Creating LinkedIn Articles
Posting an article on LinkedIn can help you engage and build your connections. They are very much like blogs posts and in fact you can take your current or past blog posts and pop them over on LinkedIn as an article. It is as easy as copy and paste and upload a photo.
Use this checklist to guide you to success as you create your articles and/or re-purpose your content.
Creating an Article
- Click on “Write an article on LinkedIn” located at bottom of the post status area on the homepage.
- On the next screen is where you begin writing your article like you would on any website.
- To add a headline to your article, click on the Headline field. Type in your headline. Use clear headlines that grab user’s attention from the feed and make them want to click through to read the article.
- Format your article in a way that makes it easy to read.
- Use the formatting toolbar at the top of the page for Normal, Heading 1, and Heading 2 styles, to apply bold, italics, underline text, create lists, or quote styles.
- To add a link in the article, select the corresponding text, click the Link icon on the far right of the toolbar, add your URL and click Apply.
- Add a cover image to the top of your article by clicking on the area above the headline and upload an image. Recommended size is 744 x 400px images.
- Position your image from the button that appears after loading your image. You can add a caption here as well.
- Embed images, slides, links to other social media posts or video in the body of the article by clicking the icon on the left of the article body.
- Click on the option from the pop-up window for the type of content you’re adding.
- Proofread your article.
- Your article is automatically saved as a draft in LinkedIn.
- Click Publish at the top of the page when you are ready to make it live.
- Click the Share button at the bottom of your article.
- Choose the option of where you want to share it.
Article Tips
- “How to” and “Number of” headlines usually perform well on LinkedIn.
- Use shorter paragraphs with images.
- Add subheadings, bullet points and bold type to make it easier to skim.
- Include a call to action in your article.
- Find attention capturing images at Unsplash or Pixabay for your article if you need some.
- Set your LinkedIn articles visibility to public. Go to your privacy settings by clicking on your profile photo and choosing Settings and Privacy.
- Select Edit Your Public Profile settings. Your Profile’s Public Visibility should be set to “On.” Then scroll to Articles and Activity and set to Show.
- Add hashtags when sharing your articles to your personal LinkedIn feed for more views.
- Tell your network why you’re sharing the article and add hashtags to the post.
- When writing your article, understand your audience and what they are interested in on LinkedIn.
- Keep headlines short, and to the point.
- Write long-form content of around 1900 to 200 words.
There you have it. LinkedIn is a platform that is growing and evolving. It is also getting more of a social theme to it and not just all business so you can really share any type of article there. Don’t be afraid to use this platform and have fun with it.
Maggie Holbik Business Coaching 