Use the LinkedIn Publishing Platform to Tell Your Story

Use the LinkedIn Publishing Platform to Tell Your Story You may not have the energy to start a blog to show your expertise, but what is your excuse for not using the LinkedIn publishing platform?   One of the best ways to gain visibility and prove your experience is to write about it. Not everyone is a great writer, but if you do have those skills, this is the perfect opportunity to flaunt them! Below are my instructions for writing an article on LinkedIn. And here is a link to LinkedIns official help center overview Publish Articles on LinkedIn How To Get Started With The LinkedIn Publishing Platform From your home page on LinkedIn, you may have noticed the prompt to Write an article. When you click on this, it takes you to the LinkedIn publishing platform. Sometimes this is referred to as a long post or blog. Blog Post Ideas for Job Seekers Here are just a few ideas of things you could write about: Make a list of your favorite resources (work or personal) Share a productivity hack Write a book review or list your top recommendations Write a summary of an important industry trend Write a review about a networking event you attended Write about life lessons or lessons learned Interview someone you respect Write a how-to guide Or if you are looking for other ideas, you can see this post about blogging as a job seeker. But before you head starat writing anything yet, you should know why you are writing and who you are writing for. Answer These Questions First Your article is the perfect opportunity for you to answer the question, Why should I hire you? (your value proposition) So make sure whatever you write about supports your answers to some of the questions below. These are questions you should answer: What do you do (job title/occupation) Why are you qualified to do this job (certifications, previous experience, etc) What industry experience do you have (paid or unpaid) What types of problems are you great at solving Who benefits from your work (who are your internal or external customers) What makes you unique (how do you do what you do differently) What inspires and/or motivates you Write For Your Target Audience Hypothetically, you could work in many different companies, butthere are probably a few companies you would really love to work for, right? Thats your audience. What do you want them to know about you? As you write your article, imagine you are writing to someone at one of those dream companies. Consider using industry terms, keywords and language you find on their website and in their job descriptions to illustrate your expertise and that you speak their language. Make It Personal You are probably worried about sounding too personal. But this is your chance to let your motivation, personality and style shine through. want this to sound professional, but you want what you write to be engaging. Write in the first person (use I, me and my). You could even decide to use LinkedIns publishing platform to write a series of posts. Maybe you could write about one of your accomplishments. Blog Post Ideas For Anyone Even once youve landed a new job, you can still use blogging to expand your network, awareness of your skills and talents and keep your name/content in front of those you are connected with. Here are ideas anyone can use to write blog posts or even status updates!  25 Inspiring Ideas for What To Post On LinkedIn Include Visuals in Your Post Articles with images tend to get better engagement, so use them in your article. Your LinkedIn profile (and articles) become your online portfolio! In Show, Dont Tell, I wrote about the types of images you may want to start collecting. Need help finding royalty-free, attribution-free images? Ive written about the resources I use here. Additional Benefits of LinkedIn Publisher Besides having a platform to tell your story, there are more benefits to writing an article on LinkedIn. The most recent articles you write show up in your LinkedIn profile.  (Before your Experience section, so it is pretty prominent!) Who Sees Your Article? Once you hit the publish button, your network (connections and followers) will receive notification that youve published an article. You can even share your article on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and of course, LinkedIn. (Increasing awareness across your other networks!) Your post becomes online content which is searchable and shareable by others! You also demonstrate your writing skills! (And if thats important to your future role, youre articles serve as writing samples.) And who knows, LinkedIn may even choose to feature it! It has been my experience that very few job seekers or career activists are using the publishing platform on LinkedIn, so you have the opportunity to really stand out from the crowd! So, are you ready to start writing articles on LinkedIn?