--- name: share-on-linkedin description: Use when asked to write a LinkedIn post (≤3000 characters) announcing a personal project to busy professionals — generating interest, asking for help/advice, and inviting shares in a humble, personal voice — as distinct from [[share-on-linkedin-projects]] (a static profile entry, not a feed post) and [[share-on-bluesky]], [[share-on-facebook]], [[share-on-instagram]], [[share-on-mastodon]], and [[share-on-threads]] (same announcement, different platform conventions), or [[press-release]] and [[copywriting]] (formal/persuasive registers this deliberately avoids). --- # Share on LinkedIn LinkedIn's feed algorithm rewards dwell time and early engagement — comments in the first hour matter more than the eventual like count — and it truncates every post behind a "…more" link after roughly the first 140-210 characters (about the first two to three lines). That truncation point is the entire game: almost everyone decides whether to expand a post based on those first couple of lines alone, so whatever isn't in them doesn't get read. ## What works on LinkedIn - **The hook has to survive truncation on its own.** Write the first line assuming it's the only line anyone sees, since for most readers scrolling past, it is. - **Short paragraphs and white space, not blocks of text.** One or two sentences per line, blank lines between thoughts — dense paragraphs get skipped even after someone clicks "…more." - **Native text (and native documents/carousels) outperform link posts.** The algorithm has historically favored posts that keep people on LinkedIn; if a link is essential, put it in the first comment rather than the post body, and say "link in comments" in the post itself. - **Comments count more than likes.** A post that asks something specific enough to generate real comments — not "thoughts?" — gets materially more distribution than one that only collects likes. - **Personal narrative outperforms an achievement announcement.** "Here's what I got wrong building this" or "here's the problem that made me start this" reads as content; "Excited to announce…" reads as an ad and gets scrolled past by an audience that sees a lot of those. - **A handful of relevant hashtags at the end**, not scattered through the text — three to five is typical, more reads as spam. ## Hashtags Hashtags on LinkedIn work mainly as a subscription/browse mechanism — people follow specific tags and see tagged posts in a dedicated feed — rather than as a search-ranking signal for the main feed. Pick three to five tags that are actually specific to the project's topic (e.g. a named discipline or niche practice area) rather than huge generic ones like #business or #technology with millions of followers; a smaller, targeted tag with a genuinely interested audience reaches more of the right people than a giant one a post will be buried in. Place them as a single line at the very end, after the ask, not woven into sentences, and don't exceed about five — more starts to read as keyword-stuffing to a professional audience. ## Structure for a post up to 3000 characters Room to write more doesn't mean it should be long — most well-performing announcement posts run 150-400 words even with a 3000-character ceiling. 1. **First line — the hook, self-contained.** The actual news or the actual problem, stated plainly enough to work with nothing after it for a reader who never expands the post. 2. **A short personal paragraph.** Why this exists, what it took, or what's still uncertain about it — the detail that makes it a person writing, not a brand. 3. **What it actually is**, in plain terms a non-specialist professional can follow without extra context. 4. **One specific ask.** A particular kind of feedback, an introduction, someone who'd find it useful — not a generic "thoughts welcome." 5. **An explicit, modest invitation to share**, if it would help — said plainly rather than instructed. 6. **Link in the first comment** (noted in the post body), plus three to five relevant hashtags. ## Key components - **A hook that works with zero context**, since it has to carry the whole post for anyone who doesn't click through. - **Humility over hype** — naming what's uncertain or what went wrong along the way reads as more credible to this audience than a polished win narrative, and invites help rather than just applause. - **One concrete, answerable ask** — specific enough that a busy reader can act on it in the time it takes to leave a comment. - **Line breaks doing real work** — short lines aren't a stylistic affectation here, they're what makes a post survive being skimmed on a phone. ## Common pitfalls - **A hook that's a table-setter, not the news** — "I've been thinking a lot about X lately..." spends the only characters that matter before getting to the point. - **A link in the post body**, which the algorithm has historically treated as an exit intent and suppressed accordingly. - **Wall-of-text formatting** with no line breaks, which loses most readers even after they expand the post. - **A vague closing ask** ("let me know what you think!") that produces likes but few comments, which is what the algorithm actually rewards. - **Over-claiming or announcement-voice phrasing** ("thrilled to share," "game-changing") that reads as marketing to a professional audience skeptical of it. ## Learn more - [[share-on-linkedin-projects]] for the companion, evergreen profile entry this feed post can drive people to — the two work together, not as alternatives. - [[share-on-bluesky]], [[share-on-facebook]], [[share-on-instagram]], [[share-on-mastodon]], and [[share-on-threads]] for the same announcement adapted to each platform's own norms and character budget. - [[copywriting]] for persuasive-copy technique this style deliberately underplays in favor of a plainer, personal voice. - [[content-calendar]] for coordinating the announcement's timing across all platforms. - [[communications-manager]] for the broader announcement/messaging planning this single post sits inside.