Lead Conversations on LinkedIn Pulse

How to Write Highly Circulated Articles that
Garner Industry Respect

If LinkedIn Pulse, the professional networking site’s new app, is a highway, consider it bottlenecked. Now that anyone can contribute articles and essays to the app, LinkedIn feeds have become congested with stories from all sorts of professionals hoping to gain their industry’s attention. Unsurprisingly then, LinkedIn Pulse stories vary in quality — just as a real road may be filled with luxury cars and hoopties alike. Not every story can be a Lamborghini. But those that are get eyeballs and win their writers industry respect.

I recently edited a client’s nine-page story down to a far more digestible page and a half. The story went viral. The essence of my client’s original message was there and even many of the details, but certainly not all of them. LinkedIn is not the place people go to read nine-page rants, however informative. Here’s how to write LinkedIn Pulse stories your industry will notice:

Start with actual content. Your article needs to say something that will inform other industry professionals but also be accessible to the general public. After all, an educated person from another industry may be interested in learning more about your field. Don’t pull something from a textbook; draw from your own career experience and professional observations to say something new.

Avoid jargon. Regardless of your field, your piece should be conversational, not technical. Write in the first-person and use industry terms when necessary, but, again, be sure an educated professional from another field can still understand what you’re staying.

Stir something up. Don’t be afraid to be controversial. The best LinkedIn Pulse pieces are timely; they address a current event or trend, often speaking out against something a company or executive has done. But they don’t end there. They offer alternatives and solutions. That’s where the professional experience comes in. Addressing controversy inspires conversation. Do that and you’ll snag page views, shares, and, most importantly, comments from other industry insiders.

By Christine Stoddard
Photo by Shutterstock

A writer and visual storyteller living in the Washington, D.C. area, Stoddard edits Quail Bell Magazine, an online and print publication.