
Between April 28, 2015 and April 15, 2016 I wrote and published 60 articles on LinkedIn. Here’s what I learned from my content marketing experiment on LinkedIn.
First, I didn’t run the exact word count of all the articles I wrote and posted on LinkedIn over this period of time. What I do know is my biggest problem as a writer is I overwrite, kinda like I over speak at times, which is work in progress, to be a better listener. But most of the time people tell me the like my writing. I love to write and mostly like my writing. So I write.
My flaw as a writer …
I write a lot of words that flow faster than the torrents of water that flash flood in late-August, compliments of massive, Arizona monsoons. Which means if my average article word count is 1,500 words, I wrote, edited and published 90,000 words during this little, LinkedIn content marketing experiment.
1,500 words X 60 articles = 90,000 words. That’s two, chunky novels!
WTF? Why would anyone do that?
First, I love to write. I’ve been a content marketing guy before the term was cool and the internet crushed most people over the age of 50. And I’m just getting warmed up.
Second, I’m curious by nature. I wanted to know what would happen if I hammered this content into the LinkedIn Pulse publishing platform.
Third, I wanted to see if I could product a measurable business result. That’s my day job when planning strategy and action and making sure all the hard work actually gets done on time, on budget. (Simple, seldom easy unless everyone follows the freaking plan.)
Here’s what I know now …
Marketing is a game of failure. I always learn from the data, my mistakes. This makes me a way better sales and marketing strategist, planner and adviser.
- I have no clue how the LinkedIn algorithm works or doesn’t. It’s not like I could actually ever figure it out, but I sought patterns like increased engagement, new connections, likes and shares. I can say traffic to our site increased a bit, and new relationships for which I am grateful.
- I got my ego stroked. Or not. If you don’t write or create art you don’t know the war of art that rages in my head. Yes, some of my stuff got big views, likes and comments. Others, none. And you know what? BFD.
- I kinda of wasted my time, but I made some great friends. If I didn’t love to write I would tell you I did waste my time. I write this in a relative sense because if time and capital are finite, we must all allocate these resources effectively, or die.
- 100% of that content needed to hit our blog, first. See what I’m doing now? I hammer all of our content through our blog, first, then I “repurpose” it to promote it on our social networks, Flipboard, etc.
- I cancelled my Premium subscription to focus that monthly investment on other line items. It may not seem like a lot of money to be a premium member of LinkedIn, but look at the ROI, or lack thereof, of every expense like this. Many times these monthly fees hit our bank accounts and we ignore the waste! Do you know how expensive this becomes? Holy cow.
- I need to be social and stay visible, but focus on powering the hell out of my blog and all the other blogs and marketing campaigns we plan, launch and manage for clients.
- I need to power my blog with m0re and better content including product reviews, expert sales, marketing, branding, and storytelling interviews, book reviews, online training courses and more.
- I need to write and publish books and build my presence on other websites like my work on The Business Journals and Huffington Post. (Hey, Inc., “No takes me one step closer to, ‘Yes.’ I’m not giving up!”)
Got Naked Blog Syndrome (NBS)?
This is our commitment for 2017 and beyond … create and distribute amazing blog content and publish it for audiences around the world. We do this for ourselves and we do it for clients because nothing is more important that the quality and consistency of your content marketing.
If you want better sales and marketing results let’s take a look at your blog!
Publish or die. Harsh, but true.
How’s your blog doing right now? If it’s like most blogs we see you’re suffering from naked blog syndrome. The only cure for this is to power your blog. You must LOVE your blog. Or kill it. Put your blog out of it’s misery and ignore the single, most powerful marketing weapon in most small business arsenals; content marketing via your blog, other blogs and sites, books, and social media.
Content marketing is a full time business if you want to get better sales and digital marketing results. Your strategy and action plan must focus on creating amazingly well-crafted, weekly content for your tribe, audience, members, ideal prospects, customers, employees, investors and more.
But if you can’t or wont’ crank out consistently high-quality content marketing, how much is that costing you? I can’t tell you know many times people tell us in our workshops and planning sessions, “Yes, sure. We’ll write that content.” Guess how that goes?
We buy stuff differently. Marketers and sales people must adapt.
When was the last time you made any purchase or investment and you didn’t do deep research online? The game has changed. Content is what drives clicks and engagements. Your content can be organic or paid search. And it must be meaningful, visible and engaging. This requires massive creative talent and your commitment to fund and measure the result.
Either way you better be willing and able to pay for the best creative content marketing people your money can buy. Your business and income depends on content marketing, which may seem extreme, but I’ve lived it.
Is LinkedIn the place I’d write and publish another 90,000 words of my overrated wisdom? No. Freaking. Way.
What is your plan for getting more customers in 2017 and beyond? Where are the bottlenecks and how ready are you to attack your plan of action to improve sales and marketing results?
We always appreciate your comments and suggestions on the Conversion Marketing Experts blog.