Should I post personal things on LinkedIn?
October 20, 2026 · Bradley Jacobs
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Yes, you should post personal things on LinkedIn, just not as your main thing. I post something personal about once for every three posts about my work. The personal posts get more likes. The work posts are what make people trust you. You need both, but most of your posts should show what you know.
Here's what keeps happening to me. I'll get on a call with someone who hasn't liked or commented on a single one of my posts in a year. Then they tell me how much they've enjoyed my content. They weren't reading about my weekend. They were reading how I think about the work.
Mylance is a LinkedIn content system that turns what you know and do into LinkedIn posts that sound like you.
Is it OK to post personal stuff on LinkedIn?
Yes. A post about your family, your dog, or a trip you took makes you a human, and people like reading it even though LinkedIn is a professional platform. I do it too.
Just don't confuse it with building credibility. If you write about slipping in your kitchen and your dog helping you clean it up, people get to know you a little. That's familiarity. It's not a bad thing. But it doesn't tell anyone what you're great at or why they'd hire you, and that's the part that matters for your business.
How often should I post personal things on LinkedIn?
About one in four, at most. Three out of four of my posts are about my work, and I'm in the camp of one or two purely non-work posts a month.
The other three are things like: here's something I learned, here's how I think about this, here's how I'm doing it in my company, here's my take. That's the stuff people remember you for. If you want a number for your overall cadence, here's how often to post on LinkedIn.
Why do my personal posts get more likes?
Because people like interacting with people. A photo of you on the golf course will usually get more likes than a post about your process. That's normal, and it's fine.
The expertise posts usually get a little less engagement. But as far as recognition and trust go, that's where they really excel. You just don't get to say your LinkedIn is working because a post about you and your dog got a hundred likes. I don't care, frankly. That doesn't do anything.
Likes are a noisy signal anyway. Most of the people who matter are reading quietly. If your work posts feel flat, here's why your LinkedIn posts aren't getting likes and what to actually look at.
What kind of personal posts work on LinkedIn?
The best personal posts are personal stories that teach something. A tough experience you learned from. A mistake. A win, and how you made it happen. That kind of vulnerability does really well, and it still builds credibility because there's a lesson your customers care about.
One of my posts that did well starts with Uber and Lyft launching in the same city on the same day. Six months later, Uber had 90% of the market. I was on that launch team in Raleigh, so I walked through exactly what we did to win. It's my story, but the takeaway is for my audience: you don't need to be first, you need to be focused on what matters most.
Nobody reads a post like that and thinks it's cringe or AI slop. It reads like a person telling you what happened. More on that in how to post on LinkedIn without being cringe.
Should I post photos of myself on LinkedIn?
Yes, if you have the time and energy to do it, but you don't need them. People do like seeing your face.
A lot of people notice their photos do well and then wonder how to use that without turning their feed into Facebook. Easy answer: put the photo on an expertise post. You get the face people want to see and the point you want them to remember, in the same post.
Should I post personal things on my company page?
No, keep them on your personal profile. People want to hear from people. If you post the same thing to your company page, it'll do maybe a fifth as well as it would on your personal profile. Here's the longer version on LinkedIn company page vs personal profile.
FAQ
Is it unprofessional to post personal things on LinkedIn?
No. Every once in a while it's nice, and it humanizes you. It only becomes a problem when personal posts are all you share, because then nobody knows what you do.
What personal topics can I post about on LinkedIn?
Family, your dog, travel, a hobby, a hard week. The ones that do the most for you tie back to a lesson, a mistake, or a win your customers would care about.
Should I post about personal struggles on LinkedIn?
If you're comfortable with it, yes. A tough experience you learned something from is one of the strongest posts you can write. Share what happened and what you'd tell someone in the same spot.
Do personal posts help with LinkedIn reach?
They often get more likes and comments. That's nice, but reach from a dog photo doesn't build trust in your expertise. Keep most of your posts about the work.
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, transcripts, or podcasts. It suggests what to say based on what your customers care about, drafts in your voice, and learns from your edits. You stay in control of what goes out. More in how to write LinkedIn posts that sound like you.
Bottom line
Post the personal stuff. It's important, and people like it. Just keep it to about one in four posts, and save the rest for what you know and how you think. The dog photo gets the likes. The work posts are what people bring up on the call.
Author: Bradley Jacobs. Published October 20, 2026. Updated October 20, 2026.
