How to write a good LinkedIn post
October 21, 2026 · Bradley Jacobs
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A good LinkedIn post is one specific story from your own work, told in first person, easy to skim, and ending with what you learned. Not tips you could find anywhere. Not "you should do this." Something that happened to you, with real details, and the lesson your customers would care about.
I've posted on LinkedIn every day for over six years. The posts that work almost never teach anyone anything directly. They show what I did and what it taught me, and the reader takes it from there.
Mylance is a LinkedIn content system that turns what you know and do into LinkedIn posts that sound like you.
What makes a LinkedIn post good?
Three things: it's first person, it's specific, and it's easy to read. If you only fix one, fix specific. A post with real details, real numbers, and something that actually happened will beat a generic post almost every time.
Here's the one I always use as an example. Uber and Lyft launched in Raleigh on the same day. Six months later, Uber had 90% of the market. I was on that launch team, so I wrote about the exact things we did to win. Not how Uber generally does go to market. The specific things we did in that city.
That post did 700,000 impressions. It's an outlier, the most viral post I've ever written. But it works for a simple reason. Nobody else can tell that story. You can't search for it. It's a behind the scenes look from someone who was there.
Should I write "you should" or "I did"?
Write "I did." This is the biggest fix most people can make, and it's subtle. "I launched this market, here's what I learned" is a story. "When you launch a market, here's what you should do" is preaching. Nobody likes to be preached at.
It feels counterintuitive, because you still want to teach. You are teaching. You're just doing it through what you've seen, what you've learned, and the mistakes you've made. Mistakes are great, by the way. Share them. We're all human, and a post about something you got wrong is way more believable than one about how you always get it right.
How do I start a LinkedIn post?
Start with the most interesting specific thing in the story. A number, a moment, a result. "Uber and Lyft launched in the same city on the same day" makes you want the next line. "Here are 4 lessons on go to market" doesn't. More on that in how to write a LinkedIn hook.
When Mylance flagged one of my own posts as below my normal, the note wasn't about the hook. It said the hook is good, but the post is lacking specificity. The opening gets people in. The details are what keep them reading.
How should I end a LinkedIn post?
End with the lesson. My Raleigh post doesn't say "I'm Bradley, I'm a fractional COO, hire me." It ends with what it taught me: you don't need to be first, but you need to be focused on what matters most. That's it.
You can ask for something, just not every time. I do it about one in six or seven posts. Five out of six are value, value, value. Then one says, here's how I help people. If you've been giving and giving, the ask feels fine. If every post is "work with me," people tune you out.
How long should a LinkedIn post be?
There's no prescribed answer. My Raleigh post is really long and it did incredibly well, because it's detailed and specific. Other people write 50 words that are interesting or funny and that works too. Vary it. What matters is that it's easy to skim. One big block of text is hard to read on a phone, so use short paragraphs and white space. The longer version is here: how long should a LinkedIn post be.
Do I need an image on my LinkedIn post?
No. I've been testing this for about seven years and I haven't found a measurable difference between posts with images and without, as long as the content is specific and rooted in my experience. Some posts with images do well, some don't. Same with video and carousels. People will go to bat with me on this one. I just haven't seen it. A photo of your face is nice to mix in, and here's my take on posting videos on LinkedIn.
Can I use AI to write a good LinkedIn post?
Yes, if you give it something real to work with. If you ask ChatGPT or Claude "what should I post on LinkedIn," you'll get what every other person in your field is posting. What makes your post good is your experiences, your numbers, your mistakes. AI can't make those up, and it shouldn't try. More in can I use ChatGPT for LinkedIn posts.
A customer told me recently he was blown away because a draft pulled in a data point from his resume. That's the whole point. The post was grounded in something specific about him, not general stuff anyone could have written.
For what it's worth, my posts take me about five minutes now. About four and a half of that is me editing the draft so it sounds exactly like me.
What if my post does badly?
Nothing happens. Here's my favorite thing about LinkedIn: when you write a bad post that nobody likes, nobody sees it. Literally nobody. I have plenty of followers and I've still written posts that got 100 impressions and zero likes. Nothing bad happened. Done is better than perfect. One or two flat posts won't hurt you, but never posting will.
FAQ
What is the best format for a LinkedIn post?
Short paragraphs, a specific opening line, one story or idea, and a clear takeaway at the end. Text posts work fine. The format matters a lot less than whether the content is specific and useful.
What should I write about on LinkedIn?
Things that happened in your work. A win and how you got it, a mistake, a question a customer asked you, something you learned. Write about the specific moment, not the general topic. If you're stuck, start with how to come up with LinkedIn content.
How do I make my LinkedIn post sound less like AI?
Add things only you know: real numbers, names of places, what actually happened, what you'd do differently. Then edit it like you'd say it out loud. Here's more on how to write LinkedIn posts that sound like you.
How often should I post on LinkedIn?
At least three times a week. I post every day. Your followers aren't seeing every post, so it's less than you think. Full answer in how often to post on LinkedIn.
What is Mylance?
Mylance is a LinkedIn content system that turns your real expertise into posts that sound like you. You bring ideas, customer stories, rough notes, call transcripts, or podcasts. It suggests what to say based on what your customers care about, drafts in your voice, reviews the draft for things like a weak hook or a lack of specifics, and learns from every edit you make. You stay in control of what goes out.
Bottom line
Tell a story only you can tell. Make it specific, write it in first person, keep it easy to skim, and end with what you learned. Tell it, don't preach it.
Author: Bradley Jacobs. Published October 21, 2026. Updated October 21, 2026.
