The Underrated Power of LinkedIn Content Creation Six tips to gain visibility and create sales.
By Aimee Tariq
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If you haven't started using LinkedIn to share content yet, it's high time you get on board. The career-networking site has 303 million active monthly users, and it's the number-one place for B2B content marketing, which means you simply can't afford not to get that type of exposure.
Sure, it can seem challenging. With so many social-media profiles and so much to create on top of delivering for clients and customers, LinkedIn can feel like one more chore on the to-do list. Except it may be the most important "chore" you can do for your visibility and business.
Influencer and strategist Shay Rowbottom got her start on LinkedIn by creating content, and to date has made in excess of seven figures from publishing on the site. Now, she coaches clients in doing the same, helping them garner thousands of followers and millions of video views.
Related: The Biggest Mistake You're Making on LinkedIn
For Rowbottom, it all started in May 2018, when she began creating short videos to share on her LinkedIn profile to promote her Facebook agency. "I did three videos per week consistently for two months, and by the end of that time period, I realized I had generated over six figures," she reflects. She believed so ardently in the power of LinkedIn that she sold her shares in her Facebook agency and went all in on LinkedIn.
The more she recognized the power, the more effort she put into the videos. These included short office skits and tactics like mentioning celebrities. From her own experience, she learned how to create a content strategy that's optimized for conversions and started to apply these learnings to her new LinkedIn agency. And these tacticts worked for her clients, too.
Rowbottom shared with us some of her own quick tips for getting started in the LinkedIn space and using it as an engine for acquiring customers and making sales.
1. Keep videos short.
Rowbottom's videos are generally around just 90 seconds. "Think about who will see the content," Rowbottom advises. "A stranger who has no idea who you are will not invest six minutes in watching your video. It's far more likely that they'll invest that 90 seconds, though.
2. But keep accompanying text long.
It's been observed that longer text posts perform better than short text posts. You're allowed 1,300 characters on LinkedIn, so try to use them. Introduce your video, share a sneak peek into one of the tips you give, or just give some background on why the video is important for viewers to watch.
3. Don't introduce yourself in the video.
You may feel the need to say your name and who you are, but this eats up a large portion of the 90 seconds and can bore viewers at the outset. Instead, have a catchy headline so that their attention is captured from the start. These headlines, or "hooks," are crucial on social media. If viewers are interested in who you are, they'll click on your name after the video when you've earned their attention and interest.
4. Generate comments, which drive the algorithm.
The more comments on your post, the more visibility it will get. "I would always send my video to relevant people on LinkedIn and ask for a comment, or ask each of my 30 employees to go comment," Rowbottom acknowledges. It's worth the shameless ask. It can really do that much for your post.
5. Use hashtags.
Hashtags can get your post visibility, too. Rowbottom recommends looking up relevant hashtags and seeing which have the largest following on LinkedIn. Additionally, creating a custom hashtag that's related to the name of your company or your name is a good idea.
6. Study your own data to determine the best time to post.
Finally, the more you post, the more you'll see what time is best for your audience. This type of data can only be built through trial and error. Try posting at sporadic times throughout the day, then after a few months, analyze what posting times yielded the highest number of impressions (aside from any outliers, such as posts that went viral for other reasons).
Related: How LinkedIn Is Helping Entrepreneurs
Over time, these six tips will help you reach new audiences on LinkedIn and get new potential customers in your funnel. And as Rowbottom ultimately urges, "The greatest magic on LinkedIn is consistent and organic video creation."
