LinkedIn Content for B2B Founders Who Hate LinkedIn

Let's Start with the Obvious

Yes, LinkedIn is cringe.

The humble brags. The "I was crying on the floor of my startup office when..." posts. The engagement pods where people you've never met comment "Great insight!" on everything you write. The relentless positivity that feels manufactured because it mostly is.

I get it. I feel it too.

Every time I open the app, I brace myself for another "I fired my best employee and here's what I learned" story that definitely didn't happen the way it's being described.

And yet.

Here's what's impossible to ignore: LinkedIn is the number one platform for B2B marketing. 86% of B2B marketers use it. 80% of all B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn. Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions at their organization.

The platform's audience has twice the buying power of the average web audience. 45% of LinkedIn article readers are in manager, VP, director, or C-suite positions.

You're not going to find this concentration of decision-makers with money to spend anywhere else.

So the question isn't whether LinkedIn works. The question is… How do you use it without becoming the thing you hate?

The Good News: The Cringe Is Dying

Something interesting happened in 2025.

LinkedIn's algorithm underwent a fundamental rebuild. Not a tweak, a complete teardown.

The old system counted signals: "Comment = 15 points, like = 1 point." The new system actually reads your content, understands context, and makes expert judgments about substance and relevance.

This means all those tactics we learned are now obsolete:

Engagement pods? LinkedIn has explicitly stated its goal is to "make engagement pods entirely ineffective". The platform tracks comment velocity, account relationships, and even the semantic content of comments. When 15 people comment within 90 seconds of your post going live, all using generic phrases? Flagged and penalized.

Automation tools? LinkedIn is taking action against both users who rely on them and developers who create them.

Keyword stuffing? The AI detects and penalizes it.

Generic thought leadership? Dead on arrival.

According to Forrester's Social Media Marketing Report 2025, LinkedIn has reduced the reach of "viral but content-empty" posts by 76%, while distribution for substantial, industry-relevant content has increased by 124%.

The algorithm finally caught up to what real networking looks like.

This is actually good news if you hate LinkedIn.

The platform is increasingly rewarding the thing you probably already know how to do… be genuinely helpful and share what you actually know.

The Four Post Formats That Work

You don't need a content strategy with 47 pillars and a posting calendar that looks like a military operation. You need four formats, rotated consistently.

Format #1: The Story Post

Stories work because humans are wired for narrative. 92% of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like stories. People are 55% more likely to remember a story than a list of facts.

But here's the key: the story has to teach something.

The structure:

1. The hook: A specific moment that creates tension. Not "I learned a valuable lesson" but "Last Tuesday, a prospect said something that made me realize I'd been wrong for three years."

2. The context: Brief setup. Who, what, why it matters.

3. The complication: What went wrong, what was unexpected, what challenged your assumptions.

4. The insight: What you learned. Be specific. "Trust your gut" isn't an insight. "Never send a proposal without a discovery call, because you'll anchor to the wrong number 80% of the time" is an insight.

5. The question: Invite response without begging for it. "Anyone else run into this?" works. "Please comment and share!" doesn't.

What makes it work:

The best story posts feel like you're telling a friend about something that happened, not performing for an audience. The moment it feels rehearsed, you've lost.

Vulnerability works when it's in service of a lesson. Vulnerability for its own sake—"I cried in the office parking lot"—is the performative LinkedIn everyone mocks.

Format #2: The Contrarian Take

Challenging conventional wisdom stops the scroll. Content that delivers real expertise with concrete data points generates 3.7x more reach than generalized content.

The structure:

1. The bold claim: Challenge a widely-held belief in your industry. "Most networking events are a waste of time." "A/B testing is usually a distraction." "Your company probably doesn't need a blog."

2. The reasoning: Why you believe this. Not just assertion—argument. Data helps.

3. The acknowledgment: Briefly validate the opposing view. "I understand why people think X, because..." This makes you credible, not combative.

4. The alternative: If not the conventional wisdom, then what? What do you recommend instead?

5. The invitation to debate: "What am I missing?" or "Has this been your experience?"

What makes it work:

The contrarian take must be something you genuinely believe and can defend. Taking a hot take just for engagement—without substance behind it—backfires immediately. The line between bold and arrogant is thin.

The goal is productive conversation, not division. Your post should be a thesis that invites intellectual sparring, not a grenade.

Format #3: The Tactical Tip

This is the "just be useful" format. Share something actionable that someone can implement immediately.

The structure:

1. The promise: What specific outcome will this deliver? "How to write cold emails that actually get responses." "A 5-minute fix for landing pages that don't convert."

2. The steps: Numbered, concrete, implementable. Each step should be specific enough that someone could do it without asking clarifying questions.

3. The example: Show it in action. Before and after. Real results.

4. The call to action: Ask people to try it and share their results.

What makes it work:

Tactical posts work because they solve specific problems without requiring a huge time commitment. Someone scrolling LinkedIn during a meeting can read your tip, bookmark it, and actually use it.

The key is specificity.

"Improve your emails" is vague. "Add a one-sentence PS with a specific ask—response rates increase 22%"—that's actionable.

Format #4: The Question

The simplest format with often the highest engagement. Questions lower the barrier to participation and explicitly invite response.

The structure:

1. The question: One question. Clear, specific, relevant to your audience.

2. Your perspective: Answer your own question briefly. This models the type of response you want.

3. Why you're asking: Context that makes it relevant. "I'm asking because we're working on X" or "Curious because I've seen conflicting approaches."

What makes it work:

Question posts signal that you want input, not just attention. They create conversation rather than broadcast.

The best questions are specific enough to be answerable but open enough to invite different perspectives.

"What's your tech stack?" is too broad. "What's one tool you added in 2025 that actually moved the needle for lead gen?" is specific and invites real answers.

Frequency: Less Than You Think

The anxiety around posting frequency is overblown.

Companies that post on LinkedIn weekly see a 2x lift in engagement. That's four posts a month. Posting more than once per day shows diminishing returns.

For founders who hate LinkedIn, here's a sustainable rhythm:

Minimum viable presence: 3-4 posts per week. One story, one contrarian take or tactical tip, one question, one share/comment on something relevant.

If that feels like too much: Start with two posts per week. Tuesday and Thursday. Engagement peaks mid-week.

The real metric: Consistency matters more than volume. Only 1% of LinkedIn users create content, but they generate 9 billion impressions. There's significant opportunity for consistent content creators.

The founders who do well on LinkedIn aren't posting constantly.

They're posting regularly, and they're actually engaging with other people's content, not just broadcasting their own.

Engagement Strategy: Participate, Don't Perform

The algorithm rewards genuine conversation. Engagement from relevant industry experts carries 5x more algorithmic weight than interactions from random connections.

How to engage:

Comment on posts from people in your industry. Not "Great post!" but actual thoughts. Add perspective. Ask questions. Thoughtful comment exchanges between professionals can increase content distribution by up to 300%.

Reply to comments on your own posts. Your responses need to add value. A simple "Thanks!" doesn't help. A thoughtful reply that extends the conversation is algorithmic gold.

Send DMs that aren't pitches. When someone engages meaningfully with your content, message them. Not with a sales pitch, with a genuine response. Build actual relationships.

The first hour matters. Content is rolled out in waves, with initial distribution to a small test audience determining further reach. The first 60 minutes after posting are crucial, but not because of pure engagement numbers. Because of the quality of initial interactions.

This means: post when you can actually respond to comments. Don't schedule posts for 6am and ignore them until lunch.

What NOT to Do

This section matters more than everything above. The fastest way to become the LinkedIn parody you hate is to do any of the following:

Don't Use Engagement Pods

LinkedIn's VP of Product Management explicitly stated: "Our goal is to make engagement pods entirely ineffective."

Engagement pods are groups where members agree to like and comment on each other's posts to game the algorithm. They used to work. They no longer work.

LinkedIn now tracks comment velocity, account relationships, engagement history, and semantic content of comments. When the same 20 people comment on your posts within minutes using generic phrases, the algorithm flags it.

Worse: if you were in engagement pods and your reach collapsed, recovery requires stopping all artificial engagement immediately.

Don't Use Automation Tools

LinkedIn is actively taking action against both users who rely on automation and developers who create these tools.

This includes browser extensions that automate commenting, liking, or connection requests. If you're using Lempod, Podawaa, Hyper Clapper, or similar tools… stop.

Don't Write Broetry

You know broetry when you see it:

I was fired.

On my birthday.

While my dog watched.

But that's not the bad part.

The bad part was...

[Insert 47 more single-sentence paragraphs]

I was fired.

On my birthday.

While my dog watched.

But that's not the bad part.

The bad part was...

[Insert 47 more single-sentence paragraphs]

I was fired.

On my birthday.

While my dog watched.

But that's not the bad part.

The bad part was...

[Insert 47 more single-sentence paragraphs]

This formatting was designed to force "see more" clicks, which the old algorithm rewarded. The new algorithm reads and comprehends your content like an expert consultant would. It knows when you're padding.

Write like a normal person. Paragraphs exist for a reason.

Don't Do Fake Humility

"I'm truly humbled to share that [massive accomplishment everyone should be impressed by]."

"I wasn't going to post this, but my team insisted..."

"I never thought this would happen to someone like me..."

Nobody believes this.

It's a humblebrag with extra steps. If you have good news, share it straightforwardly. "We hit X milestone. Here's what we learned." Done.

Don't Do Performative Vulnerability

Vulnerability in service of insight is powerful. Vulnerability for its own sake, designed to trigger emotional engagement without delivering value, is manipulation.

"I was crying in the office bathroom" posts work once. Then they become a genre. Then they become a parody. LinkedIn audiences have become sophisticated at identifying and rejecting emotional manipulation.

If you're going to be vulnerable, make sure there's a lesson. And make sure the lesson is actually useful to someone other than you.

Don't Announce That You're Posting More on LinkedIn

"I've decided to be more active on LinkedIn in 2026!"

Nobody cares about your posting schedule. Just post.

The Content Mix That Works

Based on engagement data and what we've seen perform, here's a practical content ratio:

This isn't a rigid formula. Adjust based on what resonates with your specific audience. But the core principle holds… most of your content should be useful, not promotional.

64% of B2B decision-makers say thought leadership directly influences their trust in a company. But thought leadership doesn't mean self-congratulatory announcements. It means sharing genuine expertise that helps people solve problems.

A Note on Video and Carousels

The data on format performance is worth understanding:

Multi-image posts (carousels): 6.60% average engagement rate—highest of all formats.

Native documents (PDF carousels): 6.10% engagement rate. Great for step-by-step content and frameworks.

Video posts: 5.60% engagement rate. LinkedIn reports video creation is growing at 2x the rate of other formats.

Text posts: Still effective, especially for story and contrarian formats. The platform is one of the few where text performs better than visuals for certain content types.

If you're comfortable on camera, video works well—especially short videos under 15 seconds or founder-style talking-head clips. If you're not comfortable on camera, don't force it. Text and carousels perform well.

The Permission Slip

Here's what I want you to take away from this:

You don't have to become a "LinkedIn influencer." You don't have to post motivational quotes. You don't have to share stories about airport encounters that changed your life. You don't have to use engagement pods or automation tools or any of the tactics that make the platform feel slimy.

You can just... be useful.

Share what you're learning. Share what's working. Share what isn't working. Share specific, tactical things that help people do their jobs better.

That's it. That's the whole strategy.

59% of B2B decision-makers say thought leadership is a more trustworthy way to assess capability than other marketing materials. Not because thought leadership is impressive, but because it demonstrates that you actually know things.

The bar is low. Most LinkedIn content is mediocre at best. Generic. Safe. Forgettable.

If you share genuine expertise with specificity and a point of view, you'll stand out. Not because you gamed the algorithm. Because you were actually helpful.

That's LinkedIn for founders who hate LinkedIn: stop performing, start contributing.

The cringe isn't the platform. The cringe is the performance.

Skip the performance. Just be useful.

You might even stop hating it.

Related Resources

Guides

• LinkedIn Marketing for B2B SaaS: The Complete Strategy Guide for 2026

• How to Build a B2B SaaS Demand Generation Engine in 2026

• Content Repurposing at Scale: How to Turn 1 Piece into 20 Assets

Blog Posts

• How to Create Thought Leadership Content That Doesn't Sound AI-Generated

• Technical Founders: How to Build Marketing Momentum Without a Marketing Co-Founder

• The Founder's Guide to Content Marketing in 5 Hours a Week

• How to Do Marketing as a Solo Founder Without Burning Out

• Building Brands That Feel Human in an AI World

Definitions

• Thought Leadership

• Content Velocity

• Personal Branding