Blogging on LinkedIn
Have you tried the new extended post feature on LinkedIn?
What are your concerns?
What has been your experience?
The past three weeks I have posted blog articles on LinkedIn.
Jeff Bullas, Neal Schaffer and several others have urged experimentation with the new platform. I had had early access for a while, but finally gave it a try when LinkedIn announced that it was available to all.
The first three posts have been “re-purposed” articles from my two blogs, SMM 4 Business and Service Co-creation. A summary of metrics on the posts on LinkedIn compared to the original results on the WordPress blogs is shown in this table.
I am quite pleased with the metrics for the three posts on LinkedIn. The "Star" so far was my second post "Bloggers with Pants" about the synergies and issues between social media marketing and journalism. I was disappointed to have only 100 views of the article on my blog despite Mark Schaefer posting the link and calling it "superb". On LinkedIn it found an audience.
The other two posts have also done well. I am reaching a large second audience for freshened posts that I think were important or useful
One problem in comparing the two platforms: The views for postings two and three on LinkedIn are likely bolstered by the fact that I hired superstar @kikischirr to create original illustrations for the revised articles.
My concerns
So why did I wait so long to start experimenting with blogging on LinkedIn? My concerns are:
- Digital sharecropping. I own my blog and have the freedom to move it to my own site at any time. Should I give free content to LinkedIn.
- Irritating my most loyal followers by multiple postings, even if the material has been revised and freshened. My community is important to me!
- Negative SEO impact for my blogs - Google allegedly penalizes for multiple postings. (When I Google “Four P’s of Content Marketing” the third organic result is my LinkedIn post and the fifth result is the original on WordPress.)
- A long term one: I think that LinkedIn blogs may be the activity that drives the increased daily activity LinkedIn has been seeking... and it will therefore (1) degrade the LinkedIn experience to be more like Facebook and (2) monetization - LI blogs may create enough content clutter to allow LinkedIn to shake down bloggers who want their stuff to be seen (another version of digital sharecropping).
Again:
- Have YOU tried the new extended post feature on LinkedIn?
- What has been your experience?
- What are YOUR concerns??
.....................................
Illustration by @kikischirr
New Client Sales l Sales Mngt.l Acct. Mngt. l Blogger-Editor
9yGary/Gary, I agree with the point about writing for yourself. I started posting the start of June and initial posts have been repurposed from some comments in 2011. They were done for myself mostly to clarify some thinking and reflect my perspective on various topics. I am enthused about the LI reach because now there is the potential for a true audience. Also, given three years I find some topics worth an update or, in the case of some thoughts on digital media, I realize how quickly the market has shifted and a real update is due.
Author, Speaker: How to Write a Kick-Butt Resume Cover Letter (Ret.; not taking clients)
9yInteresting discussion - what if you went the other way? Created original content for LI, then a few months later revised it sufficiently and ran the same article on your blog? New headline, different subheads, make the post shorter or longer so it looks different to Google. That is the approach I'm taking, bc I share these same concerns. However, I'm only 3 posts in, so it is too soon to tell if that is a viable strategy.
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, MBA, RYT-200
9yGary, you pretty much said it. I have the same concerns, as I syndicate my blog. But, I think that so much content is never seen (as you said yourself; some blogs on your site got little traction) and different platforms often draw different audiences, that it's an ok thing to do. We might have to reevaluate in the future, but currently, this is a good practice, me thinks. Congrats on your shares. That matters! Natascha
Leader, Thinker, Doer - FMCG Supply Chain & Logistics
9yI share your number 4 concern more... since the feature became available to all, I have seen a lot of watery contents and poorly written articles. I fear LinkedIn will get busier and busier with less and less meaningful contents...
Lead Collaboration Catalyst at The Care Collaboratory Board chair, Kairos Alive! "Re-tired"
9yInteresting, and after having posted over 80 blogs from 2009-2012 ojn Wordpress, including having several picked up by KevinMD (that was an ego boost), I wandered away, being sidetracked by "life" and other issues. Now with retirement, as it might look, I'm interested in blogging once again (even if only for myself--as Seth Godin as reminded us of the value for writing only for ourselves.) This is useful information as I consider where best to put my thoughts---thanks, and I'll need to think about it a bit. Better quit now, as this is close to becoming a blog onto itself. Gary