Tag: Social media

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Writing LinkedIn posts: 3 different styles of opening lines

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

The first two lines of your LinkedIn post are critical for stopping the scroll and drawing readers in.

If it’s boring and doesn’t grab attention or intrigue, people will scroll on by.

There are many ways to write an attention-grabbing opening line on a LinkedIn post. Here are three examples using this post I wrote about the dangers of relying too heavily on one social platform.

1. My original opening line

What would you do if you couldn’t post to one or more of your social media platforms?

It happened to me recently.

I started with a question that would (hopefully) give pause for thought and intrigue – ‘What would I do?’ ‘How does my strategy compare?’ etc.

Followed by the start of a personal anecdote to add to the intrigue and make it relatable.

2. Less direct/conversational

I could have gone for something that didn’t involve ‘you’, which I know makes some B2B content creators a bit itchy because it’s more conversational and direct:

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General

How to avoid B2B content creation overwhelm and be strategic

With so many different types of content and so many channels, how do you decide where to put your content marketing time and energy?

This was the topic of a LinkedIn live stream and webinar discussion comms pro Ayo Abbas and I had.

We covered a lot (and answered a lot of audience questions) but here’s are some edited highlights. There’s a link to the replay of the full discussion at the end.

How do you decide what type of content to create?

Ayo Abbas You’ve got to make sure that you move away from perfection. Sometimes getting it done and getting it done to a decent standard is better than nothing at all.

When it comes to what type of content I want to create, I think about what the story is I want to tell and what content works for the story.

Or what have I not done for a while? Sometimes people aren’t posting certain types of content, so maybe doing that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Me I think it’s important to focus on where your audience is. Is your audience watching 15-second videos on TikTok? Then that’s probably what [your content] should be.

But if they’re not, then maybe that isn’t the type of content you should create.

[Caveat] Don’t forget new audiences. It’s very easy to get stuck into doing one type of content, but is there a new audience you want to reach, and are they consuming different types of content rather than the type you’re creating?

AA I interviewed an architect from BVDs. And he talked about finding the channels that you really enjoy. He loves talking, as does his partner, so they do podcasts.

Is it OK to stick to one type of content?

Me Yes and no. Yes, because it’s better to do one thing and do it well rather than trying to do lots of different things and not do anything particularly well.

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Audience engagement

What type of B2B content performs best?

Red neon speech bubble. Inside is a white neon heart shape similar to a social medial like button and beside it is a white neon zero. So the sign indicates zero likes.
Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

Which type of B2B content performs best was something I was asked recently, I guess because I put out content in different formats (written, video, carousels/sliders).

And, I work with clients on audio and events.

But it isn’t easy to answer because content analytics are complex and vary from platform to platform.

You will never know how many people read your online article all the way through, for example.

Some people might read a bit, some might skim-read, and some might click on the page and get distracted by something else.

It’s similar to a written LinkedIn post. A post will clock up ‘impressions’, but that doesn’t tell you if people have actually what you’ve written.

Impressions are the number of feeds your post has appeared in, not engagement.

The more likes/reactions your post gets, the more impressions it will likely get, but again it doesn’t mean people have actually read it.

Reacting without reading

*Shock warning* Some people hit react without reading the post or the whole post.

Video metrics are a little clearer.

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Video

Video: Making LinkedIn enjoyable and worthwhile

A short video on making time on LinkedIn enjoyable and worthwhile

Video summary:

If using LinkedIn is a chore, it will make it harder to be consistent, and without being consistent, you won’t get the full benefit of being on the platform.

To make LinkedIn more enjoyable, work out what you want to get from it. Getting business is an obvious one, but it doesn’t have to be the only reason.

You might want to build your network, learn about a particular topic, or be part of a specific community.

Once you know what you want to get out of the platform, then you can plan what actions you need to take to deliver.

But be realistic. If you want to post more to increase visibility but find coming up with ideas and finding the time to create posts tricky, then setting a goal of posting five days a week is likely to be unachievable.

Setting realistic targets to deliver the results you want will make LinkedIn more enjoyable.

Full transcript:

Two key tips for LinkedIn: Make it enjoyable and be realistic.

Now to make LinkedIn enjoyable, it helps if you get something out of the platform.

It doesn’t have to be just about getting business; that’s an important reason to be on LinkedIn and why many people are on LinkedIn. But there are lots of other reasons to be on LinkedIn.

It might be that you want to learn more about a particular topic or you want to build your network, or you want to be part of a community and be able to talk to people doing similar things to you or in the same industry.

These are all legitimate reasons for being on LinkedIn but think about what you’d like to get from the platform. And then set a strategy for how you’re going to achieve that.

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General

Stop the scroll: Adding value when posting about B2B events on social media

Summary of video:

A conference or panel event you attended can be a great source of social media content, but to help stop the scroll and get your audience to pay attention, add some value.

In this short video, I talk about what made me stop and read LinkedIn posts about events people in my network had been to.

All the posts added value; they didn’t merely highlight that the person had attended a particular event but talked about what they had learnt or what it was like.

Engagement – particularly comments – will give LinkedIn posts more visibility, so I finish by sharing some ideas for getting a conversation started on an event post.

Transcript of video:

Prefer to read rather than watch? Here’s a transcript:

Have you noticed any posts about events that people have been to in your LinkedIn feed in recent weeks?

I’ve noticed some great ones: great because they made me stop scrolling, great because they made me want to click through and read more, and great also because they didn’t use the word delighted, which is always a bit of a bonus.

So what was it about them that got me interested?

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