I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about whether it’s worth getting involved with LinkedIn’s new-ish feature of collaborative articles, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to give you the full lowdown and let you decide for yourself.
First of all...
What are collaborative articles?
As the name suggests, collaborative articles are articles created by group effort on LinkedIn on a wide variety of topics and specialisms.
The initial article is started by AI and "completed" by LinkedIn members who are invited to contribute their thoughts and expertise to flesh out the piece.
There are various categories you can contribute to - from healthcare and finance to marketing, real estate, telecommunications and a whole lot more. There's something for everyone.
How do you find these articles?
If you scroll down in your feed long enough, you’re likely to see one or two collaborative articles pop up. They look something like this:
You might have also received a direct message from LinkedIn (either by email or through the platform) asking you to contribute to one.
If all that fails, you can search for them by typing in a specific topic or question in the LinkedIn search bar (see screenshot below), or access them directly through this link.
What happens when you contribute to collaborative articles?
Contributing to collaborative articles can potentially give you visibility with your target audience, so you won’t be surprised to hear that I think that’s a good thing.
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Once you add your perspective to an article, other people (both in an outside of your network) can see your contribution and "vote" on how helpful it is by liking or reacting to it.
You can't, however, add a comment to a contribution, as you would be able to do on a regular post.
Additionally, contributing to collaborative articles can position you to receive a LinkedIn "Community Top Voice" recognition badge for your contribution, which shows up as a light gold badge on your LinkedIn profile page (just under your headline).
You can earn one of these badges from getting a lot of likes or reactions to your contribution on collaborative articles in a particular area.
For example, if you regularly contribute meaningful content on the topic of personal branding - and you get lots of people liking your contributions - LinkedIn may then award you the community top voice recognition of "Top Personal Branding Voice".
I say "may" because it's not a guaranteed system. I've had people tell me that they've received the award from just one contribution, and others report that they've contributed lots and still haven't received an award.
Another thing to note is that these badges are only temporary.
Unlike the actual blue LinkedIn Top Voice badge, which is by invitation only and features people LinkedIn consider senior-level experts and leaders in their field, the Community Top Voice badge is active for 60 days after you earn it and may be removed at any time if you violate any of LinkedIn's professional conduct policies.
If you want to keep the badge beyond 60 days, you have to keep contributing meaningful perspectives to these articles and have members keep liking your contributions.
In other words, you have to work for it - and hard!
Should you bother contributing to collaborative articles?
If you’re doing it to refine your messaging, share your expertise and add value to the LinkedIn community - while gaining a little bit of extra visibility in the process - then yes, contributing to collaborative articles is a worthwhile exercise.
If, however, your goal is to land lots of potential clients and make lots of money for your business through dispersing your wisdom in these things, then no, because you’re likely to be sorely disappointed.
You need a more wholesome strategy for that (feel free to book my 60-minute strategy session for help with this).
So, what’s the conclusion?
I've played around a little with collaborative articles and in addition to the above, my current verdict is that if you have enough expertise in you to contribute to collaborative articles, then you’ve likely got enough expertise to create and write your own content and disperse it through more effective LinkedIn mediums like short form posts and the LinkedIn newsletter (such as this one you're currently reading).
This way, you have your own evergreen content that permanently contributes to your personal brand and thought leadership from your profile page.
And besides, it's currently an absolute nightmare to find the collaborative articles you've contributed to after a period of time has passed. Somebody tell LinkedIn to fix this and it might just improve things that little bit more.
Will you be giving collaborative articles a go?Let me know your thoughts in the comments...
About the Author
Mildred Talabi is currently "in transition" and open to discussions about opportunities that may be of interest. Read this post and get in touch if you have something in mind.
In the meantime, here's the official bio:
Mildred has spent more than a decade mastering the art of visibility and personal branding in both her career and business.
She trained as a Journalist and worked in the media, before transitioning into PR and then Communications.
Along the way, Mildred started several businesses, authored four books, and had the privilege of speaking to and training many audiences across different countries, virtually and in-person.
Today Mildred is a recognised LinkedIn Top Voice and Influencer, with over 50,000 followers, and specialises in working with female leaders and women in business to build powerful and authentic personal brands through being visible on LinkedIn.
Outside of work, Mildred lives in Kent (UK) with her husband and two young daughters, and loves to binge on books, podcasts and movies in her spare time.
Find out more at www.MildredTalabi.com
