skills/linkedin-authority/SKILL.md

---
name: linkedin-authority
description: Use when creating LinkedIn posts, personal brand content, thought leadership pieces, or social media copy that needs to feel human, conversational, and memorable. Also use when analyzing or improving existing LinkedIn content. Triggers on requests for LinkedIn posts, personal branding content, thought leadership writing, or when user wants content that "sounds human" or avoids AI-sounding copy. Writes high-performing LinkedIn content using patterns extracted from viral post analysis.
---

# LinkedIn Authority — High-Performance Content Framework

Write LinkedIn posts that perform using patterns extracted from analysis of 42 high-performing posts (peak 376 likes, 104 comments). These patterns are platform-native — built from what actually works on LinkedIn, not what marketing textbooks say should work.

## Core Philosophy

Content ABOUT the work outperforms content OF the work. Meta-commentary on the platform, the struggle, the game beats polished expertise. The tension between critique and participation is the brand.

## The Five Themes (Pick One Per Post)

Every post should be a variation of one core theme:

1. **Taste > Creativity** — The editing muscle matters more than the generating muscle. Killing ideas is harder than making them.
2. **Performance > Authenticity** — "Just be yourself" is bad advice. Put on a show. Become a character. The show IS the brand.
3. **Interesting > Impressive** — Do things worth talking about. Impressive doesn't stop the scroll; interesting does.
4. **Platform as Venue** — You are the show, the algorithm is eavesdropping. Talk to humans, machines follow.
5. **Repetition IS Strategy** — Say the same 5 things 50 different ways. Consistency compounds.

## Voice & Tone

- Self-deprecating but not groveling
- Philosophical without being pretentious
- Frustrated but not bitter
- Teaching but not lecturing
- Talk TO the audience, not AT them

## Structural Patterns

### Sentence Rhythm

Short paragraphs. Single sentences as their own line. Build with fragments:

```
Not because you're not impressive.
But because impressive is not the same thing as interesting.
```

### Hook Types (Pick One)

| Type | Example | Why It Works |
|------|---------|--------------|
| Confession | "I haven't missed a single day of posting in 5 years" | Stakes + credibility |
| Counterintuitive | "The best hook I ever wrote made me feel stupid" | Curiosity through contradiction |
| Story Open | "A client once asked me to write 50 headlines" | Narrative pull |
| Direct Challenge | "Can we all stop talking about how Gen Z..." | Stakes a position |

**Avoid**: Newsletter promos as hooks, vague philosophical statements without punch.

### The 6-8 Line Rule

The real hook is usually buried 6-8 lines into your first draft. Find it. Move it up.

### Ending Patterns

- Circle back to opening with a twist
- One-line kicker that lands the point
- Self-aware CTA that doesn't feel salesy
- Question that makes reader apply it to themselves

## Content Tiers

### Tier 1: Framework Posts (Highest Engagement)

Give people a taxonomy they can apply to themselves. The "three types of creatives" pattern:

1. Name 3 types/categories in your domain
2. Describe each with clear traits
3. Add a simple self-assessment test
4. People share because they want to see which one they are

### Tier 2: Platform Vulnerability

Say what everyone's thinking about the algorithm, the game, the performance. Be honest about frustration while still playing.

### Tier 3: Contrarian Takes

"Just be yourself is the worst advice" — stake a position, but deliver it conversationally. Generate debate, not agreement.

### Tier 4: Historical/Craft Content

Builds authority, doesn't win on likes. The Club Med origin story, the first ad ever written. These compound over time.

### Tier 5: Filler (Maintain Presence)

Short algorithm quips, quick observations. Don't pretend they're more than they are.

## What NOT To Do

- Newsletter promos without standalone value
- Hooks that make you feel clever (delete them)
- Polished expertise without vulnerability
- Writing AT the audience instead of TO them
- Expecting every post to go viral (most land 8-32 likes)

## When NOT to Use

- Not for other platforms — Instagram captions go through `humanize-ig`; these patterns (vertical line breaks, framework posts) read wrong off-LinkedIn.
- Not for long-form essays or articles — this framework is built for feed posts; use `story-spine` for narrative long-form structure.
- Not for corporate or brand-account voice — these patterns assume a personal voice with vulnerability and self-deprecation; a company page can't credibly run them.
- Not for de-AI-ing existing text in your own voice — that's `humanize` with a voice profile.

## Application Checklist

Before publishing:

- [ ] Is this a variation of one of the 5 core themes?
- [ ] Does it deliver value even if no one clicks through?
- [ ] Is the hook in the first 2 lines (not buried at line 6-8)?
- [ ] Single sentences as paragraphs where it creates rhythm?
- [ ] Would I engage with this if someone else wrote it?