4 Content Marketing Strategies to Help You Build More Authority on LinkedIn

Posted by Ben Kniffen in LinkedIn Marketing Insights

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This article shares four ways to use LinkedIn's content marketing and distribution platform to reach more prospects, engage with your audience, and build more authority status among your network.

LinkedIn is perfectly primed to continue it’s evolution into a content publishing powerhouse.

The way we see it, if you’re not taking advantage of LinkedIn for it’s content publishing and distribution now, you’ll be kicking yourself for missing out down the road. If history teaches us anything, the early days of content publishing proves to be the easiest time to build authority, grow your audience into a never-ending pool of potential clients, and carve out your corner of the platform before it becomes too saturated (ahem, Facebook) and organic reach starts to dry up. The truth is, even though LinkedIn has been around for awhile, it’s potential as a publishing platform is still just beginning.

This post will cover four ways you can take advantage of content marketing and distribution on LinkedIn now. And just in case you’re wondering exactly how you’ll be able to create so much content, don’t worry. Let’s cover that first...

1. Curate Content


This answers the question of “where will I get the content from?” or “How will I find the time to create content for LinkedIn?” So here’s our answer for starters… Curate don’t create.

The most obvious reason to curate is that you don’t need to take the time to create your own content. This makes sharing content - even if you do it daily (which we highly recommend) - simple and quick, but saving time is just the surface benefit.

It’s also a very strategic move because the type of content you share can be a great positioning tool. Sharing content in itself will help keep you top of mind and help people build familiarity with you and your business, positioning you as a trusted resource. This is because the more they see you, the more they feel they know you, and the more they are likely to trust you (which is exactly what you need before you even think about selling anything).

So, when it comes to curating instead of creating content, you can actually share content you know will be appreciated, content that’s already received a good response, you position yourself as well-read, humble (because you’re willing to step aside and let others shine), helpful, and in many cases, you’re seen as just as knowledgeable as the original content creators.

It’s the perfect way to position yourself as an authority because you achieve that without being pushy or salesy. This breaks down the defense wall that prospects put up and allows you a welcome entrance instead.

Think of it like being the Oprah of your industry...Oprah isn’t really known for being amazing at one thing, she is known for being a curator of amazing resources that she introduces her audience to… and people love her for it.

There’s just one rule to make this effective: Share What Your Prospects Value. Not Just What You Value.

Most content online never gets shared because it only focuses on what the content poster values instead of what their prospects value.

When you do the exact opposite and share content unique to your prospects interests (rather than your own)...they’ll be more likely to notice, engage, and remember you.

You need to share a variety of articles that fit with your target’s values, problems, influences and more.

For example, if you are an IT consultant and you sell to the owners of small manufacturing firms...don’t only share IT content. That’s what you are most interested in NOT what they are most interested in.

Sure, IT is one area of focus...but if it’s all IT, your content will fall on deaf ears much of the time.

By leading your audience to good content they’ll actually read, watch or listen to - you’ll build influence AND you’ll have a lot more fun in the process. And you don’t have to create it all yourself.

How Can You Easily Curate Content?

Glad you asked! You can use simple tools that make finding great content a breeze because they deliver the content to you so all you need to do is just scan a list of relevant content to share.

If you want to search and find the content yourself, we recommend using an RSS feed like Feedly to help you narrow your search results.


Or a tool like Emphatic can take all the heavy lifting off your shoulder by finding the exact content to share and handle the writing and posting of your updates so you never have to wonder “What am I gonna say to attract my prospects?!” ​With Emphatic content curation and daily posting only takes minutes of your time each month.

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Helpful Tip

Use tools like Emphatic or Feedly to save time and simplify your content curation and distribution.

2. Group Posts


Ok, LinkedIn Groups have had a lot of updates to them lately. LinkedIn wants to make them more of an integral part of the main platform. This is great news for us, as we’ve always promoted LinkedIn Groups as a fantastic lead generation and authority building tool. So if you don’t have a group, now is a great time to start one, and you can also take advantage of other, more established groups with this same content marketing strategy.

Here’s what we recommend…

Post 1-2 times a day in your group. Like I said, if you don’t have a group yet, go ahead and start one. Think of it like your own private club filled with your ideal prospects. Plus, you have more control over the conversation and can even use your group as a positioning tool. For example, in your headline or in any introduction about yourself, you can mention that you’re the leader of a group. That is a huge positioning tool.

If you’re posting in other groups, there are a few rules to remember. First, don’t SPAM, meaning don’t just share links to your offers and your content.You’ll probably get kicked out that way.

Second, be sure to share meaningful content that will actually help your prospects. What truly leads to more authority is that you know what they are dealing with and how to help them and you show them you have the answers. We recommend posting to other groups once a week.

3. Video


LinkedIn has invested highly in making video a big part of their site, and with good reason - LinkedIn reports that users spent three times more time watching videos than viewing static content. During the limited or beta release of LinkedIn Video, it was found that videos were shared 20 times more than any other type of content.

With new updates such as filters for videos, as well as native video ads as part of sponsored content offerings, the ability to upload native videos through the mobile app and more, video is something that you should probably be doing more of.

Here are a few ways to get started with video on LinkedIn:

  • Testimonials

    Use your best client stories to tell your prospects about their results in their own words. There are some easy tools that can help you do this...from simple submission & collection tools like Boast.io, Magnifi, or Birdseed, or you can simply start by just recording a zoom interview.

  • Repurpose and or repost old video content
    If you have any old video content, you can easily repurpose it into smaller clips you can share on Linkedin. This is the easiest way to make the most of content you may already have. Tools like Lumen5 can help you easily repurpose old blog posts or content into easily digestible videos.

Now, we’ve been talking about how content helps build your authority and video is certainly no different. Using video allows LinkedIn users to see a more “human” side of businesses, making the brands behind them more approachable. It involves more senses, allowing them to get to know you even better; your prospects get to hear you, see you talk, and see your gestures. This is much more powerful at building trust than just static text and pictures.

And get this… according to the scientific journal
Evolution & Human Behavior, even your prospects only see a friendly grin from you, it will make people 10% more willing to trust you. You can use video to show your personality and make you and your business more memorable. Here are some other video stats:

  • 84% of buyers reported that they had been convinced to buy after watching a brand’s video.
  • 97% of businesses believe that their video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.

​Finally, a huge bonus with video is that the organic reach of LinkedIn video and engagement just keeps rising. Like I said earlier, it’s very much still “early days” with video on LinkedIn which can allow you to reach a larger audience organically without having to pay to boost your post with ads.

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4. Help First


This is more about the basis for your overall content strategy. Remember this rule when it comes to content: A sound content marketing plan is about helping your prospects first and foremost.

By providing them value before they engage with or buy from you will lead to increased reach, more authority, and ultimately more clients - but it’s not something that happens overnight.

Whenever you have a new prospect ask yourself this,

How can I help before jumping right into a sale?

There are loads of opportunities for this outside of the options we’ve touched on above:

  • You can spend time writing insightful comments on posts or in groups (not just commenting ‘great’ or ‘Thanks for sharing!’ but leaving a comment that provides additional insight to other readers),
  • You can feature your prospects or their businesses with interviews on your podcast or on your blog,
  • You can refer prospects to providers you’ve used in your business that have helped you accomplish a project or goal
  • And so much more, as long as you always “Help First!"

Don’t Wait


Content marketing on LinkedIn is on fire right now - it’s easier than ever to reach your prospects in a number of different ways to stay top of mind and build the authority that’s crucial to the success of your business.

But you have to actually make it happen. That’s the difference between businesses that flourish and businesses that grow stale. If you’d like some help on understanding how you can use content marketing on LinkedIn to get more leads and clients to grow your business, click below now.

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