LinkedIn Post Writer

Ship long-form LinkedIn posts using hook formulas that actually performed in 2025-2026 (verified engagement multipliers).

When to use

• User says "write me a LinkedIn post about X"
• User has a topic + a rough angle and needs a hook + structure
• User wants to pick from known-winning formats and fill in their voice
• User wants to audit + schedule in one flow

Formulas this skill can use

| Code | Formula | Reference eng | Best for | |---|---|---|---| | F1 | Platform Risk Anaphora | 4,240 | Category/platform posts, product-as-fix | | F2 | R.I.P. Obituary | 3,822 | Era-ending claims, industry pivots | | F3 | Year-over-Year Pivot | 494, 3.74x | Identity shifts, founder reflection | | F4 | Time-Anchor Confession | 1,519+ | Vulnerability, voice reset, ICP re-targeting | | F5 | Self-Proving Meta | 1,082 / 435 comments | Commitment-based posts, tests in public | | F6 | Comment-Gate Lead Magnet | 717-3,008 | List building (use sparingly, capped reach) | | F7 | Odd-Precision Money Ledger | 1,755, 9.4x | Founder build-log, cost breakdowns | | F8 | Paid-vs-Free Reversal | 550, 19.64x | Free framework give-away | | F9 | Curiosity-Gap Teaser | 306, 4.25x | Emergent behavior, behind-the-scenes | | F10 | Contrarian + Historical Receipts | 3,083 | Sacred-cow takes, AI/tech cycles | | F11 | Emotional Cold-Open | high-reach | Real story with emotional stakes (likes) | | F12 | Permission Slip | comment-heavy | Encouragement, reassurance (comments) | | F13 | Bait-and-Switch Reversal | high-reach | Policy/process change that's an upgrade (likes) | | F14 | Named Gratitude / Tribute | repost-heavy | Thanking mentors / team / departing colleague (reposts) | | F15 | Explain-to-Kids | save-heavy | Demystifying jargon (saves) | | F16 | Status-Strip Humility | like-heavy | Senior voice wanting warmth not distance (likes) | | F17 | Controlled A/B Anecdote | structural† | One-variable comparison, delegation/AI takes (comments) | | F18 | False-Binary Dissolve | structural† | "Both obvious answers fail" governance/strategy (comments/reposts) | | F19 | Anecdote-Meets-Evidence Bridge | structural† | Personal noticing + a data stack (comments/saves) | | F20 | Diverging-Curves Close | structural† | Two trajectories that diverge, quotable maxim (reposts) |

\ F11-F16 reach is absolute 2026-corpus reach (often source-driven: a reshare or a famous author), NOT a baseline multiplier like the F1-F10 numbers. The two columns measure different things and are not comparable: F11's "256k" is raw reach, F8's "550, 19.64x" is a format multiplier. Do not rank formulas by putting these side by side. See ../../references/hook-formulas.md for each formula's real reference and caveats.

† F17-F20 are structural formulas: they shape the logic of a post (a controlled comparison, a false binary, an evidence bridge, two diverging curves) rather than its topic. They carry no reference number and are chosen by primary goal. They were built for the founders edition and several founder angles pin them by name.

Full skeletons in ../../references/hook-formulas.md. F1-F10 are the long-form thought-leadership set; F11-F16 (validated against a 2026 corpus of above-average performers) skew shorter and emotional and each carries a primary engagement goal.

Pick by goal first

If the user knows what they want the post to earn, start here, then narrow by topic. Canonical mapping: ../../references/hook-formulas.md → Engagement-goal split.

| Goal | Reach for | |---|---| | Comments | F4, F10, F12, F9 | | Reposts | F14, F2, F8 | | Likes | F11, F13, F16 | | Saves | F15, F7, F8 |

Steps

Voice profile first (all drafts). If ../../references/voice-profile.md has filled: yes, load it and match the user's voice fingerprint, hard rules, and CTA/link style throughout. If it is not filled, mention once that linkedin-humanizer --mode profile can learn their voice from a few posts, then proceed with the generic voice rules.

Founder mode (when the writer is a founder). Before picking a formula, open ../../references/founder-topics.md and offer a founder angle (A1-A10) that fits their goal. The angle picks the territory (reprice the category, the scarce-shots math, the delegation line, and so on); several angles pin the formula for you (A9 uses F17, A10 uses F18+F20). Founder angles compound trust with a narrow audience of investors, hires, and design partners rather than chasing broad reach. Fill the angle's bracketed slots with the founder's real numbers, then continue from step 3.

1. Gather inputs. Topic, angle, draft ideas if the user has them, target audience (founders / operators / marketers), desired length (short 300-500 / medium 900-1300 / long 1500-1900 chars).
2. Pick the formula. First ask (or infer) the goal: comments, reposts, likes, or saves. Use the "Pick by goal first" table to shortlist, then suggest 2-3 formulas that also fit the topic and let the user pick. Show the reference engagement number next to each.
3. Draft the post. Fill the formula skeleton with user voice. Respect the 2026 algorithm rules:

• Hook in first 210 chars (before "… see more")
• 900-1,300 char sweet spot for text posts
• Double line-breaks between ideas, not single
• 0-2 hashtags, placed at end
• No external links in body (move to first comment)

1. Humanizer pass. Strip em dashes, AI vocab, rule-of-three, generic openers. Add at least 1 specific number, 1 named entity, 1 first-person concrete detail per 100 words.
2. Run audit. Optionally invoke linkedin-humanizer --mode audit for algorithm + voice checks before showing to user.
3. Approval card. Show: formula used, full draft, char count, suggested posting window (Tue/Wed/Thu 7:30-9:00 AM local), reaction targets from likely commenters.
4. On approval. Call lib.publish(kind="post", draft_text=<approved>, target_url="https://www.linkedin.com/post/new/", platforms=[{"platform":"linkedin","platformId":<id>}], scheduled_time=<iso_or_None>, media_urls=<list_or_None>). The wrapper handles Publora / manual / diy routing.

Hard rules (from user feedback)

Global voice rules: see root SKILL.md §Voice rules. Additional skill-specific rules:

• Never frame LinkedIn as inferior in a LinkedIn post (algo penalty).
• Don't name-drop the user's product in a way that reads as self-promo. One mention max, and only when it's the natural conclusion, not the pitch.
• Include at least one moment of real vulnerability or concrete stakes. Pure insight posts don't land in 2026.
• Vary sentence length aggressively. Mix 3-word sentences and 25-word sentences.

Anti-patterns (skill will refuse)

• All-caps first line ("THIS CHANGED EVERYTHING."). This holds even for F11 Emotional Cold-Open: carry the intensity with word choice, never caps.
• Em dashes anywhere
• "In today's fast-paced world" openers
• Rule-of-three lists without receipts
• "Game-changer", "deep dive", "leverage", "fundamentally"
• External links in the body
• Reused engagement-bait closers ("tag someone who needs this")

Resources

• ../../references/hook-formulas.md — all 20 formula skeletons with worked examples
• ../../references/founder-topics.md — founders-edition library of 10 founder angles (A1-A10) with fill-in templates
• ../../references/algorithm-heuristics.md — 2026 posting rules (timing, format, length)
• references/humanizer-checklist.md — the full scrub list

Related skills

• linkedin-humanizer — aggressive AI-tell scrubber, plus --mode audit for pre-publish review
• linkedin-hook-extractor — reverse-engineer a hook from a viral post you admire