Early this month, we announced the Kapost Top 50 Content Marketing Brands—a list of brands whose content marketing efforts are generating big wins and real successes. Then we gave you a little insight into why DocuSign has been so wildly successful.
Today, we’d like to do the same for LinkedIn—giving you a glimpse into what makes this professional network a content marketing powerhouse.
Here are three of LinkedIn’s popular (and crazy successful) content marketing channels:
1. Influencer Channels.
It’s LinkedIn’s goal to be the “definitive professional publishing platform” and they’ve gone after it with content marketing guns blazing.
One of their biggest successes? The influencer program, which allows smart, business-savvy leaders like Richard Branson and Bill Gates and dozens of others to publish directly on the LinkedIn site, earning millions of pageviews for LinkedIn while garnering immediate and massive exposure for themselves and their ideas.
As one influencer says, “The Influencer program is a brilliant strategic move for LinkedIn. It’s one of the smartest inbound marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen thousands): Now LinkedIn has people like me willingly spending time to write and publish content on their platform for their members.”
2. The LinkedIn Blog.
Covering everything from the most sought-after employers (one of their most popular posts) to studies that show success is non-linear, the LinkedIn blog is a consistent source of quality information that is relevant to their target audiences—job seekers, professionals, recruiters, salespeople, and marketers.
3. SlideShare.
In May of 2012, LinkedIn acquired SlideShare, a professional community in its own right powered by content. Already a powerful lead gen tool for B2B marketers, the acquistion made people realize that LinkedIn was, in fact, pretty serious about this whole content thing. To encourage marketers to do the same, LinkedIn has ramped up their own content on the beloved distribution channel. Designed to promote longer-form content and drive users to the LinkedIn site, the LinkedIn SlideShare account is a collection of short and sweet presentations that pique interest and support business goals.
And, of course, the content doesn’t stop there. LinkedIn produces webinars, webcasts, tip sheets, and articles for job seekers, sales professionals, marketers, and recruiters through various on- and off-site channels.
Some Practical Advice
Okay, so we know LinkedIn is doing some great content marketing and is already a top source of business content. But how about a little practical advice?
LinkedIn has a whole page full of free content marketing resources, mostly targeted at how to better use their platform, but solid and smart nonetheless. If you haven’t seen it before, we encourage you to check it out.