How to get started on LinkedIn the right way in 2025 (part 3)

So we've covered what makes a standout LinkedIn profile. What next?

Welcome back friends! 👋

We’re back at it again with our LinkedIn basics series. We’re covering an advanced topic today: how to actually start posting on LinkedIn.

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LinkedIn posting: how to start for real

We’ve already spoken about the reasons you should not be passive on LinkedIn, like actually have career opportunities come to you rather than constantly chasing them.

And posting on LinkedIn is the most effective, active way to stand out on the platform.

You can have the most optimized LinkedIn profile, but what good is it if it’s not discoverable? And the best way to circulate your profile is to have it come up on others’ newsfeeds through LinkedIn posts.

(P.S. You can get my FREE LinkedIn optimization cheat sheet and Your First LinkedIn Post template resources here!)

Ok so now we’ve covered the why, let’s walk through the how.

1. Just start

The initial inertia of getting started will always be the hardest, even for someone like me who has been posting every day for years.

If making sure that you have the “perfect” post before you hit Publish is what’s stopping you, I promise no one cares about your posts as much as you will.

When you’re first starting, getting reps in is the most important factor. Quality of posts will come after.

2. Storytelling sells

Throughout the years, my LinkedIn content has changed a lot. But the one thing that has stayed put is telling stories. And not just any stories, personal stories.

Storytelling is effective because no one wants to be talked at. You know, the stereotypical LinkedIn posts that tell you, no, yell at you, to change your life by doing XYZ.

There’s definitely a time and place for content that’s authoritative or inspirational, but posts that bring readers through the ups and downs of a journey are just so much more enjoyable to read, and less cringey to write (the fear of seeming cringey is something so many of my students report has stopped them from posting at all!)

The value of personal stories, though, is how you truly sell yourself to readers without seeming salesy.

As with any social media platform, people are on LinkedIn to connect with other people. Sharing your vulnerabilities as a human being is the easiest way to make your posts relatable.

Some of my best performing posts are about times I’ve failed at work, in relationships, and in life, because these are all human experiences everyone goes through.

But the difference is that I had the courage to share my experiences, while everyone else wants to consume content that makes them feel seen.

3. The hook

Once you’ve figured out what you’re going to write about, crafting the hook (aka the first line of the post) is the next most important step.

Try and put yourself in the shoes of someone who will come by your posts. If your target audience is potential recruiters and hiring managers, think about what they would want to see from someone who could potentially be an employee for them.

Next, think about what would stop their scroll. This kind of empathy exercise also applies to what you’ll be writing in the actual body of your post, but I find that once I figure out my hook, everything else is much easier to write.

Ok so how do you actually craft this hook?

This should be one of the following:

• The aha! moment of your post (e.g. I realized…)

• The best emotion you felt in your posts’s story (I knew I made it in my career when…)

• The worst emotion you felt in your post’s story (The lowest I ever felt in my job search was when…)

• The headline of a how-to list (How I landed my dream job:…)

  • Pro tip here is to end it with a colon to create intrigue

Lastly, make sure you format your hook so that it doesn’t get cut off by the line break (aka the “See more”). There are plenty of tools out there to help with this specific task, like AuthoredUp and Taplio.

4. The takeaway

This is the ending of your post, the overall message you want people to takeaway from reading it.

After the hook, I think this is the second most-read line of your post. Everything else comes after the hook and the closing lines.

This closing should be one of the following:

• Another aha! moment, but make it more packaged. In other words, you want this line to read eloquently and make the reader feel good (Whether you work a 9-5 or an 11-11, your work matters ❤️)

• A question prompting the reader to think more about the topic or some adjacent topic (Are you pro RTO or WFH?)

• A truth bomb or plot twist (She realized she was so busy making a living, she forgot to make a life… That girl was me.)

• A call-to-action or CTA (Reshare these tips and find more in my comments below 👇)

5. The graphic

Almost all of my posts feature a picture of some sort. LinkedIn themselves have said having a friendly or professional-looking photo increases views on your post by 21x!

Think about it, adding a visual element to your posts gives readers something to relate to beyond just the words, especially if the photo features your face somewhere in it (which I usually recommend for photos).

Other types of graphics that perform well for me are catchy quote graphics or diagrams to explain very complex, technical topics. I always recommend switching up your graphics so that you have a variety of content.

I will note: I know plenty of LinkedIn creators whose posts perform very well without any graphics. This is something that works for their platform, most likely because text-only posts are what these creators have become known for.

If you’re just starting out, you should be experimenting with a variety of types of posts so you can learn what works best for your platform over time. Whether that’s graphics vs no graphics, educational vs inspirational vs entertaining content, long vs short posts, etc.

6. Video content

I know what you’re thinking. “Megan, I barely have a handle on written posts, how do I can I tackle video posts??”

Well let’s start with why you should be posting videos on LinkedIn.

Because LinkedIn has been actively pushing video content on its platform in an effort to keep up with other short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Ever since LinkedIn announced its new Video feature last year, LinkedIn content managers and editors have been actively pushing its thought leaders to create video content.

I know this because I’m a LinkedIn Top Voice and I receive weekly communications from LinkedIn themselves providing tips on how to get started with video and ideas for what to post. Here are some of their (and my) top tips:

• Plan out your talking points before you hit record

• If you’re someone like me who feels more comfortable reading from a script, there are plenty of teleprompter mobile apps out there

• Whether you’re reading from a script or not, make sure you still sound like yourself and not a robot

• Make the video more dynamic and engaging by cutting out silences, overlaying images and videos to provide context over your speaking points, zoom in on some shots, and experiment with alternative video formats like text-on-screen over b-roll clips

• Find inspiration on video-native platforms like Instagram and TikTok

• If you already create video content on those platforms, don’t be afraid to cross-post them to LinkedIn

And beyond just telling us we should be posting videos, LinkedIn has also been rewarding creators for video content (aka videos can often get more views than static posts!) My most-seen posts are both videos, like this one with 22.6m views and then this one with 14.4m views.

7. Consistency over everything

Last but not least, understand that there will be plenty of days when it feels like you’re screaming into the void. In fact, most days will feel like that when you’re just getting started.

I found that all it took was one post that performed well to motivate me through the bad-performing days. But you’ll never come across those good days unless you stay consistent through the bad ones.

Also, frequency to achieve consistency will look different for everyone. If your schedule only permits posting once a week, that’s great! Being able to commit to a posting frequency that is manageable for you is better than going hardcore for a few days in a row and then burning out.

Get the hang of posting at a frequency that is manageable for you when you’re starting out, then slowly increase it over time when you get better at ideating and writing content, and when you overthink the process less!

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I hope these tips help you finally start writing on LinkedIn this year! I promise posting on LinkedIn is one of the most underrated skills you can master for your career, and I’ll never stop screaming this from the rooftops. Next week, we’ll talk about how you can take posting to the next level to become a thought leader, and how this can be turned into monetizable opportunities! 🤑

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That’s it for this week’s newsletter! See you for the next episode of The Data Diaries soon 👋

- Megan

And in case you don’t know who I am, I’m Megan Lieu, Data Scientist-turned-Developer Advocate who has helped thousands of job seekers through my content on LinkedIn and Instagram, as well as my courses on LinkedIn Learning. I’ve learned a lot from the ups and downs of my data career, and sharing the lessons has helped me build a community of 280k+ tech and data professionals.