You know you should be posting on LinkedIn.
You have valuable expertise. You’ve helped real clients solve real problems.
But every time you open that blank post field, your brain goes completely empty.
Meanwhile, your competitors are showing up consistently. Your prospects are scrolling right past you.
And that content strategy you planned? Still sitting untouched because you can’t figure out what to actually say.
I’ve been there. And after years of building my own founder-led content and helping others do the same, I’ve learned something important. These seven LinkedIn content ideas work because they don’t require you to invent anything.
They’re built from stories you’ve already lived, conversations you’ve already had, and expertise you already own.
High level takeaways
- Your origin story is your most powerful first post because it reveals your beliefs, values, and what drives you
- Pain points from discovery calls and form submissions are ready-made content topics that position you as an authority
- Build-in-public posts create emotional resonance and help people root for you before you’ve built brand credibility
- Nuanced takes on industry topics attract aligned prospects who share your values
What you seek to gain isn’t far away. You’ve just got to mix a little insight with the willingness to work through a perspective shift.
Why you don’t need a content strategy to start posting
Most founders think they need a personal brand strategy before they start posting. I don’t think that’s backwards per se. But if you’re having trouble posting, you should just do it to get it out of the way. Don’t make it such a big deal on a pedestal.
Here’s the thing about strategy. It’s going to get more sophisticated over time as you have real data and engagement metrics on your posting. You can’t optimize what doesn’t exist yet.
For now, the strategy really just needs to answer four questions. What is my vision of the change and transformation I want to put out into the world? What are my beliefs and value systems? What do my customers need? And what does the business do?
Turn those answers into your core messaging pillars. Every post, every piece of content, every interaction, every comment comes back to those four pillars. That’s an excellent strategy to start with.
All you have to do from there is jot down your stories of lived experience on a regular basis and then infuse those stories into your posts. Set a goal for yourself of a certain posting cadence per week.
That’s as much strategy as you need to start. The goal is improving the habit of posting regularly and getting some kind of engagement to build off of. I think that’s plenty.
Be honest about what you believe without being rude or annoying
Being controversial as a result of stating your deeply held beliefs and values is completely fine.
If you have a good defensible set of beliefs, being polarizing isn’t a bad thing. Not if you actually believe in what you’re saying.
What’s going to hurt you long-term and damage your reputation is going out and attacking people or being mean without any basis. That’s engagement bait. Clickbait. Whatever you want to call it.
It has some short-term value as far as your clicks and engagement. But long-term you’re going to hinder people’s ability to trust you or to like you or to want to do business with you.
In the back of their minds, they’re going to be wondering what’s next. Am I next?
The goal is not to be rude or to project your insecurities or your frustrations onto people or the platform. The goal is to be honest and open about what you believe and then let those values and beliefs shine through.
If some people disagree, that’s great. They’re allowed to.
1. Start with your origin story
The LinkedIn content idea that’s amazing for founders and consultants is really about your origin story.
Even if you’re not a founder or a consultant, everybody has an inner drive or a moment of inflection in their life where they were the before and the after.
Think about it as the hero’s journey:
- What triggered that moment?
- Did a good thing happen?
- Did a bad thing happen?
- Was it an inspiration?
- Did you meet a mentor?
- Did somebody encourage you to do it?
- Did you wake up from a dream and you had your idea?
I think that origin story gives people a really unique insight into who you are. Your beliefs. Your value systems.
And it’s sort of engagement bait in the best possible way. Most people want to root for a human story that they can see themselves in. Or see somebody that they know in or love.
The origin story is really the most practical first post for most people. It’s going to perform really well but you’re also going to enjoy writing it. It helps prospects and partners and customers get to know what you’re all about better.
Particularly if you sell a commodified product or service, this is going to help differentiate you in the market.
2. Turn your discovery calls into content
If you’re struggling to articulate your unique value and you want very simple posts but you don’t have a lot of time and you’re under-resourced, then just go to your form submissions. Or go back to a time when you worked with a customer or a client.
Whatever their problem was on your discovery call or in your form submission. How did you hear about us? What’s your problem? These are common questions that a founder would ask or a consultant would see.
Just take three to five of those top pain statements or those confusion points that they had or the jobs to be done that they said they needed help with.
And literally just say stream of consciousness how you would respond to those pain points.
That will not only resonate with folks, it’ll position you as the authority or the expert in the topic. They’ll associate that confidence in your response with your product or service.
Starting off with pain points, needs, and desires that you have from discovery and sales conversations is an excellent place to start for easy compelling topic ideas.
3. Share your building journey weekly
I’m a huge fan of one or two of your content ideas being build-in-public style for the week. Whether that’s video, text, or audio.
Really just jot down weekly one or two things that you actually experienced. What you have been through. Highs. Lows. And then the desires for the upcoming week. Even just literally looking at the bullets and reading them out loud can be really compelling.
Even though it feels dangerous and like you’re exposing yourself and you’re potentially at risk for backlash or embarrassment, it’s still really beneficial for people to get to see how you handle conflict. They can check if you are congruent with what you say in public versus what you’re building privately.
A lot of the values that you have and the way that you speak about your challenges shows how they can see themselves receiving support from you or the quality of your product.
I know it can be a bit scary for folks early stage to expose themselves. But it’s a way to build emotional resonance and to have people really rooting for you. That goes a long way especially early stage before you’ve built up brand credibility.
4. Take a nuanced stance on something that matters
The cheat code on LinkedIn right now is to discuss the LinkedIn meta. To discuss what’s wrong with LinkedIn. To discuss a frustration or outrage because they’re copying the Facebook playbook where they’re trying to maximize engagement at all costs.
But I would say the other thing is a nuanced take about AI or the industry that you’re in. It might not have the same virality potential. But the people that do side with you are great potential prospects or partners or customers to retain longer term.
Take a thorny topic that’s popular right now. Maybe even in the news. And give it a balanced nuanced take. Not what you think people want to hear but your actual unfiltered opinion about it.
Regardless of how viral you think it will go or not, I think it’s a great place to build engagement and loyalty with like-minded people.
5. Showcase customer wins and social proof
One of the most overlooked LinkedIn content ideas is simply sharing your customer stories. Testimonials. User-generated content. Photos or videos showing customers using your product.
This does two things at once. It shows your appreciation for the people you work with. And it builds trust with potential buyers who are watching from the sidelines.
Tag featured customers in your posts to expand your reach and encourage them to share your content with their networks. Repost positive reviews and mentions when you receive them.
Real stories from real people beat manufactured marketing every single time.
6. Ask questions that invite your audience in
Polls and questions are an excellent way to encourage interaction and spark conversations. They’re also great tools for collecting feedback and analyzing customer sentiment around your brand, products, or services.
The beauty of asking questions is that it’s low-friction content. You’re not creating from scratch. You’re not inventing something clever. You’re inviting participation.
Ask thought-provoking questions or offer actionable insights to help your followers overcome challenges and achieve their goals. The key is genuine curiosity. Not engagement bait disguised as a question.
When you truly want to know what your audience thinks, they can tell. And they respond.
7. Repurpose what you’ve already created
If you have existing content on other platforms or your website, you can repurpose it for LinkedIn by making a few tweaks. Share summaries or key takeaways from your recent blog posts. Turn individual statistics from your research into visuals.
Transform long-form content into carousel-style posts. One piece of content can become many LinkedIn posts.
This speaks directly to the under-resourced founder. You don’t have time to create net new content every single day. But you probably have a backlog of ideas and insights sitting in other formats that just need to be repackaged.
One interview can become weeks of content. One blog post can become five LinkedIn posts. One customer conversation can fuel a month of authentic sharing.
The blank page problem isn’t about creativity
These seven LinkedIn content ideas work because they’re rooted in what you already have.
Your origin story. Your customer conversations. Your weekly experiences. Your beliefs. Your wins.
You don’t need to invent anything new.
You need to share what you already know. The stories are already there. The expertise is already there.
The differentiators that make you unique are already there.
Pick one idea from this list. Speak it out loud. And ship your first post today.
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