Linkedin Marketing: 5 Secrets to Syndicating Your Articles on Linkedin Groups

One area of LinkedIn Marketing and content syndication that I’ve overlooked until recently is sharing my content on the social networking platform, LinkedIn. In all honesty, I’ve never been very active on LinkedIn because I haven’t really known how to connect there.  Now, I’ve enrolled in a LinkedIn course and have been delving more and more into LinkedIn and have discovered that it’s probably the most useful social networking platform out there, much more so than Twitter or Facebook, even though those two mediums tend to get the bulk of the publicity.

One feature that LinkedIn made available to the public in 2014 was its content publishing service, Pulse. When you publish content on Pulse, you can add images, quotes, video, calls to action and unlimited links to any content you publish on Pulse. Publishing your content here is a great way to leverage your expertise.  And, publishing on Pulse is quite easy.  Simply go to your LinkedIn profile and select “Publish a post,” and you’ll be in the Pulse dashboard.  Best of all, there’s no limit to the amount of content you can share via this platform!

LinkedIn also nicely archives all of your posts on one page.  Visit my page, https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/donnagunter, and you’ll see what I mean.  You can see your own page, as well, if you have posted anything to Pulse.  Just substitute your LinkedIn name for mine in the URL and you’ll have you very own link!

One of the many ways to syndicate your content you publish on Pulse is via the groups you have joined on LinkedIn.  The easiest way to do that is to go to your article, select Share, and choose LinkedIn.  On the Share News window that pops up, choose “Share to Groups.” I have a text file with the names of all of my groups to which I belong on LinkedIn and I pull that up for reference.  Simple begin typing the group name in the Groups section, and the name of the group will autopopulate.  Simply click that group name and go to the next one until you have selected all the groups  with which you want to share this Pulse article.

However, this must be done carefully so that you come across as adding value, rather than coming across as solely promotional.  What are the secrets to syndicating your content on LinkedIn to make it a useful and effective strategy to leverage your expertise and increase your online visibility?

Here are 5 secrets to expanding your LinkedIn marketing by syndicating your articles on LinkedIn groups:

1.  Pick the right groups.  So many people choose groups of their competitors rather than their target market when they join groups on LinkedIn.  Sure, you want to hob-nob with colleagues, but your networking time is best spent in LinkedIn groups where your target market hangs out.  Do a keyword search for groups containing your target market, and pick 10 that seem to fit the bill.  Then, focus on 5 groups as your starting point, so that you’re not completely overwhelmed with LinkedIn marketing.  Track your progress in terms of your submissions and the reaction to your submissions.  If you’re not engaging the group in discussion, try another strategy.  However, if the members of the groups are generally silent, cross this group off of your list and go to the next one on your list.  Do this slowly and soon you’ll develop a great list of interactive groups on LinkedIn that contain your target market.

2.  Have a call to action on your content location.  What is it that you want visitors to do?  Subscribe to your  blog?  Get on your email list?  Opt in to a client attraction device? Visit a product or service page?  Have them sign up for a free consultation?  You can mix and match these calls to action most easily by adding the call to action at the end of your Pulse article.

3.  Create interest in the article.  Rather than just copying and pasting the title of your article into Sharing News section on LinkedIn, try and engage the reader with a compelling subject line in your discussion.  For example, you might use “New Debate for Group” — and ask your question.  Or, perhaps you use, “Do You Believe…”  where you insert a misconception and invite group members to check out their views on the common misconception.  Another way to engage members is to ask, “Are You Making These XX Mistakes in [topic name here]?” where you can explain what most people are doing incorrectly.

4.  Respond to discussion.  Don’t forget to check back to respond to the discussion and questions posed as a result of your posting. Even if people disagree, acknowledge their point of view without becoming hostile or taking offense.  Take the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and bolster your point with a related blog post that explains the new point in more detail.

5.  Connect with group members. I try and connect with anyone who has commented on my article in any of the groups in which I’ve shared the update. Instead of simply sending the standard LinkedIn connection request, I say something like, “Thanks so much for commenting on my article in the XYZ group.  I appreciate you taking the time to read it.  I’d love to add you as a connection on LinkedIn.”  This works like a charm every time!

Make your content continue to work for you.  Syndicating your content to LinkedIn groups as a LinkedIn marketing strategy is a phenomenal way to get your name and expertise in front of more people than before!