I have enjoyed the response from my long-form Post last Tuesday on LinkedIn.
I suggest you write and perfect an observation piece that is relevant to business life universally. It can be opinion piece, a slice of life, a pithy commentary, anything that will add to the professional conversation.
No typos or grammar errors! So write it on Word and be sure it’s all set to publish before you add it to LinkedIn.
Steps for making a long-form Post:
It’s easy to do; but LinkedIn makes it hard to find where to start. On your Home page, find the pencil icon (I added a red box) in the “share an update” box.- When you click the pencil, you next see a new page to upload your Post. Starting at the top:
- Add a max-sized 698 x 400 pixel graphic to illustrate the central point you are making. It must be jpg, jpeg or png only. In most cases LinkedIn will resize the graphic to make it fit the box. You can also move it into a better position once loaded.
- When you mouse over the very top of the graphic you posted, a small word box opens that says “credit the person who made this image” and cite the source. That’s just good form. Please think if you have the rights to publish it. be careful here. That’s why I always use my own graphics and photos to pay it safe.
- Develop a headline and copy-paste it in the “Write Your Headline” space. Think like a newspaper headline writer to be eye-catching by the reader.
- Copy and paste your Post from Word into LinkedIn; in most cases, Post will preserve the italics, bullet points, bold,. etc that you started with. If not, LinkedIn allows you to fix it using their tools. You can justify the margins, embed and add more graphics, use headlines within the article, add links to internet-based material, etc.
- Don’t forget to add a short bio at the end including your LinkedIn URL and any other links you want to send the reader to.
- LinkedIn allows you 3 (only !) tagged subject phrases. I am not sure what that does and why, but they allow you 3, so use 3.
You can then either save your work on LinkedIn and return to it later, or publish it right then and there.- In a seconds, minutes, hours, days, your published material will appear on LinkedIn globally and will add to your following as a opinion-maker and thought leader. People will open it, like it or comment on it and you get the analytics:
- Later even after you publish it, you can still edit it in real-time or delete it.
- If your work is worthy, and no one seems to know how it is deemed that, Pulse may pick it up as an article on one of their subject channels.
Posting once every 2 to 3 weeks should be enough. A few paragraphs makes your point. Practice makes perfect.
Tell us what’s on your mind, professionally.
