LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 660 million users worldwide. It’s a great platform for establishing your professional brand, networking, finding jobs, connecting with business partners, and sharing content. One of the best ways to build your brand and expand your reach on LinkedIn is by featuring your articles directly in your LinkedIn feed.
When you feature an article on LinkedIn, it allows your connections and other LinkedIn members to easily find, read, like, comment on, and share your content right within the LinkedIn platform. This helps increase engagement with your posts and sends traffic back to your website or blog. However, many LinkedIn users don’t know how to properly feature their articles in their feed to maximize visibility. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about featuring articles on LinkedIn.
Why Should You Feature Articles on LinkedIn?
Here are some of the key benefits of featuring your articles directly in your LinkedIn feed:
– Increased reach and engagement – Featuring your article allows all your 1st-degree connections as well as anyone who follows you to see your content directly in their feed. This significantly expands your potential reach.
– More article views – Sending readers directly to your article on LinkedIn can generate more views than simply sharing the link in a status update.
– Improved click-through rates – Featuring your article means followers can view your content without having to click away from LinkedIn. This improves click-through rates compared to regular link shares.
– Build authority and thought leadership – Consistently publishing quality featured articles establishes you as an authority in your field and thought leader.
– Generate website traffic – Quality featured articles drive curious readers to click back to your website to learn more. This increases website traffic and potential leads.
– Opportunity to go viral – Compelling articles can go viral within the LinkedIn community through shares, comments, and likes.
– SEO benefits – Articles featured on LinkedIn have the opportunity to rank for relevant keywords and be discovered through LinkedIn’s internal search.
How to Feature an Article on LinkedIn
Featuring your articles directly in your LinkedIn feed is easy to do but requires a few specific steps. Here is a step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Publish your article on your site or blog
First, you need to have an article published on your company website, blog, Medium, or any website. The article needs to contain quality information that your target audience will find valuable. Make sure to optimize the article for SEO with relevant keywords so it can also rank well in Google search.
Step 2: Get the article link
Once your article is live online, you need to copy the URL of the published article. This is the link you will input into LinkedIn to feature it. Double check that you have the correct link to the live article (not a draft).
Step 3: Create your LinkedIn post
Go to LinkedIn and begin drafting a new post just as you would any other regular status update. However, instead of typing a status into the main text field, you will paste your article link in the next step.
As you draft your post, the key is to include some compelling details about the article in the main text that will entice readers to want to click and read more. Include a short overview of what the article covers, highlight key points or stats from the piece, and/or include an eye-catching statistic or quote from the article that arouses interest.
Step 4: Paste in your article link
Now paste your full article URL directly into the main text field of your LinkedIn post. As soon as you paste it in, LinkedIn will automatically pull in information and images from the article to feature it properly.
Underneath the article thumbnail, keep your description text short and sweet. A 2-3 sentence overview about why people should read it is ideal.
Step 5: Add an eye-catching image
LinkedIn will automatically pull in the main image from your featured article to use as the thumbnail. However, we recommend uploading your own custom eye-catching image that’s relevant to your post instead. This helps the featured article stand out more in the feed.
Choose an image that conveys emotion, provides useful visuals, portrays your brand, or aligns to your article topic. Make sure the image looks good as a thumbnail and consider adding text overlays to make it more engaging.
Step 6: Include relevant hashtags
Include 2-5 relevant hashtags that are related to your article topic, brand, or industry. This helps the right people discover your content. Do keyword research on LinkedIn to identify popular hashtags to include.
For example, if your article is about content marketing tips, you could include hashtags like #contentmarketing, #digitalmarketing, #socialmediamarketing.
Step 7: Publish your article post
The last step is to simply publish your article post like you would any other LinkedIn status update. Once published, your connections will see your featured article appear natively in their feed for increased visibility.
You can also boost the post with LinkedIn ads for greater reach if desired. Track performance and engagement analytics to optimize future featured articles.
LinkedIn Article Post Best Practices
To maximize the impact of your featured LinkedIn articles, keep these proven best practices in mind:
– Feature new articles frequently and consistently. Aim to publish 1-2 per week.
– Keep the description concise at 2-3 sentences long. Focus on intriguing the reader.
– Always use eye-catching custom images rather than default article thumbnails.
– Experiment with different headline formulas for your description text: Numbered lists, open-ended questions, intriguing stats, etc.
– Use relevant hashtags and keywords – but don’t over-tag or keyword stuff.
– Promote your best articles periodically with LinkedIn Sponsored Content ads.
– Ensure your articles are high-quality and genuinely useful for your audience.
– Monitor analytics to identify your best-performing articles. Produce more on those topics.
Formatting Your Post for Maximum Impact
Beyond the steps mentioned, there are additional formatting tactics you can use to make your featured articles stand out more in the LinkedIn feed:
Bold Key Text
Strategically bold 1-2 lines of text in your article description to highlight something important that will catch the reader’s eye. For example:
“This exclusive guide reveals the **10 most effective SEO strategies** top experts use to rank #1.”
Ask Questions
Pose an intriguing question in your text that gets readers thinking and entices them to want to know the answer:
“Want to know the **#1 easiest way to generate 500+ leads per month**? Read this article to learn how.”
Lists
Numbered lists are highly effective at capturing attention in LinkedIn posts. Try headlines like:
“The **Top 7 LinkedIn Post Ideas** You Haven’t Tried Yet”
Emojis
Using 1-2 relevant emojis in your text can make your post more eye-catching and improve engagement. But use them sparingly.
Image Text
Adding engaging text overlays on your article image helps convey more context. Include key phrases or headlines that intrigue readers to click.
Tags
Tagging relevant connections in your post (especially influencers) can help increase reach. But only do so when appropriate.
Types of Content to Feature
While you can technically feature any article on LinkedIn, certain types of content tend to perform better than others. Consider featuring these high-value content formats:
Thought Leadership Articles
Articles that position you as a visionary leader and expert in your field tend to generate high engagement. These establish your authority.
List-Based Articles
Posts with lists like “10 Tips for…” or “7 Ways to…” consistently go viral on LinkedIn. Lists are easy to scan and share.
Data-Driven Articles
Articles with compelling stats, data studies, or survey results attract a professional audience. Posts that cite data generate 35% more engagement.
How-To Articles
Tutorials, guides, and how-to articles are highly useful for LinkedIn’s career-minded audience. They also showcase your expertise.
Case Studies
Case studies make your advice more concrete. Show how you solved a specific problem for a real client or customer.
Industry Trends & Insights
Timely articles discussing new industry trends, technologies, and developments are broadly interesting.
Video Content
In addition to articles, featuring short branded videos or video interviews can also perform well.
SlideShare Presentations
Convert your best presentations to SlideShare and feature them. This establishes you as a speaker.
Newsjacking Posts
Commenting on a relevant news story or current event allows you to share timely insights.
Optimizing Your Article for LinkedIn
To maximize the reach of your featured articles, ensure you also optimize the articles themselves for the LinkedIn audience and platform:
Use a Click-Worthy Headline
The headline is the first thing readers see, so make it irresistible. Use emotional hooks, numbers, or bold claims that capture attention.
Write Scannable Intros
Hook readers in the first 1-2 paragraphs. Highlight the value they’ll receive so they stay interested.
Break Up Long Sections
Massive blocks of text are difficult to digest on LinkedIn. Use subheadings, lists, images, videos, quotes, and other elements to break up your article.
Feature Rich Media
Posts with well-designed visuals and multimedia content can generate up to 98% more engagement.
Optimize for SEO
Include target keywords in headings, meta descriptions, URLs, alt text, etc. This boosts organic search visibility.
Insert Calls to Action
Inviting readers to download something or visit your site for more information sends them to your ecosystem.
Make Content Actionable
Readers appreciate takeaways they can implement right away. End with specific recommendations for next steps.
Add Value With Data
Back up ideas using credible third-party data and stats. This increases perceived expertise.
Establish Expertise
Share your credentials, bio info, experiences, and career highlights to build authority as a thought leader.
Cater to the Audience
Ensure content provides value specifically for your target LinkedIn audience. Optimize for their needs.
Measuring Performance of Featured Articles
Once you begin featuring articles, it’s important to track performance analytics to identify what content resonates best with your audience. Monitor these key metrics:
Post Impressions
This reveals how many people had your article enter their feed. Aim for high reach.
Clicks
The number of clicks from your post to the article. More clicks = higher engagement.
Engagement Rate
Calculated as engagements (likes, comments, shares) divided by impressions. Benchmark vs. past posts.
Article Pageviews
How many visitors actually read your full article. Pageviews are key as the end goal.
Scroll Depth
How far readers scrolled through your article before leaving. More scroll depth = higher quality content.
Social Shares
Track how often your featured articles get re-shared organically by others. Viral shares extend reach.
Backlinks
High-quality featured articles can earn backlinks as other sites reference your content.
Conversions
For gated articles, measure email sign-ups, downloads, purchases or other conversions generated.
Review analytics regularly to gain insights into top-performing article types, topics, headlines, etc. that resonate best with your audience. Produce more content aligned to what performs well.
Common LinkedIn Article Feature Issues
When featuring articles on LinkedIn, there are a few common issues to avoid:
Linking to Gated Content
Don’t link directly to gated articles that require sign up or payment. Provide access or excerpt key parts.
Overly Promotional Content
Avoid overly sales-focused content. Focus on value, education and themes that spark discussion.
Excessive Keyword Stuffing
Don’t over-optimize your post with forced keywords. This comes across as spammy.
Republishing Old Content
In general, feature more evergreen or new articles. But you can resurface old high-performing content occasionally.
Too-Long Descriptions
Keep your article descriptions short and sweet. You want to entice readers to click – not give everything away upfront.
Weak Headlines
Vague, boring or overused headlines won’t grab attention. Spend time crafting click-worthy headlines.
Poor Quality Articles
Low-value articles with fluff content or no practical takeaways won’t engage readers. Prioritize quality over quantity.
Conclusion
Featuring your best articles directly in your LinkedIn feed is a powerful tactic to increase content reach, website traffic, and thought leadership. By following the best practices outlined in this guide, you can optimize both your LinkedIn posts and on-site content to maximize visibility, sharing, and engagement with your target audience.
Monitor performance closely using LinkedIn’s analytics tools. Double down on content formats and topics that resonate best. With a consistently optimized content marketing and promotion strategy for LinkedIn, you can position yourself as an industry leader and continue growing your brand influence across the platform.