In this episode, I explore how to develop a content marketing strategy for LinkedIn and share an excerpt of my recent LinkedIn Live. I explain why you need a Content Marketing Strategy and the 4 key steps involved in creating a content marketing strategy for your organisation.

How to Develop a Content Marketing Strategy for LinkedIn

Have you been planning to spend more time on LinkedIn for your business? To help you maximise LinkedIn, here are the four steps I recommend you follow to develop a content marketing strategy for LinkedIn. 

One of the reasons I love LinkedIn. It’s because it demands so much less time, attention and content creation than social media (e.g. Instagram). The key with LinkedIn is to have a well written profile, to curate your newsfeed and to be intentional about the time you spend there. When you regularly show up on LinkedIn, comment, engage meaningfully with your connections, invite colleagues, clients and friends to connect and re-post relevant updates, it will open doors you never knew existed. LinkedIn also offers you free professional networking and client research. 

It’s important to systemise your procedures for networking and sales rituals on LinkedIn. And, yes, the tips I’m sharing today are based on developing a content plan for LinkedIn, but the time you spend on LinkedIn should not just be posting content. Your focus needs to be on starting conversations. So if it feels like LinkedIn is the place you need to be for your business right now, I want you to know it’s okay to spend some time connecting and researching. When you’re ready to ‘put yourself out there’, I want you to shine, by following my steps for developing a content marketing strategy for LinkedIn.

1. Know your focus for LinkedIn

Knowing your focus for LinkedIn means you’re more effective and intentional when you’re there. Doing this upfront thinking can save you a lot of time. Here are the factors to consider to help you determine your focus for LinkedIn as you develop your content marketing strategy.

• What are the strategic goals or the pre-existing marketing and sales plan goals you are hoping to achieve from spending time on LinkedIn?
• What is your ideal client and/or community focus on LinkedIn? Have you done your research on LinkedIn to determine this is the right platform for your organisation? If you have a business to business brand or are a coach or consultant or small business service provider, LinkedIn is a great place to be. If you have a consumer product or retail brand, social media may be a better focus for your content marketing strategy.
• LinkedIn profile versus LinkedIn page? What makes more sense for you, your brand and your organisation? Should you focus on both? How will the content strategy be the same or different?
• Have you set specific content marketing goals? e.g build awareness of your brand and services, establish your thought leadership, growing your following (be careful with this one – quality over quantity is always better).
• Content pillars – what are the conversations you / your organisation wants to lead, start or contribute to on LinkedIn?

2. Have a manageable plan for implementing your content marketing strategy

A manageable plan recognises your focus, and helps you clarify what you can do well on LinkedIn e.g. profile or page posting. It’s really important to consider your capacity in this step. Do not try to do it all. Consider a phased approach that begins with reviewing your LinkedIn presence. How’s your profile looking? Have you created a company page? The LinkedIn company page is a free feature and easy to create.

Review your LinkedIn Profile

Does it clearly demonstrate the story you’re trying to tell and the ideal clients you wish to engage with? Are you leveraging all of the free features available?  It’s important you review and refresh your LinkedIn assets (profile and page) before implementing your content marketing strategy.

Here’s what to consider to ensure you have a manageable plan for implementing your content marketing strategy on LinkedIn:

• Decide on your cornerstone content – which LinkedIn marketing features make sense for your organisation and ideal clients? (e.g. newsletter, video, LinkedIn Live, tips, case studies, etc)
• Decide on your mix of content – have you clearly classified and documented your owned, curated and promotional content and related sources?
• Decide on your posting frequency – how often will your post content from your company page?
• Decide on your posting scheduling tools – will you schedule posts via LinkedIn and/or 3rd party scheduling tools?

3. Be Consistent with your Content Marketing Strategy on LinkedIn

Consistency is the cornerstone of the effective implementation of your content marketing strategy. If you’ve decided on a posting frequency, stick to it for at least 3 months and then evaluate its effectiveness. Here’s what to consider to help you maintain a consistent presence on LinkedIn:

• Is your content posting plan documented? Use a spreadsheet to track the times you post. Review your LinkedIn analytics to inform future content plans.
• Allocate content marketing management roles – engage a fellow One Roof Community member (e.g. Ghostwriter, Virtual Assistant, Copywriter) to help you manage your LinkedIn presence, ensure you respond to comments, re-posts and messages, and help you navigate your company page.
• If you’ve agreed on a monthly LinkedIn newsletter – have you put the systems and schedule in place to make sure you deliver a high quality newsletter every single month? 
• If you’ve decided to run regular LinkedIn Live events, have you mapped the dates for the next 12 months, tested your streaming software and researched the best way to run these?

4. Follow LinkedIn Rituals to maximise your content marketing strategy on LinkedIn

Systemise your marketing and content rituals for your LinkedIn posting plan and use the scheduling tools, analytics and marketing features to maximise your time on LinkedIn. Look for conversation starters based on the traffic you’re creating to your profile and page with the increased activity as a result of your content marketing strategy. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional community and the opportunity is to start conversations with potential clients and community members. Your content marketing strategy needs to include community management and involve your client facing team members.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy my LinkedIn Live where I explore these four steps. You can How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy for LinkedIn on Think Bespoke’s You Tube channel.

Need help with LinkedIn?

Browse Think Bespoke’s website library and knowledge base for helpful articles about LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Marketing and Career Management.