
My dad reads my blog posts.
I know what you’re thinking, what a supportive dad—and he is. Except, he isn’t just reading my blog posts because I wrote them; he’s reading them because he’s starting to do inbound marketing. In fact, he reads a lot of our agency’s posts I share on LinkedIn, and I’ve noticed he’s been using LinkedIn a lot more often. He’s even started publishing long-form posts syndicated from his company’s blog. After all these years of going to him for advice, it’s nice to get the chance to share some of my expertise and watch his progress in a B2B industry (healthcare consulting).
Though my dad has been a bit late to the LinkedIn long-form publishing party, he seems to be enjoying the results so far. He made his first post in March 2015, and has been publishing about twice a week consistently for the past month. He hasn’t amassed a huge following by any means, but his posts usually get between 50-100 views, along with a few comments and likes. When I asked him over Christmas if he thought it’s been effective so far, he said he liked the interaction and discussion with the doctors and professionals in his industry, and is eager to do more. He couldn’t even help but publish on Christmas Eve.
With 94% of B2B marketers using LinkedIn to distribute content, LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable social platform for any professional looking to make connections and generate leads in their industry. From healthcare consulting to custom manufacturing, just about every industry has a strong presence on LinkedIn these days, and long-form publishing can help you become an influencer in your niche. Though the top channels revolve around more general subjects like Leadership & Management, Big Ideas & Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, you shouldn’t be discouraged from sharing niche industry content. Looking at some of the top channels below, for example, you can see that there are large audiences looking for content in a variety of B2B industries, and thousands of connections to be made within them.
LinkedIn Influencers garner the most attention with their articles due to their Influencer status, but I’ve also witnessed non-influencer users gaining a large following in a niche industry. The people who have been publishing the longest have had the advantage of being an early leader, but I’ve still seen impressive results from those who’ve started within the past year or so.
Ricky Smith, President & CEO at Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices, LLC, made his first post in late October 2014 with 287 views, and 48 posts later, now averages more than 1,500 views for his most recent articles. His posts include headlines such as, “Top Three Reasons Why Companies Don’t Measure Asset and Process Reliability”, “Day in the Life of a Proactive Maintenance Technician”, and “Evolution from Lean Manufacturing to Lean Reliability”; and he’s amassed more than 10,000 followers. It’s only taken him slightly over a year to grow from hundreds of views per post to thousands—and he’s doing it publishing roughly once a week.
While this is just one example, it’s a clear indication that LinkedIn’s long-form posts are highly effective for B2Bs looking to increase views on their content, and it can be as simple as reformatting one of your company’s blog articles in 10 minutes. While you can’t expect every publisher to have the same success (Smith has accomplished a lot in his career, on top of being an experienced LinkedIn user with many connections), his long-form publishing strategy is a great example of what you should emulate and aim for with your own posts.
To help increase the success of your long-form posts, make sure you follow these 5 tips:
If your company is creating enough blog content to maintain a regular publishing schedule, you’re certainly creating enough content to syndicate it in long-form posts. Use LinkedIn’s long-form publishing tool in combination with your blog to maximize your reach, and you’ll be amazed at the number of connections you can make. Just ask my dad.
Topics: Social Media