The LinkedIn post prompt I use to get real engagement

Let's write posts people actually want to read.

Let's talk about LinkedIn posts and AI - specifically, why most AI-written posts are absolutely terrible.

You know the ones I'm talking about. And yet, they somehow manage to say absolutely nothing of value in 300 words.

I see these posts every single day, and they all follow the same painful pattern:

• Language that no human would use

• Generic "thought leadership" that provides zero actual insights

• Excessive use of buzzwords and corporate speak

• That weird mix of fake humility and bragging

• Ending with those desperately engagement-baiting questions

The problem isn't the AI tools themselves - it's the prompts people are using. Most LinkedIn post prompts floating around are designed to create what people think professional content should sound like, rather than what actually engages real humans.

These prompts usually tell the AI to "be professional" and "demonstrate thought leadership" - which almost always translates into stiff, generic content that screams "an AI wrote this!"

So what does make a LinkedIn post actually good?

1. Authenticity beats polish: Your post should sound like a real person wrote it - because that's what people connect with. Share genuine insights, experiences, and thoughts. Even if they're not perfectly polished, they'll resonate more than generic "professional" content.
   

2. Valuable insights over empty engagement: Focus on giving your audience something they can actually use or learn from. A single practical tip or insight into a news story is worth more than a dozen vague statements about "innovation" or "digital transformation."
   

3. Show your work: Share the real stuff - your processes, your failures, your learnings. People are tired of seeing only the highlight reel. They want to know how things actually work.
   

4. Start strong, stay focused: Your first line needs to grab attention, but not in that cheesy "Want to know the secret to success?" way. Make a clear, interesting statement that leads naturally into your main point.

The key is striking that perfect balance between professional and personal. You want to sound competent and knowledgeable, but also human and approachable. This is exactly what I've built my LinkedIn post prompt to achieve - and I'm about to share it with you. And it’s actually not that complicated. The key is making sure it gives you enough versions where even if 2/3 are somewhat cringe, you can mix and match or make slight edits to completely transform it. (This is almost always the case with AI. You absolutely should not take everything it gives you right away.)

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I used my LinkedIn prompt (below) for this post here. You can see that it performed well because it actually provided value and related the news to my audience.

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The prompt - here's what I use

NOTE: I recommend using Claude (Sonnet) for writing tasks, but this will also work with ChatGPT.

Here's the actual prompt I use and trust for LinkedIn posts. I've spent months refining this, testing what works, and eliminating what doesn't.