If you want to write on professional social media platforms, you need to be clear what your purpose is and who you are on the platform. Not sure what this is?
That’s ok because in this article, I will show you how to do this.
The first step is to become familiar with others on LinkedIn to learn the readers expect (ideas) and how they want to receive it (language). A good source for this kind of inspiration is thought leaders or key opinion leaders (KOLs) themselves. What do they write about and how do they do it?
Noticing the language and style of successful users on LinkedIn
It would be useful to look at sources of who we’d expect to be the masters of communication, marketing thought leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk (also known as Gary V) and Seth Godin. Even though these two KOLs have some different ideas about marketing, they both seem to agree on the basics of communication:
- Have an open and giving attitude
- Be “authentic” and be yourself
- Encourage conversation because social media is “social”
- Post quality over quantity.
Follow KOLs in your industry or field of interest. Notice how they post, how they comment, and how they reply. Learn from their content, and learn from their communication and language style. From this you will see successful language use for professional social media communication.
To find the thought leaders in your industry or industry of interest, you can google search words like those in the titles of the following articles:
- 50 LinkedIn influencers to follow …. [1]
- 10 of the best technology thought leaders you should follow on LinkedIn [2]
- Top 100 global thought leaders and influencers to follow in 2020 [3]
- 20 Best People To Follow On LinkedIn: A Guide For 2021 [4]
In the following, we can see some examples of KOLs, including Gary V (media entrepreneur), Simon Sinek (author and inspirational speaker), and Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin). We can see that Gary V’s post is an example of a giving attitude and presents advice that is useful for his target audience and also simple and easy to read. He also taps into the social nature of social media and encourages the reader to enter a conversation with him by commenting and even tagging someone in the comment. Gary V’s formula for engaging people on social media is his boxer metaphor and title of his 2013 book “Jab, jab, jab, right hook” [5], which means to give, give and give more value, to make people want to give something back.
As for Simon Sinek’s post, it immediately catches people’s attention by contradicting and common belief in a short, direct conversational style. And he follows up by giving a “quality” insight.
Richard Branson is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 20th and 21st centuries. And although he is in his 70’s, he has mastered social media and has developed a huge following because his posts are “authentic” and show the personal side of the Virgin Group.
The final example is from a recent MBA graduate who gives a good example of the thankful and enthusiastic attitude that fits her junior position on LinkedIn.
Prewriting skills: Understanding the basics of writing – sentences and sentence parts
To write well, there are some basic ideas you need to understand. The first is that writing is made up of phrases, clauses and sentences. These are the basic building blocks of writing. We need to understand the differences between them before we can start to use them effectively.
Grammar Box: phrase vs clause vs sentence
Q: What is a phrase? A: A group of words without a subject-verb combination that has a grammatical function (adverb, adjective, noun, preposition), ex. The city hall (noun phrase)On the moon (prepositional phrase) Q: What is a clause? A: A group of words with a subject and verb. There are two basic types: Independent clause: a complete idea, ex. “I often read articles on LinkedIn.” Dependent clause: an incomplete idea that has a grammatical function (adv, adj, n), ex. “when I want to learn something.” This is not a complete idea so it is not a complete sentence; it is an incomplete sentence or sentence fragment. Q: What is a sentence? A: A group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete idea. ex 1 clause: “I often read articles on LinkedIn.” ex 2 clauses: “I often read articles on LinkedIn when I want to learn something.” Here, the first clause is the independent or main clause and the second is the dependent clause that supports the independent clause and acts like an adverb telling us “when” I do the action of “reading articles” on LinkedIn. |
Let’s see if we understand these differences – especially between a complete and incomplete sentence.
Practice 1a: Which of the following are complete sentences?
(see answers at bottom)
- (complete / incomplete) What he said.
- (complete / incomplete) To network successfully, you should comment on people’s posts.
- (complete / incomplete) The shop closed when the owner died.
- (complete / incomplete) It takes time to create a network.
- (complete / incomplete) Even though she is sometimes stubborn and occasionally rude.
- (complete / incomplete) Thought leaders who help others are very common.
- (complete / incomplete) I connect with people in my industry.
- (complete / incomplete) Where I found my job.
- (complete / incomplete) Engineers eager to learn come to this company.
- (complete / incomplete) Taking the subway.
Practice 1b: Underline and identify any clauses or phrases in the above practice.
There are 3 basic types of sentences: simple, compound and complex. A simple sentence has only one clause or basic idea. But sometimes, our sentences may be a combination of two or more ideas, and these sentences are compound and complex.
We will practice these types in the next few sections. Let’s first look at simple sentences.
Simple sentences have only one clause and they are complete ideas, like “I connect with industry professionals.” There is one subject (“I”), one verb (“connect with”) and one object (“industry professionals”).
Simple sentences may be single types, compound types or even series types.
Grammar Box: Simple sentence types
| Single-types, Compound-types, Series-types) 1. Single SV: Alice writes. 2. Single O (SVO): She posts articles. 3. Single adj (SvadjO): She writes concise articles. 4. Single adj (SbeVadj): Her articles are concise. 5. Single adv (SVadv): She writes concisely. 6. Single adv (SadvVO): She writes her posts carefully. (Note: put adv before verb if O is longer than 4 or 5 words: She carefully writes her once-a-week social media article posts.) 1. Compound S (SSV): Alice and her classmates are writing. 2. Compound V (SVV): She writes and edits her posts. 3. Compound O (SVOO): She writes posts and comments. 4. Compound adj (SBeVadjadj): Her writing is concise and simple. 5. Compound adj (SVadjadjO): The manager prefers clear and concise writing. 6. Compound adv (SVadvadv): The editor corrects quickly and carefully. (Note: put adv before verb is O is long) 1. Series S (SSSV): Alice, Steve, and I are writing. 2. Series V (SVVV): She plans, writes, and edits her posts. 3. Series O (SVOOO): She writes posts, comments, and replies. 4. Series adj (SBeVadjadjadj): Her posts are educational, interesting, and entertaining. 5. Series adj (SVadjadjadjO): She doesn’t like long, wordy, and boring posts. 6. Series adv (SVadvadvadv): She writes thoughtfully, calmly, and quickly. (Note 1: put adv before verb is O is long) (Note 2: place a comma before and in a series: a,b, and c.) |
Practice 2: identify the simple sentence type
1. Business people mostly write social media posts, emails, and text messages. a. single b. compound c. series
2. Simple sentences are simple. a. single b. compound c. series
3. Writing and reading practice will make you a better writer. a. single b. compound c. series
4. Marketers often write and present reports. a. single b. compound c. series
Practice 3: Review – Improve these sentences and fix any mistakes
1. I use grammar checkers. Because I make many mistakes in my writing.
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2. The tall, dark handsome model entered the room.
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3. Before I apply for a job. Carefully update it for new experiences.
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4. She signed up for the online data analytics course from Google immediately.
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Writing your purpose (Communication strategies)
The first thing you need to do before becoming more active on LinkedIn is to know what your main purpose is. There are basically 3 main reasons why people use LinkedIn:
- To find a job
- To network for your career or job, like a sales rep looking for clients
- To improve your professionalism and learn more about your industry.
There is also a 4th reason that is less common: to promote your personal or corporate brand.
It doesn’t really matter if your purpose is to look for a job or learn more about your industry, writing will help you achieve your purpose. After you start building a network on LinkedIn and start reading articles, it is time to write some comments, and perhaps your own posts.
But before you do any of this, you need to create a position for yourself on LinkedIn. This position will be related to your purpose and it will give you a focus. Lindsay Todd [6] suggests using a formula to help you figure out your purpose and how you can contribute on LinkedIn. Writing this one sentence will force you to become clear on your how and why. We can call it the “W-H formula”.
Lindsey helps startups build their brand, so her “W-H” formula is this:
- Lindsey enables people to leave a lasting legacy by presenting them with the right information on LinkedIn.
Here we can see that Lindsey’s purpose (why) is to enable people “to leave a lasting legacy”, which means she wants to help people have a lasting effect or impression on others on LinkedIn; how will she achieve this purpose? – “by presenting them with the right information on LinkedIn.”
Grammar box: “Why and How” formula
| The “why and how” formula is a simple sentence that looks like this: [NAME] enables (specific TA) people to [+VO → “why”] by [ving + O → “how”] on LinkedIn. The sentence also contains a “how” phrase: a group of words with an adv grammar function because it tells us “how” the VO happens. Adv phrase: “by means of” can be reduced to “by ving” “He became successful by means of working hard and investing in his education.”Or, “He became successful by working hard and investing in his education.” The adv phrase “by working hard and investing in his education” tells us how he “became successful”. |
More examples
Lindsay is a kind of consultant who offers a service to startup companies, so she uses LinkedIn to network and find clients; but she is also using LinkedIn to create her personal brand, so she is also a KOL.
But what about other purposes, like finding a job, or gaining more knowledge and professionalism in your industry?
The “W-H” formula for the job seeker is targeting a company or recruiter. Here, the job seeker’s “why” is to enable a company to do something, and the how refers to how the skills, experiences or personality traits of the job seeker will help achieve the why.
Let’s take Lenora, who is looking for an online marketer job, as an example:
- Lenora enables her company to create online content and grow audiences by using her experiences operating and managing social networks and skills for video and photo editing.
Lenora is clear about the type of job she is looking for and her qualities that can help her find it.
But even if someone only wants to use LinkedIn for learning, writing can and should be an important part of the learning process. Writing is, after all, how more complex thinking happens and it is a way to reinforce learning. So, let’s look at Martin’s “W-H” formula:
- Martin enables himself to increase his professional knowledge by following and reading his industry’s content and entering into discussion in comments or messaging with others in LinkedIn.
As for me, LinkedIn is used for me to learn about education, entrepreneurship and marketing, but also for me to network and find clients, who are non-native English speaking professionals who want to improve their professional English language and communication skills. Here is my “W-H” formula:
- Nigel enables non-native English speaking professionals to effectively and confidently communicate on professional social media platforms by posting tips, articles and training materials in LinkedIn.
Practice: Put it all together – Write your own “W-H” formula.
- [NAME] enables (specific TA) people to [+VO → “why”] by [ving + O → “how”] on LinkedIn.
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References
[1] 50 LinkedIn influencers to follow …. https://www.lifehack.org/296149/50-great-people-follow-linkedin-matter-your-industry
[2] 10 of the best technology thought leaders you should follow on LinkedIn https://www.bluleadz.com/blog/top-thought-leaders-in-technology
[3] Top 100 global thought leaders and influencers to follow in 2020 https://www.theawardsmagazine.com/top-100-global-thought-leaders-and-influencers-to-follow/
[4] 0 Best People To Follow On LinkedIn: A Guide For 2021https://www.viralnation.com/blog/20-best-people-to-follow-on-linkedin/
[5] Vaynerchuk, G. (2013). Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy. Social World. Harper Business.
[6] Lindsey Tod https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beginners-guide-posting-linkedin-lindsey-peoples-tod/
Answers to Practice exercises
Practice 1a and 1b answers.
- (complete / incomplete) What he said. → dependent clause. We need more info to make it complete: “I don’t know what he said.”
- (complete / incomplete) To network successfully, you should comment on people’s posts.
- (complete / incomplete) The shop closed when the owner died.
- (complete / incomplete) It takes time to create a network.
- (complete / incomplete) Even though she is sometimes stubborn and occasionally rude. → dependent clause. We need more info to make it complete: “Even though she is sometimes stubborn and occasionally rude, she is still my best friend.”
- (complete / incomplete) Thought leaders who help others are very common.
- (complete / incomplete) I connect with people in my industry.
- (complete / incomplete) Where I found my job.→ dependent clause. We need more info to make it complete: “LinkedIn is where I found my job.”
- (complete / incomplete) Engineers eager to learn come to this company.
- (complete / incomplete) Taking the subway. → phrase. We need more info to make the sentence complete: “Taking the subway is cheaper than taking a taxi”.
Practice 2 answers
1. Business people mostly write social media posts, emails, and text messages.
a. single b. compound c. series
2. Simple sentences are simple.
a. single b. compound c. series
3. Writing and reading practice will make you a better writer.
a. single b. compound c. series
4. Marketers often write and present reports.
a. single b. compound c. series
Practice 3 answers
1. I use grammar checkers. Because I make many mistakes in my writing.
I use grammar checkers. Because because I make many mistakes in my writing.
Why? “Because I make many mistakes …” is a dependent clause and not a complete
sentence
2. The tall, dark handsome model entered the room.
The tall, dark, AND handsome model entered the room.
Why? In a series of three same word types, we need an “and” and a comma before the “and” to make it easier to read.
3. Before I apply for a job. Carefully update it for new experiences.
Before I apply for a job. Carefully , I carefully update it for new experiences.
Why? “Before I apply for a job” is a dependent clause and not a complete sentence.
4. She signed up for the online data analytics course from Google immediately.
She immediately signed up for the online data analytics course from Google immediately.
Why? If the Object is too long, move the adv before the verb to make it faster to understand.
