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Is THIS Missing from your Articles?

Is THIS missing from your articles? Do you get full value from publishing articles on social media?

Or are you among those who seem to get little value from LI or other social media platforms?

Are you among those who think it only works when you have 50,000+ connections? When you’re seen as an “Influencer”?

Trust me: I was pretty much invisible for a lot of years, but I have grown my network every week, especially in the last few years as I saw how others grew theirs. And that growth has given me colleagues whose support I value, friends whose love I cherish, and information, wisdom, and knowledge willingly shared by remarkable connections who know so much more than I do or ever will!

Over the last few years, thanks to my original mentor, John White, MBA, and so many others, I have learned a lot about using social media to my benefit. OK, yes. MY benefit.

No, it’s NOT all about me, but it starts with me. It starts with my writing something that I hope helps someone else learn from and enjoy, whether it’s about American grammar, business writing, life lessons, or my Friday Funday articles that I have faithfully posted for over six years now. Every. Single. Week. (OK, sometimes on Saturday, but still. SIX YEARS.)

And because of all those lessons I’ve learned from others, the questions I’ve asked about how to succeed here on LI, I’ve come to realize how many of us are not getting that critically important engagement with others who see what we have written but don’t end up seeming to give a rat’s rump.

They don’t engage. They hit the “like” button, or maybe one of the newer choices LI has given us, and they move on. They find other articles and posts to read that give them that one reason to linger, to be seen by others, and to make the author feel visible and valued. To make them feel a part of the story.

So, what’s that one missing thing?

A Call to Action.

“WHAT?!?!” you exclaim. Yes. A CTA, the last thing readers see after reading your article/post. The last few words that pull them into the article, that give them permission / encourage them to comment, that give you feedback, that give all of you visibility.

But without a CTA, your article likely just ends with a thud. Whoopee. It looks like a term paper, something to read but so what?

Now I am NOT suggesting your CTA should be about buying something. No. Not at all. It’s not about “click here” or “download now,” although there may be a reason to occasionally use those.

am suggesting you ask others for their opinions on the info you presented. Their ideas. Their suggestions. Their thoughts.

What did they agree with? Not agree with? What examples do they have that they’d like to share? What stories does YOUR article remind them of in their life? (Oh, and if you don’t think stories sell, you must not be connected to Sarah Elkins. She knows better than most that stories are the foundation for all we do.)

We can write brilliantly, and we can offer information that’s hard to come by, but if we get no engagement — if we have no one interested enough to comment and give value to us and our ideas — we may simply decide it’s not worth the effort. It’s pretty disheartening to realize we put our time, our heart, maybe our soul into an article, if no one seems to care.

(This article sprang pretty much full-blown this morning after I read several others that got a bunch of “likes,” but nothing else, even though the authors all have several thousand connections. I noticed after reading the fourth or fifth one they all ended the same way: with a thud.)

So, what are YOUR thoughts here?

What has your experience on social media been like? Have you found that adding a few words at the end of your posts gets you more engagement? Are there other ways you would suggest?

Susan Rooks
Susan Rookshttps://grammargoddess.com/
With nearly 30 years’ experience as an international workshop leader, Susan Rooks is uniquely positioned to help people master the communication skills they need to succeed. In 1995, Susan formed Grammar Goddess Communication, creating and leading workshops in three main areas – American grammar, business writing, and interpersonal skills – to help business pros enhance their communication skills. She also leads one-hour LinkedIn workshops (Master the LinkedIn Profile Basics) via Zoom to help business pros anywhere maximize their LinkedIn experience, offering it to Chambers of Commerce and other civic organizations free of charge. As an editor, Susan has worked on business blogs, award-winning children’s books, best-selling business books, website content, and even corporate annual reports (with clients from half a dozen countries), ensuring that all material is professionally presented.

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6 CONVERSATIONS

    • Thanks for letting me know, Laurie! I have found over the years that articles with a CTA spur more comments and engagement than ones without one.

  1. Susan, thank you for your insightful article. Starting in January I transitioned from being a writer to a full-time recruiter focusing on building my own business. When I was writing for BC360 the engagement was awesome! In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined meeting as many ruly terrific people as I did. It was a very special time. So many people wrote such beautiful comments that were deeply touching. As a recruiter, my engagement is different as I am focused on getting involved with people who can help me achieve my goal/dream or those that can assist me in other ways. LinkedIn is tremendous in a number of ways while Facebook is worthless for business but great for social engagement. I belong to many social media outlets which are part social and part business. In my case, the type of increased engagement I am looking for will not be enhanced by adding more words. I have found that since I redid my website and share it liberally by way of an actual picture of my website with my company banner on it has resulted in an uptick in engagement.

    • I agree with you, Joel, that FB isn’t worth much in terms of business; I use it primarily to keep in touch in a personal way. For me, LI has been golden; 99% of my clients in the last five or six years have come from being present there.

    • Thank you, Susan, for your response to my comment. I put a post on Facebook which I boosted but it did nothing. The other did Facebook took it upon themselves to boost a post of mine which also did nothing. Luckily, I caught the charge on my credit card statement otherwise I would have been billed a nice amount of money. When I posted a job on LinkedIn there were technical issues on their end that prevented my ad from being seen. After a short investigation, they refunded my money.

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