While social media channels continue to thrive, one, in particular, continues to stand tall for businesses.
LinkedIn is the biggest social network platform for professionals in the world. Opportunities abound there to grow your business, your brand, and whatever it is you have to offer.
While you can already share relevant content, write informative posts, and engage with various professionals and influencers, you now have a new way to reach your targeted audience — a LinkedIn newsletter.
As the newest offering of this social networking giant, you can now create newsletters to share with your connections, followers, and beyond.
Ready to learn more about this?
What is a LinkedIn Newsletter?
A LinkedIn newsletter is much like an email or paper newsletter.
It contains regularly published articles, serving as a series, with all relating in some way to a particular topic.
That topic focuses on the needs of your targeted audience.
How does it differ from a LinkedIn article, which you can publish at any time as a standalone?
An article, once published on LinkedIn, goes on your individual timeline and can only be found by connections who happen to scroll through the feed. Each article soon is weighted down by the ones that follow.
The LinkedIn newsletter, on the other hand, goes to subscribers who can be current connections or followers or anyone who wants or needs the information you have to offer.
Instead of getting lost in your timeline, notification of your newly published newsletter is sent to all subscribers by both email and in-app notifications.
These automatic notifications ensure subscribers know it’s available, leading to higher chances of being read.
The platform helps you find readers by inviting all your connections and followers to subscribe, as well as promoting the newsletter to other relevant readers who have shown interest in something similar.
LinkedIn also provides any comments and feedback from readers and analytics to help you continue to perfect your newsletters by understanding who it is that’s reading them.
(Speaking of newsletters, are you subscribed to ours?)
Can Anyone Create a Newsletter on LinkedIn?
While everyone on LinkedIn can find and subscribe to newsletters, not everyone can create their own.
LinkedIn continues to roll out this feature worldwide, and it’s evident that more and more newsletters will make their way out into the world at some point.
But for now, the ability to create a newsletter is by invitation only.
What might be the criteria for being invited, you ask?
While the answer to that is not completely clear, your LinkedIn history may play a part, including whether you’ve always adhered to LinkedIn’s policies and if you’ve been contributing original content recently.
Other factors most likely include your number of connections and followers. Those who do receive an invite to publish a newsletter within the platform still must follow a few rules.
One of those rules is you can only offer one newsletter at any given time. Another is you can only send out a newsletter every 24 hours and no more.
Also, if you choose to delete a newsletter, your ability to create another may not exist.
If you haven’t received an invite yet, spend time making new connections and gaining new followers. Seek out the newsletters already on the platform and subscribe. Read regularly and even engage with the newsletter’s owner.
In other words, become familiar with what these newsletters are already doing.
Why Should You Create a LinkedIn Newsletter?
There are several marketing benefits to creating a LinkedIn newsletter.
Expands Brand Awareness
With the help of a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter, you can proactively stay in touch with your professional connections, reminding them of what your offer and what solutions you can provide.
Followers and potential customers too will find you and become more familiar with your brand.
Increases Engagement
Not all of your contacts engage with you on a regular basis, if at all.
To increase engagement with your brand, then, you need to find more of those people who will engage.
Inviting numerous people to subscribe to your newsletter gives them the power to choose whether to do so, based on whether they need, want, or relate to the type of topics you cover.
In turn, you can expect engagement to increase.
A newsletter can also increase engagement in other areas, such as more people seeking out your published articles or even your LinkedIn posts.
Builds and Expands Your Audience
Brands are always looking for ways to expand their audience and click with the right people. A LinkedIn newsletter can help.
Across social media platforms, algorithms play a key role. These algorithms reward interaction. The more consumers interacting with your content, the more likely it is that LinkedIn will show it to a wider audience.
Also, if anyone on your connection list (first, second, or third-tier connections) comments or otherwise engages with your newsletter, it will show up on their feed, potentially expanding your audience even more.
Builds Authority and Trust
These days, consumers want to trust the businesses they do business with. So, building that trust needs to be a priority.
A way to go about that is to become an authority in your field, niche, or industry. Creating a LinkedIn newsletter can help with this, allowing you to build that authority.
Create and publish only highly-valuable content and turn yourself into a trusted resource for those who need what you have to offer in the way of products or services.
Generates Viable Leads
Businesses constantly need to search for ways to generate new leads.
A LinkedIn newsletter has the potential to reach far beyond your current customers, connections, and followers and provide you with viable leads to follow up on.
All in all, a LinkedIn newsletter can add to your inbound marketing strategy and reach more prospective customers while retaining the ones you already have.
How to Start a Newsletter on LinkedIn
LinkedIn makes it easy to publish your newsletter, and if you already know how to publish articles, you’ll have no problem getting started.
To publish a newsletter, head to your homepage and click on the “Write article” option.
Once the publishing tool opens, select “Write newsletter” (considering you have that option available on your page).
Enter a headline, newsletter description, and attach a logo. Next, select the frequency of the newsletter, such as weekly or biweekly. Now you’re ready to start adding content.
You’ll also have a chance to provide a comment on the newsletter’s subject, ask questions of readers, and add #hashtags or @mentions.
That’s all you have to do to publish the newsletter. A notification is automatically sent to your subscribers that a new one is available.
Best Tips and Practices for Creating Your LinkedIn Newsletter
You want to create a LinkedIn newsletter that subscribers are compelled to engage with, whether it’s reading, commenting, or sharing. The following best tips and practices will help.
1. Take the Time to Create a Great Title
The title of your newsletter is a valuable extension of your brand, so take enough time to create the best one possible.
The three characteristics of a good title include:
- Describes or clearly hints at what your newsletter is all about.
- Remains easy to remember.
- Identifies in some way who your audience is.
Essentially, your newsletter’s title needs to relate to your brand, what you’re offering, and what problems you can help solve for your targeted audience.
2. Design a Newsletter Logo
A creatively designed logo can add even more to your LinkedIn newsletter and will likely be remembered and recognized if you ever use it elsewhere.
Make it impactful, with the ability to capture your audience’s attention and leave a favorable impression.
3. Write a Concise Newsletter Description
Directly underneath the title of the newsletter, you’ll need to add a description.
This is prime real estate on the page and one of the first words viewers will see when they consider subscribing to your newsletter.
It is your chance to draw prospective subscribers in, giving them an overview of what the newsletter encompasses.
Here are basic tips to help make it the best it can be:
Keep it short
LinkedIn only allows so many characters for this description, so write tight by choosing words strategically.
Keep it descriptive
Be clear yet descriptive, and provide enough clues to what viewers can expect to find in your newsletter.
Add exclusivity
Make subscribers feel special in that they will have access to exclusive content.
4. Create Valuable, High-Quality Content
While vast access to information is a good thing, these days, it can also be overwhelming with so much noise across the web.
You’ll need to find a way to stand out from the crowd, and one successful way to do this is by always providing high-quality, useful content for your particular audience.
Begin by defining your audience, starting with your buyer personas.
Always use your content to solve the targeted audience’s problems, address pain points, or prompt them to learn or do something.
Newsletters are to be filled with high-quality, exclusive content that subscribers receive as opposed to articles written for a timeline. This way, your audience will want to subscribe in order to receive that exclusive content.
5. Create Compelling Headlines
Hook readers by adding catchy, compelling headlines for your newsletter articles. Start by identifying keywords, then use them strategically.
Also, within these headlines, infuse a sense of urgency so that readers want to read right away.
You’ll also want to include a particular pain point of your targeted audience or a benefit they will receive by reading.
6. Add High-Quality Images
Visual images provide a better overall experience for readers, so find high-quality images to include in your newsletter.
You’ll need both a cover photo and images to add within the text itself. The cover photo is displayed at the top of a newsletter and should relate in some way to your overall message.
In-content images add to the article, making your content much more memorable than if only using words alone.
7. Always End with a Call-to-Action (CTA)
Always end each newsletter article with a CTA, whether it asks for the reader to comment below, share the article, or click on a link that leads them to a blog post or another article.
LinkedIn highly values engagement, and with a CTA, you can increase your chances of raising the level of engagement and getting more notices by the algorithm.
LinkedIn Newsletters You Need to Read
Whether you’re already in the process of creating your own LinkedIn newsletter or waiting on an invitation, it helps to subscribe to other newsletters.
Knowing what is already available, and seeing what is working and how your competitors are approaching this new content powerhouse, can help you prepare better and modify your efforts when the time comes.
Here are six engaging LinkedIn newsletters you need to read.
LinkedIn5 (Gary Vaynerchuk)
Find out why Gary Vaynerchuk is referred to as the “poster child for entrepreneurship” by subscribing to his LinkedIn5 newsletter. In it, he shares his thoughts on business happenings in the corporate world and the marketing field.
The WorkLife Podcast Club (Adam Grant)
Suggestions, thoughts, and guidance on how to make your work life more enjoyable are at the heart of Adam Grant’s highly popular podcast, which he also offers in the form of a LinkedIn newsletter. An organizational psychologist, Grant covers topics such as stress management and tackling procrastination.
#Elevate (Bob Glazer)
You can learn a lot from entrepreneur Bob Glazer’s #Elevate newsletter, which is one of the most popular LinkedIn newsletters available. Glazer shares inspiring messages every week, with lessons on such topics as leadership and culture. He also finds ways to present topics on personal and professional growth in a creative and refreshing way.
Likeable Leadership (Dave Kerpen)
In Likeable Leadership, Dave Kerpen shares his unique insights on entrepreneurship, leadership, and marketing. He continuously strives to become a better leader and share what he finds with others.
Rethink with Rachel (Rachel Botsman)
With Rethinking With Rachel, Botsman describes her newsletter as one that helps people think for themselves instead of being told what to think. For this, she focuses on turning complex ideas into simpler terms and provides ways to put those ideas into action.
Top Picks (Victoria Taylor)
Taylor scans various LinkedIn newsletters and curates the best of the best to share with her subscribers. This is a fantastic newsletter to find out what’s out there already and what is succeeding enough to draw her attention. You’ll undoubtedly find other newsletters to subscribe to based on the broad information she provides.
Wrap Up: A LinkedIn Newsletter Adds a Boost to Your Marketing Strategy
While LinkedIn is already a powerful marketing platform, you can make it work even more for you by creating and publishing a dynamic newsletter that meets the needs of your targeted audience.
Add this new content powerhouse to your marketing plan and let it help increase brand awareness, build your audience, boost engagement, position you as an authority, and generate more leads.
For more ways to build a successful marketing strategy, get a copy of our Marketing Planning Bundle and get set to rise above the competition this year.
