LinkedIn lets you publish two types of written content directly to the platform. Articles are long-form pieces that let you show your expertise in a relatively in-depth way: articles can often run to over 1,000 words. LinkedIn blog posts are usually shorter and more anecdotal, though still professional in tone. They'll appear to your connections via their newsfeeds.
You can also write blogs on your websites, of course, and simply share the links on LinkedIn. How do you decide which approach to use? Let’s look at some pros and cons:
External Blog Posts
- Hosted on your domain – allowing you to build authority more easily.
- SEO – as they're on your site, you'll get the benefits.
- You're in control – you can choose every aspect of how your posts appear.
- Limited audience – you may well not get as big an audience as on LinkedIn.
- Inertia – seeing blog posts needs readers to move from LinkedIn to your site.
LinkedIn Articles & Blogs
- Social media – articles allow you to build authority on major platforms.
- Large audience – your content may be seen by very many people.
- Friction-free – people can consume your content without switching sites.
- Lack of SEO – you're not publishing on your own platform, denying you SEO benefits.
- Limited customisability – you're restricted to options LinkedIn provides.
You Don't Have To Choose
Most LinkedIn users use a mix of externally and internally published content. It's usually best to begin with an external blog article, since you, not LinkedIn, will get the benefits from Google's indexing. You can use the Google Search Console to optimise your content and get it indexed more quickly.
Then, move over to LinkedIn and publish another, unique blog there. It can cover the same topic from a different angle, but for SEO reasons, it must be qualitatively different to your external blog post to avoid duplicate content penalties in Google.
As to the question of LinkedIn article or blog post, feel free to use both formats. Publish short blogs to provide company updates, commentary and links to promotions, and write the occasional article to provide in-depth information to your prospects.
Going Further
You don't need to limit yourself to LinkedIn for republishing. If your business uses Facebook, its "Note" functionality is one way to republish content from other platforms. The same goes for other platforms, though always keep their demographics in mind. Working with a business development partner like JDR can let you cut through to what works and what doesn't without the overheads an in-house team can incur.
Image source: Pixabay
