Since the holidays, users of the LinkedIn social network have had access to a new feature: the LinkedIn Newsletter. We reviewed the pros and cons of this new “public” newsletter with David Gaudreault, a positioning consultant on the platform.
For anyone who is a regular user of LinkedIn, the activation of the Newsletter feature did not go unnoticed. Overnight, requests to subscribe to a contact’s newsletter started pouring into the notification field.
When we create our first newsletter, it sends an automatic invitation to all the members of our network,” explains David Gaudreault. That’s why the invitations are pouring in right now and some people are no longer looking at them.”
Many people are just testing the tool, he says. Eventually, the current hype should fade and make way for more serious content creators. The tool itself has several interesting aspects, insists the positioning consultant.
More visibility
When you create a newsletter, you actually create an article, specifying that it is a newsletter. Therefore, a newsletter is an article, with the difference that a notification is sent to subscribers for each new publication. If you compare the reach of the two formats, a newsletter can get up to 10 times more visibility.”
In doing so, LinkedIn may succeed in bringing back a feature – articles – to the forefront that has struggled to find its place on the platform, often being relegated to the background in the news feed.
David Gaudreault sees excellent performance from his own LinkedIn newsletter, when compared to his traditional newsletter. After sending a dozen newsletters, he calculates an open rate of nearly 60%, which compares to an open rate of 47% for his email newsletter. In both cases, these are more than interesting engagement percentages!
We don’t have the privacy of our email list,” he warns. The newsletters are public. When we share an exclusive with our subscribers, it’s open to everyone.”
It should be noted that newsletters are indexed – like LinkedIn articles – in the Google search engine. David Gaudreault gives us an example:
Unlike an email newsletter, it is impossible to create mailing groups to personalize the content. There is therefore less flexibility at this level.
The quality of the list depends on the quality of our network,” he summarizes. If you have a network and qualified subscribers, you’re going to have a list that’s just as qualified.”
In return, content creators who already have an email newsletter can give it a second life by publishing it on LinkedIn as well, thus increasing the visibility of their content without it taking up any more time.
Put it in your sales arsenal
For David Gaudreault, the use of a LinkedIn newsletter is certainly relevant in a context of content creation aimed at selling products or services. The tool is useful in the final stages of converting a “qualified” prospect.
What are the LinkedIn features that allow us to address a topic in depth, thus promoting our expertise?” asks David Gaudreault. There are live events, articles and now the newsletter. I think it’s a must-have tool for someone who wants to build a content strategy to move our ideal client through our qualification channel.”
So let’s expect a few more subscription requests for the famous newsletter in the coming months!
