How To Create a Winning LinkedIn Content Strategy in 8 Steps

In today’s digital landscape, you need a well-defined content strategy to thrive on social media platforms. This is especially true on the professional influencer haven of LinkedIn. With over 900 million B2B-focused professionals, LinkedIn is the largest community of leads online. 

So, today we’re talking about how you can create a winning LinkedIn content strategy to drive engagement, build connections, and generate leads.

8 Steps To Create a Content Strategy on LinkedIn

We’re jumping right into it. You can create a top-tier content strategy for LinkedIn in 10 easy steps. Here’s what you can do:

Step 1: Understanding Your Target Audience on LinkedIn

For starters, you need to understand your target audience. Just think about it… How are you going to sell a product, or even tell a story, to someone that just doesn’t relate to the way you’re telling it? That’s part of the reason understanding your target audience is key. To learn more about the people you’re selling to, we recommend that you create an in-depth buyer persona – covering things like the demographics, interests, and hobbies of your audience. 

We’ve written an entire article on understanding your target audience. You can read it here. 

Step 2: Set Clear Goals for Your Content Strategy

Before you just start creating content, you’ll need to define your goals. While there’s a wide range of goals you can set, we recommend asking yourself some basic questions. Here are some examples: 

• What do you aim to achieve? 
• What specific actions or behaviors do I want my audience to take after engaging with my content?
• How will I measure the success of my content strategy? What key performance indicators (KPIs) should I track?
• What is a realistic timeline for achieving my content goals?
• How does my content strategy contribute to building thought leadership, brand awareness, lead generation, or website traffic?
• Are there any specific content topics or themes that I want to focus on?
• How frequently should I publish content on LinkedIn to maintain consistency and engagement?

Your content objectives should align with your overall marketing goals and help you measure success. So, take a moment to set clear goals. 

You won’t believe it. We’ve written an entire article on setting goals for lead-gen campaigns as well. 

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Step 3: Pick What Metrics You’re Tracking

We mentioned the goals above, but what about metrics (and KPIs)? Arguably, setting goals is nothing if you don’t have any way to track your progress toward those goals. 

• Engagement rate: Measure the level of audience interaction with your content, including likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
• Click-through rate (CTR): Track the percentage of people who click on links or call-to-action buttons within your content.
• Conversion rate: Measure the rate at which your content leads to desired actions, such as form submissions, downloads, or purchases.
• Follower growth: Monitor the growth of your LinkedIn followers over time, indicating the impact of your content on audience building.
• Content reach: Measure the number of unique individuals who have been exposed to your content.
• Time spent on page: Track the average amount of time users spend engaging with your content, indicating its level of interest and value.
• Social shares: Monitor the number of times your content is shared on social media platforms, increasing its visibility and reach.
• Lead generation: Measure the number of leads generated through your content, such as form submissions or inquiries.
• Website traffic: Track the amount of traffic driven to your website from your LinkedIn content, indicating its effectiveness in driving users to your site.
• Return on Investment (ROI): Evaluate the financial impact of your content strategy by measuring the revenue or business opportunities generated as a result (guide on tracking ROI here). 

Leverage LinkedIn analytics and other tracking tools to monitor your content’s performance and make data-driven decisions. You can identify what’s working and what needs improvement by measuring your progress.

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Step 4: Exploring Different Content Formats on LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers various content formats to engage your audience. While we recommend using a healthy mix of all types of content, your audience might only connect with certain types. You should familiarise yourself with the types of content; here’s some help: 

• Articles: Articles are essential LinkedIn content. They provide valuable information, actionable tips, or expert opinions. Make them as engaging and as shareable as possible. 
• Videos: Videos often receive more engagement than typical social posts. Create engaging videos that capture your attention and deliver your message effectively. Experiment with different styles such as tutorials, interviews, or behind-the-scenes footage to cater to different audience preferences.
• Images and Infographics: Design visually appealing graphics, charts, and infographics accompanying your posts. Use eye-catching visuals to simplify complex concepts and make them more accessible to your audience.
• Documents and SlideShare: Share downloadable resources and presentations that establish your expertise. Provide valuable guides, whitepapers, or industry reports your audience can refer to. Leverage SlideShare to create visually appealing presentations that showcase your industry knowledge.   

Step 5: Adapting Your Content Formats to LinkedIn’s Platform

When creating content for LinkedIn, it’s important to optimize it for maximum visibility and impact. To be frank, images, videos, and any type of educational content perform very well on LinkedIn. Maybe even better than the classic text posts. 

Be aware of character limits for captions, recommended video lengths, and image dimensions for the best results. Don’t forget you can (and should) A/B test your content. 

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Step 6: Develop a Content Calendar and Editorial Plan

Now it’s time to start creating your content. We recommend starting with a content calendar and editorial plan to stay consistent and organized. This will help you stay on track, plan content themes and topics, and establish a consistent publishing schedule. 

If you’re looking for ideas, try incorporating industry trends, holidays, and events into your content plan. By having a clear plan, you can ensure that you consistently deliver valuable content to your audience.

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Step 7: Crafting Attention-Grabbing Headlines and Introductions

Headlines and introductions play a crucial role in capturing your audience’s attention. That’s why we dedicated an entire section to it. When crafting headlines, you want to focus on two things: how to make them compelling and concise. It’s a good idea to use power words, ask thought-provoking questions, or highlight the benefits of your content to entice readers. 

Additionally, you want to focus on your hook and introduction – providing a brief overview of the article and giving readers a reason to continue reading. By making your headlines and introductions attention-grabbing, you increase the chances of your content being read and shared.

Don’t forget about call-to-actions. Here’s a helpful guide on how you can write a call-to-action that’s actually worthy of your clicks. 

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Step 8: Maximizing Visibility through LinkedIn’s Algorithm

Understanding how LinkedIn’s algorithm works is crucial to increasing your content’s visibility. Here are some tips to improve your content’s visibility:

1. Post at optimal times: Experiment with different posting times and analyze when your audience is most active. Your time might be different, but a lot of people say 10 am to 12 pm is the optimal time.
2. Engage with your audience: Respond to comments, ask questions, and encourage discussions. Engaging with your audience boosts your content’s visibility and encourages further interactions.
3. Utilize relevant hashtags: Research and use hashtags in your posts to increase discoverability. Hashtags help categorize your content and connect it with relevant discussions and communities on LinkedIn.

Speaking of hashtags, we’ve created a list of the best hashtags for LinkedIn here. 

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can create a winning content strategy on LinkedIn that will help you establish yourself as a thought leader. With consistent effort and data-driven optimization, your LinkedIn content strategy can lead to increased visibility, expanded reach, and valuable business opportunities. So, start implementing these tips and make the most of LinkedIn for your business success.

Don’t forget automation! We-Connect helps you automate your day-to-day tasks on LinkedIn so you can focus on the important stuff.

Try our 14-day free trial here.