Creating the Perfect LinkedIn Pulse Post for B2B Industries

LinkedIn is all about representing yourself and/or your company, what you know, who you know, and how you know them. In February of 2014, LinkedIn announced Pulse, a popular newsreader for web and mobile that would make LinkedIn even more of a “professional publishing platform.” Although Pulse has been part of LinkedIn for over two years now, it seems as if a lot of B2B industries are not utilizing the publishing platform that can connect them with millions of executives, entrepreneurs, and workers. In fact, roughly 90% of CEOs turn to LinkedIn as their daily news update, since they can find industry-related topics. If you are a B2B business, NOW is the time to dominate LinkedIn Pulse. BUT, don’t jump the gun just yet – publishing to LinkedIn is nothing like creating blogs for your company. The audience, the tone, and the overall appeal of content on LinkedIn Pulse are unique.

Surveys have shown that the majority of companies, corporations, and agencies who are not yet publishing on LinkedIn simply don’t know how, so here’s Tandem’s guide to publishing on LinkedIn Pulse:

Navigation and Implementation: Creating the Perfect Pulse Post

·         The main status bar of your LinkedIn should denote: “Home,” “Profile,” “My Network,” “Jobs,” and “Interests.” Under the “Interests” section, you can select “Pulse” and then click “Publish a post.”

·         The second way to publish a post on LinkedIn is through your homepage, where it says “Share an update,” “Upload a photo,” or “Publish a post.”

·         While you are drafting up your piece to publish in LinkedIn Editor, the top left will give you current potential topics and related ideas in case you are experiencing writer’s block. However, Tandem recommends that businesses try to choose a topic that has not yet been fleshed out and published on Pulse, in order to try and dominate that discussion.

·         Choose your title wisely – a lot of the success of your published post is going to rely on your title. If your title is not either keyword rich or engaging, you can expect that it will not receive much engagement.

·         Every time you publish a post, your connections will receive a notification email that has the title of the post in it.

·         “How-To,” “List,” and “Visual” posts perform the best on LinkedIn; “Questions” do not.

Tandem Interactive is a boutique online marketing agency in South Florida, and is always implementing industry-best-practices for our clients, including LinkedInPulse articles. Your LinkedIn publication should not be a simple re-sharing of a blog or article on your website, but constructed to be informative for your industry, readable by executives and potential B2B partners, with a very soft sell. LinkedIn Pulse is a great way to show that you have the experience and knowledge that your profile denotes and gives you ownership to the content in which you publish on its platform.

The Real Deal About Content Marketing

Those who are invested in SEO know that content is king. Well, let me be a bit clearer: QUALITY content is king. If your organization is spending a lot of time creating dynamic and creative content, it is important that you are using it to its full advantage. That is where content marketing comes in. There is a lot of talk about the strategy these days, and sometimes it is more of a buzzword than an actionable plan. Tandem can give you the inside scoop and offer a bit of guidance, to make sure you are getting the most out of your content.

What Is It?

Sure, we have all heard of content marketing. But some of us may have more of an idea of what it is than an actual grasp. To be clear, content marketing is the creation and distribution of relevant and quality content to the right audience to (hopefully) drive engagement. It might even increase your customer base, but we can’t make any promises. J

Content marketing is valuable to its audience. They want to consume it and share it. It entertains them as much as it educates them. It makes them curious about your brand. Sounds good, right?

Who Is It For?

Content marketing is created with a particular audience in mind. It may take a lot of trial and error to figure out what that audience will connect with, but once you do, the real journey begins. Because that is what content marketing is…a journey.

It is a long-term strategy that tries to touch its audience over and over. It is a brand awareness adventure. And once you share enough relevant and quality content with your audience over Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn…wherever your audience is, they will begin to remember who you are.

What Is a Good Example?

The go-to example of content marketing is an infographic, because people eat ‘em up. They are fun ways to digest information, so it makes them hot commodities on social media. Have a topic that is tough to make exciting? Infographics can add some pop and flair to not-so interesting content, topics, or industries. If you have a graphics person on your team, put them to work!

Other content that is great for marketing includes: industry resources like whitepapers, case studies and e-books. If you want to get more visual, videos, GIFs and slideshows can all have great success and grasp a consumer’s attention.

It is important to see the difference with these examples. Things like infographics and GIFs almost beg to be consumed and shared. People in your target audience should want to download your whitepaper; it should drive people to your site. That is what makes a good piece of content marketing.

Why Should I Bother?

Like many other marketing strategies, content marketing does not promise a sharp increase in sales over night. It is a long-term investment that seeks to connect with an audience. During the course of your content marketing journey, you will build tons of valuable resources. This can have all sorts of positive SEO and social media implications. After you have truly honed in on what your audience wants to see and read, and built your brand up in their minds, you may start to see some of that audience converting.

Whether your business is big or small, content marketing is a worthy cause. While it may take a lot of work, and you may not see a lot of immediate pay off, it is a long-term investment that will help you learn about your audience and even your own company.

To learn more about content marketing or any kind of content strategy, contact Tandem Interactive and one of our team members will be glad to answer any questions you may have!