LinkedIn is done kidding around.
The world’s largest professionally themed social network recently made what could be a game-changing upgrade to its publishing platform.
Here’s the scoop: You can now directly embed Tweets, Podcasts, Polls, Charts, Vines, Videos, Presentations and much more directly inside a LinkedIn blog post.
How it Works
LinkedIn has made this incredibly simple.
All you need to do is copy-and-paste the URL of the content you want to embed, and LinkedIn’s built-in blogging CMS (Content Management System) does the rest.
(Make sure you go out and view this live post on LinkedIn to see how all this works and looks on the platform.)
Content You Can Embed on LinkedIn now includes:
- Tweets
- Podcasts (via SoundCloud)
- Polls (via PollDaddy)
- Charts (via ChartBlocks)
- Videos (YouTube, Vimeo)
- Slide Presentations (SlideShare)
- Vines
- And more!
GIFs Have Also Arrived!
You can even put animated GIFs, or animated, moving images that loop over and over, directly into LinkedIn blog posts … something previously only available within the LinkedIn newsfeed and via 1-on-1 LinkedIn messages to another person.
Now, if you jump over to LinkedIn to see this post in a “live” environment on the platform, you’ll note the examples I’m sharing there are (mostly) goofy and entertaining. With that said, the business and personal branding possibilities are limitless.
Why This Matters So Much
LinkedIn is dead serious about becoming a one-stop content shop for professionals worldwide to get the news, views and insights that relate to their specific industries, types of professions, areas of the world and more.
In addition to bringing in A-List media partners like The New York Times to supply articles and celebrity “LinkedIn Influencers” like Bill Gates and Oprah to blog on the platform, LinkedIn also gives you and me (and 400 million other professionals in 200 countries) the ability to create and share our own original content on the platform.
It’s a brilliant strategy – in addition to having high-end, respectable news partners and celebrity bloggers, LinkedIn taps the global marketplace to provide additional insights, opinions and content at no cost to LinkedIn.
The “win” for you and I, of course, is exposure for our original content and the ability to demonstrate our credibility, expertise and insight to a targeted audience of professionals who will likely be interested in our products and services at some point in the (near) future.
(The key to this, of course, is having a content marketing strategy in place and understanding how to use your content as an entry point for people to learn about you and the products or services you provide!)
It’s the perfect situation, and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead when it comes to creating and sharing content over on LinkedIn.
Why LinkedIn Is Doing This?
It’s simple, really.
The more time we spend on LinkedIn creating, consuming and sharing all this content, the more LinkedIn can charge for the display Ads that appear all over the site.
Also, the more deeply we engage with and consume content that carries specific tags, themes or keywords, the easier it is for LinkedIn to (hopefully) create more targeted and relevant Display Ads, Sponsored Updates or InMails to put in front of us.
In addition, think about all the time we already spend on LinkedIn to find a job, hire someone, do online education and training (via the Lynda.com acquisition), and it’s obvious … LinkedIn has the potential to become the professional equivalent of Facebook.
I, for one, love the new publishing upgrades – it makes it that much easier to create, share and directly embed original content that can set you apart from the competition, build your personal and professional brand and attract new clients and customers.
Can’t wait to see how you decide to utilize all these new features inside the publishing area. Make sure you invite me to connect over on LinkedIn and send me some examples once you’ve had time to create some new posts!
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