You can’t become a thought leader on LinkedIn without sharing your thoughts. Regularly posting content is essential if you’re looking to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Status updates provide you with 1,300 characters of space with which to do this, but sometimes that just isn’t enough. With some topics, you need to dive a little deeper. What then?
Why write LinkedIn articles?
When 1,300 characters aren’t enough, LinkedIn articles are the content type to use. With a character limit of 125,000, you’ll have more than enough space to dig as deep as necessary on your chosen topic.
Thought leadership in an industry will only come if you are seen as credible by others in that industry. With so much space to play with, you can really showcase your knowledge and expertise. This will go a long way to build that credibility.
Choosing topics
When you write articles on LinkedIn, demonstrating your knowledge is the goal. You need to be seen as understanding the latest developments in your industry. As such, industry trends and changes make for excellent subject matter for your articles.
If someone is asking you a question, then chances are that more people will have that question too. Answering these questions that your audience or clients may have also makes for a good choice of topic.
In addition to questions, you can always share your thoughts on an existing conversation. By following the right hashtags for your industry (read about how to do that here), you’ll be kept abreast of what your customers and competitors are talking about. You can then use these conversations as inspiration for your articles.
Publishing your first article
Once you’ve settled on a topic, the next step is to write the article. Publishing an article on LinkedIn is incredibly simple, so follow the below steps and you’ll have published your first one in no time.
Navigate to the LinkedIn homepage, then click post a status update and select write an article. This will open up a new article for you.
Once you’ve got your empty article, the most important thing is to choose the right headline. You want something that is going to grab the readers' attention in the feed and make them want to click through to what you’ve published. Number headlines (“5 steps to”) or “How to” guides tend to do well here.
Formatting is the next step. Your article needs to be formatted in such a way that it is easy to read. That means no walls of text. Keep the sentences and paragraphs short. Then break the paragraphs up with relevant images or supporting graphics if needed.
Appropriate use of subheadings, bullet points, italics, and bold text will also improve readability, and make for a more pleasant overall experience for your audience.
Useful tools
If writing isn’t your forte, don’t fret as there are several tools out there that you can leverage to make for more engaging content. We at Yenox love Grammarly, an amazing browser add-on that will transform your writing entirely!
The Hemingway editor is also a useful tool for making your writing more reader-friendly!
Enriching your articles
Once you’ve got the content written and checked, next you need to enrich your articles with rich media. The first thing you’ll need to add to your article is a compelling cover. This should be an image that works in tandem with your headline and helps grab the attention of LinkedIn users in the feed.
After that, your options are limitless. As mentioned above, walls of text aren’t going to help with engagement, so use rich media to break things up.
To do this, click the bubble next to the text and select the media type you want to add. This media can be in the form of videos, images, infographics, or just about anything that will add even more value to your audience. Once you’ve done that, the only thing left to do is publish!
Building a repository
LinkedIn articles are an excellent way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise. By regularly posting articles that are relevant to your customers and industry, you’ll build credibility. Over time, these articles will help to establish you as a thought leader. Follow the steps in this guide, and post your first LinkedIn article today!
