If you work in B2B marketing and communications, sharing company and client news on LinkedIn is pretty much a given, but there are benefits to branching out and posting your own content.
In the September edition of the B2B Comms Breakdown online event, Ayo Abbas and I discussed how it can help you and your company.
We also talked about how to get started if you are unsure about posting non-company content.
Here’s a summary of the discussion; scroll to the bottom to watch the full video, including audience questions.
How can LinkedIn help marcomms professionals?
Stacey
• Posting as yourself boosts your overall visibility, which is good for you and your company.
• Personal LinkedIn accounts get more attention than company accounts, which can help broaden your network.
• It’s an opportunity to write about and explore a more diverse range of ideas and topics that interest you personally.
• More visibility and talking about different things potentially opens the door to other opportunities, such as speaking engagements.
• You can also try different styles of content for personal development but also as a chance to prove them for company use.
Ayo
• As marketers, you network with a lot of directors, and you see a lot of an organisation and that insight on how we see the world is worth sharing.
• Putting your view out externally helps position yourself internally as it gives you more gravitas.
• It provides security in uncertain times and access to a hidden job market when budgets are under pressure – marcomms is often the first budget to be culled.
How can raising your individual profile help your company’s profile?
Ayo
• Individuals’ profiles add a human touch to the company profile, and people engage more with personal profiles than company pages.
• Individuals who position themselves as thought leaders enhance company credibility; it showcases thinkers and change makers in the business.
• A personal take on company content adds variety and depth and amplifies the company message and impact.
Stacey
• It’s important to have variety in your LinkedIn feed; content that isn’t explicitly connected with your company can help add variety.
• Diversifying your content can help you reach a broader audience for you and your company.
• There is power in the association between an individual and the company they work for.
How to get started posting your own, rather than just company content on LinkedIn?
Stacey
Stepping out from behind the corporate veil can be nerve-wracking.
• Start by commenting on others’ posts beyond what your company and colleagues publish – make sure comments are meaningful and add value.
• Got more to say? Turn your comment into a post.
• Share ideas and topics related to your field, such as things that have worked or maybe not.
• Recent examples seen on LinkedIn include a post about a politician messing up during an interview, which was related back to media training. And another highlighting the reasons why Apple’s new sustainability video works.
Ayo
• Start small and take incremental steps, such as adding your own thoughts when resharing company posts.
• Find posts to comment on by searching for topics relevant to your areas of interest – your content pillars.
• Look for interesting articles to share and add your perspective when sharing them.
• Talk about stuff that has inspired you or what you’ve observed (keep a note of things you see and ideas you get).
FINAL ACTIONABLE TIPS
Stacey
• What you post doesn’t have to be long and complicated, you only need to write 3 or 4 sentences.
Ayo
• Find your voice, it’s only going to get more important with the rise of AI.
Watch the full episode here:
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