Of the many distractions we face in our business lives, I am guessing that social media is not one that you would rate as useful. Believe me, I get it. With over 100 emails a day, phone calls, and app notifications, I would say that over 50% are pure spam. My car warranty is just fine, and I don't have time for all those Nigerian Princes and Royal Banks who want to give me money!
I want you to think about social media in a slightly different way.
LinkedIn is the “It' platform for B2b businesses and it's better than other social media sites, but it also has an identity crisis when it comes to creating value with the time spent there.
Social media is about getting attention, and getting people to take action. Members seem to have the attention part working with polls, live and talking head videos, and links to articles, but getting people to take action is still the main issue. People are busy. Unless you have something worth acting upon that has a perceived value to the end-user, your info just falls flat.
Your audience sees your info only “IF” they log in and it shows up in their news feed or notifications. Keeping their attention (beyond 8 seconds) to read beyond your headline is a challenge and an art. Then, factor in the WIIFM (what's in it for me) for the readers, and it feels like too much work or just a waste of time.
The Challenge
Linkedin makes 75% of its income from jobs, 20% from premium user services (Sales Navigator), and 5% from advertising. With that being said, it's not designed to get people to log in and stay online as much!
Add to that, the people who think it's a shooting gallery for leads with automation, spammy connections, and content that is nothing more than a veiled sales pitch (and not even done well), and you have a mess.
There are tons of new features like Content Creator, Live Audio (ala Clubhouse), cover stories, and posts of up to 3000 words (ain't nobody got time for that). These features are designed to get people to spend more time on the platform. Active users generally spend less than 15 minutes per week, (versus 22 minutes a day on Facebook) consuming content. With all the noise, it's getting more difficult to stand out and get engagement.
But there is one new feature that is sneaking under the radar called LinkedIn Newsletters (read more below.)
I understand why businesses have not found a way to get attention or create sales and I understand why they don't think it has value. But I have broken through using free tools for myself and my clients that are actively generating sales through current connections and past content (repurposed on LinkedIn.)
The Secret
Newsletters themselves are articles with a twist. An article is not automatically a newsletter, but you can do both. The secret is about how to effectively use a LinkedIn Newsletter as a relationship marketing tool.
A newsletter is something that shows up in news feeds just like a regular article with some added features and benefits.
- People are prompted to subscribe
- Subscribers are notified of new posts
- Your new posts are emailed to subscribers (From LinkedIn)
That means that when people subscribe to your newsletter, they get an email that comes from LinkedIn and that has a higher perceived value in their inbox. It also has higher deliverability than most emails we can send from our own business. In one short month, I have over 1000 subscribers (and growing) with only 5000 connections (That's over 20% engagement which is HUGE.)
That is where most other newsletters come up short of their full potential… and that's just one mistake.
The Mistakes
As I mentioned before going through all of that effort and getting people to your content without giving them an opportunity to take action creates awareness, but not sales. You have to add a carrot on that stick.
Another mistake is creating a newsletter for your business page. The average business page has 250 followers and LinkedIn does not actively promote them as much as profile content. So getting people to subscribe is more of a challenge than if you create it attached to a personal profile.
Finally, people are creating new materials specifically for their newsletters. Why try new stuff when you already have content (in the form of blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, and more) on your own website? If you are measuring traffic to your webpage and what is getting the most engagement, you already have success and know what's working.
Don't assume that people who see your content only once will take action. Also, don't assume that people will look down on you for repurposing content. Chances are your LinkedIn audience may be different than people who actively engage on your website.
What could more content engagement do for your website, business, and sales? What if you could create more users and fans of your messages, instruction, and thought leadership?
Relative Awareness content & Consistency… builds Engagement (R.A.C.E.)
The Bonus Points
What we have seen is more people engage with LinkedIn newsletters than any other content posted on LinkedIn. That's because of the combination of notifications, and emails to subscribers.
Where this gets interesting and profitable is when our clients are sharing a link to a downloadable asset (that has actual value to the reader). If you can get people to click the link and share their information as a trade for your prized info, you can now add them to your marketing ecosystem. You can add them to email drips, email lists, and connect with them on social media. This will turbo-boost your reach, engagement, and guide them through a customer journey that often leads to closed business.
All of this can be done while utilizing existing content. It can be enhanced by creating new and timely content that builds upon that cornerstone content already working for you and your business on your website.
Final Thoughts
If you want to learn more about the ecosystem part, download my eBook, where I take you through the steps we have used to help clients increase their sales by as much as 30% in just one year! And it's repeatable and sustainable.
Cold Call of the Week
I had this guy cold contact me from LinkedIn. He was trying to get me to buy his automated leads system. He said, “I discovered Linkedin 2 years ago and now I am all in.” He asked me, “How often do you use it?” and I said, “2-3 times a day!” He said, “Really? So how long have you been on LinkedIn?” I said, “I was one of the first 1000 members and have been using it since 2004.” He said, “I didn't even know it was around then?” I said “I know!” (and the call ended quickly after that).
The moral of the story is to do your research and make sure you have something of value to the end-user. If you do, then you have a chance… if not then you are wasting everyone's time (including your own.)
I would love to hear your thoughts on sharing new and old content on Linkedin via their newsletter feature. Are you using this feature yet to reach more people and get more engagement? Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about sharing new and old content in your LinkedIn newsletters.
To learn more about this and other topics on Internet Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.
