- Do you find most LinkedIn discussions pointless or repetitive?
- Are many of them just a blatant sales pitch?
- Ever wondered how to write a LinkedIn discussion that provokes both interest as well as feedback from your audience?
Well read on….
The key to success with LinkedIn discussions is control. By controlling the topic and direction of discussion posts, you ensure it stays beneficial to you.
For a LinkedIn discussion post to be effective it needs to be (a) engaging (b) relevant and (c) hopefully beneficial to all those viewing the post and joining in the discussion. For example; discussions about changes in tax legislation in respect of small businesses may be relevant to both small businesses and accountants but would be of no interest or use to primarily school teachers or big corporates, so for starters, ensure you are posting to the right group!
So, how do you decide what to raise as a discussion post?
First of all choose a topic which you know may be troubling people within your discussion group and then post a discussion about a solution to this problem or add your own thoughts on the issue in a thought provoking way. If a post already exists in this area, use the opportunity to highlight your abilities by commenting on the discussion. Don’t be scared to rock the boat, the more controversial your comment the more attention it will get and the better responses you will receive from others. Encourage others to respond by posting your comments as questions e.g. “Does using LinkedIn really help my business?”
Then to take your discussions to the next level, post the same discussion to multiple groups or even offer a link to your website whereby they could find more detailed information on the subject.
Coming across as both credible and knowledgeable in discussion posts reflects on how others see you and your company, raising yours and your company’s profile, encouraging people and companies to consult with you outside LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn discussion posts in this way subtly enables you to attract people to you business without the participants in the discussion posts even realising it. Try it for yourself and see how people’s perception of you will change.
