Here’s something I see all the time on LinkedIn.
Someone is brilliant at what they do. They have years of experience, know their industry inside out, have worked with great clients and have plenty of valuable insights to share.
And then they post on LinkedIn… and nobody really stops to read it.
Not because the expertise isn’t there. It’s because the content doesn’t make people want to keep reading.
That’s an important distinction. Because being an expert and creating good LinkedIn content are two different skillsets.
Your audience doesn’t want a lecture
One of the biggest mistakes smart professionals make is turning their LinkedIn posts into mini presentations. They start with everything they know about a topic and try to squeeze it all into one post.
There’s lots of information, lots of terminology and lots of points to get through. But the person reading it is thinking: “Why should I care?”
Your audience doesn’t necessarily need everything you know. They need the one thing that is useful, interesting, surprising or relevant to them right now.
Your job isn’t to prove how much you know. It’s to make your knowledge useful to someone else.
Expertise needs a POV (point of view)
There’s a lot of generic advice on LinkedIn. “Communication is important.” “Leadership is about people.” “Customer experience matters.” “Change creates opportunity.”
All true, but none of these statements give me much reason to stop scrolling.
What makes content interesting is your perspective. What have you noticed? What do you disagree with? What have you learned the hard way? What would you do differently now? What’s happening in your industry that people should be paying attention to?
That’s where your expertise becomes content.
Instead of simply telling people what you know, tell them what you think.
Start with the problem, not the solution
Another common mistake is jumping straight into the answer.
For example, “Here are five ways to improve your sales process.” It might be useful, but it doesn’t necessarily give me a reason to stop scrolling.
Try starting with the problem your audience is actually experiencing.
Perhaps your opening is: “Your sales team probably doesn’t need more leads. They need to convert the leads they have.”
Now you’ve created a reason for me to keep reading.
Think about the questions your clients ask you, the problems they keep coming back with and the misconceptions you find yourself correcting. Think about the conversations you’re having in meetings and the things you explain to colleagues over and over again.
Those are content ideas.
Some of your best LinkedIn content is probably already sitting in your inbox, your meeting notes or the conversations you’re having every day.
Stop trying to sound like an expert
This might sound strange, but one of the quickest ways to make your content less engaging is to try too hard to sound clever.
Long sentences, corporate language, industry jargon and words you’d never actually use in a conversation can make even really good insights difficult to read.
You don’t need to sound impressive. You need to sound like you.
Imagine you’re sitting across the table from your ideal client and explaining something to them over a coffee. How would you say it? That’s probably much closer to how you should write it.
People don’t connect with corporate language. They connect with personality and a point of view.
Tell the story behind the expertise
Facts and advice are useful, but stories make them memorable.
Instead of simply saying, “Building strong client relationships is important,” tell me about commercial relationships which have been born out of time and effort invested.
Instead of saying, “Leaders need to communicate clearly during change,” tell me about a time when poor communication created a problem and what you learned from it.
Instead of saying, “You should listen to your customers,” share something a customer said that completely changed your business process.
Your experience is part of your expertise. Don’t leave it out.
One post. One idea.
This is one of my favourite rules for LinkedIn content: one post, one idea.
If you’re trying to cover seven different points, you probably have seven posts. And that’s a good thing.
You don’t need to say everything in one go. If you’ve spent 20 years building expertise, you have plenty to talk about.
Take one insight, make it clear, give it some context and share your perspective. Then let people respond.
Don’t forget the reader
This is probably the biggest shift I’d encourage professionals to make.
Before you publish something, ask yourself: “Is this interesting to me because I know a lot about it, or is it actually useful or interesting to the person reading it?”
There’s a difference.
You might be fascinated by the technical detail, while your audience simply wants to know how it affects them. You might want to explain the entire process, while they only need the three things they should do differently.
You might be proud of how much you know, and you should be. However, your expertise only becomes valuable on LinkedIn when it matters to someone else.
You don’t need to become a content creator
And finally, you don’t need to turn yourself into a full-time LinkedIn creator.
You don’t need to post every day, jump on every trend or make everything into a carousel. You certainly don’t need to become an influencer.
You just need to share what you know in a way that makes people want to listen.
Share the lesson from the project you’ve just finished. Answer a question a client asked you. Talk about something happening in your industry. Share a mistake you’ve made and what it taught you. Give your perspective on a common problem. Start a conversation.
That’s interesting content.
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