site’s expanded features have created new opportunities, but using all of these new features—and using them effectively—can be challenging. What type of content works best on LinkedIn? How can you maximize the exposure of your content published there? How can you make the most of LinkedIn groups? How does LinkedIn advanced search work? What are the best practices for utilizing Showcase pages?
Find the answers to those questions and many others here in more than two dozen of the best LinkedIn guides of the past year.
Guides to Publishing on LinkedIn
How to Use LinkedIn Publisher to Get More Visibility by Social Media Examiner
LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen shares half a dozen “best practices for publishing your posts to LinkedIn for more visibility,” including knowing the elements of a good post (“A catchy title…Attractive images…Good marketing/sharing strategy for your post…Luck”) and deciding what to publish (“writing posts about LinkedIn influencers or influential people in your industry is a good place to start. If they decide to share your post with their network… kaboom! It might go viral”).
Writing and Sharing on LinkedIn Just Got Easier by LinkedIn Official Blog
Writing that “Whatever your style, your subject, your background, we’ve made it easier than ever to share insights and ideas with the world in a blog post,” Akshay Kothari shares tips for making the most of LinkedIn’s redesigned publishing features, from picking a vibrant visual (adding a “cover photo to make your post stand out”) to concentrating more on the quality of the content than any certain length.
10 Tips for LinkedIn Publishing by ragan.com
***** 5 STARS
Kevin J. Allen passes along 10 tips for LinkedIn publishing success based on a study of “3,000 of the highest performing pieces of content published on LinkedIn.” Among the recommendations: keep headlines under 50 characters; use multiple images; don’t be afraid of long posts (those with 1,900-2,000 words do well); don’t use questions as headlines; and publish on Thursdays.
How to Write Your First Blog Post on the LinkedIn Publishing Platform by Neal Schaffer (on LinkedIn)
Anyone can now publish on LinkedIn, but not everyone should–at least not without knowing the ropes. Social media expert Neal Schaffer explains the main features, including headings, formatting, quotes, links, and visuals.
7 Essential LinkedIn Marketing Stats: When to Post, What to Post and How to Improve by Buffer
Moving beyond the basics in Neal’s post above, Kevan Lee shares some compelling stats about LinkedIn (e.g., “LinkedIn sends nearly four times more people to your homepage than Twitter and Facebook”) and explains how to take advantage of each finding (for example, “6 out of every 10 LinkedIn users are interested in industry insights”–so “industry and company insights should compose a fair majority of your posted content, and the overall content plan should feel relevant and actionable to your followers”).
How to Maximize Your LinkedIn Publishing Exposure by Social Media Examiner
Building upon the guidance from Viveka von Rosen above, Gregory Ciotti offers advanced tips for gaining larger readership on LinkedIn, using tactics such as “channel stacking: publish (or stack) topics on different days of the week,” researching winning topics, and planning publishing times to hit peak hours.
How To Dominate LinkedIn Publishing by Heidi Cohen
Frequent best-of honoree Heidi Cohen showcases several key statistics about LinkedIn publishing (such as that “LinkedIn content pages attract 7 times more views than the job pages because people only check job pages when they’re seeking a new job”), then explains how to take action to capitalize on each finding or observation.
LinkedIn’s Content Publishing Flood: 4 Tips for Staying Afloat by Content Marketing Institute
Mike Bailey details four valuable tactics for making the most of publishing on LinkedIn, while not succumbing to “the temptation to exploit a shiny new promotional tool.” His first tip is to share your expertise, as this is a common thread among highly engaging influencer posts: “Authors with hard business advice to offer are the ones who are read most often and generate the most engagement, with posts on ‘spotting talent,’ ‘acting ethically,’ ‘leading with purpose,’ and ‘building company culture’ topping the popularity list.”
Guides to Using LinkedIn Groups
How To Find LinkedIn Groups With Target—ed Prospects by Top Dog Social Media
Melonie Dodaro explains how to find groups using keywords, “look under the hood” at group statistics to help narrow the list, determine what a “good” group is, and leave an impression by adding value. Just one caveat to add here: newer groups may not have a lot of interaction (yet) but offer the opportunity to “get in on the ground floor” as a key influencer in the group. Don’t overlook these opportunities.
How To Become A Top Contributor In Any LinkedIn Group by Top Dog Social Media
Once you’ve found the right groups to target, Melonie Dodaro (again) outlines a nine-step plan to “become a top contributor in ANY LinkedIn group and then what you should do about it once that happens,” warning that “You’ll need a heavy dose of ACTION along with this knowledge before you see results.” Among her tips: “Pay close attention to the most highly engaging content in the group. What are the specific topics that are evoking strong emotions and discussions? What keywords seem to be popping up in popular discussions? Answering these questions will help you get down to the core interests of the group,” and then develop content likely to resonate with group members.
Guides to B2B Marketing on LinkedIn
What We Learned After Spending $50,000 on LinkedIn Ads by Social Media Today
***** 5 STARS
Thinking about trying out LinkedIn ads? Wondering if (and how) they work? Dave Rigotti here shares his lessons learned after spending $50K on LinkedIn advertising. Among his findings: LinkedIn is great for driving leads from gated content, though offers and ads should be switched out every six weeks or so, and “The CPCs are significantly (5 – 10X) higher than many other channels, but converts much higher than other social networks. In the end we see the cost/customer as effective.” However—beware of mobile users: “mobile accounts for 47 percent of total traffic to LinkedIn. While this is great for increasing ad impressions, this is generally bad for gated content.”
B2B Marketing: Dominate Through LinkedIn Showcase Pages by SalesPanda
The English is little rough, but Samit Arora here does an outstanding job of explaining how showcase pages are different from other areas of LinkedIn (e.g., 2-column layout; no tabs for careers, products or services; link back directly to the main business page; no employee profiles are associated), how to create a showcase page, and best practices for B2B marketing using showcase pages. (NOTE: This was a great post. Unfortunately, Sales Panda chose to remove it from their website. Such is life.)
Breaking Down the LinkedIn Social Selling Funnel by Social Media Today
***** 5 STARS
Melonie Dodaro (yet again) walks through a “7-step system (that) will help you go from finding prospects on LinkedIn to taking the relationship offline,” from using LinkedIn Advanced Search and groups to idenify prospects to engaging with them on LinkedIn and other social platforms before taking the conversation offline.
5 Reasons Why LinkedIn Showcase Pages are an Audience Marketer’s Dream Come True by LinkedIn Pulse
Writing that LinkedIn has “grown to be far more than a recruiting solution- offering opportunities for everyone from freelancers to Fortune 500 brands to connect, market, engage, and influence members of the community. And LinkedIn’s Showcase pages enable brands to connect with audiences ion the social platform where they are already learning, networking, and engaging with peers,” Celia Brown explains why and shows how to use showcase pages for industry thought leadership.
10 Steps To Use LinkedIn For Small Business by MarketingThink
Reporting on research from the Wall Street Journal showing that “80% of small business owners, with 200 or fewer employees, use social networks to find new customers and grow their revenue, and…41% of small businesses feel that LinkedIn provides them the most potential to generate business,” Gerry Moran lays out a 10-step plan for small business success on LinkedIn, from the basics (setting up a company page, connecting with local groups) through shining up “your LinkedIn curbside appeal” with a complete and optimized profile.
5 Ways to Grow Your Leads With LinkedIn by Social Media Examiner
Melonie Dodaro (one more time) looks at five ways to use LinkedIn to “better connect with leads and prospects,” such as saving successful advanced searches (“LinkedIn’s advanced search tool is also great for finding potential prospects. It offers excellent functionality with the ability to search for people by keywords, relationship, groups, location and industry”) and creating a sequence of messages.
Company Pages Products & Services Page – No Longer Supported by LinkedIn Help Center
While this is no longer “news,’ for those who haven’t adjusted to LinkedIn’s late summer changes, this post explains what’s gone, what’s taken its place, and how to adjust your business’s LinkedIn company page to take advantage of the new structure.
Expert Advice About LinkedIn For Business And Your B2B Marketing by MLT Creative
Writing that “One of the reasons LinkedIn works so well is that it tells us exactly how we’re related to the people in our network (1st, 2nd and 3rd level connections) and the best ways of communicating with them. To a first level connection we can simply send a message, 2nd and 3rd level connections might get an invitation or an introduction,” guest blogger Viveka von Rosen (again) succinctly explains how best to utilize this communications framework.
Guides to Personal Branding on LinkedIn
30 Things You Must Do on LinkedIn to Find More Success This Year by Email Marketing Tips Blog
Marya Jan recaps 30 tips for optimizing your use of LinkedIn, from using your profile to differentiate your skills (rather than being boring), using the new header image, and providing case studies, to optimizing your profile (“Use [keywords] throughout in key places like your title, summary and work experience”) and maximizing your endorsements.
The Five Fundamentals to Using LinkedIn by Bryan Kramer
Bryan Kramer shares a handful of helpful tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn, from the standard (join groups, keep your profile updated) to the inspiring: “use LinkedIn to establish yourself as an expert. Getting recognized as a top influencer on LinkedIn can have a dramatic effect on your brand. Simply put, people love to identify with an expert. It not only inspires trusts within your prospective client base, but it can open doors in terms of new business ventures.”
How to Structure a Perfect LinkedIn Profile by Cox Business BLUE
Noting that 40% of LinkedIn users log in each day, and “you can reach at least 60% of your audience if you post 20 posts or more a month,” frequent best-of author Neil Patel presents an infographic illustrating the elements of a “perfect LinkedIn profile,” from using a current, professional profile image and “connecting the dots” in your background to asking for and giving recommendations.
Cracking the #LinkedIn Profile Code by Social PR Chat
Frequent best-of honoree Lisa Buyer taps LinkedIn expert Jabez LeBret for his guidance on the “four P’s” of LinkedIn profiles: personalization, professionalism (tip: to keep your profile professional, “write your summary in the 3rd person. As he put it, ‘Don’t write in the 1st person. Don’t sound like an a-hole'”), progress, and publishing.
Social Media: 4 steps to build your personal brand using LinkedIn by MarketingSherpa
Rachel Minion offers helpful tips for establishing your personal brand on LinkedIn, most critically optimizing your summary: “The biggest key here is you want to talk to visitors using a conversational tone that connects with them. Talk about yourself in the same way you would if I’m standing next to you. Allow the conversation to be easy to understand and interpret.”
3 Stunningly Original LinkedIn Headlines by Linkedinsights.com
Andy Foote illustrates how not to be boring on LinkedIn, using three outstanding examples (including Cindy Gallop, whose personal headline is: “I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.”), plus advice on how to think about crafting your own unique, non-boring headline, and why this exercise is worth the effort.
New LinkedIn Profile Features: 4 Tips to Optimize Your Presence by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Extending on the information in the post above, Evan Prokop outlines a four-step process for getting the most out of recent LinkedIn profile design changes, from the new image options (“think about what kind of imagery could add a tasteful yet personal touch and tell a story about you and your professional background”) to measuring and comparing your visibility (“The new ‘How You Rank’ report will show where you fit into the top 100 most viewed profiles among your company and first degree connections”).
The LinkedIn Profile Header – How to Improve Your Look by Integrated Alliances
Mike O’Neil supplies detailed guidance on how to optimally use the LinkedIn profile header (for paid LinkedIn subscribers only), company pages, and showcase pages (“So, what goes in a header image?…You could upload a large image or graphic. Be thinking of something that fits your brand…This is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY should you choose to take advantage of it”).
6 Lessons to Make the Most of LinkedIn by LinkedIn Pulse
Eric Holtzclaw passes along half-a-dozen “important lessons…how to use LinkedIn more effectively,” such as segmenting your connections using tagging: “To be successful on LinkedIn you need to ensure all communication with your connections is as personal, specific and targeted as possible. Your connections need to be segmented in their specific fields so that at any given time you are able to effectively communicate with any one of your contacts.”
And Finally…
5 Reasons LinkedIn Has Lost Its Luster by {grow}
Is LinkedIn’s value and position as the premier professionally-oriented changing? Eric Wittlake contends it’s at least at risk, due to recent changes that have diminished LinkedIn’s value, such as the gamification of recommendations (“Now LinkedIn prompts us to endorse people for skills they don’t even have, but it’s far easier to click “Endorse” than it is to actually edit what you are endorsing someone for!”), the diminished value of connections, and “going Facebook” (with the addition of profile header images).
