4 Quick Tips: How to Extend the Life of Your LinkedIn Content

I've read countless amounts of social media articles that talk about the lifespan of the content you post on social media. Common thoughts seem to be that a tweet on Twitter is irrelevant in a few seconds, a Facebook post lasts a few hours, while LinkedIn doesn't even have a span. It seems as if any type of content on LinkedIn tends to take longer to create engagement or has no engagement at all. True. But how many times have you logged onto LinkedIn and saw your buddy liked a piece of content that was posted 3 days ago? Or you keep scrolling down and you see a connection shared something that was posted 17 days ago? Here's 4 quick tips I feel can help you get that content to stick.

1. Post content that is SITE: Shareable, Informational, Trending and Enduring. LinkedIn is not Facebook, and never should be, so I wouldn't recommend sharing pictures of where you and your family went to dinner. Post content that your connections want to share, especially the kind that is informational (tip sheets, how to's, thoughts on industry trends). People on LinkedIn want thought leadership, not to know the best place to eat brunch (even though I love food). Share content that'll be long-lasting and has a good chance of being relevant 17 days from now.
2. Always post a picture with your content. I honestly believe if you aren't doing this, you're really posting for no reason. People are busy and they want to scroll through and see intriguing images with relevant content attached to it.
3. Add your own thoughts towards a post you share. You're sharing articles or videos, why? Why was it worth sharing to you? Adding your own thoughts towards a piece of content you share gives somebody something to talk to you about once they come across the post on their feed. As always, keep it professional and neutral. LinkedIn is a tool for meaningful, professional conversation, not political debate.
4. You don't have to write a lot to get your point across. I feel any teacher or person working in public relations could easily agree with this tip. Five words can tell a whole story. Even though LinkedIn allows you 600 characters in a post (or at least this is the last I saw in Dec. 2016), doesn't mean you have to use them all.

Hopefully these simple and possibly common sense type tips will help you create content that's going to last.

I love LinkedIn because there's this whole different feeling of self-worth, which doesn't really make sense for social media, does it? But what I mean is, anything I post on LinkedIn I want to be worth something and I want it to make me and others seeing it to feel empowered to become leaders in content sharing. Thought leadership is a huge topic I focus on with LinkedIn because it's about inspiring people and creating trusted sources. I know that I can post something meaningful and I might get the likes and comments, but when you drum up shares or conversation, that's where you've nailed it.