Having a solid LinkedIn content strategy is crucial for building your personal brand and driving engagement on the platform. However, creating compelling and valuable content consistently can be challenging. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through an effective step-by-step approach to developing a robust LinkedIn content plan.
Why Have a LinkedIn Content Strategy?
Here are some of the key benefits of having a thoughtful LinkedIn content strategy:
- Builds your authority and thought leadership in your industry
- Attracts new connections and network growth
- Engages your current connections and followers
- Drives traffic to your LinkedIn profile and website
- Supports your personal branding and boosts your reputation
- Positions you as an expert in your field
- Generates new business and career opportunities
In short, a strong LinkedIn content plan will increase your visibility, establish credibility, and open doors to new prospects and partnerships. Investing time into crafting high-quality content for LinkedIn on a consistent basis can yield tremendous dividends if executed strategically.
Align Your Goals
The first step is identifying what you want to accomplish through your LinkedIn content. Ask yourself:
- What are my high-level goals and KPIs (key performance indicators) for my LinkedIn presence?
- Who is my target audience and what do I want them to do after engaging with my content?
- What topics and themes align with my brand and expertise that would resonate with my audience?
- Do I want to generate leads, traffic, or awareness with my content strategy?
Having clear goals will shape the types of content you create and allow you to benchmark your success. Common LinkedIn content goals include driving profile views, expanding your network, generating inbound leads, and positioning yourself as an industry leader.
Understand Your Audience
Truly effective content is tailored to your audience. Before crafting content, research your ideal target audience on LinkedIn:
- What job functions and titles do they have?
- What companies and industries do they work in?
- What types of content and topics do they engage with?
- What challenges and pain points do they face?
- What valuable insights and solutions could you provide?
Look at the types of discussions happening in relevant LinkedIn groups and analyze top-performing content from influencers in your space. This will reveal what resonates most with your audience.
Map Out Your Content Mix
Varying your content formats keeps your audience engaged across the entire funnel. Aim to regularly create a mix of:
- Thought leadership content – Position yourself as an expert by sharing insights, trends, and best practices.
- Behind-the-scenes content – Give a raw, transparent look into your work.
- Industry news commentary – Provide your take on the latest developments.
- Listicles and how-tos – Offer quick tips and tactical advice.
- Case studies – Showcase client success stories and projects.
- Q&As and interviews – Discuss your work and opinions.
Shoot for at least 1-2 posts per week across a combination of long-form articles, quick updates, and video. This provides ongoing value for your audience.
Choose Your Content Types
LinkedIn offers several content formats to publish your ideas. Consider using a mix of the following in your content calendar:
Long-form articles
In-depth articles allow you to explore topics fully with an authoritative voice. These should be 1000+ words and can be published directly on LinkedIn or linked to from your profile.
Short-form posts
Quick updates of 300 words or less work well for commentary, tips, fun facts, quotes, and more. These are easily digestible for readers.
Videos
Pre-recorded videos and LinkedIn Live videos help showcase your personality. Consider topical discussions, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, and video presentations.
Presentations
Convert slide decks into shareable content by uploading them and adding some narration or commentary. This repurposes existing assets.
Images
Pictures, infographics, illustrations, and more make your updates more eye-catching. Use free image sites or create your own visuals.
Polls and surveys
Engage your network by asking questions and surveying your audience. The feedback also provides valuable insights.
Repurpose Your Content
Creating original content requires significant time and effort. Maximize your resources by repurposing content:
- Turn recorded presentations into shareable videos.
- Re-share evergreen long-form articles.
- Break down long posts into multiple short updates.
- Rewrite popular blog posts for LinkedIn.
- Expand on topics discussed in podcast interviews.
Repurposing not only saves time but also amplifies the impact of your high-quality content across channels.
Collaborate With Others
In addition to publishing your own content, engage your network by interacting with content from others. Ways to collaborate include:
- Commenting on posts from connections and groups.
- Sharing and reacting to timely updates in your feed.
- Publishing guest posts co-authored with colleagues.
- Featuring clients and partners via case studies.
- Interviewing industry influencers.
- Publishing Q&As.
- Mentioning and linking to others.
Collaborative content and co-marketing partnerships can significantly expand your reach while providing value.
Promote Your Content
To maximize views and engagement on each piece of content:
- Post at optimal times based on your audience’s activity patterns.
- Use rich media like images, videos, and presentations.
- Craft compelling headlines that hook readers.
- Write clear and scannable introductions.
- Include relevant hashtags and tags.
- Ask questions to spark discussion.
- Run sponsored posts and ads to reach beyond your existing network.
Also share your content across additional platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and your website to extend reach.
Analyze Performance
Consistently analyze the impact of your LinkedIn content using available data. Look at:
- Post reach and engagement rates.
- Shares, reactions, and comments per post.
- Most popular content by type and topic.
- Highest traffic referrers.
- New followers generated.
Course correct based on these insights to create more of what resonates.
Listen to Feedback
The fastest way to improve is listening to your audience. Proactively ask for feedback by:
- Monitoring comments on your posts.
- Following up with connections who engage.
- Asking LinkedIn groups what they want to see more of.
- Running quick polls to learn about interests.
- Seeking client testimonials.
Continuously fine-tune your future content based on reactions and suggestions.
Conclusion
Developing a thoughtful LinkedIn content strategy takes effort but yields significant dividends. The essential steps include:
- Setting goals aligned to business objectives.
- Understanding your target audience.
- Mapping out a diverse content mix.
- Leveraging various LinkedIn content formats.
- Repurposing and collaborating to maximize value.
- Promoting content across channels.
- Analyzing performance metrics.
- Listening to audience feedback.
With a strategic approach, you can build authority, engage your network, and meet your business goals with LinkedIn content. The key is being consistent with posting high-quality content optimized for the platform.
What tips do you have for creating compelling LinkedIn content? Let me know in the comments!