The Complete Guide to Publishing Articles on LinkedIn
“Being a content producer is the highest level of influence that you can have within LinkedIn.”
— Neil Patel
Publishing articles on LinkedIn can give you many advantages as a business owner — I explore what those are right here.
In fact, given the benefits, it should be a regular part of how you distribute content around the web.
To that end, I’ll detail:
- Who should be publishing articles on LinkedIn…
- Exactly how to start doing so… and how to do so regularly with minimum effort required…
- The key tactics and strategies you need to use to maximize results.
First though, get the free cheatsheet you need to help you with publishing articles on LinkedIn effectively:
Let’s start with a quick recap on LinkedIn’s background…
LinkedIn History Snapshot
LinkedIn was launched way back in 2003, before anyone had even heard of Facebook.
It rose to profits quickly, and within 8 years was listed on the stock market.
Microsoft bought it in 2016 for over $26 billion, though they have largely left it alone.
It’s one of the most popular social media platforms, with 722 million members.
Of those:
- Half are active on a monthly basis.
- Over 140 million people use the platform daily.
But who actually are they?…
LinkedIn Demographics
LinkedIn users tend to be well-educated and affluent work- and career-focused professionals:
- Over half are between 25 and 34 years old.
- Most earn over $50,000 per annum.
- 45% earn over $75,000.
- 51% are college-educated or higher.
Who Should Publish Articles on LinkedIn?
Reflecting the demographics of LinkedIn itself, publishing articles on LinkedIn is particularly suitable if your business is B2B.
In fact, more than 90% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for marketing.
It’s one of the most valuable sources for lead generation:
(I’ll show you soon how to use LinkedIn articles to do that).
Content creation is also growing on the platform, increasing by 60% in 2020.
Publishing articles on LinkedIn is less suitable if your business is B2C.
How to Publish Articles on LinkedIn
It’s easy to get started.
Just click the Write article button at the top of your feed.
The intuitive interface is similar to Medium’s, and pleasant to use.
The first step is to add a cover image. Click the image placeholder provided to upload.
The recommended size is 744 x 400 pixels.
If you’re not sure what to use for your cover image, try searching a stock photo site for something relevant (here’s a list of over 30 free stock photo sites).
Optionally add a credit and/or caption:
In writing the article, you can embed other types of content by clicking the icon in the left-hand margin (I told you it was similar to Medium!):
Content you can embed includes:
- Tweets and posts on Instagram.
- Videos on YouTube, Vimeo and elsewhere.
- Slideshows on SlideShare, Prezi and other such platforms.
That’s not by any means an exhaustive list. Click here for more ideas.
To publish your article, click the Publish button.
This shows a Share popup through which to share the content with your network:
Remember to add some hashtags to improve its distribution:
If you’re not yet ready to publish, the article will simply be saved as a draft.
Access it in future via the Publishing menu:
Checking Performance
After a few days, you’ll want to check how your article has performed.
Do so by clicking the View stats link whilst viewing your article:
You can also get the view count for your articles by:
- View your LinkedIn profile.
- Click See all activity.
- Click Articles — you’ll see the view count listed for each article.
By clicking the link, you’ll see more detailed stats info (as with the View stats link above).
The stats you get include the following:
- Article views
- Comments
- Reactions
- Reshares
Some of these give you a further breakdown.
For example, by clicking on the reshares number, you’ll see exactly who has shared your article.
How to Maximize Results with LinkedIn Articles
Featured Articles
Add your articles to the Featured section of your profile by clicking the ‘+’ button in the top right corner of that section.
Click the Articles link for a list of articles you’ve published on the platform.
For articles you want to feature on your profile, just click the Feature link provided.
Google SERPs
Articles you publish on LinkedIn can be ranked on Google and other search engines, and in general viewed by those outside of LinkedIn…
But only if the relevant setting is turned on in your profile.
You can also ensure that people who are not signed into LinkedIn can see the featured articles on your profile.
To do so:
- Go to the settings page for your public profile.
- Look for the Your profile’s public visibility setting and ensure it’s turned on:
- Further down the page, look for the Public radio button — ensure it’s selected, and that the Articles & Activity setting is switched on:
Social Shares
As we’ve seen, by publishing your article on LinkedIn, you will also be sharing it with your LinkedIn network.
But remember your audiences on other social platforms too.
You’re given the opportunity to share the article on Facebook and Twitter as soon as you publish:
But whether on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or other social platforms, don’t just share it once and then forget about it.
Instead, aim to share it multiple times to each audience over the course of several weeks or months.
Connect with Resharers
As we saw above, by looking at the stats for your article, you can see exactly who has reshared it.
When they do so, reach out and thank them.
By doing so, you help encourage future such reshares, while also growing your network.
Speaking of which…
Grow Your Network
The size of your network has a significant influence on the amount of engagement and overall visibility your article receives.
Aim to spend a few minutes daily simply connecting with others.
If you’re just starting out on the network, this will mostly involve reaching out to others of relevance to your business with invitations to connect.
As your network grows, you’ll find the invitations you receive start to mount, and you‘ll instead spend time accepting (or declining) them.
Avoid Spammy Content
The content you create on LinkedIn, as on other content platforms, shouldn’t come across as self-promotional.
It can be tempting if you’re just starting out to take this approach and treat it as some sort of ad for whatever product or service you’re selling.
But you’ll find it completely counter-productive.
People will simply regard it as spam and move on.
Your articles should instead aim to inspire your readers, providing useful information that adds value to their daily lives.
That way, your content can spread far and wide, while still benefiting your business.
Speaking of which, here’s exactly how that works…
How Does Publishing Articles on LinkedIn Benefit Your Business?
Search Engine Visibility
You have made your articles on LinkedIn public, right?
If not, see how to do this above.
By creating articles around relevant keywords for your business and publishing them on LinkedIn, you’ll simply have more content showing up on Google and other search engines that lead straight back to you.
So what happens when someone finds your article on LinkedIn?
Here’s how to use that article for…
Lead Generation
I’ve already said your articles shouldn’t be self-promotional.
That doesn’t mean however that you can’t convert readers of your articles into leads for your business.
In fact, given LinkedIn’s demographics, these can be some of the highest value leads available.
Here are a couple ways to approach it, which can be used together…
- Link back to your blog
Link relevant keywords back to your blog, just as you might link between posts on the blog itself.
Integrate opt-in opportunities on the blog so that visitors who click-through have ample opportunity to sign up for your list.
You can also pixel visitors, and then use advertise opt-in offers via retargeting to try to capture their information.
2. Offer a relevant lead magnet in the article
In a bio box at the end of the article, offer a relevant lead magnet to the reader.
The more relevant the offer, the higher the reader-to-lead conversion rate will be.
As an example, I’ve previously signed up for a webinar—delivered as an evergreen presentation — after reading an article on LinkedIn.
The webinar simply offered more in-depth information on what I’d just read.
In other words, a specific highly-relevant lead magnet with a high level of perceived value.
As a result, I’m now a lead for that business.
Stay Front of Mind
Each article you publish on LinkedIn is another reason to communicate with your network, and for them to know, like and trust you.
Plus, because your linking within LinkedIn rather than to an external site, such posts enjoy higher visibility.
“…you gain meaningful, consistent engagement and foster familiarity by posting via your LinkedIn Page at least once per day.”
— Steve Kearns, Marketing Storyteller
Grow Your LinkedIn Network
People are invited to follow you, both at the top and bottom of each of your articles.
Build Authority
New articles are added to your LinkedIn profile.
Each new article enhances your credibility and authority.
Going Viral
Of course, it won’t happen each and every time.
But every now and again you’ll find an article goes viral.
In other words, it gains far more traction and engagement than your other articles (sometimes even combined).
Usually, this will happen to somewhere between 5% and 20% of your articles.
Why does this happen?
Usually it’s a combination of different factors, including:
- The hashtags used in sharing it.
- Whether it happens to catch the attention of an influencer.
- The timing of publication.
- The header image.
- The effectiveness of the title.
- How it’s promoted, including on other social media platforms.
How Should You Approach Publishing Articles on LinkedIn?
The approach that gives you maximum benefit for minimum time investment is to simply repurpose content you have elsewhere.
If you’re already repurposing content on your blog for Medium, you could simply republish the Medium article straight onto LinkedIn.
I always advise to keep content on your own blog completely unique if you can, and to publish there first.
That way, you multiply your search engine visibility, with maximum benefit for your primary platform, one that you fully control.
Each time you repurpose the content for another platform, you add an additional set of listings on the search engines for a potentially different — but related — set of keywords, multiplying your traffic.
To Conclude
I hope you’ve found the information in this guide helpful.
By publishing articles on LinkedIn regularly and consistently, you’ll enjoy numerous benefits such as an increasing level of influence on the platform, and the attraction of traffic and leads back to your own website.
Don’t forget to grab the free cheatsheet for publishing articles on LinkedIn:
Sincerely,
Steve Shaw
EverywhereMarketer
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