LinkedIn Content Writing Guide

While you have a great offer, you may be struggling to articulate it in a way that translates to good content.

Growing your personal brand on social media is a daunting prospect because it’s so random and ever-changing. Sometimes what goes viral feels mystifying, non-replicable, or down to sheer dumb luck. Or sometimes it feels like it comes down to money. Do you need to be spending a large percentage of your time and budget on producing viral content?

The good news is: definitely not! While a lot of what’s on social media seems random, there are formulas you can follow. And once you start observing the patterns that other successful producers and influencers use, you’ll be able to easily replicate them, too.

👉 Why post on LinkedIn? Posting on LinkedIn regularly is one of the cornerstones of the 90DP program, because we want to show you the power of consistently putting out content (of any type) to an engaged audience.

👉 “But what do I post?” What is good content anyway? And what exactly should you be posting? A lot of people overthink LinkedIn...the trick is, don’t sweat it! When it comes to LinkedIn content, it’s all about consistency. Posting regularly for a while is what’s going to get results. Get creative, feel free to get a little loose, and at the end of the day, remember to learn and have fun with it.

THINGS REMEMBER ABOUT LINKEDIN

→ Give it a few weeks to start working

You won’t necessarily see results right away. Give it a few weeks--it takes a minute for the algorithm to catch on to your new cadence

→ Don’t focus on “vanity” metrics

It’s easy to get caught up in counting likes and comments. Don’t feel bound to or discouraged by the algorithm. A small, loyal audience is much more effective than a large and disinterested one. Keep looking at the forest through the trees, and don’t let LinkedIn content suck up too much of your time (focus on closing).

→ Mix up post types. Don’t stick to just one kind of post format; change it up. Sprinkle video posts, text posts, document posts and other types of posts throughout the week.

→ The most important thing is consistency. Posting consistently is what will grow your audience and get you results. Each post doesn’t have to be a Pulitzer-winner--it just has to be good enough to provide some value. It’s the full body of your posts that will leave an impression on your followers.

→ Your #1 metric of success = the calls you’re booking. The end-all, be-all is NOT likes/comments..it’s how many discovery calls are coming down your pipeline. As long as you’re booking calls, you’re doing something right.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ALGORITHM

The LinkedIn algorithm is filled with little quirks and idiosyncrasies, but overall, there are a few rules of thumb you can keep in mind. Knowing the algorithm will allow you to maximize your efficacy on LinkedIn--and get maximum value with minimal level of effort.

-How the algorithm surfaces content:

It prioritizes content from people you know, those you’ve engaged with in the past and those who post often
Because of this, the algorithm prioritizes personal over business content. You’ll get more engagement on posts from your personal profile vs. your business profile.
It favors comments, saves and shares. “Deeper” forms of engagement are more valuable.

-The first 1-2 sentences are most important. What appears before “read more” is what draws attention. Make sure you have a hook or angle.

-Most people browse LinkedIn on mobile. That means they’re thumb-scrolling, and scrolling fast. Attention spans are short. They’re less inclined to sit down to watch a long video or read a super long post. Keep the mobile part in mind as you craft content.

-Limit outside links. The algorithm’s goal is to keep people inside LinkedIn’s own platform, so it prefers native content.

-Post content that encourages a response. You want to include an engagement prompt at the end--for example, by asking a question.

-When commenting yourself, longer comments (3-5+ words) get you the most value when it comes to return follows and clicks.

-Resharing is ok every once in a while but won’t get you much engagement. Consider reshares as “extra” content (not part of your weekly volume of posts).

-Keep videos short. Aim for videos that are 1-1.5 minutes long, or even under a minute..

-Put captions on videos if you can. Most videos play in-line on the feed on mute automatically. OR people may be on mobile and for whatever reason don’t have volume on (they may be commuting, standing in line, etc.). Captions ensures that your message still gets across.

-Don’t forget about text posts. Text gets better results than anything else here on Linkedin. It's not because Linkedin ranks text any better than video/photo... but because people tend to read text posts more often than they watch videos

-Avoid the spam filter:

Avoid multiple links
Don't tag more than 5 people
Don't post more than every 3 hours

-How to hashtag: Sweet spot is around 3. One should be broad and the rest specific to your industry/niche.

FAQs

-Should I post on my personal page or my company page? The algorithm surfaces more posts from personal profiles, so posting from your personal profile will get more engagement. To counter this, you can do a mix of the following: a) post from your personal profile and then share it on your company page and b) post the more detailed version on your personal page, and a simplified version, or a version covering a different angle, on your company one.

-What’s the best time to post? Whenever your audience is online. Usually that’s during work and commute hours. Use your local timezone as your measurement.

-How often should I “sell” in my posts? Content should sell itself. We create content to show thought leadership, authority and expertise. If your content is frequent and consistently compelling, people will start to look to you as a leader and naturally inquire about your services. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include soft sells in your post. Example of a soft sell: “If you’re ready to start ___, then drop me a DM”

-What if my posts aren’t getting a lot of comments?

This usually means you’re not leaving an engagement prompt somewhere in your post. People need an easy thing to latch onto in order to contribute. Ask a question, ask for an opinion, post a controversial statement and see if people agree, etc. They should be able to add a thought in 10 seconds or less, so make it as easy as possible for them to participate.

-Help! No one is watching my videos

There could be a few reasons for this:

Make sure you’ve been posting consistently for a while. If it’s your second or third video, don’t expect much at first, just give it time.
Keep your videos at an ideal length: ideally 1-3 minutes, 2-3 minutes tops. Micro content is great for LinkedIn, so make your videos bite-sized and easily consumable.
Always have a hook. Your video should open with something bold and attention-grabbing. Say something others haven’t.
You’re not giving people an easy way to engage. Your video should, in the post copy or the video itself (ideally both) include some question, statement or other prompt for people to engage.

-How many times a week should I be posting?

Start with 3-4x a week during business hours, then you can ramp it up to 5-6x a week. Spread out posts

-How many videos should I be posting vs. other types of posts?

Whatever you have capacity for. Consistency is most important, and it also depends on the industry/specific audience. Test out the different types of posts. Sometimes text works better than video or vice versa. The key thing is avoiding overwhelm and burnout. If you’re not feeling up to video, publish a text-based post. Just get it out there.

-What about engaging with other people’s content? How often should I be doing that? Any suggestions?

Ideally, daily. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. Just a few minutes reading a few posts and engaging is enough. Try to comment on 1-3 posts a day. Remember, the algorithm prefers in-depth comment of at least a few words over 1 or 2 word comments.

-Should I post anything personal? Definitely! You want your audience to know you’re human, after all. A good mix is 90% professional, 10% personal, or even an 80-20 split.

-Should I schedule content/create batch content? Recommended schedulers?

Native-posted content performs better. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use a scheduler. A scheduling tool can help you plan out a high volume of batch content. Some scheduler options include Buffer and Hootsuite.