Here’s a foolproof formula for writing LinkedIn headlines that your ideal audience will find impossible to resist.
But before I get to that, I need to say this: If you’re not already, you should become OBSESSED with writing killer headlines for each and every piece of content you post on LinkedIn!
Here’s why: You might spend several hours meticulously crafting the perfect LinkedIn post, slaving over the keyboard to strike just the right tone, demonstrating expertise, providing value and finishing with an irresistible call to action that leaves prospects salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
But if you do all that and have a lousy headline, it’s all for nothing.
To summarize:
- Great Headline = People Read Your Post.
- Bad Headline = Nobody Reads Your Post.
On LinkedIn, Content is (Becoming) King!
Before I share the specific formula I mentioned to open this post, you need to realize that with nearly 350 million members across 200 countries (and adding 2 new members every single second), LinkedIn is THE place professionals across the globe are visiting to consume valuable, work-related content.
Consider these key stats from a 2014 LinkedIn study of its own users:
- The average LinkedIn user is spending eight hours a week looking for content to consume on LinkedIn
- 91% of the professionals say LinkedIn is their top choice when it comes to finding and consuming professionally-relevant content.
What all this means is that it’s the biggest no-brainer in history for you to be publishing content here on LinkedIn!
While I’ll save WHAT you should be publishing for another post, I’m now going to explain how to write the type of headlines that will ensure what you DO publish here on LinkedIn actually gets read!
Remember the Cat!
We all know Curiosity killed the cat – but it’s solid gold when it comes to headlines. The same is true when it comes to Utility.
From Daniel Pink’s wonderful book, To Sell is Human, we learn: Three Carnegie-Mellon scientists found that effective email subject lines (which, in essence, serve as de facto headlines) fall into one of two categories: Utility and Curiosity. They either demonstrate their usefulness to the recipient or make the recipient curious about what’s inside.
A GREAT HEADLINE will either promise UTILITY (demonstrating how to do something of value, something useful) or invoke CURIOSITY (make the person reading the headline curious about what’s inside).
Below are some examples of both styles that I’ve used with great success here on LinkedIn.
Curiosity-Themed Headlines
- Why I Cried for 8 Minutes Straight Yesterday
- The Greatest Lie Ever Told
- That Time My Pants Got Pulled Down in Public
Utility-Themed Headlines
- 4 DIY Tools for Creating Online Marketing Videos
- How to Land New Clients in 14 Seconds or Less
- How to Make Your LinkedIn Invites Irresistible!
Bonus Combo: Curiosity + Utility-Themed Headlines
Want More? Get Headline Hero!
Discover how to hook your ideal audience using these proven (and profitable!) headline-writing formulas. This brand-new eBook by John Nemo also includes 40 different “copy-and-paste” headline templates!
