Newsletters are an important way to stay engaged with your audience and share important updates about your business and industry. You can create email newsletter campaigns and you can also create newsletters on LinkedIn, which we’ll be chatting about today.
But newsletters are only worthwhile if your audience is reading them. You need to make them pop! They must be relevant, understandable, and interesting. Ideally, you want them to spark a conversation, fostering organic growth in your audience.
On LinkedIn you can create professional newsletters. Members of LinkedIn can subscribe to your newsletter and get updates when you publish new content. Moreover, anyone can “discover, read, and share your LinkedIn newsletter.” This means you have the opportunity to significantly expand your audience.
According to Social Media Examiner,
“A LinkedIn newsletter is basically a feed of your LinkedIn content that you curate for your audience. It can include images you’ve shared, videos you’ve posted, articles you’ve written—anything that you can write into a LinkedIn article can be pushed into a link to the newsletter and shared with your audience.”
Moreover, you can access some data about the reach of your newsletters. You can see how many people viewed the content and are subscribed to your LinkedIn newsletter.
Also, if you already send out email newsletters, you can share the same information via LinkedIn newsletters, expanding your readership beyond your email base.
Here are a few quick tips for creating a successful LinkedIn newsletter, many of which are similar to our recommendations for LinkedIn articles:
- Create a clear and catchy newsletter name. The title should leave no questions as to what your newsletter is about. For instance, the Aspen Institute recently invited me to subscribe to their monthly LinkedIn newsletter, Turn Your Climate Ambition Into Action, which discusses ways to address climate change.
- Draft a clear newsletter description. “You’ll have around 300 characters to work with. Again, focus on writing a clear description and using terms people are searching for.” Entrepreneur Robert Glazer describes his newsletter, #Elevate, this way: “300,000+ Subscribers. #Elevate focuses on leadership, building capacity, and reaching potential.” This description is focused, clear, and inviting.
- Add images and a logo. These should align with your branding and company messaging. Visuals are a great way to catch the attention of readers, so be thoughtful about this (and have a bit of fun)!
- Develop a schedule and stick with it. You can post quarterly, monthly, weekly, or more frequently. Consistency is key and will help you to develop a loyal audience. Therefore, it is important to set a realistic schedule for yourself.
- Create high quality content. We’ve stressed the need to create quality content in most of our blog posts—and will do so again here. As Social Media Examiner wisely observes, “As you develop your content strategy, it’s important to always deliver quality to help build your audience’s trust in the value of your LinkedIn newsletter. Readers should be able to trust the experience that they’re going to have when they tap on that notification or open the email that sends them to your newsletter to read your new content.” Also, think about authenticity and being a bit vulnerable when creating content. What would be interesting to read?
The Content Marketing Institute interviewed Lorraine K. Lee, the editorial lead for the LinkedIn newsletter product launch. “Lorraine advises any brand or individual to focus on content that’s genuine and open. ‘A company that’s writing a newsletter each week sharing high-level policies or updates isn’t going to get a lot of traction. A company that shares employee stories or struggles the HR team faced when implementing remote work policies is.’”
And, as a bonus, the higher quality your content is, the more likely readers will comment and share.