LinkedIn’s Publishing Keeps Getting Better!

We’ve been praising LinkedIn’s publishing platform since the very beginning. But if you’re new to the scene, here’s a quick recap:

Instead of sharing an article, you can publish long-form articles or blogs within LinkedIn. Your connections get a notification whenever you post. Your articles can be made available through the Pulse app for anyone to read.

If you’re a B2B content marketer not using LinkedIn publishing, you’re making a huge mistake. (Okay, maybe I’m being too harsh, but seriously… jump on it! ) I’m guessing that you’re already blogging or creating some sort of content as part of your strategy – now, you need to repurpose it for LinkedIn.

For you long-time LinkedIn lovers, here’s a look at all of the Publishing sections!

linkedin-publishing

The “More” Dropdown

From the More dropdown, you can select between and manage your posts and drafts with ease. No more searching for your posts and hovering around looking for the edit link to show up.

Toolbar

The new toolbar at the top gives you the most familiar tools you are used to working with. As you write, the toolbar always remains in place for ease of use. Select your text and click the toolbar to change styles just like you would in any other desktop editor. You can quickly create lists and links with it as well.

Image Header

With the new image header comes greater width. In fact, you can use the full width of the screen. This is purely an aesthetic choice. It doesn’t change the functionality, but gives full use of the 2016 web design trend of large hero images.

This will make better use of high res images and gives you much more flexibility as you can toggle between full-width and text-width as you like. After you add your image, you are given a space for a photo credit or caption.

Image Tip: Always, ALWAYS use great photos. Nothing turns a reader away quicker than a boring, drab photo that doesn’t pop. Try some of our favorite free stock photo sites: Unsplash, Life of Pix, or Death to the Stock Photo.

The Headline

Add your title/headline at the top, just as before. It’s still up to you to write a great headline but at least it is easy enough to enter.

Headline Tip: Make it specific, useful, have a call-to-action and make it fun. It’s hard to accomplish all of this in a headline so focus on the first three and use fun or humor last. People understanding what they’re going to read is the most important part.

The Body

This section is nice and clean. Write text at will. Copy and paste if you already have your copy written. Select and style with the toolbar at the top of the screen and you’re good to go.

At any given selection location, you can click the add multimedia icon to the left and choose an image, a video, a set of slides, or anything else you might want to embed (Podcasts? Tweets? The choices are endless—just don’t overdo it.) and voila, it goes right into your article. You can even drag files onto the screen and they pops right in.

Click Publish

All that’s left is to click that Publish button at the top! Ok, maybe have a friend or SOMEONE read it before clicking, but that’s it! BOOM – all of your connections are notified about your glorious creation and your article goes straight into the Pulse mix!

If you aren’t using LinkedIn as a publishing platform, it’s time to start. Great content travels far and wide through Pulse. All you need to do is open up that editor and start writing! Have writer’s block? Here’s brainstorming help for great blog content!