I’m writing this because moments ago I was on LinkedIn and I swear I saw 3 posts that regurgitated some version of the three magic words - JUST.START.POSTING.
These are the same people who say “please calm down” in the most distressing situations ever. Don’t you just wanna rip… well. Alright, I’ll save my rant for some other day.
I’ve been writing online professionally for 8+ years now, and “just post” is the worst advice for anyone thinking of writing long-term. I’ll tell you exactly why!
Because first, no one takes it seriously. And even if they do, and they do indeed post - how long do you think it will go on till they stop posting one day?
Our brain can conjure multiple reasons for not posting - it’s not perfect, it’s not the right time, I’m not getting results, Nobody Cares What I Post, yada yada... I can go on. Valid or invalid - that’s a different question.
This entire week, I found myself stuck in a rut - unable to write. (You didn’t miss me in your inbox - did you?) So I think this is the perfect moment to dive into the rabbit hole of content problems and how to solve them!
Why “Just Posting” is terrible advice
I’m gonna say something important to you, and it’s gonna hurt, but I’ll try and rip it off like a bandage:
Nobody owes your content attention. You are not writing the discovery of the millennium. Most of what “just posting” produces is regurgitation, and that would have worked maybe a decade ago. But do you know how many posts go online every hour? How much AI slop there is online? Your random post is competing against Netflix, WhatsApp, Instagram, News, Friends, Work, and Family.
The important thing to know here is - content is not about information anymore. It’s how best you can gather ATTENTION. And pardon my French - no one fucking got that from just posting. If it were that easy, the entire social media career path would’ve been rooted out the day AI entered the game.
Why is it so difficult?
It’s challenging. But it’s challenging for beginners and experts alike. Case in point - my peers and I were discussing the other day how branding online is a task! All of us have been social media professionals for almost 5ish years now, and still, our own brands are a blind spot for us.
Steven Pinker must have known something when he said - The curse of knowledge is only one of many writing pitfalls. I see it replay over and over again with so many clients.
“It simply doesn’t occur to the writer that readers haven’t learned their jargon, don’t seem to know the intermediate steps that seem to them to be too obvious to mention, and can’t visualize a scene currently in the writer’s mind’s eye. And so the writer doesn’t bother to explain the jargon, or spell out the logic, or supply the concrete details — even when writing for professional peers.”
Another problem I often face is not how/when to post, but what to post, and that’s mostly a lack of a good system. I’m a creature of habit, and if I don’t exactly know what my strategy is to post on any particular day, I can’t post (simple as that). And even when I have figured all that out, I need a proper system for days when I’m busy and can’t think of anything other than deadlines (excuse me - I have a business to run).
So how do I post?
We are asking the right questions now, aren’t we?
Step 1: Know why you’re posting - if you have no clear why and just doing it for the sake of “being online” - I’m sorry to break it to you, but it won’t last. You either gotta have a purpose or a need to be profitable. Talked about them in my recent articles. Possible goals: be seen as knowledgeable, attract leads, relationship building, audience building, expression, learning and experimenting, etc.
I’ve written the next steps assuming you know why you want to post.
Step 2: You know what comes next - who are you posting for and where they hang out. Get into their shoes and walk a mile. The better you know your audience, the better content you will produce. That will automatically lead to “what to post”.
Step 3: We need to make sure what you put out there is quality-rich. The easiest way to do it is to build a content extraction system. This requires a lot of inner focus and introspection. You need to be mindful of what’s going on in your own life and brain and record it somewhere. Only these specific instances will bring depth and originality to your content. For example, I have started a WhatsApp group with myself where I drop down any content idea that crosses my mind. I’ve pinned it on top so that it’s always visible. This is just an idea collection, so don’t be too perfect about it.
Your personal experience + what your audience wants + X factor* = results
Step 4: A few more pointers that might help with the X factor*
If you’re a beginner, reinventing the wheel doesn’t help. Content performs for a reason - hooks, no matter how cringe you think they are, they work.
What audiences want: definitely not boring. Repeating basic concepts doesn’t mean stripping all fun out of it. Remember to keep this relevant. If you’re not relevant, you might as well be giving out money for free, and they still won’t care.
Things people consistently care about: hidden knowledge, strong opinions, emotional truth, mistakes, lessons learned, behind-the-scenes decisions.
Consistency beats perfect. Not asking you to “just post” - but don’t take failures too seriously either.
Content is only 10% of the game. Know how algorithms work - they are not the villains most people make them out to be. LinkedIn rewards, but it rewards consistent people. Timing and frequency are real things. It’s all game theory.
Content batching is your best friend if you are a busy professional but don’t post and ghost.
There’s a visible difference between forced content and content that comes to you - there are ways to extract content out of you - one way is to read a book/watch a video and annotate it. (Multiple other ways - thinking of making a guide on it)
Oh, I discovered this recently - If you’ve been writing a while and get scared the moment you open a blank screen and run to AI - don’t. Sit there, write anyway. Without judgements. It’s so liberating and worth it.
This is in no way an exhaustive guide, so please feel free to reply back with ideas I did not cover, and I’ll try and cover them in upcoming issues.
I wish you all the engagement in the world!
And hey, if you're an aspiring solopreneur and need my help with anything, here's my consultation call. (link)
Until next time,
- Shrishti