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Are you hoping to use LinkedIn more often this year? If so, you need a proper strategy. A good LinkedIn strategy can help navigate your decisions on the platform, like the content you create and the people you interact with.
To help you get started, we’ve compiled a full guide for creating a LinkedIn strategy as a content creator. Follow along to learn more and create your own strategy.
Why use LinkedIn as a creator?
Platforms typically considered creator hubs include Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. They’re more consumer-based and have proven engagement rates.
However, LinkedIn is becoming a prime platform for building an engaged audience, no matter what industry you’re in or who your content is geared towards.
Some reasons to consider adding LinkedIn to your social media marketing strategy include:
- It’s a great place for long-form content
- You can reach an even wider audience
- You can generate more digital product sales
- You can position yourself as a thought leader in your industry
- Get access to creator tools like a LinkedIn newsletter and live-streaming
Let's talk strategy if you’re ready to start incorporating LinkedIn.
Related: The Anatomy of a good LinkedIn post
What types of posts to create
There are a few different types of LinkedIn posts you might consider adding to your overall social media content creation queue. Let’s go over the main five types of LinkedIn posts you can create, what they look like, and what they can be used for.
Text-only posts
A text-only post is just as it sounds—a post that’s only text. LinkedIn is unique in that it’s the only platform other than X/Twitter that can actually make text-only posts work.
Here’s an example of what this looks like:
LinkedIn is a great place for creators and professionals to share thought leadership content with their peers and potential clients or customers. By writing long-form posts, almost like a micro-blog, creators are able to share in-depth information and gain a large following on LinkedIn.
When to use:
- You want to share a story
- You want to put together a list of tips
- You want to sell your products or services
- You want to engage your audience
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Image posts
An image post is exactly how it sounds—a LinkedIn post that shares one or more images. It can be in a single-image format, as we see below:
You can add up to 20 images within a single LinkedIn post, depending on what kind of narrative you need to share within your post.
Keep in mind that you can still create a long-form caption to go along with your image(s). In fact, in many instances, it’s encouraged as that type of post performs well on the platform.
When to use:
- You want to showcase something visually
- You want to share behind-the-scenes
- You want to share an example
Video posts
Video posts share a singular video along with a caption. This is not a commonly used post type by anyone other than brands, however if you believe video is the best format to share what you have to say, feel free to give it a try!
When to use:
- You want to showcase something visually
- You already have a video asset created
PDF carousels
PDF carousels are a type of post totally unique to LinkedIn. These are uploaded PDFs that can be sifted through natively in LinkedIn like slideshows, and can be a great way to showcase visual information.
Here’s an example of what this type of post looks like:
PDF carousel posts can be great ways to show off your digital products or services, promote yourself and your creative business, and share detailed information with your audience.
When to use:
- You want to showcase something visually
- You want to sell your products or services
Link posts
Link posts are LinkedIn posts that include a link directly in the post. This type of post is one of the platform’s least favorites, so you’ll often see creators sharing links in their post comments instead.
Here’s an example of a basic link post:
These are great ways to share direct links to your content, digital products, service pages, and other interesting information you think is relevant to your audience.
However, you can also choose to create a text-only or image post, then share a direct link in your comments to see if you generate more reach that way.
When to use:
- You want to promote your products or services
- You want to link to an external website
Polls
Finally, polls are the last post type we’re going to talk about. These are a fun way to engage your audience and gather insights from those in your network.
You can use polls in a number of ways—to ask silly questions, to get market insights, and more.
When to use:
- You want to engage your audience
- You want to understand your audience better
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How to create a posting schedule
Now that you know the types of posts, you can start creating your own posting schedule. To do this, you need to understand how often and when you should be sharing new content on LinkedIn.
While this changes for every creator and creative business, there are some rules of thumb you can start with, adapting your posting schedule as you go based on your own results.
At the very least, you need to publish new content weekly, as LinkedIn itself says this can double your engagement. However, the platform also recommends posting at least once a day to establish a trusted voice. (LinkedIn’s guidelines say even on weekends—but we think you can keep your weekends to yourself and focus on growth during your business days.)
So start planning on creating five to ten posts per week in order to share new content 1-2x each business day.
But when should you post? Sprout Social has analyzed millions of engagements across various social media networks to discover the best times to post on each.
Their data from LinkedIn can be found in graph form below:
As we can see, weekends are not a great time to post. If you want to test it, feel free, but the data shows that not a lot of people are engaging on Saturdays and Sundays.
Instead, we see a concentration of engaged users around 10am-12pm on weekdays, with the two best days being Wednesdays and Thursdays. This means you should focus on posting by midday each weekday to start.
From there, you can keep an eye on your LinkedIn analytics to see how your posts perform and adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
How to build a network on LinkedIn
The next step is building a network of engaged peers on LinkedIn. This can include others that work in your industry as well as potential customers. Here are a few ways to start building a network of people who regularly engage with your content.
Optimize your profile
Optimizing your profile provides your LinkedIn connections with a better idea of who you are and what you offer. LinkedIn offers a number of sections on your profile for you to fill out that give connections information they need to decide whether to connect with you or to work with you.
Be sure to fill out the following:
- Add a professional headshot as your profile photo
- Create a headline that accurately describes what you offer
- Input your relevant work experience
- Write a synopsis about you
- Share any services you offer
- Add any certifications, skills, courses, or anything else relevant to your work
Make sure all your information is accurate and explains how you started the creative business you currently run. Talk about your digital products or services, who you help, and why you do what you do.
Having an accurate and optimized profile will help increase the number of connection requests you receive.
Post consistently
Next, you need to create your posting schedule and stick to it. Like we mentioned, aiming for at least once per business day is ideal, but at the very least, choose a cadence that will work for you.
For example, if you don’t have the time to create enough content to share every day, choose 2-3 days to post and stick with them. Algorithms enjoy consistency, which means sticking to a schedule can help boost your reach in the feed.
One good idea is to create an entire month’s worth of content ideas before you even start posting. This will give you a library to pull from as the month goes on—then, when you have the time, you can create more content to add to it. But having a solid starting point can help keep you consistent, even when you’re running low on time.
Connect with other users
LinkedIn is all about building connections. When you find someone in your industry, you can send them a connection request in order to add them to your LinkedIn network.
When you find the profile of someone you’d like to add to your network, you can click the button to “Connect” with them. When you do, this prompt will pop up:
As LinkedIn itself states, people are more likely to accept invitations that include a note. Your note can say something like:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Why you sent a connection request
Keep in mind that you only have 200 characters to use for your note, so you want it to be short and sweet.
As you start to grow your own LinkedIn network, you’ll find that you start receiving new connection requests each day as well from others in your industry. Accept the ones that you’d like to build better connections with.
Engage with content regularly
If you want to start seeing more people engage with your content, you have to pay it forward first. Spend a few minutes each day browsing your LinkedIn feed—which will become more and more diverse as your network grows—and engage with posts that interest you or that are posted by people you want to build better relationships with.
React to content you enjoy, leave insightful comments on posts that you have your own thoughts about, and repost content that really resonates with you so that your own connections can see it.
As you become more active on LinkedIn, you should see an uptick in engagement on your own posts.
Create your LinkedIn strategy today
LinkedIn isn’t a set it and forget it strategy. You need to be consistent with your content, engagement, and connection requests. Create different types of quality, interesting content and post at the right times to start building an engaged network.
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