In the age of AI, attention is no longer the scarce resource. Trust is. LinkedIn is experiencing the same deluge of AI slop that’s clogging most social media platforms and the internet in general. That’s good news for thought leaders who commit to creating their own differentiated content. Authentic human voices stand out more than ever.
Why Human Content On LinkedIn Is Winning Again
Laura Lorenzetti, LinkedIn’s Global Editorial Executive Editor, shared LinkedIn’s strategy for increasing trust and reducing AI slop: “At a time when more people need help navigating work, it’s more important than ever that people can learn from real voices, authentic perspectives, and lived expertise. We’re taking meaningful steps to crack down on automation tools, dial back on generic content, and strengthen authenticity.” Thanks to these initiatives by LinkedIn, your real, human-created content will have greater opportunities to be seen. Just make sure your LinkedIn profile is optimized for increasing views and followers. And don’t rely on LinkedIn’s new strategy alone. Use the following techniques to further expand visibility of and engagement with your posts.
Create LinkedIn Content That Stops The Scroll
Visibility has little value if it doesn’t entice people to engage.
1. Write a Strong Opening Line
The first line determines whether people stop scrolling. Don’t think of this as clickbait. It’s more of a cognitive interruption that makes a viewer pause. Good openings create curiosity and inspire emotion. Here are some examples:
- I think we are entering the age of invisible expertise.
- LinkedIn has a trust problem.
- Most people are optimizing for impressions instead of impact.
- I changed one thing on my LinkedIn profile and profile views doubled.
- I used to think expertise alone would make people notice me. I was wrong.
2. Use Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words, and one that accompanies your LinkedIn post attracts attention. Native visuals, especially carousels and documents, tend to outperform external image links because they keep people on the platform. Interesting visuals create pause, curiosity, and clicks. Just be stingy with text. Too many words in a visual won’t help you get your message across. It will tell people to move on.
3. Make Your Content Instantly Recognizable
In a world (and LinkedIn feed) flooded with AI-generated content, a distinctive voice becomes a competitive advantage. People engage with content that feels human, specific, opinionated, and emotionally real. Today, your voice is your differentiator. People respond to perspective, not perfection. They engage more when they know your tone, topics, and take on a specific subject. Consistency creates familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust drives engagement. That’s why recurring themes (those you’re passionate about) work well.
4. Create Emotional Movement
People engage when content makes them think, feel seen, laugh, or feel smarter. Information alone rarely creates meaningful engagement. You want to connect with LinkedIn members on a deep emotional level. One way to do that is with personal stories and unique life experiences that show vulnerability and create empathy. A story about bombing a presentation, losing confidence, or changing your mind often creates more engagement than another ‘5 leadership tips’ post.
Trigger Engagement
The LinkedIn algorithm rewards momentum. The faster engagement starts, the farther your content tends to travel.
5. Ask Better Questions
When you ask questions, you’re inviting participation. But not all questions spur action. Rather than asking: “What do you think?” consider more specific or provocative questions:
- What’s the most underrated LinkedIn feature?
- Are you seeing more AI slop in your feed?
- What’s one thing that instantly makes you trust someone online?
- Do you think authenticity matters more or less in the age of AI?
Specific questions create easier entry points for comments.
6. Make it a Conversation, Not a Monologue
The highest-performing LinkedIn content often feels like a discussion rather than pontification. This is especially true now as LinkedIn actively suppresses low-value, generic, overly polished AI content. Get in the habit of using a conversational tone and watch engagement increase.
7. Respond to Comments Quickly
Speed is important when it comes to responding to comments. The more active the conversation becomes, the longer the post lives. The key is to create momentum. Instead of saying “Thanks for the comment,” extend the conversation or ask a follow-up question. Think of posts as ongoing discussions, not transactions with few interactions. Use your empathy to engage with those who comment. When people feel heard, they’re more likely to return to future conversations.
8. Create Identity Engagement
People comment when the post connects with who they are. For example,
- Public speaking is becoming more valuable in the age of AI.
- The people who win on LinkedIn and in life are often the most generous.
- Great work no longer speaks for itself. In fact, it never did.
When you create that identity connection, you invite the reader to add their experience or POV.
Work With The LinkedIn Algorithm Instead Of Against It
To increase reach, you need to understand and work with LinkedIn’s business model.
9. Design for Dwell Time
You and LinkedIn have shared goals. Their goal is for members to stay on LinkedIn as long as possible. Your goal as a content thought leader is to create content that keeps people engaged and wanting more.
Posts that make people pause tend to do well. This is why spacing, short lines, intrigue, and storytelling are more valuable than tips or dense paragraphs. When LinkedIn sees members lingering on your posts, it indicates the content is valuable, making it more likely they’ll make it visible to other members. Use:
- storytelling gaps
- curiosity
- formatting
- unfinished ideas
- surprising statements
10. Don’t Kill Reach with External Links
Like any business that makes money from advertising, LinkedIn frowns upon directing people away from LinkedIn to another site. Native documents are secretly powerful. PDF carousels and documents often outperform content with external links. Instead of posting a link to something you created on your blog, write a special version specifically for LinkedIn, and post it in its entirety. If you must share a link, put it in comments.
11. Use Video To Build Familiarity
LinkedIn is increasingly prioritizing video because video keeps people engaged longer and creates deeper human connection. Trust grows when people get to experience you. And unlike polished corporate videos, authentic and conversational videos often perform best on LinkedIn. Instead of a rehearsed TEDx speech, talk from the heart.
Native video is preferred over links to external video platforms because it keeps people on LinkedIn longer. Even short videos sharing a lesson learned, strong opinion, or personal story can boost visibility and engagement.
12. Use Formats that Encourage Interaction
Some formats naturally generate faster engagement than others, mostly because they give you the opportunity to be real. An ‘agree or disagree’ post often outperforms a polished essay because it invites participation. Consider these ways to inspire action:
- opinion posts
- personal stories
- frameworks
- carousels
- short videos
- lessons learned
Posts that feel psychologically unfinished often perform well because people naturally want to complete the thought, challenge it, or add their perspective. Give them that opportunity.
13. Publish When Your Audience Is Active
Some research suggests that mornings and lunch hours on mid-week days (Tuesday through Thursday) are the best times to get views. But determining the right timing requires understanding your audience. The best posting time is when your audience is mentally available, not just online. Evaluate your posts over time to see what posting times yield the greatest engagement.
Build Engagement Through Relationships
The people who consistently win on LinkedIn are usually the people who consistently add value to others.
14. Engage Before You Post
This is a powerful tactic. Spend 10–20 minutes being active on LinkedIn. Comment thoughtfully and reply to people before publishing (be real!). This makes you active in the ecosystem. People you engage with are more likely to notice and engage with your content shortly after it goes live. It’s the digital equivalent of mingling at an event before giving your speech.
15. Use Mini-Network Activation
After posting, send the post privately to a few relevant people who would genuinely care about it. Instead of “Please engage.” say, “This made me think of our conversation from the other day. Would love for you to share your wisdom.”
16. Tag People Carefully
Tagging can help with early engagement if you choose people who are genuinely relevant, especially if they were part of the story or idea. Don’t tag indiscriminately because it can damage trust. Nobody enjoys being randomly summoned into your post about the Top 37 Visionary Thought Leaders Changing Synergy in Healthcare.
Deepen Engagement With Your LinkedIn Content
Not all engagement is equal. Create content and interaction that inspires more meaningful action.
17. Optimize For Valuable Engagement
Likes can be good for your ego, but saves, comments and shares generate more value. This is especially relevant for frameworks, carousels and data-rich posts. LinkedIn increasingly rewards conversation over passive consumption. Posts that generate thoughtful comments are more likely to be distributed widely in the feed.
18. Encourage Saves and Shares
When someone saves your content, they’re saying, “This is something useful to hang onto and to return to.” To get people to see the longer-term value of your content, subtly frame posts as useful and reference-worthy. The types of content that typically fall into those categories are:
- checklists
- data summaries
- templates
- quizzes
To Increase LinkedIn Content Visibility And Engagement, Be Human
Building influence on LinkedIn is usually less about one viral post and more about repeated moments of value over time. That’s how strong personal brands are built. The future of LinkedIn visibility will not belong to the loudest people or those producing the most content. It will belong to the people who are most trusted, most human, and most valuable. In a feed flooded with artificial content, genuine humanity becomes impossible to scroll past.
William Arruda is a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and personal branding pioneer. He helps organizations boost engagement and impact through personal branding. Watch his complimentary session on upgrading your LinkedIn profile, network, and thought-leadership strategy.
