Difference Between LinkedIn's Share an Update and Publish a post

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful, yet undervalued online marketing resources. Most people tend to gravitate
 toward Facebook and Twitter, and while those are great for getting results, LinkedIn can garner even more results. Because it's not used as much for marketing, there is some confusion as to how to market on LinkedIn effectively. One of the biggest sources of confusion is the difference between 'Share an Update' and 'Publish a Post'.

Share an Update

Generally, this is for used for short, simple messages. For example, if you wanted to share a link with a brief commentary, you would use this option. You can also upload photos here as well. When you do this, a thumbnail of the image will appear below the text box. This is the ideal option when you want to share relevant stories, video or photos with your connections.

Publish a Post

This option is for longer posts. Here you can put a couple of paragraphs, or even write a full blog post. It still shares your post with all of your connections when you publish, just like the share an update option does. It also sends a notification to all of your connections to notify them that you've published a new post. You can embed video and photos with this option as well.

Generally, you only want to use the post option if you have more than a few sentences to share. Be careful that you are not sending too much, either via the share or the post feature, as your connections may get a little tired of hearing from you, even if you having something relevant to say.

A longer post can be beneficial, though, to influence your followers and help get you viewed as an expert in your industry.  The publish a post feature also has a few marketing advantages -- like a headline and the ability to TAG the post with relevant keywords.

If you're not sure of what to post or how often, use the "Pulse" feature in LinkedIn, to follow posters and get an idea of their posting style and frequency.

The other major different is a post that is shared shows up in your followers notifications...

LinkedIn has the potential to catapult your business to the next level, if you understand the features and market properly. Don't ignore this invaluable resource.  Ready to put LinkedIn to work for you?  Download these free resources.