How to Build A Winning LinkedIn Content Strategy in 9 Steps?

Most people see LinkedIn as a place to network alone. 

You know, the ones with 4000, 5000, 6000, etc. connections, but they hardly know 10 of them personally. 

Well, LinkedIn is way more than that. 

It's a powerful tool for building your brand, growing your business, and connecting with industry leaders. 

You’ll need a good LinkedIn content strategy to make the most of it.

Random LinkedIn posts are never gonna cut it. 

Your LinkedIn content strategy must be engaging and tailored to your goals.

And that’s precisely why I’ve written this article. 

I will teach you how to build a perfect LinkedIn content strategy, no BS. Here's what I’ll be covering:

👉 9 steps to building a good LinkedIn content strategy

👉 Best practices to keep in mind for an effective content strategy 

👉 Different rules and which ones you should follow

👉 Will AI be helpful with content strategy?

Well then, I’m not gonna waste any more time. Let's just get to it!

9 Steps to Build a LinkedIn Content Strategy

Step 1: Set Clear Goals for Yourself

Before you post updates or regular posts, ask yourself, “What do I want to achieve with the content I post?”

This will help you set a clear goal for yourself, give you a good sense of direction, and measure your progress.

It can be various things like:

💣Building your brand

💣Generating leads

💣Driving traffic

💣Expanding your network

There’s this thing called the SMART technique. You can use it to narrow down what you want. Let me give you a brief overview, just in case.

📝 Specific: Decide exactly what you want (If you wanna grow your network, then it can be something like “Grow my follower count”)

📝 Measurable: Set a number. You don’t have to set it crazy high; keep it something you’re confident you can reach (You can set something like “Gain at least 500 followers”). 

📝 Achievable: Be realistic, evaluate your resources, and set the metrics.

📝 Relevant: You will be start with baby steps, but never forget about the bigger picture. Whatever you’re doing, make sure you do it with the bigger picture in mind.

📝 Time-bound: Always set a deadline. These deadlines will ensure that you always remain on track and don’t forget or laze away.

For example, you could say, “I have to increase my LinkedIn Engagement by 17% in 3 months by posting quality and weekly insights.”

Step 2: Find & Define Your LinkedIn Target Audience

You need the right content strategy to make it shine under the right spotlight.

Identifying your target audience, potential clients, employers, or peers could save you a lot of time. Tailor your LinkedIn content strategy to their needs.

💣 Identify demographics: Consider looking into job titles, industries, company size, or location.

💣 Understand their needs: Look for their challenges and how could you give them a potential solution.

💣 Use LinkedIn tools: Investing in a good LinkedIn tool can help you automate most manual, repetitive tasks and provide detailed metrics and analytics on your strategy.

Finding Your Content Topic Niche

Once you’ve found your target audience, you must ensure that they are well within your area of expertise. 

This will always make you stand out and also boost your network tremendously.

📝 Access your strengths: What are you good at? What do you know deeply? How can you show your perspective’s unique?

📝 Research audience interest: Check out what’s trending or even the questions being asked by your audience. 

📝 Analyze competitors: Your competitors are your best teachers. You can easily identify gaps in what others post and capitalize on that.

So, for example, if you’re into marketing, your content strategy should be centered on content marketing for small businesses. Explore, experiment and refine based on your engagement.

Step 3: Profile Optimization

Your profile is what people notice first. The better it looks, the better your chances of increasing your network. 

Company Page

• Banner and logo: Use high-quality and eye-catching visuals. 

• Description: Keep it concise and clearly explain your business and value proposition.

• Updates: Make sure to post regularly and keep your account active.

Personal Account

• Profile photo and banner: Make sure you’ve set an up-to-date and professional-looking headshot with a banner that would intrigue your viewers. 

• Headline: Your headline is what essentially builds curiosity and makes people wanna know more about you, your skills and your achievements.

• Summary: This is where you tell your story, highlight your skills, and add keywords that are relevant to what you’re doing.

• Skills: Ensure you showcase relevant skills at the top and seek endorsements. 

Remember: There’s no rushing when it comes to optimizing your LinkedIn profile. An optimized profile will always attract way more views and also increase your content’s impact. 

Step 4: Start Writing LinkedIn Posts for Your Business

Just as the name suggests, content plays a huge role in your LinkedIn content strategy. Create posts that engage, inform, and inspire your audience.

💥 Provide value: Share tips, insights, or meaningful stories.

💥 Be authentic: Stay true to yourself and let your personality shine.

💥 Use CTAs: Ask relevant questions and comment on posts; there’s no harm in that (you can ask stuff like “What’s your top LinkedIn tip?”)

Read the post here

Add Images and Videos to Your LinkedIn Posts

Visual elements are the best way to keep readers engaged with your posts. This doesn’t mean you have to litter images, gifs or videos all over your post.

Focus more on quality and offer actionable advice or thought-provoking ideas.

Leverage Native Video Content

This is the era of short-form content. 

Rather than uploading external links, directly upload videos to your LinkedIn and let them autoplay in people’s feeds.

Don’t make it too long and boring, make sure your video hooks the audience within the first 5 seconds itself (you can use gifs too).

Click here to see what I’m talking about!

Embrace LinkedIn Stories

Sharing quick updates or maybe even some behind-the-scenes glimpses of various things you do through stories is another great addition to your LinkedIn content strategy.

They disappear after 24 hours anyway, and these highlights will bring in more people to your network.

Mix Visual and Text-Based Content

Never stick to one content strategy for too long (that’s kinda boring). Keep your feed dynamic and try out various strategies.

Alternate formats but making posts that mix visuals and text descriptions. This way you can stay dynamic and appealing.

Check how it was done in this post!

This may seem a little too meticulous, but it’s generally good to have a few different content strategies in hand to stay at the top of your game in a unique way.

Step 5: Utilize LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn Pulse is a publishing platform that’s more focused on long-form content. You can create in-depth and detailed articles over here.

💣 Go deep: The more thorough you are with your research, the better.

💣 Optimize: No matter how detailed your content is, make sure you include relevant keywords because that’s what will make it visible.

💣 Promote: Don’t be afraid to share your articles on your feed or in the groups you’re part of. Just make sure you don’t shove it into people’s faces.

Step 6: Set Up Your LinkedIn Publication Calendar

No matter the effort, consistency is what helps your LinkedIn content strategy shine in the long run. A publication calendar can ensure that you post regularly.

📝 Select a frequency: Decide what’s your ideal posting frequency (2-3 times a week).

📝 Plan Themes: Map out various topics and create templates beforehand.

📝 Use tools: There are various tools available that can help you with scheduling and much more.

Pro tip! - Aligning your calendar with various industry events or trends can add more relevance to your posts.  

Step 7: Tag Relevant People and Pages

Tagging actually increases your visibility. It notifies those who are tagged and puts your content into their network.

📝 Choose wisely: Make sure to tag only relevant individuals or companies. Tagging random people not related to your posts in any way could get you reported 💀.

📝 Don’t overdo it: If you tag too many people, that could lead people to think you’re no more than a spam bot, so be careful.

If you use it strategically, tagging the right people could lead to possible collaborations or relationships.

Step 8: Interact with Other LinkedIn Accounts

The whole process of engagement on LinkedIn is reciprocal. If someone interacts with you or your posts, make sure to reply back.

This can not only boost your visibility but also build stronger connections. 

📝 Comment thoughtfully: Add value to your comments; things like “Great post!” won’t cut it.

📝 Share wisely: Reposting is completely fine but as long as you add some of your insights along with it.

Step 9: Participate in Groups and Discussions

LinkedIn groups are the perfect hub for industry discussions. Actively participate in the group conversations.

📝 Join relevant groups: Look for communities in your niche and actively engage with them.

📝 Contribute value: Share your insights and give good ideas during discussions; just make sure you are sharing and receiving helpful something.

📝 Share Content: Keep the group guidelines in check and post your articles or updates appropriately.

Oh, one last thing!

Please don’t be this kind of person 😭.

You don’t have to gatekeep your content strategy; you can share your insights on different LinkedIn content strategies.

This way, you can get various ideas from different perspectives.

What Are The Best Practices for a LinkedIn Content Strategy?

Here are a few tips you can make a habit to make the most out of your content strategy:

• Post at Optimal Times:

Mainly focus on posting during weekdays. Timings at around mid-morning are usually when you can see a higher engagement.

• Leverage LinkedIn’s Interactive Features:

LinkedIn has a bunch of features like polls, articles and carousels to drive engagement. Polls are the best way to spark conversations and gather insights.

Articles allow you to share detailed and thought-provoking content. Use these features effectively to not only boost your interaction but also make LinkedIn’s algorithm increase the visibility of your content.

• Tasteful Humour Wouldn’t Hurt:

LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, but, hey a few memes here and there actually work!

It’s the perfect way to add a bit of personality to your posts. Please don’t post any brainrot on LinkedIn 😭. 

Look for industry-specific or work related memes that you and your audience can relate to. A clever and tasteful meme can lighten up the mood and make your content a lot more engaging without having to compromise on the platform’s professional tone. 

• Engage, Engage, Engage:

I can’t stress this enough: Make sure to engage with your audience or peers’ posts. Like, comment, or repost. This will help you maintain a good relationship with them and keep conversations going.

LinkedIn DM Strategy Tips

Direct messages can be game-changers when done right. Follow these few pointers to nail every message! 

• Personalize every message you send. Avoid any generic pitches (they always get ignored).

• Lead with value before you ask for something (for example, you could share a resource).

• Keep it short and simple. Nobody has the time or energy to read huge paragraphs, make sure your messages are concise and straight to the point.

So, for example, let’s take this LinkedIn content strategy article itself as an example. 

Let’s keep the scenario as is. I’m reaching out to a potential client who’s finding it hard to generate leads on LinkedIn and needs to up their content strategy.

If we analyse this message, you can see that I have personalized it in such a way that I have referenced the prospect’s pain points (struggle with lead generation).

I’ve also provided value by giving them a relevant resource (LinkedIn content strategy article). Most importantly, I didn’t write an entire story, I just kept it short and ended it with a simple CTA. 

What Are The Different Rules and Which Best Practices Should You Follow?

When it comes to a good LinkedIn content strategy, there are multiple “rules” that can guide you.

Here’s a quick breakdown for you:

The 70-20-10 Content Approach

• 70%: Brand-building and core content (blogs, posts, infographics, videos). This will help you position yourself as an expert in your field.

• 20%: Shared or curated content. You can share content created by others; this shows that you are quite aware of the industry trends (reposts, links to relevant articles or resources).

• 10%: Promotional or Experimental content. This portion is more than enough for you to promote your products or services, testing new content or experimenting with strategies.

The 4-1-1 Rule on LinkedIn

The 4-1-1 rule helps you keep a good balance over your social media activity.

For every six posts, four should be educational/entertaining, one should be a soft promotion, and one should be a hard promotion (CTA).

• Four posts: Focus on sharing content that entertains or educates your audience (stuff like insights on relevant topics, industry news)

• One post: Work on a soft promotion post like sharing an event, a new resource, or maybe even a piece of content (make sure you make it seem educational and not salesy).

• One post: Work on a hard promotion post or call to action like promoting your product/service, discounts, or even requests for engagements.

I know I said “several rules”, the reason I chose these two is because they offer the perfect balanced structure to create an ideal LinkedIn content strategy.

Should You Use an AI Tool for Your LinkedIn Content Strategy?

Yes, obviously, lol!

In this day and age, everyone is capitalizing on AI to help them, and you should be, too.

It can essentially help you:

• Generate post ideas

• Draft new content

• Analyze your performance 

Tools like ChatGPT, at the max, can give you generic ideas or make roadmaps for creating a LinkedIn content strategy. You can use it as an inspiration for new ideas and various content strategies.

Never solely rely on ChatGPT, as the data can be outdated, and nobody wants generic AI-generated slop!

If you’re looking for a good tool for better LinkedIn outreach, you can check out SalesRobot. You can easily reach out to over hundreds of people on LinkedIn and Email, automatically.

How is this relevant to AI?

Well, SalesRobot has its own AI assistant that can book meetings for you automatically. The AI is trained on the best practices, so you don’t have to worry about generic responses.

Just sign up, and you will have early access. Test out all these features for yourself for free!

FAQs

Should I List 50 Skills on LinkedIn?

No, 10-15 skills are more than enough. Make sure they are relevant, that's all. If you add too many skills, they can clutter your profile and it wouldn’t look all that appealing to the people who visit it.

What is the Best LinkedIn Posting Strategy?

Consistency is what’ll help you the most. Posting 2-3 times a week with mixed content types (text, video, articles, stories) can help you engage with your audience better. Check out your analytics to refine your approach further.

How to Effectively Schedule and Publish?

Always plan with a content calendar. Tools like SalesRobot can help you with it and a lot more. You could also use LinkedIn’s native scheduler to schedule when you want to post (make sure to double-check everything because once you schedule it, you can’t edit your post).

The Takeaway

In order to build a good LinkedIn content strategy, you will need proper planning, creativity and most of all consistency. 

TLDR: just follow the 70-20-10 rule and the 4-1-1 rule when it comes to posting on LinkedIn or any social media as a matter of fact.

These two rules are two of the best, well-rounded strategies you can follow.

Use AI to help you with generating ideas for new content or even messages. Just don’t rely on it too much because it’s very easy to identify AI-generated text.

If you’re quick enough you can try out SalesRobot’s AI assistant, which unlike your standard AI, is trained on the best practices and can easily carry conversations and book meetings for you, too!

That’s it from me for today. Peace out 🫡!