Nine PR Thought Leadership Strategies From PRNEWS’ Inaugural Event

Industry experts assembled at PRNEWS’ inaugural "PR Thought Leadership Strategies on LinkedIn" event on Tuesday, Nov. 19, to share best practices, tips and examples of success in PR and communications. Sessions included writing and posting for clients, becoming a LinkedIn thought leader, mastering the platform’s algorithm, media training clients and optimizing newsletter engagement. Following are several insights from event, which is available now on demand.

Best Practices for Writing and Posting for Clients

Copywriting builds executive influence on LinkedIn in three areas, according to Clayton Durant and Dorianne Ciccarelli of agency MikeWorldWide, through consistency, thoughtful POVs with engagement, and having a strong personal brand and profile. “Think of copy strategy as a lean start-up model,” Durant says, which you’re constantly testing and reforming.

Best practices for posting short-form content on LinkedIn include defining your audience, setting a specific purpose, delivering value-packed insights, telling a visual story, actively responding to comments and questions, and using LinkedIn’s insights to measure performance.

How to Become a LinkedIn PR Thought Leader

Founder of Crackle PR Parry Headrick, a LinkedIn thought leader in the PR industry, offered tips for building your own presence on the platform. He advised PR practitioners to take a position first and foremost—and then defend it. Rather than shying away from controversy, “stand by things you’re saying and start a conversation around it,” he says. When asked to define what makes a thought leader, he shared two pieces of advice that have helped him develop his own distinct voice: be contrarian and add humor.

Tips and Tricks for Mastering the LinkedIn Algorithm

Yrbenka Arthus, Community Manager, Corporate Engagement at LinkedIn, instructed attendees on how to get more attention from posts on the platform. Video is incredibly popular and currently performs at 1.4 times higher than other content on the platform, she says. A prime example of what’s working: Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, delivered a one-minute video before a recent earnings report. Vestberg summarized key points of the upcoming call in one-minute, while humanizing the message by thanking the shareholders and employees.

Arthus says it’s important to comment on cultural moments—as long as the content aligns with the values of your organization or work. An example included a CEO being interviewed by an intern on National Intern Day. Content that features career advice, professional anecdotes and calls to action garner lots of attention on the platform on such days.

Media Training Executives for Video and Audio Formats

Gayle Fishel, EVP of Corporate and Brand Reputation at Ogilvy, discussed best practices for getting leadership behind the camera. Fishel says to begin with the “why.” “What is your objective? Who are you trying to reach? What would you view as a good outcome? So many people do interviews without even thinking about why. If you can’t answer, don’t do the interview,” she says.

Fishel shared practical do's and don’ts for interviews as well. Focus on your messages, be conversational without losing sight of your agenda, and be succinct are a few of the do’s. And as for don’ts, avoid jargon or acronyms, don’t speculate or guess, and don’t over-answer a question.

Optimizing LinkedIn Newsletter Engagement

LinkedIn Newsletters allow brands and leaders to engage more deeply with their established LinkedIn audiences, deliver content directly to their inboxes and customize up to five different different channels of communication, says Newsday’s Tayler Felix. They require a low amount of effort and cost, and tend to have much higher open rates than traditional newsletters.

To get started, Felix recommends building a launch strategy using these five steps: set goals; establish content theme; identify the right spokesperson; write-up the details (title, descriptor, image, etc.); and establish a cadence. Since 100% of your followers will get a notification upon launch, and you can expect around 20% to subscribe, the first edition of your newsletter is the most important.