You’ve spent years getting very good at what you do. Your LinkedIn may not have caught up.
A client with a long, impressive career recently told me up front what she didn’t want: a list of new things to do. No posting schedule. No chasing people for testimonials.
Fair enough. So we started with what was already there.
Her headline left out the one word that described her work. Once that was back in, along with a clear line on who she serves, the rest of the profile had something to hang on. A month of new posts probably wouldn’t have done as much, and the change costs her zero extra hours a week.
She already knew what her LinkedIn should say. It just wasn’t on her profile yet.
Chances are, yours is in the same spot.
What established leaders want from LinkedIn
If you’re an executive or an author, LinkedIn is probably somewhere in your plan. Maybe you’re getting ready for a book launch. Maybe you’re a year or two past one. Either way, you’ve spent years building a reputation in the rooms where you work.
What you want is an engaged platform. The right people reading, commenting, sending a note, picking up the phone. Interaction with the content is the measure. Follower counts in the tens of thousands rarely come up (and honestly, that's a bit of a vanity metric anyway).
That changes the work. Growth hacks and posting streaks fall away, and the question gets simpler: when the right person lands on your page, do they recognize you?
If someone heard your name at dinner last night and looked you up this morning, would your LinkedIn confirm what they heard?
Four fixes we make on almost every profile
None of these require a content calendar.
State the obvious in your headline. When you've done something for a long time, it starts to feel too obvious to say. Say it anyway. Coach, CFO, author of your book. Then add the optimal: who you serve and what's at stake for them. A stranger should get it in a glance.
Make your About section sound like you. A lot of executive profiles read like company boilerplate. Mission statement, a few press-release phrases, a list of titles. Your company already has a page for that. Write your About in first person, the way you'd describe your work to someone across the table. What do you care about? Who do you love working with? What do people call you for?
Add your point of view, even when you're sharing someone else's content. You don't have to write every post from scratch. Sharing an article, a colleague's news, or a client's launch is generous and useful. Just add two or three sentences of your own: why you're sharing it, what you'd add, where you see it differently. That's where people get to know you.
Make every post easy to read. Sometimes it's just the basics. A first line that earns the "see more" click. Short paragraphs and white space. One idea per post. Tag the people and organizations you mention (credit generously, it widens the circle). Unglamorous tactics, and they work.
Which of these four would take you no more than 20 minutes this week?
The advice I rarely give
"Post more."
I almost never say it. You’re already stretched, and more volume rarely fixes a profile that's unclear about who it's for.
LinkedIn is also only one part of your communications platform. There's your book, your website, your newsletter, the stages you speak on, the boards you sit on, the dinners you go to. LinkedIn is often where people go after one of those, to check you out. Its job is to confirm what they heard and make it easy to start a conversation.
When it does that well, several thoughtful posts a month (plus a real comment here and there on other people's work) is plenty. When it doesn't, no posting schedule will save it.
Where does LinkedIn actually fit in how people find you, and is it pulling its weight there?
If you're wondering how it fits with everything else you're putting into the world, let's chat and discover more. Head over to my calendar here and let's schedule some time to talk!