Content marketing is a vital part of any demand generation funnel. But with so many ways to use LinkedIn, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to best practices for marketing.
You might know that the platform rewards thought leaders – users who post regular and valuable updates – and that posts get pushed to wider audiences when they have a long dwell time or lots of engagement in the form of comments and likes. But do you know how to use this to your advantage when building out your strategy on the platform?
This guide will show you all the best practices for content marketing on LinkedIn, including marketing strategies and tips to get the best results.
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8 LinkedIn content marketing strategies
First, you need to know what types of updates to post, and in what format. Here are 8 types of posts you can use for successful LinkedIn content marketing strategies. Remember to mix it up by incorporating some of every type!
1. Thought leadership posts
B2B audiences want to learn from subject matter experts in their field and presenting your leaders as experts increases brand loyalty and trust. (Don’t just take our word for it. 90% of B2B decision makers agree). Thought leadership should be a key part of your LinkedIn strategy.
Good thought leadership helps potential buyers understand the market, keep up to date with trends and developments, and discover new possibilities.
Some ideas for thought leadership posts to boost your content marketing on LinkedIn:
- Give your opinion on industry insights and trends and what you think it means for the market moving forwards.
- Add insight into your own day-to-day processes, or reveal how you solved a problem.
- Make sure your unique outlook shines by adding some personal details or realizations – a human touch, even from brands, helps with relationship building and consumer loyalty.
2. Employee or user-generated content
Want more LinkedIn content marketing tips? Boost engagement by sharing employee or user-generated insights to your company page (and replying to it). Doing so can help establish your different teams as experts in their own right, as well as keep your LinkedIn Page active and engaging.
Do it the other way around, as well – as part of your distribution strategy, make sure employees know when new company posts go live and have them share updates, blog posts, thought leadership interviews or webinars with their networks.
3. Video & LinkedIn Live Events
Using video is a great way to increase the human element while also increasing engagement. According to LinkedIn, videos start conversations among members 5x more than other content types.
Consider either using spontaneous Live Events at a set time each week or adding LinkedIn Lives to already planned events to build anticipation and increase reach.
When thinking about the best practices for content marketing on LinkedIn, remember that lots of material is consumed on the go on mobile phones. Always add captions to your videos to increase accessibility and engagement.
4. LinkedIn Events
Alongside Live Events, consider your regular LinkedIn Events strategy. These Events are simple to create and you can easily add attendees to outreach campaigns to improve B2B sales prospecting. Simply use filters and the platform’s search to find relevant prospects and send invites, then follow up with an outreach campaign after the fact.
Alternatively, use opt-in lists when users register or click attending on your events to add users to your email lists for ongoing lead nurturing.
5. Multimedia or text-based?
Anecdotally, text-based posts get higher engagement than posts with pictures. Text-based posts have a 5-line preview, higher than the 3-line preview given to posts with an image or video attached. That means they can perform better if your opening hook isn’t strong enough to get people to click ‘see more’.
Try different post types and see what works best with your content strategy. A great way to get the value-add of text-based posts in a more visual, interactive format is to experiment with carousel posts.
6. Interactive polls
People easily get tired of reading, but a poll lets them give their 2 cents and feel involved – while also giving you valuable audience insights that can serve marketing well as market insights.
The downside to polls is that people might click an option and then scroll on, which could negatively impact the ‘dwell time’ of your post (a metric LinkedIn appears to use to assess a post’s value). A sneaky way to up engagement levels on this type of post is to make sure one of your poll options is ‘other’ and encourage people to comment with their alternative answer below. This increases dwell time and ups comments, another engagement metric the LinkedIn algorithm is sensitive to.
7. Hashtags
Hashtags are vital for effective LinkedIn content marketing: they ensure your posts are seen by as many relevant people as possible.
Add 4-5 hashtags to the end of each post. When deciding on these hashtags, choose ones your target audience already follows. Get specific instead of targeting general hashtags with millions of posts, where your posts will just get lost.
Do some preliminary research on any hashtag you choose to check activity levels. To find relevant hashtags, use the platform’s search bar or check the hashtags used by other creators in your niche that get good engagement.
8. Don’t neglect the comments!
Engagement on posts is a key way the LinkedIn algorithm determines value. The more you comment on others’ posts, the more you build your social selling index and your standing as a thought leader, and the more your posts will get commented on in return, increasing your reach.
You can comment as a company or an individual, but as a minimum, it’s best practice for your LinkedIn content strategy if you at least reply to the comments you receive on a post.
When creating posts, or planning posts as part of your content marketing strategy, look for ways to encourage users to comment. Ask questions, solicit tips and alternative approaches, or get people to say if they agree or disagree with your take.
Linkedin content marketing strategies to reach a wider audience
When creating a post, here are two tips to demonstrate to the LinkedIn algorithm that your material is high quality:
1. Grab attention with a strong first line.
Create intrigue with a question, make a bold statement, or tell your audience exactly what your post will help them with. Your ultimate aim is to get readers to click on ‘see more’. This is part of how LinkedIn measures the ‘dwell time’ of your post (and dwell time is a significant part of how the algorithm determines post quality). Your first line is your one chance to entice your audience to expand your post.
2. Solicit engagement with your CTA.
Your goal with a post is to increase likes, and most importantly comments, as these engagement stats are another way LinkedIn’s algorithms measure value. The more interactions you get, the more people the platform will show your post to – vital for your content marketing strategy. Incorporate a question, or a call for comments, into your CTA. (For more help with your CTA, check out our copywriting guide).
Best practices for content marketing on LinkedIn
People like posts that are:
- conversational,
- human,
- high-value, and
- educational
With:
- actionable insights for their industry,
- digestible statistics (ideally in simple charts), and
- strong (perhaps controversial) statements, ideally from experts and thought leaders.
While the topics you write about will depend on your niche, audience, and product, these best practices for content marketing on LinkedIn can be carried forward to any campaign.
6 LinkedIn content marketing tips
1. Post regularly and consistently.
LinkedIn Pages that post weekly have 5.6x more followers than those that post monthly. Better yet: they grow their following 7x faster. If you can do more, even better: 2-5x a week (or every other day up to every weekday) can help you stay relevant and top of mind. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday morning posts tend to get the most engagement.
2. Don’t just wing your post-production:
Create a content calendar to increase posting consistency, plan out high-value material, enable collaborations with external subject matter experts, and give employees heads up on go-live dates to share updates to their own networks.
3. Create a distribution strategy
Get other stakeholders in your organization to share new posts to their networks and do research to find the hashtags your target audience follows. To increase distribution reach further, tag other thought leaders, stakeholders or subject matter experts in your posts. If they engage, your material gets shared with their (often large) networks of ideal-fit decision-makers and can help to grow your company’s network, credibility, and audience: vital to effective social selling.
Note that this only works if they actually engage with your posts. To increase the chances they’ll share or comment, reach out to collaborate – ask them to do a webinar or contribute a quote to an article. They’re often happy to share because it increases their exposure and credibility.
4. Optimize
Optimize your profile and posts by using SEO keywords for your industry and appropriate hashtags. If you need help, check out the Salesflow guide to optimizing your LinkedIn profile to increase leads.
5. Regularly check your SSI (social selling index).
This will tell you if you’re engaging with your network enough and posting sufficient high-quality material. It’s likely the platform rewards users with high SSIs, as these users help keep others on the site.
Remember, effective copy is just one element of successful content marketing on LinkedIn. Pay attention to the images you choose – make sure they match your brand, are high resolution and don’t overcrowd your post.
Your ultimate guide to content marketing on LinkedIn
Hopefully, the above tips and tricks have got you well on your way to content marketing that converts. To take your strategy even further and sell to the leads now in your funnel, check out our complete guides to prospecting on LinkedIn, from using Sales Navigator like a pro to over 100 messaging templates that convert.
And if you’re ready to boost your pipeline by reaching more leads, faster? Start your 7-day free trial of Salesflow today: