Tips for Creating Posts on LinkedIn's New Publishing Platform

Image: Mystery Writers Nana B Agyei Flickr Nanagyei

The competition is on for content creation! LinkedIn are slowly rolling out their publishing platform to members and soon all members will be able to create and share long-form-posts with their network and beyond.

This does not mean that you become a LinkedIn influencer but your post will become part of your professional profile and can be viewed in the posts section of your profile. You can share your posts with your connections and they can like, comment and share your posts which will help to distribute your post beyond your network. If other members outside your network see your post they can also choose to follow you from your long form post and receive updates when you publish another post. Long form posts are public and are searchable both on and off LinkedIn so even non members will be able to see you posts.

To create a long-form-post simply go to your ‘Share an update’ box and then click the pencil icon and it will take you to the publishing tool. You can add links, visuals and embed videos. Once your post has been created you can edit it or delete it if you wish, and you can view stats for your long form post as well.

To view your posts simply click ‘Profile’ at the top of your page and then find the ‘Posts’ section and then click any of your posts and then click ‘See your posts and stats’. You can choose to hide or flag any abusive comments.

Long-form-posts are all about sharing your professional expertise. If you want your posts to get distributed beyond your network then you need to stay away from promotional posts and keep your posts centred around creating value for your audience. LinkedIn determines quality of posts by their algorithm and other factors and some high quality posts may get tagged and distributed through LinkedIn Pulse and emails but there is no guarantee of this.

Here are some tips for creating long-form-posts:

Keep your posts relevant to your expertise and around subjects that your target audience are interested in

Share your posts on other networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+. You can automatically share with Twitter by checking the Twitter icon on the publishing tool

Share your posts with relevant LinkedIn Groups

Publish frequently

Engage on the platform by liking and commenting on other member posts

Include an image wherever possible to add to the visual experience

Ask a question at the end of your post to encourage discussion and engagement

Grow your following so you can increase your reach

If you wish to apply early access to LinkedIn's publishing platform you will need to complete a short form here and include examples of your professional content.