Hacks, who am I kidding? Hack seems to be the word people use instead of tip these days. Like a workshop is called a master class. And the 14-year-old teenage horror in my home is called a sweet, cute daughter. Ha! This is the longest post I’ve published to date, it will take you 4.5 min to read. Fancy that, double the value I normally give you! Have fun.
7 HACKS FOR PUBLISHING ON LINKEDIN
- Add the title or main message to the banner image
- Utter a BOLD statement in the opening line
- Create click to tweet quotes
- Finish with an author bio linking to your blog
- Focus on your LinkedIn target audience
- Give the full story
- End with a question
ADD THE TITLE OR MAIN MESSAGE TO THE BANNER IMAGE
I mentioned this when I gave you 5 Clever tips to use media on LinkedIn. (tip #5). On the LinkedIn homepage, people scroll quickly. An image sooner captures their attention than text. When you publish on LinkedIn, you can add a banner image that appears above your post. It is also the image that shows up in the feed when you (and others) share the article. If the image states the main point (or title) of your article, it helps people decide to click through.
UTTER A BOLD STATEMENT IN THE OPENING LINE
This might be a no brainer. After the title, the opening line is the first thing people read. Grab their attention. Blogging experts say that a short opening line works best. Not much time to lose the reader. Then another easy to read sentence to get readers used to your style and tone. After that start making sense in the article you are publishing on LinkedIn.
CREATE CLICK TO TWEET QUOTES
I found people are likely to hit “click to tweet” at the very moment they read something interesting. Call them to action right there and then. It works miracles compared to the generic share option at the end. They take a little fiddling to set up though. You need the link to the article, to create a “click to tweet” link.
Here is how I do it: 1. Publish the article. 2. Grab the URL. 3. Go back into edit mode. 4. Shorten the URL (I use bitly). 5. Copy a statement from the article. 6. Go to click to tweet website. 7. Paste the statement, then copy/paste the shortened URL then type via @petrafisher. 8. Now I can generate the tweet. 9. Go back to the article, type {click to tweet} and make that a clickable link (use URL step 8). It is a lot easier than it seems from reading this. By listing every single step, it seems complicated. It is not. Just fiddly.
FINISH WITH AN AUTHOR BIO LINKING TO YOUR BLOG
Note to self: start adding author bio to posts again. I have been slack. I have copy/pasted my blog-posts and forgot to add an author bio. I DO encourage you to do so. Generally, I am against speaking about oneself in 3rd person. Publishing on LinkedIn is an exception. People read your LinkedIn article because one of their connections commented on or shared your post. Your reader does not necessarily know you. An author bio allows them to get to know you and gives you the opportunity to link to your blog.
FOCUS ON YOUR LINKEDIN TARGET AUDIENCE
Yesterday I baked a cake for my daughter. For no particular reason. Just because she felt like chocolate cake and I felt like baking. It turned out beautiful. Except for one thing… Although this is a very interesting story. Especially what followed, it is not what my followers on LinkedIn follow me for. They follow me for tips and insights on LinkedIn, Networking and Personal Branding. If I stay on topic, I become predictable. As soon as people see my mugshot pop up, they know what to expect. You want to be known for your specific expertise. When publishing on LinkedIn, focus on the people who are after that expertise.
GIVE THE FULL STORY
Here is a big peeve I have. I see something interesting come along on my LinkedIn Homepage. It is longer than a few lines, so I need to click. So far so good. This takes me to the LinkedIn article. No problem. The story abruptly finishes after 1-2 paragraphs with a “read more” link to an external website. Yuck! I’ve already had to click to get here. Don’t tell me I only clicked to be told to click again. There are other ways to drive traffic from LinkedIn to your website. Add an author bio. Refer briefly to another post you wrote and link. End with something like: “Find more fun LinkedIn Tips on my blog”. https://petrafisher.com/blogs/
END WITH A QUESTION
Engagement is key. Each time a person comments, they expose their network to your post. The easiest way to get people to comment is to ask a question. Or to make a STRONG statement. The question is the safer option. When people do comment (bonus tip) make sure to thank them by replying to their comment. This keeps the conversation going. It is also a great way to establish a relationship with the commenter. LinkedIn is after all a network, networking is all about building relationships.
PS The link to all your articles is nice to add to your email signature. Replace my name with what is in the URL to your LinkedIn Profile. https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/petrafisher There you go! You ended up with 9 tips instead of 7. Good sense in business and blogging: under-promise, over-deliver (10).