Can writing on LinkedIn be a good idea?
I used to believe the answer was no.
I'm reconsidering ... and so should you.
Let me emphasize that I mean what you just read; I'm reconsidering.
The piece I contributed yesterday on the similarities between love and customer service was my very
first post here.
I don't believe the one you're reading now will be my last—and I've got a handful lined
up—but I'm conflicted.
But that's OK.
just as you should be "reconsidering" the ways and places you put yourself "out there",
you should feel the conflict between quantity and quality, between control and volume, between
comfort and change.
When I'm not writing, I'm doing other media and marketing and customer service stuff.
I've been "that guy" for a very long time; I like pontificating.
Admit it: so do you.
And that's a good thing, because here's a secret:
Content Marketing, the buzzphrase to end all buzzphrases and pretty much the only thing
we hear about in 2014, is nothing more than a carefully-managed pontification campaign.
You have a message that either because you love teaching, have something to sell, or
both, you want to deliver.
Preferably to a bazillion people.
Preferably with the result being that enough of them get excited enough about what you
wrote, or said, or crammed into a video that they contact you and ask how much of their
money you want for whatever's next!!!
No Really: !!!
Wasn't that brilliant?
You've already taken out your wallet, haven't you?
Probably not.
That's OK, there's more, and even if your money stays right where it is, I'm gonna keep
talking.
Because this is Content Marketing, baby!
In the last year or so, I've written several times about the idea of something called Guest
Blogging.
Here,in the order I wrote them, are those articles:
Guest Blogging is a Very Bad Idea Grow a Pair
Google Says You'd Better Stop Guest Blogging Writing on Facebook is a Waste of Time
I'd love for you to click through to Answer Guy Central and read all of those posts.
But if you'd rather stay here, the summary is simple:
You give up too much control when you write at someone else's site
If you ignore #1, then keep in mind that someone who does you the great honor of publishing
your content at his site owes you the courtesy of co-promoting you
Google is going to penalize both the writer and the host of guest-blogged content unless
the content is on-point for the site where it's published
Big sites like Facebook aren't in the content business, so either be happy with a small
subset of your friends seeing what you write, pay up for advertising, or go away.
And yet, here I am, "guest blogging" at LinkedIn.
What gives?
I wrote yesterday's piece as a sort of test.
I've been considering it for a while, and have begun advising our clients that LinkedIn
is worth considering as an extra platform for getting your messages out since LinkedIn
began opening up the Pulse program to anyone who wished to contribute content.
One of the things we're pretty good at is Search Engine Optimization, but keep "point
#3" in mind as I tell you that old-school Search Engine Optimization is no longer a
terribly useful pursuit.
There are two primary reasons that's true.
One is that with the volume of noise growing exponentially on The Intertubes, it's a bit
harder every day to make pure SEO techniques work.
The second is that the Google algorithm's ever-deepening scrutiny of your content is
skewing toward a simple fact:
Bigger is better.
Answer Guy Central draws about a thousand visitors per day, and that sounds like a big
number.
We're in the top 1.1% or so of most-trafficked web sites, and that sounds impressive.
But traffic there is built a bit at a time.
Most days, there isn't a single story pulling so many as a hundred views.
In twenty-four hours, yesterday's piece—and remember it's the first article I've posted
here— has pulled about 400 views, and generated, you guessed it, traffic "back home".
So now let's re-interpret and re-examine those same four points:
You want control LinkedIn is huge, and at least for the moment
allowing you that control Google, so far, thinks content at LinkedIn
is worth keeping track of Umm ... did I mention that size matters?
So yes, for now ... for right now, writing for LinkedIn is a great idea.
Now all you need is a plan.
Keep watching; I've got one for you ...