LinkedIn Strategy - Initial Proposal

This is the first draft of the LinkedIn strategy proposal for the Marketing Guild. The draft requires a comprehensive review, feedback from Guild members, and a few iterative rounds before it is finalised.

Objective: Expanding presence and engagement on LinkedIn, to drive the mission of BanklessDAO

LinkedIn is slowly, but surely, becoming an important platform for Web3 thought leadership, discussions, and networking. Having a strong presence and an engaged community on the platform allows BanklessDAO to communicate, educate, and onboard individuals to the bankless life. Additionally, LinkedIn’s professional membership characteristics, and sizeable presence of organisations as members, allows BanklessDAO to attract clients who might be interested in using our marketing capabilities to build their Web3 presence. LinkedIn is an important platform for BanklessDAO, keeping in mind we are one of the largest media DAOs and education is an important mission.

In short, BanklessDAO’s LinkedIn strategy can be designed to address the following objectives:

Increase visibility and awareness of BanklessDAO and its mission and vision

Build an engaged community of followers - the word ‘engaged’ is important, because we want followers who believe in BanklessDAO’s vision, and will actively engage and share our content on the platform

Become a thought leader on key aspects and defining characteristics of DAOs - what it means to work in DAOs, different roles, compensation modes, different levels of engagements, skills required, Web3 careers, and how they are evolving

Become a thought leader on important components and emerging dynamics of Web3 - crypto, tokenomics, DAO structures, and legal wrappers, leadership, governance mechanisms, infrastructure, blockchain, exchanges, NFTs, brand building and branding, loyalty, reputation, identity, community dynamics, social impact, etc.

Showcase a powerful and impactful community, which will act as a marketing magnet for organisations interested in using BanklessDAO’s reach and engagement for their marketing campaigns

 

Context: Why is LinkedIn important for BanklessDAO’s marketing strategy

 

LinkedIn currently has more than 830 million members in more than 200 countries (Source: https://about.linkedin.com/). Although Twitter still remains the home of Web3, the quantity and quality of Web3 conversations on LinkedIn is increasing. Below are a few examples (and definitely not comprehensive):

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-web3-creators-communicate-complex-topics-plus-whats-daniel-roth

https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6940231077646987264/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/petehuang_blockchain-crypto-nft-activity-6932691720975396864-Bukk?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

 

The number of Web3 jobs posted on LinkedIn is steadily growing, and so are the breadth and width of conversations. Most Web3 experts and influencers have a LinkedIn profile / page, through which content is being actively shared. From a holistic marketing strategy perspective, LinkedIn needs to be an important component of BanklessDAO’s overall social media presence. This is because of a few key reasons:

• LinkedIn’s ability to magnify the reach of Bankless DAO’s content by adding to the exposure generated on other social media handles

• Building reach and engagement on LinkedIn along with other social media handles, allows BanklessDAO to present a strong suite of social platforms to prospective clients

• LinkedIn’s unique ability to support and build engagement for different forms of content (versatility)

• Due to its strong standing as a professional career-building and job-seeking platform, it allows BanklessDAO to develop thought leadership around Web3 career onboarding and development

• LinkedIn’s unique conversational content mode of posts allows BanklessDAO to publish a steady stream of content and engage with followers

• LinkedIn’s support for long-form content enables BanklessDAO to create and promote in-depth thought leadership pieces on different topics

• DAOs still don’t have a strong presence on LinkedIn (and don’t consider LinkedIn to be a part of their visibility-building initiatives), allowing BanklessDAO to take a lead and almost a first-mover advantage

 

Content formats: LinkedIn provides multiple content formats with different reach and engagement avenues. It is important for BanklessDAO to leverage all of them to maximise impact on the platform

 

There is probably a whole industry devoted to discussing the different content formats available on LinkedIn, and their pros and cons. This strategy document does not want to add to that debate. In short, below are the content formats available on LinkedIn:

 

• LinkedIn posts - These have a 3000 character limit and can support images, videos, and links

• LinkedIn articles - This is for long-form content, and potentially has a 14k word limit (no blog post will ever come near to that)

• LinkedIn Live - This is for live video streaming; the minimum recommended stream time is 10 minutes and the limit is 4 hours (FAQs: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a548518/linkedin-live-video-broadcasting-faq?lang=en#:~:text=What is the minimum and,stream time is four hours.)

• LinkedIn Events - This is akin to Twitter Spaces but with a broader audio-visual impact and support mechanisms / integrations (FAQs: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a550232)

• LinkedIn Newsletter - This feature allows regular / consistent content creators to convert their long-form content into a newsletter, which LinkedIn will then promote (organic) via the algorithm to interested folks to subscribe to (Note: This feature needs to be unlocked through consistent posting and may not be available to BanklessDAO at the moment)

 

The four readily available content formats are the ones you see when you login into LinkedIn - which are:

• Photo - Essentially a post with a photo

• Video - Essentially a post with a video

• Event - LinkedIn Events

• Write article - LinkedIn Articles (this was previously called LinkedIn Pulse)

 

 

Strategy: A LinkedIn content strategy is all about consistent frequency of posting, high quality and engaging content, and active interaction on the platform

 

Before we go any further, it is important to highlight that the amount of analysis available to get the better of the LinkedIn algorithm can fill up hundreds of Ph.D. theses. We don’t need to worry about it. The BanklessDAO LinkedIn content strategy should work with the LinkedIn algorithm and leverage the success principles it follows.

For those interested, below is a discourse on how to get the better of the LinkedIn algorithm. It can be said with a reasonable stage of assurance, that half of the tactics already don’t work.

https://www.socialchamp.io/blog/linkedin-algorithms-to-keep-in-mind-this-year/

Six required characteristics of BanklessDAO’s LinkedIn strategy:

• Consistency - Content creation on LinkedIn needs to be consistent; from a BanklessDAO perspective, keeping in mind our content will go through a review process and many will have bounties, the recommended frequency is at least twice a week. Any sudden / emergency / breaking news type of content should be over and above this twice-a-week frequency

• Variety - As we build our visibility, follower base, and engagement on the platform, we need to have variety in our content, but not too much. Over time, LinkedIn has tweaked the algorithm to promote the ‘Post’ content format more than long-form content. We need to publish posts with different forms of content, as outlined below (a potential list):
A 3000 character post with an external link (to one of the BanklessDAO newsletters)
A 3000 character post with no external link (a short POV / summary of something bDAO has been involved in / breaking news)
A post with a video (from a live event coverage bDAO has attended etc.)
A post with an image covering the best parts of an important Web3 event
A post with an image (variety of sources) with less than 3000 characters as text
A post with an image (variety of sources) with up to 3000 characters as text
A post with an attached document (the carousel posts we currently do)
A post with a poll (a meaningful poll as most LinkedIn polls are stupid / nonsensical)
A post with a simple, focused list on a specific topic
In addition to the posts, we also need to have a variety in the long-form content we publish (LinkedIn articles). Some possible variations could be:
A long-form article outlining bDAO’s POV on a relevant or burning Web3 topic
A long-form ‘listicle’ on best practices for a topic - DAO onboarding, DAO participation, Community management, DAO governance, Building a Web3 career etc. (topics should be brainstormed)
A long-form ‘listicle’ on bDAO ranking of a space - Top 10 NFTs, Top 10 DAOs in terms of social impact, most innovative NFT use cases, top blockchain developments (topics should be brainstormed)

• Two-way engagement - The LinkedIn algorithm rewards content creators who engage with higher reach and visibility of their content. It is important that the BanklessDAO micro-role holder responsible for LinkedIn engages with each comment we receive on our content. This is critical to building reach as we establish the BanklessDAO presence on LinkedIn. A comment on a comment starts a conversation, which LinkedIn likes and rewards. Posting content and not engaging will only get us so far

• Expanding content reach - The Marketing Guild has an overall responsibility towards growing BanklessDAO’s LinkedIn presence, and it is not the sole responsibility of the micro-role holder. It is not required for each post, but Marketing Guild members should selectively share some of the content from BanklessDAO in their own LinkedIn network

• Following core principles of LinkedIn content impact maximisation, which are as below:
Use hashtags in posts - This enables the post to turn up in search (if we have used the hashtag #DAO, and someone searches for DAO, our post will turn up in the search results)
Use organic content - Limit the use of external links only for posts where we are talking about an article published in one of the BanklessDAO newsletters; the LinkedIn algorithm wants the audience to stay within LinkedIn, and will promote organic posts (with no external link)
Use pictures and videos - More recently, and analysed in public, posts that have an image or a video are enjoying more reach; videos are tedious to produce but for every post we should minimum have an image (meaning our designers have a key role to play in the implementation of the strategy)
Use strong starting sentences or paragraphs - Posts that utilise close to or the whole of the 3000 character limit come up in the feed showing only the first paragraph with a link saying ‘see more’; when you click on the link the full post becomes visible. It is important to hook the reader through a strong first sentence or paragraph
Be provocative - Without being nasty or controversial, it is important that BanklessDAO’s content on LinkedIn starts conversations; one way of doing that is being provocative on selective posts (especially when we have a POV to share)

• Continuous measurement - Building visibility and thought leadership on LinkedIn takes time and experimentation. As we experiment with a variety of content types, it is important to have access to and a continuous read of the performance of each content we post. Continuous measurement leads to continuous learning - what type of content works in driving visibility, what type of content works in driving engagement, which posts had the highest reach, which posts led to comments, which subject / topic areas generated the most interest etc. As we measure the KPIs of each post, we should integrate the learnings into our content topics going forward to maximise impact

Important considerations for the strategy:

 

• Preference for client campaigns (when they are live) - If we have signed up a client for marketing, and it involves publishing the client’s content via our LinkedIn page, our regular publishing cadence should be put on pause in and around when the client’s content is been pushed out

• Magnifying impact through local market BanklessDAO LinkedIn pages - If local BanklessDAO teams have LinkedIn pages, then it becomes important that we look for amplification opportunities by getting the English content translated and pushed out via the local BanklessDAO LinkedIn pages
This requires more planning and coordination in advance and high-quality translations
Consequently, should be reserved for content that we strongly believe needs to have a wider audience beyond English speaking markets on LinkedIn
 

Implementation: A strategy on paper is nothing but scribbles

 

The implementation of the LinkedIn strategy can be driven using two tools:

 

• Content bucket - A content bucket outlines the categories of content that we intend to publish over the next 2-3 months. We don’t need long-term planning because bDAO is still evolving and the categories in which we can speak about will evolve (for example, when Bankless Card is launched we can have a POV in the financial instruments / payments / liquidity / spending behaviour space). A typical content bucket can have the following categories from a bDAO perspective:
News
Coverage of key virtual / IRL events focused on Web3
POVs (essentially content from the EPA or HQ)
Thought Leadership (content created by the Marketing Guild to enhance the Guild’s reputation)
Best of / Ranks / Lists (curation of what we feel is best)
BanklessDAO announcements
BanklessDAO attendance in virtual and IRL events
BanklessDAO specific content (talking about the DAO)
…..others
 

• Content calendar - After the categorisation of content by buckets (which will also inform the format - post, article, post with video, post with polls, etc), we need a content calendar to schedule the content posting for a month. In a fast changing world of DAOs, a monthly content calendar is a reasonably strong plan to start with. This should be discussed and finalised in the 2nd last week of the previous month (calendar for July 2022 should be in place by June 24th as an example). An example week of a content calendar below:

 

July 1st	July 2nd	July 3rd	July 4th	July 5th	July 6th	July 7th
Post with external link	ㅤ	Long form article with image	ㅤ	ㅤ	Post with image	ㅤ
Article from EPA newsletter	ㅤ	POV on the best bits of Consensus 2022	ㅤ	ㅤ	Short POV on marketing your DAO	ㅤ

 

Conclusion

 

This initial LinkedIn Strategy document is a living and breathing document and will continue to be so even after it is finalised. Strategy needs to evolve, and in the case of a DAO, it will potentially evolve faster than the traditional world. Some core principles of driving LinkedIn success will remain unchanged. These include the 6 characteristics of the strategy as outlined above. Content buckets can evolve and content calendars can be constantly changed. The key thing is to view LinkedIn as an important platform in our marketing efforts and focus on it continuously. It is also equally important for the Marketing Guild to be patient and open-minded about LinkedIn. We would need to constantly learn from our failures, celebrate our successes and instill a continuous improvement mindset as we engage on LinkedIn.