LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for marketing your business and brand. By leveraging content on LinkedIn, you can attract and nurture your target audience.
When it comes to posting content on the platform, you want to implement several different types. The various content styles will attract different sectors of your audience at different stages in the buyer journey. Furthermore, the variety helps keep your connections interested and fosters new engagement.
Today, we’ll share some details about the top 4 content styles you should use on LinkedIn to grow your following.
Read on to find out more about the content styles and how to implement them.
Style 1: Educational Style
The first style of content is the “Educational Style.” With an education post, you teach your audience something. The goal of this style of post is to share your expertise and insight.
Creating an effective education style piece of content requires a careful balance. You want to demonstrate your mastery in your area of expertise. It’s critical to provide real value that can help your audience learn something.
Here’s an example of an Educational Style article from Dina Calakovic. Dina is a renowned copywriter who’s well-known for her compelling, high-converting copywriting. In this post, she shares simple, yet important factors that impact LinkedIn growth:
The post is simple and straight to the point, but it packs immense value for her audience. The aim of her content here is to provide her audience with relevant, actionable information that they can put into use to grow on LinkedIn. In very few words, she provides several key points for the topic.
This educational post illustrates her expertise in the area. It also gives readers something of clear value. This type of content helps to position her as an authority figure in her space, to build her credibility. It also helps strengthen her connection with her audience, making them feel she’s in their corner and available to help them meet their goals.
2) Style 2: Entertainment Style
The next style of content to implement is the Entertainment Style. While you do want to share helpful advice, this can get boring if done constantly. That’s why it’s good to mix in some entertaining content as well.
The goal of entertaining content is to offer amusement to your audience. Many times, this comes in the form of humor. Memes, puns, “dad jokes,” and the likes are all great examples of entertaining content.
Here’s an entertainment-style post we love from Brooklin Nash. Brooklin Nash is a content marketing expert with a myriad of experience and guest posts. His headline reads “Dear freelancers: I’ve made 1,000 mistakes so you don’t have to.”
This post from Brooklin is simple, yet highly engaging. He states” Linkedin: ‘Only connect with people you know.” The text is followed up by a funny photo of a woman doing an animated wink.
The post offers a moment of comedic relief. The topic of navigating LinkedIn’s algorithm and protocols can be exhausting and frustrating for freelancers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. By poking fun at one of the concepts, Brooklin is able to give his audience a bit of a laugh and provide great entertainment value.
Sprinkling in entertaining content like this helps to keep your audience engaged. They won’t get bored or bogged down by all of the advice. It also helps foster a more personal connection, as they will feel like they’re joking with a friend.
3) Style 3: Inspiration Style
The third style is the Inspiration Style. The inspirational style is all about sharing philosophies. The point is to offer thought-provoking content. It doesn’t necessarily teach or entertain, but it should get your audience thinking.
A great example of the inspirational style is this post by Gary Vaynerchuk. More commonly known as Gary Vee, he is a “serial entrepreneur” and best-selling author who is highly regarded for his knowledge of increasing brand relevance.
Gary says “I’m stunned by how many people are confused that fear is a better motivator than love.
Fear needs to be eliminated from the workplace.
Work culture and company morale are foundational to a business’s success.”
The text is followed by an image with the words “Love is a better motivator than fear in business.”
Based on the comments responding to the post, it’s clear that it inspired some thought and debate. The content got his audience thinking about what facilitates work culture and how to motivate employees and coworkers.
Inspirational content is one of the best ways to engage your audience. People will be inclined to share their thoughts or response to what you post. It also offers a great opportunity for re-sharing and reposting, as many people will re-share content they find inspiring.
4) Style 3: Relatability Style
The fourth content style to implement is the Relatability Style. Empathy is the key to this style. It’s all about letting your audience know you understand them and are there for them.
Relatability content brings your audience closer. It helps to show the human side of your brand, foster a more personal connection.
Here is a great example of a relatability-style post from Liz Fosslien. Liz is the Head of Communications and Content at Humu. She’s also a talented author and speaker. In her post, she says,” We often applaud grit, but it can be just as valuable to know when to quit.
If you’ve tried and tried and found that your work environment still makes you feel awful day in and day out, it might be time to move on.
And that’s okay. It doesn’t make you weak or ungrateful or someone who “couldn’t stand the heat.” Sacrificing your health and potentially your self-worth should not be the price you have to pay to participate.
A tip if you’re looking for a new role: reflect on why you’re unhappy in your current job, and what you need to feel better in your next one. A clear sense of what matters most will make it easier for you to confidently identify your right next step.”
The text is followed by a simple image that illustrates this. The first image, of someone attempting to push a boulder up a hill, says “just because you can endure.” The second image is the woman leaving the boulder and running away happy and it says “doesn’t mean you have to.”
This post is highly relatable, especially given the current “grit first” culture. Liz will touch much of her audience on an emotional level with this post, which is why it’s an excellent one. It will humanize her brand as well.
Start Using a Variety of Content
To find success on LinkedIn, you need to frequently post valuable content. However, you should implement a variety of styles to keep your audience interested and engaged. As you plan your LinkedIn content, be sure to use Educational, Entertaining, Inspirational, and Relatable posts.
