Previously, LinkedIn’s Publisher feature was only available to Influencers – high-profile business leaders, celebrities, and authors. But LinkedIn recently opened the blog-like platform to the entire LinkedIn community. This is great! These long-form posts allow you to position yourself as an expert and showcase your expertise with your connections, followers, and extended network. We all have something to say, and this new feature makes it super easy to do so!
Logistically, here’s what happens when you post using LinkedIn’s Publisher Feature:
- Your post is instantly shared with your connections and followers. They receive a notification in the form of a red-flag on their profile.
- Your content is posted on your LinkedIn profile, under the Posts section.
- Your post is searchable on and off of LinkedIn.
- When your connections engage with your posts (like, comment or share), the content blasts to their entire network.
So, the big question is - is this feature relevant for financial advisors? Should advisors be spending their time feverishly writing about the most important issues to their connections? Our answer is ‘yes’, but don’t get too carried away. If you have the ability (from a compliance standpoint) to post using LinkedIn’s Publisher platform, you have to manage your expectations. Pumping out endless blogs isn’t going to result in your connections beating down your door – begging to do business with you. What you use the LinkedIn publisher platform for is important. We suggest utilizing it for the following:
Position Yourself as a Thought-leader
What questions do you receive most often from your best clients and COIs? Take answers to those questions and write about them. If you have a highly targeted niche (e.g. tech-startups in Seattle) write about their financial concerns. Speak directly to your target market.
Raise Awareness About Your Services
One of the benefits of publishing content, is the overall awareness it creates. Whenever you publish a post, it pushes a notification to your connections. It gives you a platform to tell your connections what you do and the types of problems you solve. The more your network engages with you, the farther the message will travel. When your 1st degree connections engage with your posts, your extended network is notified. Thus, your 2nd and 3rd degree connections become familiar with you and your expertise. Your ability to track this awareness is also fantastic. LinkedIn will show you who views, likes, and comments on your posts in a snap.
Accelerate Word-of-Mouth
If your posts are relevant and helpful, people will share them. This is precisely what you want to occur. The plumbing of social networks is word-of-mouth influence. This can open the doors to new connections and more business opportunities as positive buzz ensues.
Other Publisher tips:
- There is power in brevity. No one wants to read a dissertation. Keep things short and punchy. Use bullet points, numbered lists, bold key points, and more.
- Have a clear call-to-action at the end of each entry. Let the readers know where they should go next, how they can implement your thought or idea, or how they can contact you with questions.
- Don’t get overly personal, political or religious! Stay away from any controversial issues. If it’s not appropriate for a business meeting, don’t bring it up on LinkedIn.
If you haven’t yet experimented with LinkedIn Publisher, there’s no better time than now. But if you want serious impact, you’ll need to develop a routine. Plan the next three months of posts and include a variety of different types of content. If you haven’t yet connected with us on LinkedIn, please do, we want to see your first attempts at Publisher!
Stephen Boswell and Kevin Nichols are thought-leaders with The Oechsli Institute, a firm that specializes in research and training for the financial services industry. @StephenBoswell @KevinANichols www.oechsli.com
