The "How" in LinkedIn Content Strategy

Hey everyone!

It’s me, Dana - your LinkedIn data fellow, who tries to share valuable LinkedIn insights with you.

Let’s recap, the components of a content strategy are:

• The type of content you post

• The frequency of posting

• Your engagement strategy

• Your DM and connection request strategy

• How much time you spend on LinkedIn

Let’s look at the two most important ones: content and engagement.

1. Content

We have to tackle the elephant in the room. Content is a key part of developing authority and trust. It acts like a channel for starting conversations with people.

Content is, admittedly, 20% of what you’ve got to do if you want to establish a solid online presence, build a network, and monetize LinkedIn (if that’s your goal).

20% doesn’t sound like much.

But if you fail this part, content won’t work for you - on the contrary, it will work against you.

There are 4 very important questions you need to answer before you hit “Post”: 

• Is it helpful/actionable?

• Am I saying something new?

• If none of the above, is it funny?

• Is it readable and easy to digest?

Most people fail on #1 and #4. Also, #1 and #2 are connected: you can write about a well-known topic but with a new spin, a new angle - which is ultimately what makes it interesting.

#3 is a lifesaver when you’ve got nothing new or helpful to say - if you’re proud of your sense of humor, don’t be afraid to use it.

And we come to #4 and I really want to take some time to talk about it.

I know no one (apart from actual copywriters) came to LinkedIn to be a copywriter. But you have to learn at least the basics. LinkedIn is social media, which means people scroll up and down relentlessly. If your posts aren’t clear and simple, no one is going to read them.

I want to show you an example of a Before and After.

Before:

After:

See the difference?

This is exactly the same post. The gist is the same; nothing has changed in terms of the message.

But the long blocks of text are gone, the hyper-long sentences have been broken down, and there's been formatting added to make it easier to read through.

I know it’s annoying and superficial and everything. But if you’re getting 2-3 comments on your posts, I’m sorry to break to you - your copy is probably bad.

2. Engagement Strategy

Engagement is more important than posting content; this may seem controversial, but I stand my ground. I get around 55 comments on my posts (median) and I often get 100+ so this is a good reason to hear me out on this.

Content is for letting people know what you do and building trust. Engagement is everything else. You can show a lot more of your personality in a very genuine way when you engage with others than you can in your posts. Your comments are what make you human.

Also, engaging is the best way to find people. Because finding the right people is one of the main problems early creators face.

Here’s a system:

• Set your feed to show Most recent

This way you’ll see posts that won’t show up in your feed otherwise.

Scroll until you find someone interesting or an ICP. Comment on their post. They reply. You reply. Send a connection request. DM. Get on a call. Option A - you make a friend. Option B - you get a client.

• Go to other creators’ comment sections

Could be a competitor. Could be a creator you admire. You’ll most definitely see a comment you enjoy - because it’s funny, insightful, deep, or anything. Comment back. Go to their profile, comment on a post of theirs. They reply. You reply. Send a connection request. DM. Get on a call… You know the drill.

What’s the catch in these 2 techniques?

It’s got to be genuine. Genuine interest, genuine curiosity, and acting like a human being.

Why did I start with how many comments I get on my posts? Because LinkedIn is a give-give-give game and the main reason I get many comments is because I comment a lot.

I spend 1h, 1.5h/w (usually on Friday) to write 5-6 posts. I spend the same amount of time on LinkedIn every day engaging with people and making connections.

Once you’ve got your core community of people you believe in and support, make a list. This will enable you to check back with them daily and never miss a post. I’m currently working on a solution for hosting this list (thanks LinkedIn, for your dysfunctional notification system that never notifies timely and entirely skips some creators for whatever reason). You can even do a spreadsheet with profile links in Sheets or something (just make sure you never open all profiles at once, or LinkedIn will shadow ban you).

To recap:

Engagement is 2 things:

• Finding new people

• Supporting your community

Do this every day, and your calendar will fill up with potential friends and leads for weeks ahead.

I hope this was a helpful read! See you all next week!

Dana

Next week’s topic:

It’s your call! Tell me what you want to read more about! Unlike any other issue before, I’ve got nothing planned for next week. Reply to this email and DM me on LinkedIn.

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