A Comprehensive Guide to Blogging on LinkedIn in 2023

On the surface, LinkedIn is all about networking and job hunting. However, when done in the right way, blogging on LinkedIn can also serve as a powerful marketing tool.

With LinkedIn, you have an opportunity to target a specific audience within your field. It’s a dream come true for Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing, which is why blogging on the platform can be so rewarding.

Why you should start blogging on LinkedIn

As far as social networks go, few are as highly specialized as LinkedIn. This platform is used by over 60 million businesses, which makes it one of the most attractive spaces for B2B marketing online.

For example, 97% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as one of their primary sources for leads. What’s more, over the past few years, engagement on LinkedIn has risen steadily by about 50% per year.

Although LinkedIn enables you to purchase ads, there might not be the best way to engage with businesses on the platform. Users are more likely to respond to high-value posts. That is to say, you can get a better reward for your efforts by engaging in content marketing than by paying for ads.

How to publish a blog article on LinkedIn

Before we get into meatier subjects, let’s quickly run through how to publish blog articles on LinkedIn. The platform incorporates a user-friendly editor that’s a pleasure to work with. To access it, navigate to your LinkedIn feed and look for the Start a post widget at the top of the screen:

LinkedIn enables you to write status updates directly from the widget. However, for blog articles, you’ll want access to the full editor. Simply click on Write an article on LinkedIn to launch it:

If you already have blogging experience with WordPress, using this editor should be a breeze. In a nutshell, the top menu includes formatting options, and you can add images, videos, slides, links, and code snippets within the body of your post.

When you hit the Next button, LinkedIn will prompt you to include a brief description of your article. This description will show up on the feeds of your contacts, and you can also use hashtags to help other people find your content:

As you might notice, the LinkedIn editor doesn’t offer the same level of depth as WordPress. However, it’s more than enough for writing simple blog posts, and it’s easy to use!

Three tips to publish successful LinkedIn blog posts

If you’re an experienced blogger, you probably know the basics of successful posts. However, there are a few considerations you need to keep in mind when using LinkedIn for blogging. Let’s take a look at them.

1. Focus on B2B content

To maximize the number of leads you get from LinkedIn, you’ll need a laser-focused content strategy. If you’ve been blogging for a while, chances are you already know what people in your field are interested in.

However, for LinkedIn content, it’s crucial that you lean on the B2B angle. Instead of writing for individuals, you’re writing for companies. As such, you need to consider what kind of content can provide the most value to decision-makers. Some examples would include:

• Opinion articles about key aspects of your field
• Guides for cutting operating costs or optimizing business processes
• Information about upcoming networking events in your field

Perhaps the best way to maximize engagement with your content is to focus on the latest developments in your industry. This includes new technologies, approaches, major business deals, and other relevant topics.

If you’re not sure what topics to target, you can start by following hashtags related to your business via LinkedIn. You’ll quickly get a grasp on what other users and companies want to read about, and you can see what content performs well:

Keep in mind that while more popular tags can net you a broader audience, they can also make it harder for your content to stand out. You obviously want your content to be seen by as many businesses as possible, so try to include multiple related tags within your LinkedIn article’s description.

Also, for any content that falls outside the realm of B2B, you have your WordPress blog. Using both platforms simultaneously can be an excellent way to maximize your audience (we’ll take more about this in a moment).

2. Share other content through your feed to cultivate a following

Any new content that you publish on LinkedIn will automatically appear within your feed. However, if you want to cultivate a following on the platform, you’ll also want to share content from other users.

By curating the content you share, many users will see you as a trusted source within your field. As a result, they’re more likely to want to connect with you, netting you additional leads.

Once more, hashtags come in handy here. If you follow multiple hashtags in your industry, you should have a lot of content available to share.

However, one issue with LinkedIn is that the quality of published articles can vary. Of course, not everyone is an experienced content creator, so you’ll want to exercise high standards when choosing which articles to share on your feed.

3. Keep basic blog formatting guidelines in mind

Publishing articles on LinkedIn doesn’t mean you get to ignore basic formatting guidelines. You want to set the bar very high when it comes to content quality, as this will help turn your posts into go-to resources for other professionals.

Here are some important blog formatting guidelines:

• Using subheadings throughout your articles to break them up into digestible sections.
• Including images, videos, and other types of reference elements where needed.
• Using lists whenever possible to convey information more effectively.

Overall, you’ll want to make sure that your LinkedIn articles aren’t hard-to-read slabs of text. The LinkedIn editor provides you with all the formatting tools you need, so feel free to use them!

Blogging on LinkedIn vs WordPress: how the two platforms complement each other

Publishing content on LinkedIn is a great way to establish connections with other businesses, but it’s not a replacement for running a WordPress blog. With the latter, you have full control over elements such as style, monetization, and more. Plus, it enables you to reach a much broader audience than you would on LinkedIn.

However, there’s no reason why you can’t leverage your own WordPress blog and LinkedIn to maximize your audience. The only limitation is your content output.

If you already have a busy blogging schedule on WordPress, you can implement one of the following strategies:

1. Focus on creating in-depth, unique articles for LinkedIn, to avoid duplicate content issues.
2. Automatically share your blog posts to LinkedIn so you don’t have to publish articles on the platform manually.

The advantage of the second approach is that you can lead users from LinkedIn to your blog. Plus, you won’t have to fiddle with two separate editors.

Our favorite tool for the job is the WP LinkedIn Auto Publish plugin (but there are plenty of other options). As the name implies, this tool enables you to automatically publish your WordPress posts to LinkedIn:

Using the plugin, you can publish updates directly to your profile or to specific company pages. It also gives you full control over which posts get shared on LinkedIn. Ideally, you wouldn’t want to share all your blog content to LinkedIn – only the articles you think may elicit interest from your contacts or other businesses.

Conclusion

If you want your LinkedIn blog posts to get noticed by the right people, here are four tips to keep in mind:

1. Focus on B2B content.
2. Share new content through your feed.
3. Curate the content that appears on your feed to cultivate a following.
4. Keep basic blog formatting guidelines in mind for LinkedIn posts.

By John Hughes

John is a self-taught WordPress designer and developer. He has been working with the CMS for over a decade, and has experience operating as a freelancer and as part of an agency. He’s dabbled in everything from accessible design to website security. Plus, he has extensive knowledge of online business topics like affiliate marketing.