LinkedIn accidentally abandoned writers a few years ago.
TikTok took off. Instagram stories of genetically modified butts became popular. Everyone wanted video.
LinkedIn caved. They added video. Video everywhere.
At the same time they deprioritized LinkedIn articles. They didn’t remove the feature. They simply reduced the organic reach.
Nobody knew. To date, most people still don’t know.
The “Write an Article” button is still there but it’s dead.
A new player changed the game
The only options writers had on LinkedIn was to write short 1500 character text posts. The limit in length made it hard to tell the real stories.
Still, I battled through for the last few years.
Then Substack came on the scene in a sexy red g-string. They shook up the scene. They loudly said, “you own your audience data forever content creators.”
It took writers a while to pay attention.
Then we said “holy sh*t.”
With the rise of newsletters LinkedIn decided it needed to bring back writers. Recently they launched LinkedIn newsletters.
Let me explain why this is big.
A radical shift in thinking
Until recently, if you published articles on other platforms or your own website you couldn’t repurpose them on LinkedIn.
Those who weren’t in the know would paste links to their articles on LinkedIn that took users off the platform. LinkedIn would silently block the links to keep their users on their platform. Makes perfect business sense.
Now with LinkedIn newsletters there’s a chance to blog again on the platform.
The #1 mistake writers will make (guaranteed)
What worries me is many of you will read this and get lazy.
You’ll go on LinkedIn and simply copy everything you’ve ever written on the internet and paste it as a newsletter. You’ll overdo it too.
You may even batch-publish hundreds in a day.
Don’t. Listen carefully.
Writers fail on LinkedIn because they don’t understand the nuances. If social media was easy then we’d all be Logan Pauls with Lambos in the driveway.
You have to understand the psychology of LinkedIn users. You have to learn the subtle nuances, the one-percenters that most writers ignore. You have to edit whatever content you take from elsewhere and publish on LinkedIn, if you ever want it to be read.
Copy and paste strategies are lazy. It’s why many writers fail.
They’re taught by personal branding coaches that don’t know jack about writing online or telling unselfish stories.
Learn how LinkedIn works. Study it. Then publish articles in a LinkedIn newsletter. You’ll crush it if you do and make money online.
Turning on this new feature
Whenever a platform releases a new feature it always gets a nice boost at the start. I launched my LinkedIn newsletter, Unconventional Leaders, a few days ago. I’m not here to brag.
But the results speak for themselves.
In 24 hours I got 66,700 LinkedIn newsletter subscribers. That would’ve taken freaking years on any other platform.
Now obviously I’ve been writing on LinkedIn for a while. You most likely won’t get these same numbers.
But I’m sure many writers would be happy with potentially thousands of new newsletter subscribers in a day. And over a year, the potential is ridiculous.
This is one of the best opportunities for writers I’ve seen, hence the reason for sharing it.
The feature is currently in beta mode. Not everyone has it yet. To turn on LinkedIn newsletters, you have to go to your profile and turn on Creator Mode.
Once you turn on newsletters, go to your homepage (only works on a desktop) and click “write an article” in the post box.
From there, if you have the feature enabled, you will see “create a newsletter.” All you do then is give your newsletter a name, upload a 300px x 300px newsletter logo and write a short description.
The next time you post an article it will automatically be published in your newsletter.
The first day is crucial
I learned the hard way how not to screw up LinkedIn newsletters.
Learn from my mistake.
When you launch your newsletter a box automatically gets ticked that lets you notify everyone in your network and all of your followers.
This is a huge opportunity. This is where your massive spike in subscribers will come from. Don’t waste the opportunity.
- Publish the first edition of your LinkedIn newsletter during peak hours — Tues-Thurs 8am-9am San Francisco time (for my audience, anyway).
- Reply to the comments in real-time. Thank people for subscribing. Share the launch to your email list and other social channels.
- Let the first edition sit. Don’t directly post another piece of LinkedIn content until it’s had at least 24 hours to gain traction.
- Expect your direct messages to increase. Reply to them.
The superpower of newsletters
LinkedIn newsletters have one key difference: every time you publish users get a notification. The notification is more obvious than others and artificially inflated in the sea of stuff a user sees.
Also, newsletters are one of the only features that sends emails to your audience for them to read your work.
Bottom line: subscribers are way better than useless followers. Build subscribers with the newsletter feature.
Closing thought
Writing online is a beautiful art form.
Sometimes we get distracted and think writing will become less popular. Time and time again we see platforms pivoting back to writing again because the format is timeless. That’s what LinkedIn has done.
Blog posts on LinkedIn are back in a new way.
If you want to build a decent-sized audience on the platform to make money find clients, publish books, get offered new jobs, meet recruiters, access a wide range of opportunities or simply because you love writing, then Linkedin is the place to be.
Learn how to communicate in LinkedIn language first, though, or you’ll fail.
Then launch your newsletter to grow with new subscribers. I can’t believe nobody is talking about this.
