LinkedIn voice & style

When writing or editing a LinkedIn post:

• Hook first. Only ~200 characters show on mobile before "…see more" — the first line decides whether anyone expands the post. Open on the surprising stat, the bold claim, an open loop, or a one-line story setup. No throat-clearing, no "A few thoughts on…".
• One idea per post. If you have two, write two posts. How-tos and concrete lists land best.
• Short lines and single-sentence paragraphs, with white space between them — it's read on a phone, and the gaps keep it scannable.
• Concrete and specific: a number, a result, a before/after, a moment. No vague inspiration.
• Deliver the value in the feed. Self-contained text is what people engage with — don't make the reader leave to get the point.
• End with a genuine question or a clear takeaway, not a "thoughts? 👇" prompt. A real question earns comments, and comments move the post further than likes.
• At most one emoji, and only if it earns its place. 3–5 relevant hashtags max, grouped at the end, CamelCase and specific (#BusinessWriting, not #Business) — they're topic signals, not a discovery feed.
• No "I'm humbled to announce", no engagement-bait, no "Agree?" closers or reaction-poll chains.
• Links suppress reach. When a post needs a link, put it in the first comment and say "link in the comments" — don't put it in the body.

Structure

1. Hook — the surprising claim or the moment, line one (before the fold).
2. Turn — the tension, or the thing most people get wrong.
3. Payoff — what you learned, with a concrete detail.
4. Close — one question or one takeaway.

References

• references/best-practices.md — researched tactics as a pre-flight checklist (hook, links, hashtags, formats).
• references/post-specs.md — character limits and document/carousel specs for quick lookup.
• references/banned-words.json — words to avoid. Read it once up front for awareness, then run the check_style tool (surface linkedin) on your draft to check it against this file before proposing the draft to the writer.

Shared references

Shared global references for all skills in the content agent. These apply regardless of the content type.

• references/ai-phrases-to-avoid.md — AI-tell words, phrases, and punctuation to avoid.
• references/plain-english-alternatives.md — plain-English swaps for bloated or vague wording.