Have You Ever Thought:
“I need to post more.”“I need to show up in the feed.”
“We just need to get something out there.”
“Why is no one interacting with my posts?”
So, we stare at a blank screen. Or we delegate it. Or we scramble to type up something from a meeting. Or we reshare a post from a friend or an article we skimmed. Maybe we turn to ChatGPT or Claude, type "give me a LinkedIn post for X," and hope for the best.
What Happens Next?
A post that checks the box but doesn’t connect.
A post with little to no engagement.
A post ignored by our audience.
While showing up on LinkedIn is the minimum, you should strive to show up with intention when you do.
The best content is not just informative or interesting, it makes people feel something. It stands out from generic updates and marketing jargon because it builds a connection.
The keys to connection?
- Stories
- Reflection
- Motivation
- Teaching
- Emotion
These elements inspire, relate, and build trust. If your content isn’t landing as well as you’d like, consider asking yourself: Would I stop and read this?
Things change when we stop worrying about posting and focus on what resonates.
Are You Using the Right Measuring Stick?
Before you write your next LinkedIn post, step back and ask: What do I expect to happen?
Many believe posting will flood their inboxes with meeting requests, their phones will start ringing, or their calendars will fill up overnight. For most, that’s just not realistic.
What Success Looks Like
It’s easy to compare yourself to viral posts or LinkedIn success stories. But every audience engages differently.
Even if your ideal audiences aren’t publicly commenting or messaging, they do pay attention.
Many who are creating good content hear this regularly:
"I’ve been following your posts for a while, and the other day, X made me finally reach out."
This doesn’t appear in traditional metrics, but isn’t that the real goal?
To be the first name that comes to mind when someone needs what you offer.
Your presence isn’t intrusive. You’re staying visible and reinforcing credibility. Sometimes, someone they respect engages with your post, which leads to action.
What Are You Aiming For?
Your LinkedIn content should fit into your broader go-to-market strategy. A single perfect post won’t close a deal, but over time, your posts:
Build familiarity – When someone needs your service, they already know who you are.
Create trust – People see you as a credible resource by consistently sharing insights.
Strengthen your other efforts – Outreach, networking, and even paid campaigns work better when people recognize your name.
When your content aligns with these goals, you stop just showing up—you show up with intention. That’s when LinkedIn starts working for you.
The Keys to Connection
A well-written post can still fall flat. Why? Because it lacks connection.
We have identified the following keys as the best way to make people stop, think, or feel.
If your content isn’t getting the reaction you want, it’s not necessarily a problem with your writing, image selection, or video. It might need a different approach to land better.
Strong content always includes at least one of these five elements:
- Reflection – Share a personal insight or realization others can relate to.
- Motivation – Offer encouragement by highlighting challenges you’ve overcome or lessons learned.
- Teaching – Provide clear, actionable advice that solves a common problem.
- Emotion – Make people feel something—relief, excitement, curiosity, or even caution.
- Storytelling – Tie everything together with an example, experience, or real-world situation that makes your message stick.
If your content isn’t connecting, it’s usually missing all of these. Pause on posting and refine your post. Because if it doesn’t connect, it’s just more noise in the feed.
Want a quick check? Drop your draft or image into an AI tool and ask:
"Which of these keys (Reflection, Motivation, Teaching, Emotion, Storytelling) am I hitting on?"
It’s an easy way to see if your content has those keys. If it doesn’t, chat: “refine the draft to ensure I hit on the most appropriate of these keys without losing my tone or style.”
When in Doubt, Tell Stories
There are many ways to share content on LinkedIn and no one way is best. People love instructional posts, comparisons, client testimonials. If you are unsure of how to position your message tell a story. This is the easiest way to improve post performance instantly.
Stories create emotion, build curiosity, and make your insights stick.
Consider this contrast:
Standard Approach:
"Here’s a link to our blog: Five cybersecurity tips for your business. We’d love to schedule a call to chat about it."
Storytelling Approach:
"Imagine walking up to your business, and the door won’t open. Someone changed the locks. This has happened to companies unprepared for cyberattacks—they lose access to their own systems overnight..."
Both share the same message, but only one makes you feel something.
And the story doesn’t have to be about your product or service. It could be:
- A personal experience
- An industry shift
- A challenge your audience can relate to
The best stories teach, motivate, and spark reflection all at once.
So if you’re stuck on what to post, start with a story. If you don’t know how to write a story than use generative AI to help you.
"This is the topic or draft of my post. Help me workshop this to turn it into a compelling story or narrative for my audience. Do not lose my tone, style, or message."
A More Strategic Approach
Be intentional with your LinkedIn presence instead of posting reactively or out of obligation.
Here’s how:
- Define your core themes – Pick key topics that align with your expertise and business goals.
- Rotate between different connection strategies – Mix reflection, motivation, teaching, and emotion to keep content fresh.
- Prioritize engagement over vanity metrics – Likes and views are nice, but real impact comes from meaningful conversations.
How AI Can Support Content Generation
When AI first emerged, content creation was one of its most prominent use cases, and I still see it as the one most people get wrong.
If you’ve tried AI to write a LinkedIn post, you probably typed in a quick prompt, got a draft, and hit publish.
But did it sound like you?
AI works best as a writing assistant, not the writer.
The goal isn’t to let it take over but to improve, speed up, and make your content more engaging without sacrificing your tone, style, or message.
Here’s how AI can support your content strategy:
- Turning bullet points into structured posts – AI helps shape scattered thoughts into a clear format.
- Suggesting emotional hooks for technical topics – AI can help make dry content more compelling.
- Generating multiple angles from a single idea – AI can suggest different perspectives, helping you repurpose content.
- Naturally injecting emotion – AI can suggest ways to make writing more relatable without overdoing it.
- Turning meeting transcripts into post ideas – AI can pull insights from conversations you already have.
- Reviewing top-performing posts and identifying new opportunities – AI can analyze past successes and suggest new angles.
You can even train AI to learn your style with features like Custom GPTs and Claude Projects or tools like Jasper or Writer that are built to help you write better. Instead of starting from scratch, AI can get you 80-90% of the way there, allowing you to fine-tune and add your personal touch.
The key to making AI work for you?
Use it to support your insights, not replace them. AI can assist, but your experience, personality, and perspective make your content unique.
Show Up the Right Way
Anyone can post on LinkedIn. Few do it with purpose.
The people who get actual results aren’t just checking a box. They share ideas that make others think. They create content that makes people feel something. They show up in a way that makes them impossible to ignore.
If you want LinkedIn to work for you, stop posting just to post and start communicating in a way that builds trust and makes an impact.
Next time, don’t ask, “What should I post?”
Ask, “How do I want to show up?”
That’s how you win on LinkedIn and in all of your communication.
