20 content ideas and 11 tips to help you post on LinkedIn

To get booked to speak you need to be known by bookers. You need to be trusted by them.

To be known and trusted you need to be visible. But how do you get visible?

One way to get visible is to post regularly on LinkedIn. Showing up consistently, sharing value and engaging. We all know we should do it but it's hard to do it consistently. Sometimes it’s because we don’t know what to share and need some ideas.

I’m going to help you out. I’ve been doing my best to show up on LinkedIn consistently and today I’m sharing some of what I’ve learned. But better still I have 20 post ideas to get you started.

In the words of the dark destroyer – ‘let’s do this!’ 

Have a brainstorm to get you started

Have a bit of a brainstorm and come up with a list of different types of posts that you can share.  It’s so much easier to start with a list and then plan these into a calendar.  Want a few ideas to get you going?  Here’s 20, that should keep you busy 😊

1. A short how-to guide or tips relevant to your industry.
2. An interesting statistic
3. What you’ve been working on this week in your business
4. Highlight a team member/colleague/client
5. A recent achievement
6. A testimonial.
7. Ask a thought-provoking question that will spark discussion and engagement.
8. A lesson you’ve learned that will help your audience too.
9. An industry-related infographic or video.
10. A behind-the-scenes look at your business/work week
11. A personal or professional insight.
12. Share someone else’s post that is relevant to your audience
13. A motivational quote
14. A poll
15. Your biggest mistake
16. Answer an FAQ
17. A listicle
18. A tool or app you find really useful
19. Talk about a problem your clients face
20. Talk about aspirations your clients have

Look at what’s trending

LinkedIn, like other social media platforms, has trends. Keep an eye on these trends and incorporate them into your content where relevant. This can also help inspire your own content to add to your brainstorm list.

Reuse content

If you have a blog, a newsletter, a podcast, videos etc you can use snippets as LinkedIn posts. You can also take points from presentations, webinars, or coaching sessions you've done and use them as LinkedIn posts.

Create templates

Creating templates for the different types of posts you are going to share will save you a lot of time and create some consistency. 

Use images

Relevant images, infographics, or videos can increase engagement and can sometimes stop the scroll. 

Focus on value:

Always focus on what value you're providing to your audience.

Stick to what you want to be known for and booked for

Don’t be tempted to post about all things.  You want to be known for one thing.  I like to reference the British Olympic Rowing team whose question was “will it make the boat go faster?”, if it didn’t, they didn’t do it.  What’s your big question, your one thing, and does what you are posting about get your audience nearer to it?

Engage with your audience

Make it easy for your audience to engage with your content, help them, guide them, ask them a question so that they will engage with you.  And when they do, participate. Don’t post and run.  You need to hang about.

Keep it short and sweet

Unlike this newsletter.  Keep it short and sweet.  Pack a punch in a short post.  People are busy, give them value without any waffle.

Use a scroll stopping title

If the first sentence of your post is blah, it won’t stop the scroll.  You need to get attention.  It starts with your title.

Proofread

I’m not perfect here as I often find mistakes after a newsletter or post has gone out. And with posts, if you edit them in LinkedIn the algorithm has a hissy fit, so better to leave it if it’s not a big deal.  Better still, give it a thorough proofread before pressing the publish button.  Note to self, go back, and re-read this.

Schedule your posts

Now I used to think that this was a total no-no, but now LinkedIn has brought in its own scheduler I’m thinking, OK, I can schedule – hurrah.  Whether you use LinkedIn’s scheduler or something else, it’s OK to schedule.  But do remember my point above about being around to engage.  Schedule posts for when you are going to be there to participate in the discussion.

Phew that was a lot.  I hope that there’s some value in here for you.  Do let me know.  And let’s add to the brainstorm list of 20 and see how many more we can put in.