LinkedIn started as a small professional networking startup, but has morphed into one of the fastest growing social networks in the industry. The company’s 2015 first quarter numbers reported a whopping 364 million members. These numbers are staggering and as a company you may be wondering what you can do to leverage the platform for your brand.
The LinkedIn Post feature within the platform may seem like an excellent way to garner followers and help build your community. But do LinkedIn posts really affect your site’s SEO? Let’s take a quick look at what LinkedIn has to offer and how you should leverage its power for your brand.
What is a LinkedIn Post?
LinkedIn is similar to other social media platforms in that you have a profile and a feed to which you can post links and share content. However, there is a difference to LinkedIn’s platform—users can publish long-form posts within LinkedIn. While you, as a company, are not able to post from your company LinkedIn page, your CEO may be tempted to post original content to his profile in order to boast about your company.
This may be intriguing, but it would be much more beneficial to your marketing strategy if the CEO posted to the company website rather than LinkedIn. Or rather, you shared your blog’s post as a link on the company LinkedIn page. Here’s why:
Be Greedy With Your Links
When it comes to links, it’s okay to be selfish. When you post original content to LinkedIn’s publishing platform, you’re, in essence, giving them a free link. That link would be much better suited for your own web site. Links are precious and it’s okay to want to keep them for yourself rather than giving them away.
In an effort to boost your SEO and web presence, it’s best to post your original content to your own website’s blog or even be a guest blogger on another web site. Once you have that URL, you can then share it on your social media platforms, including LinkedIn, if appropriate. When you post to your business blog, you not only create original content but you provide ways to create links on other platforms.
Keep Domain Authority Top of Mind
Domain authority is driven by SEO. Your SEO efforts, over time, will make a difference in the authority of your domain and how well it performs in searches. The content you create, the links you provide, and the number of people who link back to your site are all factors in your domain authority.
What does this have to do with LinkedIn? Well, LinkedIn posts don’t do much for your own brand authority. When you post to LinkedIn’s publishing platform, you’re driving people to your LinkedIn presence rather than your own presence on your web site. If you’re trying to build your domain authority (and trust me, you are), keep your long-form posts to your blog.
Use LinkedIn to Drive Brand Exposure
LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for professionals to interact with each other and for companies to interact with professionals. As a brand on LinkedIn, you should be using it to receive recommendations and endorsements from clients and colleagues. You can also develop your brand as an expert in the industry and develop brand exposure.
Creating brand exposure is an important part of your company and marketing strategy. You want your brand to be visible to your potential and current customers. However, if driving SEO efforts is your main goal, LinkedIn posts is not the best way to go. For that, you’re better to focus on your own domain authority and post content directly to your blog. Then use LinkedIn to distribute your content by sharing links to your company page.
