The Benefits of a LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy

Are you on LinkedIn to generate new business?

If so, I have an important thought I wish to share with you…

I see so many people engage with content, i.e. Share, Like or Comment on matters that don’t relate to their interests.

Simply commenting with a generic and overused “Have a Happy Monday” doesn’t cut it for me!

I figure the LinkedIn’s algorithm learns what interests me, what industries I work in, what my topics of interest are, what skills I have and the type of people I communicate with based on one thing and one thing alone.

The LinkedIn algorithm learns from what I do.

It learns from my habits, my activity and my ‘LinkedIn personality’ if you will.

Being consistent then, around the topics I publish articles about, write posts on, or engage with and what hashtags I include in my content is a key part of my success strategy. Having a cohesive strategy driving my content output on LinkedIn and which content from my network that I choose to comment, like and share all influences what the LinkedIn algorithm decides to show me in my LinkedIn feed. This means I have access to more content that is more relevant to me that I can continue to engage with.

Adopting a smart LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy means my whole LinkedIn experience improves and delivers a better outcome.

I started to map this journey, and it turned out quite simple really!

Naturally, there will be some incidences where one of your Connections on LinkedIn, a friend rather than a potential client or member of your target audience, has achieved something, such as winning an award. In these cases, simple ‘well done’ or ‘congratulations’ will suffice, and you will want to Comment on their post about their achievement to communicate your praise to them.

This is okay to do occasionally, but I’d recommend sticking to your niche or core specialism. I’m a LinkedIn trainer so I publish content about LinkedIn and offer my advice and tips about LinkedIn best practice in Comments on posts where my network expresses challenges with the platform.

What Type of Content Should My LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy Comprise Of?

Billy Grierson, a facilitator and problem-solving trainer (plus a brilliant Connection of mine), recently revealed that he’s stopped writing articles on LinkedIn because the platform doesn’t seem to be interested in them nor does it grant them much exposure. For reasons unknown, Billy is right, LinkedIn does seem to restrict the application of articles. Strange, given that they often boast much more depth on their subject matter.

Personally, I still believe LinkedIn articles are worth doing, in my own case, around once a month. This is because they stay around for much longer than a post and provide the opportunity to establish you as an expert in your field. LinkedIn articles are also indexed and referenced by Google, which is a bonus!

As for what type of content your LinkedIn posts should consist of I find storifying your content on both your Profile and in the posts you publish on LinkedIn works best. Here’s why…

What Type of Engagement Should I Dedicate the Most Time to on LinkedIn?

Another great Connection of mine, apprentice finder Adrian Bird, recently asked me if the LinkedIn algorithm takes notice of Reactions he makes on LinkedIn (who expanded the offering of Reactions available from a simple ‘Like’ to ‘Celebrate’, ‘Insightful’, ‘Curious’ and ‘Love’ back in April). He was wondering if he would see posts in his feed similar to the ones he’d Celebrated more often than those posts similar to those that he’d Liked.

My gut feeling with this is that the types of Reactions you give posts won’t have a differential impact on what the algorithm decides to present to you in your feed as this would simply be too complex to ‘map’ in the back-end of LinkedIn’s architecture. I still believe that adding a Comment is hugely more beneficial than a ‘Reaction’ of any kind, as in the long term having more choice about how to react just by one click will actually kill any conversation a post may have sparked. We will all eventually communicate though emojis and those might, with the aid of AI, be auto-generated. We’ll become robots!

To sum up, genuine, authentic and relevant conversation works best at influencing your news feed.

Linkedin Strategy for Success = Relevant Content

Note: This post focuses more on what types of engagement and content your LinkedIn Content Marketing Strategy should focus on in order to influence your LinkedIn feed BUT…

…you can improve your LinkedIn feed by tailoring your LinkedIn settings to suit your needs.