Our founder and Chief Creative Officer Kat Arney has some practical advice for life science leaders struggling to cut through the noise on LinkedIn.
Let’s be real. LinkedIn is getting worse every day.
Generic AI-written ‘thought leadership’, intrusive ads and clickbait posts are all contributing to what Cory Doctorow memorably called enshittification.
It happens to every social platform eventually, and it’s happening to LinkedIn too.
For our life science clients, we’re seeing engagement rates on company pages starting to go down across the board – and (reassuringly) it’s not just us. Of course, the only way you get them back is by paying for premium pages, ads or boosts.
As a long-time LinkedIn user, I’m getting more than a little tired of scrolling through ads and AI drivel to see what the people and organisations I’m really interested in are up to. Except for that random post about someone going to a conference three weeks ago that I already saw five times…
So, should you abandon LinkedIn?
I don’t think so.
For companies and organisations, I believe it’s still a valuable shop front. It’s one of the first places that people look to find out who you are, what you do, and whether you’re worth taking seriously as a company.
It also has value as a publishing platform, especially as content from LinkedIn gets pulled into web searches. And it’s probably a lot easier to update regularly with interesting content than your website.
But – like any platform that doesn’t really belong to you – you shouldn’t rely on it for your entire comms and marketing strategy, and it’s becoming ever harder to game the algorithm and stand out from the noise.
Here’s First Create The Media’s advice for innovative life science companies who want to make sure their communications and marketing strategy lasts beyond LinkedIn.
Go beyond the company page
LinkedIn prefers people, and deprioritises company pages unless you pay. Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse.
Get your leadership posting from their own pages and empower employees to amplify the message through training and ready-to-use assets.
Keep it real
Build deeper relationships and genuine engagement with investors, partners, clients or customers through in-person events and niche online communities.
Be authentic and helpful, without the hard sell.
Make your science stand out
Professional-looking data-driven BD decks and marketing assets that speak to your audience’s problems and interests are a better long-term strategy to get people engaging with the real substance of your innovation and converting into customers than superficial click-bait.
Build up a library of valuable resources on your website (always keeping an eye on SEO and GEO), gate the best and/or newest ones for email capture, and promote the heck out of them on your comms channels.
Speak your mind
Genuine thought leadership that addresses real issues and offers opinions as well as innovative solutions cuts through in a way AI slop never will.
External outlets will take pieces that are well-written, engaging pieces that aren’t merely PR puff, and you can team up with academic experts and key opinion leaders to boost credibility and make the message go further.
Make good stuff
It’s easier than ever to create multimedia content that looks and sounds good. The limiting factor (as always) is the quality of the content.
Make high-value, engaging stuff and they will come. Get more bang for your buck by ‘sweating your assets’ – breaking down cornerstone content like a podcast or webinar into blogs, clips for LinkedIn, or a newsletter.
Create buzz
PR is a dark art, but media outlets can be enticed with relevant, hook-led stories that are worth sharing, especially if there’s a big number or a scientific publication attached.
Seek out, train up and put forward your best speakers for interviews, webinars and panels, and look beyond the senior leadership for hidden gems with big presence. A charismatic podcast guest or presenter who can spin a story and keep an audience engaged is worth their weight in gold.
Nurture your mailing list
Your email list is your personal hotline directly into the inboxes of people who want to hear from you, and it’s worth taking the effort to grow and feed it.
Nobody has to read your newsletters, so give them the good stuff in the form of valuable insights and interesting things.
Platforms like Substack that combine the functionality of blogging and podcasting with the connectivity of LinkedIn and the list-building power of a newsletter are worth checking out, especially for companies keen to lean into the power of thought leadership, but they aren’t a substitute for a well-organised CRM.
Need a hand?
If that all sounds like too much, don’t stress.
At First Create The Media, we help pioneering life science companies stand out from the crowd, establish credibility and build buzz, from early stage startups to international brands.
From effective strategy and story to impactful branding and messaging, high quality content that hit the spot, PR and thought leadership that gets you noticed, media and presentation training and, yes, even LinkedIn – all underpinned by flexible, hassle-free project management – we’re here to help.
Get in touch through our contact form or drop us a line info@firstcreatethemedia.com and we can hop on a call.