In June of 2023, LinkedIn’s Chief Editor, Dan Roth, aka, the grand pooh-bah of LinkedIn’s algorithm, announced that the platform would be making some shifts in how it rewarded content.

The roll-up report was that LinkedIn doesn’t want you to “go viral.” (gasp!)

While at first glance, it’s easy to be scared by that sentiment, or worse yet, blame it for your content’s lack of performance, Dan and his colleague Alice Xiong, a director of product management at LinkedIn, further broke down what this meant in a piece written for Entrepreneur Magazine.

First, they reinforced LinkedIn’s value proposition — which is effectively to be the platform where the world’s professionals get hired, network, and sharpen their skills.

Great, right?

The problem was that this wasn't where the platform was in the last few years. During Covid content turned almost exclusively “personal” on LinkedIn as we began working from home and facing a global crisis together. This makes sense, given that content will always reflect what’s going on in the market at large; and what was going on for us was this jarring co-mingling of our very vulnerable human state and the office. We had weird long hair, we had kids in Zoom frames, we had dogs barking and sweatpants as a part of our work attire. Naturally, content reflected this.

Now, that’s not a bad thing. LinkedIn was in need of some fresh humanity on the platform, and I believe that one of the silver linings of Covid (weird to say) was the “astonishing” revelation and acknowledgment that, yes, behind our jobs, we are all just humans figuring out.

But, when your value proposition as a platform is to be where professionals sharpen their skills, once a pandemic lets up, you want your algorithm to start rewarding content in service of your aim.

Hence, less “crying pictures” and more “here’s mindful practices you can use to prevent crying at work”-esque posts.

But, and this is another big BUT, if you don’t infuse personality into your posts from time to time, you won’t be rewarded either — because the platform (as made clear by Roth)— also doesn’t prefer general guidance, principles, or platitudes. It wants to see YOUR unique lens on things.

And, people will always buy from people they feel they know, like, and trust. So if you’re out here “corporate” robot-ing your way through content creation, good luck winning an audience over.

To help keep you on track, here are some types of content you can post to keep things both personal and professional on the platform.

 (Remember, make sure you nail a proper balance of personal/professional. Too personal, the algorithm will demote you. Too professional, you’ll never compel anyone to like/follow/buy. We’re striving for a Goldilocks content ratio.)

1. Share the biggest learning lessons you’ve had since starting your career. 

This topic is right at the intersection of what LinkedIn’s algorithm is looking for. When it analyzes content, the algorithm looks for a combination of specific and practical industry advice (so it can serve it up to more people in your industry) with an insider track of how that’s worked. You’ll learn that’s really the theme of all 7 of the topics posted here. 

The thing I love about this is that these learning lessons are subjective. You aren’t competing to find “the best.” You’re sharing about what was the best for you. This immediately frees us from imposter syndrome - or the belief that we aren’t qualified enough to share - because no one can argue with our experience.

2. Share one thing you stopped doing that made a difference in your career. 

Audiences loved action-based tips, and psychologically, people are more likely to pay attention to something negative vs. something positive (I mean, turn on the news).  

So, by sharing one thing you stopped doing (i.e., “answering emails after 5pm”) you provide your audience members with insight on how something they’re doing is unknowingly preventing success. 

Now, this can be more “working lifestyle” like “I stopped doing back-to-back meetings,” or more industry-specific like, “I stopped accepting hard checks for my accounting practice.” Either way, it will play well while maintaining a balance the algorithm wants to see.  

3. Share one thing you started doing that made a difference in your career.

You can also take the positive tilt by discussing one thing you started doing that made a difference in your career. Now, I know I just said we’re wired to be moved by negativity, but the trick to turning a positive into something engaging is to display the other thing our brains love — simplicity.

So, sharing that you learned to fly planes and that made a difference in your career feels prettttttyyyyyy Herculean, but, sharing that you decided to take walking meetings feels very “doable.” 

I’m not saying to treat your audience like they’re idiots, but I am saying it’s often the most “simple” things, especially with content, that lead to the biggest aha moments.

4. Give advice to a “younger” you or audience.

How glorious life would be if we could live it in reverse, right? A wiser, more experienced us would ace job interviews, understand how to deal with an office bully, or negotiate better. Unfortunately, life moves in one direction, and so too does the process of accumulating wisdom. 

But, it’s rather menschy of us to pass that wisdom down. In fact, your best audience will often be those who are about 2-5 years behind you on your journey. 

5. Talk about something that used to terrify you that you overcame in your career.

Wow, do we love a story of overcoming a challenge. It’s basically the archetype of every major narrative. We like to see underdogs go for it and win.

So provide this to your audience. What used to make you break out in hives that you now love? Cold-calling? How did you overcome it? 

Talk about that! 

6. Talk about the worst advice you ever received in your career.

Bad advice, especially when it’s widespread in your industry, can be a killer. If you are the person who dispels these myths masquerading as great ideas by sharing what happened when you put it to use, then you’ll win favor and respect with your audience. 

For example, I talk a lot about “growth for growth's sake" when building a business and how I think it’s a terrible idea. I back this up with what happened when I tried to zoom from 0 to $1 million/annually without having proper systems in place. I always get verbal “sighs of relief” in response. 

7. Talk about the best advice you ever received in your career. 

This is your opportunity to give your mentor some shine while propagating good, useful advice in your industry. Talk about how you acquired the advice (book, mentor, podcast) and how it’s made a difference for you.

Bonus points for tagging the source if possible and sharing how you specifically applied it. Again, the feed isn’t going to favor generalisms. It’s looking for advice backed with narrative.

Et voila! These 7 topics put you squarely at the corner of highly-personal and highly-professional, which is gold on LinkedIn. It helps keep your brand in balance while keeping your content useful and captivating.

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