Have You Started Using Linkedin's Publishing Platform? Here's Why You Should

LinkedIn has recently jumped into the content marketing bandwagon by announcing that it is opening up its publishing platform to all members. As of now, the network is rolling out access to its publishing platform slowly, with only a small fraction of the entire LinkedIn users being allowed to create posts.

Over a few months, this feature will be made available to all members. The thought of having one more place where you need to be adding remarkable insights – in a lengthy form no less – is enough to send a lot of people over the edge.

If you’re one of them, then take a deep breath as there are a few pros and cons of publishing content in this new format. Let’s take a look and know how to approach the platform if you consider it a good fit for your business.

A Shot of Linkedin Publishing Platforms

An individual does not have to be consecrated as an influencer to build online influence. It’s up to oneself how much he/she contributes to the community, by sharing valuable experience and creating smart content, that reflect the ideals of leadership.

The publishing platform gives an individual the opportunity to expand his/her reach in a major way, follow other publishers and gain his/her own followers in the process. Eager to write a post myself, I decided to see if I could gain access to the platform.

After conducting a search on LinkedIn’s Help Center, I found a link to apply for an early access. You need to fill out a simple form with links to examples of professional content which you've written previously.

Any posts published on LinkedIn are tied to an individual’s professional profile and show up near the top of your profile. This means your leadership insights are showcased when someone views your LinkedIn profile.

To help you understand better, here’s a snapshot of the same.

The first post I published to LinkedIn helped me attract over 10 new followers, and my profile views were up by 5% over the week! It has indeed helped me to connect with individuals from the industry and share my thoughts with them.

Points To Be Noted

Share Valuable Information 

Have a good strategy in place before you start sharing posts. Think. Which content is most useful for your audience? Is your post inclined towards pushing sales or is it informative?

Read the guidelines in LinkedIn’s Help Center about what to publish as it is a good reference to understanding how to frame your content and can add value to both your established audience and your potential audience.

Make it easy for your audience by sharing informative but attractive posts.

According to me, the best practices would be a compelling headline, placing an eye-catching image in the post, typing the important text in bold letters and breaking up longer paragraphs etc.

To enhance your posts, you can share links of YouTube videos or slideshow presentations to make them interesting and useful. Whenever you plan to share a post on the LinkedIn publishing platform, simply go to your LinkedIn home page and look for the pencil icon in the box at the top where you would typically share an update.

Here is the snapshot of the same:

  Before you click on Publish, please review your post and do a grammar and spelling check.

Maximize Your Posts Reach: To increase your reach and engagement both inside and outside of LinkedIn, share your post in various LinkedIn groups (relevant to your post), share an update on your Facebook timeline and tweet using #hashtags on Twitter.

This will definitely help you to add credibility and encourage more shares and engagement across the social web. Although the list is endless as there are many such key points, I would like to conclude on this note.

I’m excited about this opportunity to share insights, leadership thoughts with my professional network. Do you think that the publishing network will grow as yet another online content destination for professionals? Please feel free to share your thoughts below.