Have you noticed a flood of newsletter sign-up requests takeover your notifications in LinkedIn lately? Ever since LinkedIn made it easier for members to start a newsletter, it seems like everyone has started one. It may make you wonder, should I use this feature too?
Or will having a newsletter seem exciting at first but turn into something you won’t end up utilizing? It’s like getting a fancy bonus feature with a new car, but you never end up using it (I’m talking to you, satellite radio).
Or could it be the marketing tool you never knew you needed for your business?
Only you will know if a LinkedIn Newsletter is the right addition to your marketing efforts—after I share all the benefits and downsides.
So, let’s start with the basics. How do you have access to send out a newsletter on LinkedIn?
How Do You Get Access to the LinkedIn Newsletter Feature?
To gain access to publish a newsletter on LinkedIn, you must turn on Creator mode in your profile settings.
The creator mode is a setting of your LinkedIn profile that has different features compared to the traditional user’s settings. It allows members to create and publish content in various formats, including access to sending out newsletters.
The creator mode is geared towards members who develop content regularly and wish to specifically grow an audience with their content.
Not sure what Creator Mode is and if it’s the right move for our LinkedIn profile? Don’t worry. I got your back- learn more here about the pros and cons of this setting.
Should I Start a Newsletter on LinkedIn?
Before anyone can answer that question, I think the bigger question is, why do you want to start a LinkedIn Newsletter?
Is it because you see other coaches and business leaders have one, and your FOMO meter is running high? Or could it be an effective marketing arm that you hope to further your reach by sharing your professional insights and tips?
I definitely support the latter because it will take dedicated time and energy to publish a newsletter on a consistent basis. An effective newsletter is sent on a schedule to build a level of trust and authority with your audience.
This leads to the most critical point to consider before starting a newsletter, what’s the ROI for your time, money, and energy spent?
Creating a newsletter should be measured against the same performance expectations as your other content creation efforts. It will be vital to measure the results, but it could be tricky to figure out with a LinkedIn Newsletter (I’ll share more about that a little further below).
Take a moment to ask yourself will a newsletter support your marketing goals or take away from them?
LinkedIn Newsletter Benefit: Notifies Your Audience
One of the most significant benefits of publishing a newsletter is the automatic notification sent to subscribers and email inboxes. This is a reasonable way to build your brand awareness if a person hasn’t yet subscribed to other forms of your content like a podcast or YouTube channel.
But notifications are never full proof. Every person can control the notification settings for their LinkedIn account. So, although it’s sent out, it could sit with the rest of the notifications, just waiting for the user to view them.
LinkedIn Newsletter Benefit: Builds Awareness
A newsletter is a great way for people to know you better before committing to a 1:1 consultation or e-book download. This is a super low barrier of entry for a prospect to enter the customer journey with your business and services.
The trick to this pathway is not to be afraid to give up valuable insights or tips in the newsletter’s content, but this will be a delicate balancing act not to give too much away. The goal is to provide them with just enough valuable content, so they are curious to learn more outside of the newsletter.
For example, a LinkedIn newsletter could be a useful marketing tool to promote a recent YouTube video or blog article. The newsletter should only provide two to three points from your long-form content. Included with a CTA, encouraging them to view the rest with the provided link to the publication.
Drawback: Measures Only Views
So far, the only metric a LinkedIn newsletter provides is the number of views, similar to how you can see the views on your video or post. There are no other metrics to tell you if they read the entire newsletter or read the first line and bounced.
The only other way to know if someone read your newsletter is by the comments, and even that’s not a definitive marker.
Only knowing view count doesn’t paint the full picture about LinkedIn articles and if hey are converting subscribers into potential prospects or interested buyers. They could eventually, but because they’re reading the content on the LinkedIn platform, it requires them to click another link directing them to your website, if they’re interested. And hopefully, once they land on your site, they’ll be guided to the right place next. But the more clicks and links you make a person go through, there’s a greater chance for them to lose interest and opt out completely.
Without adding some sort of a tracking tag (e.g. Google Analytics or Google Search Console tags) like how you can add to specific pages on your website, you won’t receive data to help measure the user’s activity- like time spent on the newsletter. Critical data that will help you decide if a newsletter is worth the time and effort.
Want more insights about LinkedIn and how to get the most out of your time and energy on this platform from an actual ex-LinkedIn? Tune into “Your LinkedIn Gal” Podcast.
Drawback: Doesn’t Collect Emails
This may be one of the biggest bummers of a LinkedIn newsletter; you don’t have access to the subscriber’s email. Unlike creating an email list from your website that you have complete ownership over, LinkedIn doesn’t provide you with any email addresses.
The onus will be on you to figure out how to get the newsletter subscriber to also subscribe to your website, podcast, or blog. This may stop a person from signing up for an additional publication from you, fearing email overload from the same service or business.
Final Takeaway – LinkedIn Newsletter Feature- Is It Worth Your Time?
There will always be pluses or minuses when it comes to figuring out which LinkedIn marketing path to take. But before you start a LinkedIn newsletter, you should ask yourself why you want to create one, the benefits, and whether it will garner equal or better results than what you are currently doing today.
Because if you can’t collect subscriber emails at the end of the day, will it be worth it to usher everyone to other places where your content lives? Or would posting more video posts or written posts on LinkedIn be just as effective to drive traffic to your website?
I encourage you to weigh out your own pros and cons of creating a LinkedIn newsletter. DM me “Newsletter” on LinkedIn, let me help you to figure out.
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