I’m beyond excited to share that I’ve been named a “Top Voice” on LinkedIn. I’ve been blogging for a number of years now, both on this website as well as on the LinkedIn platform, and I’ve found the process to be an incredibly rewarding one. The LinkedIn platform, in particular, provides an excellent low-barrier-to-entry opportunity for professionals to engage with others and practice their writing. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to give it a go.
So how was I selected as a LinkedIn “Top Voice”? They describe their selection process as follows:
We’re releasing our second annual LinkedIn Top Voices list, a look at the professionals whose words have launched countless high-quality conversations on LinkedIn in the last year. To compile the list, we use a combination of data and editorial signals designed to capture the voices making a mark in their industries. Some of the inputs include engagement (particularly the comments and shares of each post); growth of followers tied to publishing activity; and number of times the writer had been featured in a channel in his or her area of expertise. We also emphasise diversity of topics and voices. The list reflects publishing activity over a 12-month period, from October 2015 to October 2016, and as with all LinkedIn Lists, we excluded LinkedIn and Microsoft employees from consideration.
I was selected as a Top Voice in Education, but there are a number of categories that you can be recognized in, from topics such as Healthcare to Entrepreneurship to Media. LinkedIn also recognizes student writers. Outside of LinkedIn, there are opportunities to be recognized by other publications depending on your area of interest. For instance, I was also recognized as a “Must Read” Higher Education IT blogger by EdTech Magazine.
So have a go at writing professionally and for fun. It may seem daunting at first, but there are countless articles and posts that can provide guidance to you as you start your blogging journey. Daniel Roth provides these suggestions for those seeking to become a “Top Voice”:
- Write what you know
- Make it timely
- Write often
- Pay attention to the headline
- Keep the conversation going
You can find out more in Daniel’s post on the topic, but the one suggestion I would add is “Write for Yourself.” Many of us that get into writing a blog do it for the love of the topic and for the challenge and opportunity to write. We want to engage with others and share and discuss ideas. Although there are people that will become famous and make money from their writing, it is not something that should necessarily be your goal from the start. If your write what you know, follow your passion, and write for yourself, opportunities and serendipitous connections will naturally follow as a result. You never know where it can take you.
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