Great LinkedIn content marketing is all about nurturing. Fostering relationships. It’s the journey of becoming a helpful, familiar, credible, friendly presence in your target person’s world – adding value and building a positive affinity that will ultimately inspire them to buy from you. Pretty powerful right? Turn a prospect into a consumer of your content and they’re halfway to becoming a customer of your products and services too.
As with any meaningful relationship, there’s no set and forget approach. In order the flourish, the relationship needs a lot of love attention, listening, watching, learning and iterating over time. So if you’re already doing great content marketing on LinkedIn but are waiting to see the ROI, here are some often overlooked tactics that will help you get more traction.
Manage your community, seek out and actively engage in real-time conversations
LinkedIn is a social network, so if you’re treating it like TV or a billboard, you’re missing a trick.
Do you respond thoughtfully to the comments on your content? Are you a member of any groups related to your industry? Be on the lookout for comment threads and conversations that your brand can join in on to help others and show empathy.
Even public complaints or criticism can be turned into fan winning moments when handled with empathy and a dash of charisma.
Tell your stories with video
Did you know that LinkedIn Video converts 71% more effectively than other content types? It can be confronting to put yourself or your brand out there if your content strategy so far has consisted of still images and blog posts. But video is worth the effort.
The best way to make in-roads? Start experimenting and start small. LinkedIn videos do not need to be lengthy – in fact, it’s better if they’re short! They don’t need to be highly produced either. Videos shot on a mobile phone often gain more traction than a highly produced video because they look more authentic and raw.
Get more mileage out of each asset
If you’ve been publishing LinkedIn content for a while and are starting to run out of fresh ideas, we have a solution for you. Look back.
The beautiful thing about executing an always-on strategy over time is the insights you will accumulate. Is there a blog post that you’ve put a lot of research into? Turn that narrative into a carousel. Did it have some compelling stats in it? Turn those into single-image posts. Do you have an expert in your company who could speak to that topic on camera? Make a video.
Over time you’ll get more mileage out of your content AND build a better understanding of what makes your audience tick.
The 3-second rule
With only three seconds to grab a reader’s attention, use something visually appealing, that stops the scrolling finger in its tracks.
Beautiful design will always win out over cheap or generic-looking imagery. Your creative agency or Brand Team should have rules around how your brand can be visually translated out to your Content Marketing.
Headlines are crucial in this regard too. Avoid clickbait (it does NOT build trust!) but choose a title which piques interest. The headline is the make or break, followed by the opening line…
Be a ruthless critic of your own posts. Show them to a fresh set of eyes. If it’s not attention-grabbing enough, keep iterating until it is.
Be more human
You can’t build relationships without relating. Just because LinkedIn might like feel like a professional environment compared to Facebook or Instagram, it’s super important to let those empathetic human qualities of your brand shine through in your LinkedIn content.
Some thought starters on how to achieve this:
- A friendly, empathetic tone of voice in your copy.
- Using real images rather than stock.
- Showcasing your team and their expertise with video.
- Leveraging the profiles of your team members, cross-posting their content where appropriate.
- Use humour – make a joke from time to time!
We hope that these tips will help you build great relationships and connect with the hearts and minds of your people on LinkedIn.
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