Blogging. It's a way to share your thoughts, views and brand information with your customers and potential clients. Blogging can be therapeutic for others, who use it to share their personal stories, write reviews or introduce new products. Some people blog for fun, others simply for business benefit. One thing is for certain most bloggers are always looking for a way to increase their audience and share their content with a wider audience.
Enter Linkedin Publishing. Linkedin has long been an avenue to share your blog or other articles with your connections. Last year, Linkedin expanded its publishing offerings to members. As of January 2015, Linkedin is reporting that it has reached one million member posts. I started publishing via Linkedin in late July 2014. I was sharing the SYDCON blog on Linkedin for some time prior to that via the SYDCON Linkedin page as well as my personal profile. I pursued this avenue as a route to expand the reach of our blog as well as explore new connections.
Since July, I have published 60 posts via Linkedin Publishing. At first, I didn't experience high numbers in views, likes or comments. But, I used it as a metric tool and also as a way to improve the content I was developing and sharing. So, I started tinkering, as well as reading and following other publishers on Linkedin. As I expanded what I was reading, I began developing better content. As best as I can tell from my calculations, the SYDCON blog published via Linkedin since July 2014 has had 14,148 views collectively over 60 posts. The posts have also had 720 likes and 97 comments. Lately, the comments have been more regular. Would I like to have more engagement via comments, sure, but I am embracing the views and likes as well as the shares via Twitter. We have also noticed an uptick in traffic to sydcon.com/ on days that a post was successful via Linkedin.
Another avenue I am enjoying is having the post featured in different sectors. We have been featured in Technology, Social Media, Education, Marketing and Advertising, Careers and Education. I just love the diversity of the features. To me, it means I am engaging a wider audience. SYDCON can assist firms in varying industries. Sometimes we are asked by a potential client if we have experience in a specific industry. Our answer may be no, but it ultimately doesn't matter. To us, code is code no matter what the industry is.
Our blog has varying topics just like our clients are in varying industries. We may discuss current technology, apps, social media, education, programming or fun current events. Just as I have varying connections on Linkedin or other social media networks, we have varying topics. By utilizing Linkedin Publishing I am reaching a wider more diverse audience. I have grown my audience to 501 followers via Linkedin Publishing. Linkedin provides data on the followers, such as location, industry, and seniority. Below is a snapshot of the data Linkedin provides.
Are you using Linkedin Publishing to grow your audience and expand your reach? Or perhaps you have found new businesses or individuals to follow due to others utilizing the publishing tool. If you have not yet used Publishing, I urge you to give it a try, it really is very easy to do. On your profile or home page on the top, you will see a box to "share an update". It contains a pencil and a paper clip icon. Click on the pencil and you are on your way. I would love if someone learned about Linkedin Publishing and shared an updated with me. Happy Publishing!
