EP #003: The most important part of your LinkedIn post

Newsletter Highlights:

1. First Impressions Matter: Analyzing over 1,000 client posts, it's evident that the initial sentence sets the tone for engagement levels. The more bold and provocative the opener, the higher the engagement.
2. Provoke with Precision: Don't shy away from controversy. The most engaging posts often begin with statements that challenge norms or provoke thought. Examples like "Baby #2 is coming in 4 weeks, and I am not ready" showcase the power of a strong opener.
3. Keep it Concise: In today's fast-scrolling digital landscape, brevity is key. Your provocative statement should be succinct and easily visible, ensuring it grabs attention amid the sea of content.
4. Balance Boldness with Nuance: While the first sentence should be attention-grabbing, you can provide context or nuance in the body of your post. This allows for a more nuanced discussion while still capturing initial interest.

Deep Dive

The single most important part of your LinkedIn post is your very first sentence: the more bold & provocative, the better your post will perform.

The numbers back this up: I analyzed over 1,000 client posts in May and rated each post on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 was milquetoast (eg. “I’m so humbled to be featured”) and 5 was habanero spicy (eg. “CEOs - You suck at praising your team.”).

As the divisiveness of the openers increased from 1 to 5, engagement on the posts increased linearly.

The takeaway? Your first line makes or breaks your post.

Here are three things to remember when you write that fiery first line:

#1: PROVOKE

Don’t be afraid to ruffle some feathers. Here are a few of my favorite “hooks” that have performed well for me:

• Baby #2 is coming in 4 weeks, and I am not ready.
• One of my clients has a spreadsheet of influencers to emulate on LinkedIn. He should ignore nearly all of them.
• I invest $75k per year in becoming a better CEO.
• The problem with LinkedIn right now: It reads more like “self help” than “master class”
• Long ago, I offered Justin Welsh $30,000 to get me to 100,000 followers. Here’s why I’m glad he turned me down.

LinkedIn rewards bold statements. In a sea of sameness, you need to capture people’s attention… and you’ve got one sentence to do it.

#2: Make your hook concise

A great hook only matters if people can see it. Burying a hook in a paragraph of content is the surest way to have people scroll past your post (especially on mobile devices).

Make your first sentence concise. More people will notice it.

Here are a few visuals:

Make your provocative statement stand out and people are more likely to stop scrolling and start engaging.

#3: You can add nuance in the body of your post

Here’s a post I almost didn’t publish. It did great:

I posted this at a time when other companies were undergoing massive layoffs. I was worried my post would be tone deaf: who are you to spend so much money on your own professional development, while so many people are being fired?!??

Thankfully, I learned from our work that you can absolutely make your first sentence extreme, provocative and bold. BUT, you can back off that extreme stance in the body of your post.

Bringing it together

As I’ve said before, don’t create content for the algorithm. Focus on creating high-quality content, consistently.

However, it’s always valuable to understand how it is changing and what you should do about it. What do I plan to do with this?

• Keep posting
• Use more images (and some native video)
• Write more copy
• Avoid Reposts like the plague

Want to go deeper?

There's an 11-page, free report we put together, which you can download here. It goes into greater detail on each of these insights.

Next week, I’ll be talking about Company Pages and the data we’ve observed around best practices.

Sincerely, Justin