{3:45 minutes to read} Breaking from tradition, we have been experimenting with sharing our client’s LinkedIn publisher or “Pulse articles” to their LinkedIn groups in lieu of sharing the external article.
We are still doing blog articles for nearly all clients. We publish their blog posts’ excerpts and titles, then include links to the blog posts in their LinkedIn group discussion threads.
Over the past year, we have encountered issues with LinkedIn’s moderation. There were also algorithm issues with LinkedIn’s procedure for pre-filtering out what they consider spamming in discussion threads. The argument could be made that posting an article link and excerpt is not an actual discussion. We disagree. Yet, it goes without saying that LinkedIn would prefer to have the viewers of these articles remain on LinkedIn.com
Why would LinkedIn want your articles published on their platform—rather than have them referenced on to your blog? Because the latter takes the reader away from LinkedIn.com.
With so many articles not getting through moderation, or being automatically dropped into the “promotions” section instead of the “discussions” section—we decided to experiment with sharing the actual LinkedIn Pulse article—into groups as discussions. We link the article to the discussion threads with excerpts, image, your name, etc. and include a link back to the Pulse article.
The Pulse article includes a link to the article on your website and can draw people there. By doing this, we are avoiding LinkedIn’s auto-filtering, which is an obvious advantage. As a result, an article that is educational, informational, related to the topic of interest, etc. is not being pre-filtered out before the moderator even has a chance to see it. And we are seeing more groups publishing Pulse articles than those given to them as an external blog article.
One possible downside is that we’re not actually taking them back to your website. They can read the article and stay on LinkedIn. Obviously, this is what LinkedIn prefers, but the upside is that it doesn’t diminish your personal or business brand. Your reach won’t be reduced; if anything, it is increased. Some of the clients in this LinkedIn experiment have brought up a controversial subject and have gotten hundreds of views and dozens of comments, but it’s all on LinkedIn, not on their blog.
At this point, it’s just an experiment. We are looking for new and innovative ways to get your content in front of the people that you’re trying to attract. The jury is still out and we’re not ready to make a call, but—
We’re hoping for your feedback.
Our goal is to get our client’s content in front of their target audience. We can’t always predict LinkedIn’s long-term objectives, but we are constantly adapting to their shifting ways of doing things (of their own publishing platform) and endeavoring to do so without detracting from our clients brand and presence in the social media landscape.
What advantages or disadvantages can you see in posting Pulse articles in LinkedIn group discussions vs the external blog article itself?
Mark Bullock
Telephone: (631) 754-0800
Email: Mark@phoneBlogger.net
Website:phoneBlogger.net
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