“Yes, I acknowledge that LinkedIn and personal branding are instrumental. But what next?”
Recently, I was conversing with a startup owner.
He’s been into the business since 2019, and now, he’s looking for early beta users for his freelancers’ networking app.
His idea intrigued me.
“Why don’t you start with LinkedIn? You’ll find the early adopters easily. LinkedIn is heaven for entrepreneurs like you,” I suggested.
“Hardik, you aren’t the first one recommending LinkedIn to me,” he sighed.
“I understand that LinkedIn is the most sought-after platform at present.
With consistent content creation, I can build a sound personal brand and leverage it to get early subscribers for my app.
But how should I create valuable content? What should I write? What should I include (and exclude)?”, he bombarded questions on me.
I found the root cause of the problem.
Majority of founders and entrepreneurs know the crucial importance of LinkedIn and personal branding.
They understand how personal branding acts like a magnet to attract potential buyers, investors, and other necessary stakeholders.
They also reckon the importance of adding value instead of being salesy when
they create content or reach out to people on LinkedIn.
However, the problem lies elsewhere — they can’t figure out the kind of content they should create.
- What kind of topics should I talk about?
- Should I write only about the company or my personal life too?
- Can I include stories?
- How can I talk about my products or services without advertising them?
Do you also get haunted by these questions? I can empathise with you.
Content creation is a long-term game that requires you to combine various blocks together and create a beautiful design.
Don’t worry! In today’s article, I’ll provide you with 8 content ideas that you can work upon RIGHT NOW to create valuable content on LinkedIn.
We’ll get there in a minute or two. Before that, let’s understand how these 5 amazing entrepreneurs have built a sound personal brand by being active on LinkedIn and creating valuable content consistently.
Dharmesh Shah
Dharmesh Shah, Founder & CTO of HubSpot, is a renowned name.
While HubSpot is into inbound marketing and CRM, Dharmesh posts on a bunch of topics, including startups, growth and tech-obsessed parenting.
Occasionally, he also shares HubSpot’s articles.
But even then, he never forgets to include his 2 cents as the post copy to add the cherry on the cake.
Dharmesh writes short, 1-2 liner posts, but you will never miss out on taking at least one tip/ lesson from them.
Ankur Warikoo
Need any introduction? Ankur, the CoFounder and Board Member at Nearbuy, has created a sensation across social media through his content.
Ranging from text posts to videos, including carousel posts, images, and LIVE sessions, Ankur creates and publishes highly-valuable content at insane frequency.
This exercise has not only helped Ankur scale his social media followers, but Nearbuy also gets to reap the benefits of Ankur’s personal brand.
While Ankur’s primary target audience is startup owners and entrepreneurs, he creates content on topics which are as much beneficial for college students and retired professionals, as they’re for entrepreneurs.
Kunal Shah
Kunal, the founder of CRED, shares punchy one-liner content on various professional and personal issues.
He is blunt and unapologetic in his writeups and creates viral content that gets shared across various social media platforms.
Sometimes, he also posts memes and humorous content, which his target audience can relate to.
Kunal’s LinkedIn profile can be a case-study for copywriters, as he communicates his message amazingly well in less than 10-15 words.
Kunal Bahl
Another Kunal in the list, who also creates one-liner content to talk about a variety of topics.
Kunal Bahl, Co-Founder & CEO of Snapdeal, is one of the most active e-commerce entrepreneurs from India, who publishes often on LinkedIn.
Previously, Kunal would occasionally publish a long-form article to cover a topic in-depth, but now he writes more in fewer words, on topics ranging from startups to his personal life.
Divya Gokulnath
‘BJYU’s better half’ as she is fondly called, Divya Gokulnath shares updates from her professional life as well as on-going developments at BJYU’S.
Whether she’s been published in a newspaper or mentioned in a reputed online article, Divya never forgets to share the news with her network.
Besides, she also writes long-form articles to throw light on various aspects of teaching, education, organizational policies, leadership, etc.
Why should you look up to these 5 entrepreneurs (and others who’re consistent on LinkedIn)?
These entrepreneurs teach us an important lesson: While creating content, you don’t have to restrict yourself to what you or your company does.
Nearbuy is a hyper-local e-commerce company, yet Ankur writes about startup founders’ struggles, marketing, growth, career choices, etc.
HubSpot is an inbound marketing and CRM company, yet Dharmesh speaks consistently on growth, entrepreneurship, team-management, etc.
The other entrepreneurs (even those who haven’t featured in the list above) don’t restrict themselves to their core niches.
Here’s the thing.
People neither expect nor want you to restrict yourself to merely the industry you belong to.
They want to hear from you on various topics, and learn continuously.
As long as you provide practical advice and tips, you can create content on any topic you like.
Got that? Great. Now, let’s move towards the most important section of this article:
8 content ideas for you to start creating content NOW!
Here’re the 8 content ideas:
Updates about your business and industry
You can write about the latest and upcoming trends related to your business or the industry in general.
But don’t share an article as a third-party link; LinkedIn hates it. Instead, go through the updates in detail, understand how it will (or may) create an impact, add your critical opinion, and then write a post about it.
If you can simplify the updates and provide bite-sized information which can be consumed easily, you have scored brownie points.
Tip: Search for your relevant keywords on Google News and find the latest updates in your industry.
Personal life experiences (especially failures)
Whether you failed in an exam or a job or business, share those personal life experiences with your audience.
VULNERABILITY is the most promising currency.
When you become more vulnerable, your audience starts trusting you and giving undisputed attention.
“But my clients and employees might see these posts. I’ll feel embarrassed in front of them.”
No! You won’t.
All of us have faced failures and rejections in our lives. By putting your experiences out, you make yourself approachable to your audience.
Tip: Don’t make up the stories. If you didn’t fail (which is almost impossible!) or can’t recall any real-life experience, there are other content ideas too. Be authentic with your content.
Also Read: Success stories of Changemakers & Business Leaders
Field-related concepts
In every field, there are some concepts, terminologies or provisions which are related to that particular field.
But these concepts may be too complex to understand for newbies or people who don’t belong to the respective field.
Demystify those concepts or topics with the help of stories, examples, case studies and anecdotes.
People love when they can understand a concept without putting in too much of efforts.
When you do it consistently, you give people a reason to stay connected with you to understand more such topics in easy language.
For instance, if you belong to the fintech field, you could explain blockchain, cryptocurrency, financial lending, etc. in easy and non-technical language.
People scratch their heads over these topics. Your easy-to-consume, highly-valuable content will breathe a new life.
Sports, movies & books
Watched a soccer match recently that taught you a life lesson? Or maybe a movie or a podcast gave you a new perspective? A book that changed your way of thinking? Share it with your network.
Again, instead of plainly sharing the word-to-word content from that book or podcast, make a summary of what you learnt, add your two cents to it, and then post.
You can also connect the lesson to your real-life experience to give it a personalized touch.
Common queries, concerns, and problems
Your customers or prospects would have several queries and problems.
If you’re active on Quora or other such forums, you may also see people posting their queries and seeking answers.
Through your LinkedIn posts, answer their queries and solve the problems. Don’t pitch your product as a solution.
When you solve people’s problems through your content, they notice and consider you the thought leader of your industry.
Concepts such as leadership, team-building, marketing and sales
Topics such as leadership, team-building, marketing, sales and finance apply everywhere irrespective of the niche or industry.
Share practical insights that help other founders and entrepreneurs improve their way of working and handling the teams.
These tips can come from your personal experiences or content that you found useful to share.
Process and steps
Another great way of building thought leadership and offering sufficient value to your audience is to provide them with a step-by-step process.
For instance, if your agency provides LinkedIn Marketing service, explain how people can generate leads from LinkedIn.
Don’t assume that you’ll lose business or high-paying clients.
Just because people know how to do something doesn’t imply that they’ll have enough time and resources to do it expertly.
When you provide a step-by-step process, people trust your knowledge and expertise. It gives them the required assurance.
Memes and sarcastic posts
LinkedIn is a professional network, right. But sharing memes or sarcastic posts once in a while doesn’t do any harm.
It makes the environment fun and lively and allows people to become informal.
Include a cool, witty post copy with a GIF or write a one-liner, sarcastic post. If people find it relatable, they’ll share it and make your post viral….
To create content on these topics, you can use a variety of formats (text, images, carousels, PDF, videos, etc.).
However, for LinkedIn, I would recommend you to go heavy on text-only posts, videos (1-3 minutes) and PDF-document posts.
Use one of these content ideas as a template, put your thoughts behind it, write a post, and hit the PUBLISH button.
Easy-peasy, what’s say?
Further Reading:
