A high-quality LinkedIn long-form post: 150–250 words, one specific insight, concrete numbers or names where possible, no engagement-bait scaffolding. The shape the platform now rewards.
When to use
The user wants a "thought piece" / "long-form post" / "reflection" on LinkedIn. They have something they actually learned — a project that worked, one that didn't, an opinion shift, a hard-won pattern.
Skip the skill if they want a job-search announcement, a "we're hiring" post, or anything formulaic — those have different conventions and this skill will overwrite them.
Workflow
Find the one insight. What's the single sentence the reader takes away? If the user pasted multiple things, ask which one. Don't try to fit two insights into one post — better to write two posts.
Open with the specific, not the universal. Wrong: "Leadership is hard." Right: "We had to do two rounds of layoffs in 2024." The opening line is the scroll-stopper; it needs to make a specific claim or describe a specific moment.
Three-beat body. Beat 1: situation (what was the context, what was at stake — concrete numbers). Beat 2: what you tried + what happened (the data). Beat 3: the insight + a caveat.
Caveat is load-bearing. Real operators end on "this might not generalize" or "I'm still figuring it out." Adds credibility, blocks "but actually..." comments, doesn't read as humble-brag.
No call to action. No "thoughts?" No "agree?" No "what would you do?" The post is the thing; engagement is a side-effect.
Anti-patterns (kill on sight)
- "Three years ago, I made a decision that would change everything." → fake-memoir opener
- "Here's what no one tells you about..." → false-secret hook
- 🚀 ✨ 💡 in body text → engagement-bait styling
- "Don't get me wrong, but..." / "Hot take:" → throat-clearing
- Single-sentence paragraphs with line breaks between each → broetry padding the post for engagement
- Bulleted lists of takeaways at the bottom → tweet-thread shape, not LinkedIn shape
- Tag-spamming people who weren't in the story
Length
Target 160–220 words. LinkedIn's "...see more" cutoff is around line 3 on mobile, so the first ~250 characters have to land the hook AND set the stakes. Past 250 words you're losing the scrollers.
Definition of done
- One specific insight, named
- One specific number or named person or named project
- A real caveat or counter-example
- No emoji in body, no engagement-bait CTA
- Reads in 60 seconds
Gotchas
- The user's draft probably has 2-3 insights mashed together. Make them pick. Don't compromise by ambiguity.
- "Numbers or names" doesn't mean inventing them. If the user can't supply specifics, the post may not be ready to write yet — say so.
- Don't humanize the post to death. This is LinkedIn, not Substack. A little structure helps. The mistake is OVER-formula (broetry shape), not under-formula.
- Resist the survivor-bias frame. "Every successful founder..." is hand-wavy. Anchor to one observed instance instead.
- If the user wants a comment, ask for the comment they want to receive. Not "what reactions" — what specific person would read this and DM you. Write for that one person.