How to Write a LinkedIn Influencer Post Even if You Hate Writing

If you have been looking at LinkedIn and wondering why there are so many different people posting now and not just Richard Branson and James Caan, you’d be right. LinkedIn now has the capacity to allow you to post your content to become an Influencer as well. The issue is and the question I’m being asked is “So what do I write? Is there a framework or formula?”

Well, yes and no. If you’re anything like me I’m more a speaker and coach than a writer and it takes a lot of discipline for me to sit down and write. Nevertheless we need to write down what we know and can share with the world so that we can amplify our message and give to others more efficiently. If you have enough profile online you should get quite a few views in a few hours after posting an article. I’m noticing that for those who post regularly or have been profile building using other tools like Twitter, it seems to work hand-in-hand with those profile building activities like tweeting, curating and posting comments.

A few things to remember before you begin:

It’s not Facebook. Posting on LinkedIn as an Influencer is quite different to adding pictures in a feed for your Facebook. This is not that place to just put pictures, inspiring quotes or memes. This is a space for you to share your professional expertise and provide good quality content to your audience.
Don’t just attach your newsletter as a word document to your feed and think anyone will read it. That is not posting information in a way that your audience will read it. Take the content out and put it in the post area so that it is there permanently and paints a clear picture to the person who clicks on your profile of who you are, your perspective and what you do. It also helps to build the “know, like and trust” factor that you’re trying to do in your profile.
A post can go for as long as you like. To engage your reader, keep it to the point. Ideally stick to 600-800 words if you can.

To begin with, I believe there are a few things you need to give your reader when you’re posting on LinkedIn and any other posting for that matter:

Why what you have to say is important
Evidence to back up your claims
A formula they can use for success
Call to action

So if you’re not a writer what’s the easiest way to do it? Well someone who I have followed for a number of years is the very talented Gihan Perera, if you don’t follow him already you should! Anyway, when I first started in my own business 5 years ago I didn’t really know what to write. Gihan suggested a method which I still recommend for most novices today. This method is called the PILES method.

The PILES method covers:

Principle/Problem/Purpose: What is the point of the article? You need to give it some context so it could be a story, an analogy or some recent research that has become available.

Implications: What happens if you don’t do it? I recommend hyperlinking to provide evidence and back up your claims. It might be some research you found or perhaps a credible source in your industry has written about the issue. Alternatively it could be implications this topic has for a particular industry.

List: List steps to overcome the problem. This should be a simple list to help the reader scan your article easily. Lists with a prime number of steps make it easy for you to market your steps in the heading of your post. Prime numbers jump off the screen and catch a reader’s attention more easily.

Explanation: Explain each one in a sentence or two. Explain what the benefit or impact will be for each item in the list.

Summary: Write a conclusion. This will put your final emphasis on the point you’re trying to make. I also recommend writing a call to action here, so if you help people with that particular topic then send a link to a landing page on your website. It can be frustrating for your reader when they get to the end of an article after the writer has spent all this time writing about why this is so important, they've then decided they want help and there is no information on where they can get help!

The best thing is if you can stick to it daily within less than 2 months you will have a book on your hands! I also recommend using an image in your header that reflects the point you’re trying to make. This will add the image to your profile and makes it more appealing for the reader to click through to your post.

Would love to know your thoughts or comments.

How to Write a LinkedIn Influencer Post Even if You Hate Writing