Type any text into a Word document and spell check the text. Once finished, the tool will display “readability statistics.” At the bottom of this box under the “readability” subheading, it will include a Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score and the grade level. The higher the reading ease score, the simpler the content is for your LinkedIn readers to understand.
Create a length that is optimal for the platform.
Creating an amazing LinkedIn post also involves understanding how much content your audience wants to read. In the past, marketers believed that shorter was better, but today experts find this is not always true. If you write amazing content that is truly valuable, not only will the audience read it, they will read it even if it’s very long.
An article published by the Content Marketing Institute found that short content, with word counts of 1,000 or less, dominate LinkedIn. But surprisingly, this is not the content that readers want most. Posts with 1,000 to 3,000 words get the most shares. Check this out:
Up to 1,000 words: Average shares of 6,439.
Medium content of 1,000 to 2,000 words: Average shares of 7,771.
Long content of 2,000 to 3,000 words: Average shares of 8,702.
The bottom line? If you want to hook LinkedIn readers, you must publish long-form, high-quality content to capture their attention and inspire them to share it with their peers.
Deepen the relationship with a strong CTA.
Creating great content that draws readers in and delivers the information they crave is just the beginning. Once they read the material and say, “Wow, that was really amazing,” readers want more. Sadly, many great LinkedIn articles stop short of asking readers to take that next big step: the call to action.
Creating an effective CTA starts with a goal. After reading your content, what do you want readers to do next? Maybe your goal is to entice them into viewing more content, in which case you might include links to related content on your blog, where you can continue building that relationship.
Or perhaps your goal is to capture the prospects’ email addresses so you can launch a nurturing campaign, in which you might encourage them to download a road map or guide to solving whatever pain point the content addresses. For example, you might say, “To get our free white paper on the three most common mistakes people make when doing X and how to solve them, click here.”
Every piece of content that you publish on LinkedIn should be part of an overarching strategy, and the CTA should be carefully designed to support and meet those goals.
Keep readers engaged with the perfect visual count.
Here’s a well-kept secret about creating content on LinkedIn: It’s not all about the words. How? Research shows that visuals are very important with all content, but especially on LinkedIn. One large study of LinkedIn posts found that LinkedIn content with images received a greater number of shares, likes, comments and views.
On average, a LinkedIn post with zero images receives about 6,413 views. However, when eight images are included, this number jumps up to 57,575 views — a sizable increase!