Since the early days of digital marketing, company blogs have been trusted tools for brands to share their expertise and connect with audiences, while maintaining control of the narrative. Blogs were a breakthrough in the late 90s and early 2000s, allowing brands to speak directly to engaged audiences. But as social media began to change how people discovered and consumed content, many company website blogs became an echo chamber of regularly published content, with little engagement or interaction.  

Enter LinkedIn Newsletters. The feature offers brands a direct line to their professional networks and a notification-system, as well as analytics to direct content refining efforts. Brands that are truly taking advantage of LinkedIn Newsletters will see the pivotal role they can play in strengthening their brand voice and credibility, while expanding their digital footprints. And while LinkedIn Newsletters are not a fool-proof replacement for traditional website blogs, they could be a great addition to a brand’s digital marketing strategy.  

What’s the hype?  

A well-maintained company blog still holds value, especially when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). In reality, it’s a different type of content from a LinkedIn Newsletter. Blogs are owned content, whereas a newsletter published on LinkedIn is shared content. While there is some overlap between the two, a brand has less control over how shared content is distributed through LinkedIn’s algorithm beyond the newsletter’s subscribers. With both however, brands control the message they are putting out into the world.   

With a LinkedIn Newsletter, subscribers get a notification when a new edition is published, both in-app and via email if they opt-in to that feature. Because subscribers have to actively opt in, they are more likely to read and interact with the content, much like a traditional blog. Brands will also be prompted to create a LinkedIn post with each new edition, expanding the potential reach of the newsletter beyond subscribers. While similar to LinkedIn’s article feature, newsletters allow brands to cultivate a community of subscribers who will interact with others and share the brands insights.  

Lead with Value  

Before marketing and communications teams rush to transfer their existing, evergreen blog content to LinkedIn, remember that content fatigue can be a considerable deterrent. Audiences want a comfortable cadence of content that delivers clear, useful insights. A LinkedIn Newsletter needs to read less like a company update and more like a resource. That means understanding your audience’s needs, speaking to them directly and offering perspective over promotion. But most importantly, the writing needs to read like it came from the mind of a human:  

• Repurpose with caution: It is not necessarily beneficial to share all the content a company has posted on their website blog on a LinkedIn Newsletter. A press release announcing a new report, for example, may not offer a brand’s LinkedIn audience much value. But an article about an aspect of the report and expanding on a few key points could be valuable.  
• Perspective over promotion: LinkedIn newsletters are not the place to be promotional and sell products. While a sales-focused call to action can be an aspect of a LinkedIn article, the key focus should be providing expertise and tangible insight. Brands that stay up to date on what matters to their audiences and challenges they are facing will have a better chance of attracting regular readers.  
• AI is not a writer: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Microsoft Co-Pilot or OpenAI’s Chat GPT can help with brainstorming and organizing a writer’s thoughts, but an effective newsletter still requires a content writer who understands the brand’s goals, their audience and the nuances of the subject matter. An effective writer will offer a final product that personifies a brand and showcases it as a resource an audience can trust. AI written content should always be fact-checked and writers should ensure any use of AI does not supersede proper editing and review processes to ensure human tone and accuracy.

Don’t Forget the Metrics  

LinkedIn shares several metrics around newsletters to help brands refine and improve the content they share. From email sends and open rates to article views and engagement numbers, LinkedIn offers a number of in-platform data points to signal what’s working and what’s not. To name a few:  

• Email sends indicate how many subscribers opted into an email notification of the newsletter.  
• Email open rate is a percentage of the email sends that were opened by users. 
• Article views show the number of times users viewed the newsletter.  
• Engagement rates report the percentage of interactions on a newsletter compared to the impressions.  

With the above data and more that LinkedIn shares, brands can begin testing new strategies for their newsletters like adjusting frequency, sharing new formats or approaching new, timely themes. The beauty of digital content is its flexibility and LinkedIn Newsletters give brands the time and space to experiment. 

Digital content is only as valuable as the connections it offers brands. LinkedIn Newsletters provide a way to build off a brand’s existing audience on the platform, offer real value and cultivate more meaningful connections.