LinkedIn Publishing Platform: Enhance Your Influence

May 12, 2014 by 4 Comments

www.jeffkorhan.com

If you are even moderately Internet savvy, one of your primary go-to resources for checking out a new connection is LinkedIn.

While most other social media profiles and bios are abbreviated, a LinkedIn profile is intended to be thorough and complete, including both professional and personal information.

The reason for this is LinkedIn’s primary source of revenue is subscriptions paid for by recruiters looking for talent, and individuals that want to showcase it. One side is searching for information, with the other serving it up to fulfill their mutually inclusive needs.

To more readily accomplish this objective of increasing the value of the network for all, LinkedIn has begun rolling out the LinkedIn Publishing Platform. It promises to offer individuals a unique opportunity to share useful content that also permanently becomes part of their profile.

The trick for making the most of it is to simply tell your story well.

Networks Are Driven by Influence

Before the LinkedIn Publisher was released for the first wave of 25,000 users, a small group of celebrity influencers were handpicked to showcase their ideas and experiences.

For the most part, they did this by sharing personal experiences that frequently captivated the LinkedIn community, thereby building a massive following for the most interesting influencers. After all, who doesn’t want to learn first-hand how Sir Richard Branson built his business empire, or get LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner’s take on LinkedIn best practices?

If you do not yet have this capability, you soon will. You will know you have it if a pencil is visible in the box for sharing updates. If it is, click on it and it will take you to an interface that very much resembles a WordPress blog. (Read further to get early access).

www.jeffkorhan.com

Why Publishing on LinkedIn is Smart Business

We all know by now (or should) that what we publish on any of the social networks is content that THEY control. This is why your primary publishing channel should be a site on a domain you own, such as your blog.

However, our blogs cannot potentially reach over 200 million viewers on their own. This is the power of the LinkedIn Publishing Platform. Some of my friends have been astonished at the reach of their LinkedIn posts, which naturally serves to grow their network of connections.

It’s important to understand these posts are not like status updates that come and go like the wind. They indeed become a permanent part of your profile, and are prominently positioned at the top. Thus, using the LinkedIn Publishing Platform to tell your story may soon become a powerful documentary for helping you to accomplish your business objectives.

So, what is the story you want to share that will resonate with those that are seriously considering hiring you? This is the opportunity, and it’s not to be underestimated.

Help LinkedIn Help You

Just like Google, LinkedIn is looking for influential people that others want to hear from. In other words, they both want content with authority, which of course is something that has to be earned.

We’ve been hearing from the celebrities on LinkedIn; now it’s your turn. You are probably not a celebrity, but you nonetheless have specific knowledge within your area of expertise that can help others.

When I learned of this program I applied, and I suggest you do the same. Here’s the link for getting early access. Like so many other opportunities in life, it often pays to be one of the first to drink from the trough. This gives you the chance to try things out and learn from your mistakes.

As more people gain access, some think the LinkedIn newsfeed will be overrun by low quality content. I disagree. My guess is each and every piece of content will be previewed by LinkedIn to determine what gets to be seen by a larger cross-section of the community.

I didn’t earn that opportunity with my first post, but I’m nevertheless proud of the result. Besides, what I wrote is evergreen content that speaks to my expertise of being a traditionally published author, while helping others to do the same. That should be your goal too; share first-hand experience that will help others to grow.

To get started, study the content that other influencers are publishing. You’ll discover a powerful headline is vital for getting noticed.

Are you ready to tap into a ready-made audience for free (at least for now).

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – (Wiley)  

He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

How to Author, Publish, and Market Your Book

December 13, 2012 by

It has been said that there is a book within each and every one of us.

While the greatest challenge may seem to be writing your novel or non-fiction business book – and it is indeed a challenge to do it well. That is nothing compared to getting those books into the hands of readers.

A book is a product and it has to be sold for its value to be realized. Thus, if you want to be an author you had better be prepared to market your book.

APE – Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book, by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch, is much more than its title suggests. It can help you choose whether self-publishing or going the traditional route is best for you.

Most importantly, it will provide invaluable advice for marketing your creation.

Traditional vs Self-Publishing

The business of publishing a book has changed dramatically in the last several years, if not months. APE will help you effectively navigate those changes, regardless of whether you choose to self-publish or follow the traditional route.

Now, anyone can publish a book – due in no small part to the power of that ubiquitous marketplace known as Amazon.

It should be no surprise that there is an entire chapter devoted to navigating Amazon – as there should be. Nevertheless, you will discover that once you learn how to work with Amazon, from uploading your book to managing and responding to reviews, it’s really pretty straightforward.

Does this mean self-publishing is the way to go? Self publishing is scary even for a best-selling authors like Guy Kawasaki, because you bear all of the risk. However, the same is nearly true for traditional publishing. As Guy points out in his book, advances for new authors are becoming increasingly rare.

You need a platform just to attract the attention of a traditional publisher, which may rule it out as an option formany aspiring authors. Your platform is a collection of connection channels (such as this blog) with which you can connect with readers – in other words, sell books.

One might argue that if you have a platform you would be crazy to share the profits with a traditional publisher. While this may be true, there is a lot of heavy lifting in the form of such things as distribution to consider. For my upcoming book, that was a significant reason I chose the traditional route.

You have to know yourself well enough to know what you can do well.  I happen to love marketing and sales. Whereas, some people love the thrill of building things, and believe me, there is more to building a book than just writing.

I was preparing to self-publish and changed direction for a variety of reasons. APE will help you to weigh the pros and cons of traditional vs self-publishing to determine which path is best for you. As a bonus, the authors humorously strip away idealistic fantasies to give you a true picture of what to expect.

Successful Authors are Great Marketers

If you watch late-night television you know actors are popular guests for two reasons:

1.  They are usually interesting.

2.  They share responsibility for the success of their film projects.

Actors need late-night television just as much as it needs them – that’s why they show up.  Of course, back in the days of The Johnny Carson Show authors also shared that platform.

Unfortunately, authors and books are usually not nearly as interesting as actors and films, and therefore have to find other marketing channels to reach their audiences.

Authors not only share responsibility for the success of their books, they bear most of it, regardless of whether they traditional or self-publish. Fortunately, APE is loaded with more book marketing ideas than any author could possibly handle.

APE – Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur is a comprehensive book that will benefit both new and experienced authors, just as it will help you navigate print and the mind-numbing nuances and options involved with digital publishing.

APE is presently only available as a Kindle version. Given that is has nearly 400 links to useful online content, this may be the best way to go for most.

Good luck.  I hope you enjoy the process of writing, publishing, and marketing your book as I am mine.

Leave a comment below – and please share with your social networks.

Until next time, Jeff

 

Imitators and Redefining Expertise

February 17, 2012 by

In the pre-digital era of publishing, the printed word carried a great deal of authority. The assumption by the general public was that “they” would never print anything if it wasn’t true. Of course, back then publishing was confined to established media outlets that employed professionals who were held accountable. Now anyone can publish, and […]

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Google Currents and the Mobile Trend

December 14, 2011 by

This week Google launched Google Currents – a well-designed application that takes mobile to another level by bringing all of your digital magazines together into a friendly interface. As a business, your digital magazine is your blog – and Google Currents is designed to help you distribute that expertise to your target audience via their mobile device. […]

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