Most people who don’t post on LinkedIn aren’t short on ideas. They’re short on memory. You did plenty this week. You fixed things, learned things, disagreed with things. By the time you open LinkedIn on Friday, all of it is gone, and the blank box wins.
So this list works differently from most. The ideas are grouped by what you already have: the work you did, the mistakes you made, the opinions you hold and the milestones you hit. Pick the group that matches your week, pick one idea, and you have a post.
Each idea comes with an example first line you can steal and adapt.
Posts from the work you did this week
This is the easiest place to start because you don’t have to invent anything. Your work is the content.
- The thing you shipped. Say what it is, who it helps and one detail about how you built it. “We shipped dark mode on Thursday. It took 3 hours longer than I estimated, and here’s why.”
- The problem you solved. Describe the problem first, then the fix. People remember problems. “Our weekly report took 4 hours to build. Now it takes 90 minutes.”
- Before and after. Show the old version and the new one, with a screenshot or two numbers. “Old onboarding: 6 screens. New onboarding: 3. Here’s what we cut.”
- The tool or shortcut you started using. Be specific about what it replaced. “I stopped writing meeting notes by hand. This is what I do instead.”
- A process you documented. If you wrote a checklist for your team, share a cleaned up version. “Our 7-step checklist before any release goes live.”
- How long something really took. Estimates vs reality are relatable and rarely shared. “I planned 2 days for this. It took 6. Here’s where the time went.”
- A small win. Not every post needs to be a launch. “Closed my laptop at 5:30 every day this week. First time this year.”
- Your weekly wins list. Three or four things that went well this week, one of them small and human. This format works because it’s easy to repeat every Friday.
- A customer or user quote. With permission, share what someone said and what you changed because of it.
- The work nobody sees. Migrations, cleanups, documentation. “Nobody will notice this work, which is exactly why it mattered.”
Lessons and mistakes
Posts about what went wrong usually beat posts about what went right, because they’re honest and they’re useful.
- A mistake and what it cost. Keep it concrete. “I sent the wrong file to a client last month. Here’s the checklist I use now.”
- Something you believed a year ago that you don’t now. “I used to think more meetings meant more alignment. I was wrong.”
- The advice you’d give your first-week self. Make it specific to your role, not generic life advice.
- What a hard conversation taught you. Leave out names and blame. Focus on what you’d do differently.
- A project that failed. What you tried, why it didn’t work and what you kept.
- What you learned from a book, course or talk. One idea, applied to your actual job. Skip the summary.
- The question you keep getting asked. Answer it once, publicly, and link to the post next time.
- A habit you dropped. “I stopped checking email before 10am. Three things happened.”
Opinions and takes
You don’t need to be controversial. You need to be clear. A take is just an opinion with a reason attached.
- Something your industry gets wrong. State it, give one example, offer the alternative.
- A popular piece of advice you disagree with. “Everyone says to batch your meetings. Here’s why it backfired for me.”
- Your answer to a trending question in your field. Short and direct beats long and balanced here.
- A prediction. What will change in your role in the next two years, and what you’re doing about it.
- Your rule for something. “My rule for meetings: no agenda, no meeting.”
- A comparison. Two approaches you’ve tried, and which one you’d pick again.
- What you’d do with a blank slate. “If I rebuilt our hiring process from scratch, I’d change three things.”
Behind the scenes
People are curious about how work actually happens. Show them.
- A day in your role. Real times, real tasks, including the boring parts.
- Your desk, your setup or your tools. Works best with a short reason for each choice.
- How your team makes a decision. The process matters more than the outcome.
- A draft or sketch. Early versions of things are more interesting than final ones.
- Your planning routine. How you decide what gets done today and what waits.
- A shout-out to a teammate. Name what they did and why it mattered. This is one of the most generous and well received post types.
- Numbers from your week. Hours in meetings, tasks finished, how accurate your estimates were. Honest numbers get attention.
Career milestones
Milestones are the posts most people do write. Make them more useful than “excited to announce.”
- A new job. Say why you chose it and what you’ll be working on, not only that you got it.
- A promotion. Share two or three things you did that led to it. That’s useful to others aiming for the same.
- A work anniversary. What you know now that you didn’t on day one.
- A certification or course you finished. One thing you’ll actually use from it.
- Leaving a job. Thank people by name and share what you’re taking with you.
- Looking for work. Be specific about the role, your strengths and two projects you’re proud of. Specific asks get specific help.
Posts that start conversations
- A genuine question. Ask something you actually want answered, and reply to every comment.
- A “this or that” poll. Keep options tied to your field so the answers are useful to you.
How to write the post once you’ve picked an idea
A simple structure works for almost every idea above:
- First line: the most specific, surprising or relatable sentence you have. It’s the only line most people will read before deciding to click “see more.”
- Middle: the story or the steps. Short paragraphs. One idea per paragraph.
- End: the takeaway in one sentence, or a question if you want replies.
Use real details. “Improved the process” says nothing. “Cut the report from 4 hours to 90 minutes” says everything. Numbers, names of tools and time spent make a post believable.
How often should you post?
Consistency matters more than frequency. Two posts a week that you can keep up for three months will do more than daily posting for two weeks. Pick a day and a time you can protect, like Friday afternoon, and treat it like a meeting.
A simple system so you never run out of ideas
The fix for “I don’t know what to post” is a running record of what you did. Keep a done list as you work: what you finished, how long it took and anything that surprised you. On Friday, spend ten minutes reading it back. You’ll find at least three posts in there every week.
You can keep this in a notes app, a spreadsheet or a planner that tracks your finished tasks for you. What matters is that you write it down when it happens, not when you sit down to post.
Frequently asked questions
What should I post on LinkedIn if I’m not an expert?
Post what you’re learning, not what you’ve mastered. “Here’s what I figured out this week” is useful to people one step behind you, and there are always people one step behind you.
What should I post on LinkedIn when looking for a job?
Share specific work: a project you’re proud of, a problem you solved and the result. Then say clearly what role you want. Recruiters respond to evidence and clarity more than to “open to work” alone.
What should you not post on LinkedIn?
Avoid confidential work details, complaints about named employers or clients, and posts that are only a link with no context. If you wouldn’t say it to a colleague in a meeting, leave it out.
How long should a LinkedIn post be?
Long enough to make one point well. Many strong posts land between 100 and 250 words. If you need more than that, it might be two posts.