Author: staceymeadwell

B2B content writer, media trainer and moderator. Theatre blogger on the side.
General

Lessons learned from making 3.5 videos to use on social media

My third interviewee, theatre director Sara Joyce

I’ve talked about experimenting with content on LinkedIn, but confession time: I cheat.

I use Instagram and YouTube for my hobby (theatre blogging), and those have become a bit of a playground for trying new stuff.

(Yes, this is how I spend my free time.)

My most recent experiment started with an idea for short and snappy video interviews with creatives that would satisfy my love of talking to people and give me a point of difference from other theatre bloggers.

At the same time, I was mulling over interview-style content for my business social accounts but hadn’t settled on a format that I liked and which might work.

This is where trying stuff out has helped, not just in developing my technical skills but also in refining and developing the idea and format.

I’ve only made 3.5 videos, but each is an improvement on the last, and I wanted to share the journey and a few of the things I’ve learned so far.

🎥 Video 1 – the self-tape lesson

My first interviewee was writer/director Rebecca Holbourn, who I know and was happy to be my guinea pig.

The idea was to send 5 questions; they would video their answers and send the recording back to me. I’d then edit, adding in title cards and questions.

Rebecca said that self-taping her answers took a while to get something they were happy with.

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General

Rules of engagement: How to magnify your visibility on LinkedIn

Photo by Anthony Hortin on Unsplash

Engagement is a piece of the LinkedIn jigsaw that gets overlooked, but an engagement strategy is crucial to elevating your visibility and boosting impressions* on your content.

Rule 1: Engaging with other content

Do you comment on other posts? Writing comments on other people’s posts is great for your visibility.

Your profile pic and headline are attached to your activity on LinkedIn. So the more places you engage (react/comment/click to attend an event, etc), the more people who will see your photo, name and what you do.

But more than that, adding a meaningful comment is an opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise or how you think, your values and who you are with a bigger audience.

If you comment, the author will likely get notified, and those reading the comments will see what you’ve written. Some people who’ve already engaged will get notified that you’ve added a comment.

The post may even appear in some of your connections’ LinkedIn feeds, highlighted as a post you’ve commented on.

See how commenting can magnify your presence on the platform? Not only that, it can magnify your presence in between and alongside posting your content.

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General

4 things that might be killing your reach on LinkedIn

Photo by Gabriel Varaljay on Unsplash

LinkedIn is a platform full of quirks, and while no one outside of LinkedIn will ever fully understand how it works, there are some practices which may impact your reach and are, therefore, best avoided.

These are gleaned from 5 years of using the platform regularly and devouring content from a range of LinkedIn experts.

Tagging

You want to thank people or highlight a team of people who worked on a project, so you reach for the @ key to tag.

But be careful. Excessive tagging is sometimes used as a ‘hack’ by spammers to try and draw attention to a post.

LinkedIn doesn’t like hacks or its users getting spammed. If people don’t respond when they are tagged in a post, it can be a black mark against your content.

Yes, tag, but tag sparingly. And if you are legitimately tagged in a post, make sure you respond, even if it’s just hitting a reaction.

Posting too frequently

LinkedIn isn’t like X/Twitter, where you can fire off Tweet after Tweet without any problems.

Posts have a longer shelf life, and posting again too soon can affect your reach.

24 hours between posts seems to be the consensus.

So if you’ve got a lot to say or lots of news to announce, try and spread it out if you can.

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General

Getting more from LinkedIn for B2B marketing and comms teams

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.

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General

B2B content marketing: How to think like a journalist and get more readers

Photo by Michael Fousert on Unsplash

Journalists are expert information gatherers, storytellers and writers – they have to be, they want people to pay to read what they’ve written or get clicks on their website to satisfy advertisers.

Here are four tips and techniques B2B content creators and content marketers can adopt to make sure content grabs attention, is compelling and stands out from the competition.

1. Finding a good story angle 🔎

AUDIENCE

Journalists are described as having a nose for a story. The first consideration will always be their readers/viewers/listeners: What is most relevant, useful or of interest?

You can see this in action by comparing national newspaper headlines on similar stories. Each publication will angle the story to the interests and demographic of their main readership.

People will read what is useful, interesting and what resonates.

POINT OF DIFFERENCE

Journalists operate in a competitive market. The same press release will likely have gone to their rivals, so they look for a point of difference to make their version of the story stand out.

That might mean finding extra information their rivals don’t have. Or looking beyond the obvious for a different way of telling or illustrating a particular story or idea.

They are good at getting creative.

2. Adding the human and relatable 🕺🏻

Journalists understand the power of people in stories, from profiles and case studies to pull-out quotes and reactions.

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