LinkedIn Creator Mode is a great tool for authors, said a book marketing expert on a webinar I attended last fall. She didn’t go into details, so I was intrigued when LinkedIn expert Crystal Thies discussed Creator Mode in her article for the December NAPFA Advisor.

What is Creator Mode?

By default, you have LinkedIn’s regular mode. You must deliberately opt in to Creator Mode. Creator Mode gives you access to additional capabilities that potentially make it easier for you to get your ideas in front of more people. Notice that I say “potentially.” Used poorly, Creator Mode could hurt you by making it harder to expand your network.

Creator Mode offers two appealing tools: Live Video and Newsletters. If you’re good at creating compelling video and written content, they can work for you. They have some limitations. In her NAPFA Advisor article, Thies says about the video capability, “For advisors willing to commit and to invest in the necessary compliance review and video tech, it’s a powerful tool. But it’s much more complex than Facebook Live as you must use separate streaming software.”

A big plus of Creator Mode is that your network won’t be capped at 30,000. However, you’ll have to attract “followers” rather than “connections.”

Thies explained in a discussion on LinkedIn: “You can only have 30,000 Connections. So for those people who are trying to really grow an audience, that’s an issue. Additionally, LinkedIn only wants you to connect with people you have a two-way relationship with. So, if someone only wants to see the content someone is sharing, it doesn’t make sense to connect. Follow is all they need.”

Followers versus connections

Why might you want to stick with connections instead of followers? Because following is a one-way street. Your followers can see your LinkedIn posts, but you can’t see theirs. That’s fine if you’re trying to create a best-selling book. It’s not so good if you’re trying to attract new clients in a field that depends a lot of building personal relationships.

If some of the people who see your content would like to connect rather than follow, LinkedIn doesn’t make that easy. Aspiring connections will see a “Follow” button instead of a “Connect” button when they go to your profile. They’ll have to go through a multi-step process to connect.

As Thies said in a December webinar that I attended, “Creator Mode doesn’t necessarily help you get more visibility or get more followers.” A lot depends on the quality and quantity of your content that attracts interaction from your network. If few followers engage with your content, it’s likely to fade quickly from view.

 

The bottom line?

LinkedIn Creator Mode is only worthwhile if you’re creating lots of original content and you’re afraid of hitting LinkedIn’s limit of 30,000 connections per individual. If your firm, for example, is trying to promote content created by your chief investment officer (CIO) for a global audience, it might make sense for your CIO to use Creator Mode.

Because I’m in no danger of hitting the 30,000-people connection limit, and I don’t want to create a lot of content specifically for LinkedIn, I’m staying away from Creator Mode. How about you?