Most advice about LinkedIn pushes you toward the exact things that make people wince: manufactured emotion, one-line-per-paragraph drama, and obvious engagement bait. A good post is quieter than that. It says one true thing clearly.
What makes a post cringe
- Manufactured emotion: “I cried in my car after this client call...”.
- Broetry: every. sentence. on. its. own. line.
- Engagement bait: “Agree? 👇”, “Comment YES”.
- A humblebrag dressed up as a lesson.
What actually works
- One idea per post. If you cannot summarise it in a sentence, it is two posts.
- Something specific: a real number, a real situation, a real mistake.
- Your normal voice. Write it the way you would say it to a colleague.
- A hook that earns the first line honestly, not with a cliffhanger.
A simple structure
- Hook: one line that states the point or the tension.
- Body: the story, the example, or the reasoning, in plain sentences.
- Takeaway: what the reader can do or think differently.
Example hook
We doubled our trial signups by removing a feature, not adding one.
Here is what we cut, and why.
Common mistakes
- Writing for the algorithm instead of a person.
- Saving the point for the end. Lead with it.
- Polishing the voice out of it. A little roughness reads as human.