You publish something useful on LinkedIn®, see a modest response and wonder whether it was worth the effort.
It’s an understandable reaction. Writing takes time, particularly when you want to offer something more substantial than a familiar observation dressed up with a catchy opening.
But the response beneath a post tells you only part of what your publishing is achieving. Someone can read your work, become familiar with your thinking and develop confidence in your expertise without leaving any visible sign.
While substantially rewriting the publishing chapter for the second edition of Link∙Ability, I found myself giving more attention to that longer view. What does your publishing allow people to understand about you, both now and when they encounter it later?
That question gives us a useful starting point for deciding what to publish and how much time to devote to it.
Give people something they can understand about your expertise
A broad statement such as “good communication matters” is difficult to disagree with. It also tells readers very little about the person making it.
Explain where communication breaks down during a merger, what you have observed and which decisions make a difference, and you give people something more useful. They can see where your experience applies and how you approach the problem.
Specificity makes expertise easier to recognise.
You don’t need a dramatic story or a major research project for every post. A recurring client question, a decision you regularly explain or a misunderstanding you encounter in your work can provide a worthwhile subject.
For an accountant, that might mean explaining why a profitable business can still struggle to pay its bills. For a manager, it could be an observation about what happens when responsibility is shared but never clearly assigned.
The value comes from what you notice and how you explain it.
Look beyond the first few days
Much of the attention given to LinkedIn publishing centres on the feed. Did people stop scrolling? How many saw the post? Did anyone comment?
Those questions have their place. Your published work can also serve people who encounter it later, through your profile, a shared link or a search.
For several years, I published an end-of-year article called 77 Tips for LinkedIn Success. Someone found an earlier edition through Google and contacted me about working together. The article was already two or three years old.
It was still giving someone a useful introduction to my expertise.
I’ve also been approached by someone who had followed my content for three years. We weren’t connected, and I had never noticed him engaging. Yet his reading had given him enough confidence to start a conversation about working together.
Neither example means every piece of content will produce a future enquiry. Both remind me to consider what publishing contributes over time, alongside its immediate reception.
Give substantial ideas enough room
A short post can make a clear point, share an observation or start a useful discussion. Some subjects need more explanation.
Articles and newsletters give you space to explore the context, work through an example, acknowledge exceptions and explain your reasoning.
That can be particularly valuable when people need to understand your approach before deciding whether to work with you. A substantial article might answer a question prospective clients repeatedly ask or explain a choice that is often misunderstood.
It also gives you something to return to. You can refer someone to it after a conversation, include it among your Featured content or use it as the basis for a presentation or video.
Choose a longer format when the subject warrants it. The extra space needs to reward the reader’s attention.
Make your meaning clear for people and AI
AI-driven discovery adds another consideration to publishing. Publicly available content may contribute to the information search engines and AI tools retrieve and associate with your name.
That gives us another reason to explain our expertise clearly.
Name the subject. Describe the circumstances. Include an example where it adds understanding. Show what informed your conclusion.
A cryptic opening followed by vague references may leave a human reader intrigued but confused. It also gives search and AI systems less context for understanding what your contribution concerns.
You don’t need to fill your writing with keywords or surrender your natural voice. Use the language people use when discussing the issue and provide enough explanation for the piece to make sense on its own.
There is no formula that guarantees an AI recommendation. Clear, specific writing does, however, give people and machines a better account of what you know.
Choose formats that suit the work
LinkedIn offers plenty of publishing choices, which can make planning feel more demanding than it needs to be.
Begin with what the idea requires.
A demonstration may work well as a video. A process with several stages might suit a document. A considered argument could become an article. A brief observation may need only text.
Your own strengths matter too. If you explain ideas naturally in conversation, recording a video or discussing a subject with a colleague may give you a better starting point than staring at a blank document.
You don’t have to master every format. Build around the ones you can produce well and expand when there is a useful reason.
Build a practice you can maintain
A workable publishing plan begins before the moment you need to write.
Keep somewhere reliable to capture ideas. Record the question or experience that prompted the thought, the point you want to make and any example you might use. A few unexplained words may not mean much when you return to them a month later.
Choose a manageable group of subjects connected to your expertise and your audience’s needs. Leave room for current developments and questions that arise unexpectedly.
Then allow for the whole task: developing the idea, checking it, preparing any visual material and responding when people contribute.
There is little benefit in setting a demanding publishing schedule that leaves you no time for the conversations your work creates.
Decide what success would look like
Before judging a piece of content, return to its purpose.
If you wanted to explain a service, did readers come away with a clearer understanding of when it would be useful? If you wanted to explore a professional question, did the discussion reveal anything valuable? If you wanted to attract suitable enquiries, did anyone make contact?
Impressions, reactions and readership can provide useful evidence. So can introductions, direct messages, referrals and people mentioning an idea you published weeks earlier.
Look for patterns across your work rather than letting one unusually successful or disappointing post determine your next move.
Start with a question you already answer
If you’re unsure what to publish next, think about a question you hear regularly in your work.
Explain what people need to understand, give an example and identify where the answer depends on their circumstances. You may already have the basis of a useful post or article.
Over time, contributions like these give people more opportunities to understand your experience and recognise when it is relevant to them.
Chapter 2 of the substantially rewritten second edition of Link∙Ability: 4 powerful strategies to maximise your LinkedIn success explores how to make those publishing choices with purpose. The book is due at the end of November 2026.