The Anatomy of a Perfect LinkedIn Post

Copywriting / 12 Dec 2021

Nothing quite beats that moment when a LinkedIn post generates a new inbound lead. You watch the reach, likes and comments climb, and then see the DM that reads, ‘I saw your post, and I need your help. Can we chat?’ A fist-pump-worthy moment, right there.

What if we told you that many of the most successful posts share certain characteristics? And that you can replicate them to achieve some of the same success without professional copywriting services?

We’re not trying to put ourselves out of work. Copywriting is what we do. We want to show you that you too can create high-performing and high-converting posts with a little expert guidance on how to write a post on LinkedIn. 

Your LinkedIn Post’s Skeleton: Context

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to write content for LinkedIn, let’s talk basics.

LinkedIn is often cited as being the professional platform. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean your posts should only talk about sales, sales, sales. 

People forget that LinkedIn is also a social platform. It’s a great place to network, have interesting conversations about engaging topics, all the while demonstrating that all-important ‘know, like, and trust’ factor to your target audience and ideal clients.

So before you start typing out your LinkedIn post, think about your ideal client. The more details, the better:

• What’s their background and level of knowledge about your industry and services?
• What’s likely to interest them, and what will bore them to tears?
• What pain are they experiencing right now that you’re ready and able to alleviate?
• Where are they in their customer journey? 
• What information will they need to consider buying from you?

Your LinkedIn Post’s Connective Tissue: Value

Typically LinkedIn content attracts prospects right at the beginning of their buyer journey. Done well, it encourages them to head to your website, sign up to a mailing list, or take whatever step you ask of them in your post.

What’s the quickest way to attract someone’s attention? Relatability and value.

People are naturally self-interested. We’re biologically programmed to survive and actively look for ways to make our everyday lives easier and more enjoyable. This ultimately means that we seek value from people with skills we don’t possess.

Someone who shows they understand our problems and our limitations, and offers us a solution that makes all our troubles disappear will always stand out from the crowd.

Especially when we believe they have the credibility to back up their claims.

Presenting your value

As with most social media platforms, LinkedIn allows you to be creative in the way your posts showcase your value. 

So when you’re considering how to write content for LinkedIn, remember you’re not limited to text-only posts. Try out different formats to see what gets your target audience most engaged. 

Images, native videos, polls and carousel posts, to name just a few. 

Native documents in particular – uploaded PDFs that display as a carousel – are proving to be especially popular, consistently getting the most clicks of any other LinkedIn post type. 

The Secret Ingredients: Structure and Pizazz

1. The Hook

Your first sentence, two maximum, needs to grab and hold attention. It’s the only visible part of your post without clicking ‘see more’. If your hook doesn’t cut the mustard, no one will see the rest. To make your hook stand out, try these suggestions:

• Lead with the punchline. Be direct. What solution will readers get from your post?
• A hard-hitting, relevant statistic or fact that resonates with your target client.
• Ask an interesting question that’s easy to answer and engage with. Start a conversation.
• Share a cryptic, fun and unusual fact about yourself. E.g. our MD, Heather, loves escape rooms.  

2. Relatable subjects

The most popular posts are conversational and speak to a prospect’s pain.

Think of a relatable problem or common mistakes clients make and how to rectify or avoid them. Play on your prospect’s self-interest and use it to your advantage.

The problem you choose to tackle doesn’t need to be world-changing. 

The problem you choose could be a symptom of a larger problem that your business is equipped to fix. It’s all about gaining your prospect’s trust, demonstrating you know what you’re talking about, and that you’re approachable and friendly to deal with.

3. Structure and User Experience

The key to a high-performing post that converts is presenting information in bitesize chunks that are easy to consume on the go.

• Use simple, snappy sentences and short paragraphs.
• Use lists, bullet points, emojis and whitespace to break up text for a reader.
• Don’t overcomplicate things – pick one subject and nail it. If you’ve got lots to say, break up your topic into several posts to get more bang for your buck.

4. A Clear Call to Action

We see a lot of LinkedIn posts that link to outside sources as their call to action. Things like articles, websites and newsletter sign-ups. While this is common practice, it harms the reach and visibility of a post.

LinkedIn (as with all social media platforms) wants its users to stay on-platform as long as possible. As a result, posts that encourage users away from the platform aren’t as visible.

This fact makes your call to action even more critical. Really consider what you want people to do at the end of every post and tell them. 

Don’t include links in the body of your post. Add them to the comments and tell them to go there for more information.

5. Hashtags

LinkedIn is not Instagram. Hashtags don’t increase visibility the same way, so you don’t need to use as many as possible; 3–5 per post is more than enough.

6. Tagging Connections

Tagging as many connections as possible in every post is frowned upon. By all means, tag someone if the post is relevant and interesting to them or concerns them directly. 

Don’t overdo it, or you’ll risk a telling off from LinkedIn and potentially getting blocked by the person you’re tagging continuously.

Now you know how to write a post in LinkedIn, what’s next?

Knowing and doing are two very different things. If you haven’t got the time, resources or in-house skills to craft attention-grabbing, conversion-crushing LinkedIn posts, let our professional copywriters do it for you.

To get the ball rolling, book your discovery call today.