How To Avoid The 6 Content Mistakes Everyone Makes
By Nader Alnajjar
TLDR
Posting more will not fix flat engagement. Underperforming content is rarely an algorithm problem; it comes down to four fixable issues: advice that is not valuable enough to share, amateur design, no clear strategy or audience, and a network too small to give posts a push.
The six mistakes: generic advice that fails the "Only I Could Write This" test, content you want to say rather than what your audience wants to hear, no ICP or content pillars, posts that are not built to be shared, a weak hook, and bad or missing design.
Richard Harpin's cheat sheet (2,924 reactions, 197 comments, 367 reposts) shows the anatomy of a high-performing post: authority in the title, a hook that creates tension, framework-based content, clean design, and post copy that sets up the value.
Great content with zero network gets you nowhere. Engage meaningfully with 5-10 creators in your niche until you have 50-100 people who consistently support your posts. Strategic content plus a network that amplifies it is what produces consistent growth.
You’re posting consistently, putting in the work, but… your engagement is still terrible.
It’s easy to just blame the algorithm. But what’s actually happening is that you’re optimising for the wrong things → posting more instead of posting better.
Let’s break down the difference.
Build Leverage By Learning:
The Real Reason Behind Underperforming Content
6 Reasons Your Content is Flopping (And How To Fix Them)
Anatomy of a High-Performing Post
The Part Everyone Skips (That Actually Matters Most)
The Real Problem Isn’t What You Think
Your post flopped. 150 impressions. 6 likes. 5 of them from people you know.
So you decide to post more. Be more consistent. Eventually something will go viral, right?
Wrong.
LinkedIn is packed with people doing exactly that. The platform is drowning in generic AI-generated content. And posting more of it won’t fix the actual issues:
Your content isn’t valuable enough to share.
Your design looks amateur.
You have no clear strategy or audience.
Your network isn’t big enough to give your content the push it needs.
Luckily, all of these are fixable. They’re not algorithm problems or bad luck. They’re strategic mistakes you can control.
6 Reasons Your Content Is Flopping (And How To Fix Them)
1️⃣ The Quality of Your Advice
If you’ve spent a lot of time on LinkedIn, you’ve probably seen your fair share of posts that were clearly copied and pasted straight from ChatGPT, filled with generic advice like “focus on your goals” or “consistency is key”.
At this stage, LinkedIn users have become very good at spotting ‘AI slop’ content. So if your post could have been written by anyone about anything, it’s not going to perform. People want actual value. This is how you make sure you’re giving them that:
Use the "Only I Could Write This" test: Before posting, ask yourself: could anyone else in my industry have written this exact post? If yes, add your personal experience, a specific example, or a unique angle.
Replace theory with application: Instead of "networking is important," try "I closed a £50K deal because I spent 20 minutes commenting on my ICP's posts every morning for 3 months. Here's the exact process I used."
Give away valuable frameworks: The best content teaches people how to do something, not just that they should do it. Framework breakdowns, step-by-step guides, and real examples work best as they feel most valuable.
2️⃣ Creating Content You Want To Say (Not What Your Audience Wants To Hear)
I see this all the time with founders who want to share their personal journey, their thoughts on random topics, or industry opinions that don’t connect to their ICP’s pain points. It feels like valuable content to them because they’re passionate about it, but their audience doesn’t care.
Your audience has to see themselves in your content and think, “this person gets me”. Here’s how:
→ Ask: "So What?": After writing your post, read it from your ICP's perspective and ask, "So what? Why should I care?" If you can't immediately answer how this helps them, rewrite it.
→ Get insights directly from your audience: Look at:
Comments on your posts (what questions do people ask?)
DMs you receive (what problems come up repeatedly?)
Reddit/Quora threads in your niche (what are people genuinely confused about?)
Sales calls (what objections or pain points surface?)
These are goldmines for content ideas that your audience actually wants.
→ Create a list of pain points: The top 10-15 problems your ICP faces. Every piece of content should address at least one of these. If it doesn't, it's probably content you want to create, not content they need to see.
3️⃣ No Strategy, No Content Pillars, No Clear ICP
If you're posting about personal development on Monday, AI tools on Wednesday, and career advice on Friday… your content is all over the place.
This confuses both your audience and the algorithm. People don't know what to expect from you, and if they don't know what you stand for, they don't follow you. The algorithm also works by identifying what kind of content you produce and who engages with it, so being inconsistent severely limits your reach. This is how you make sure these elements are properly aligned:
Define your ICP (Ideal Client Profile): Who are you actually trying to reach? Get specific. Not "entrepreneurs" but "SaaS founders raising Series A who need help with outbound."
Choose 3-5 content pillars: These are the main themes you'll talk about. For example, mine are: personal branding, networking, and AI for business/entrepreneurship. Every post should fit into at least one of these groups.
Audit your last 20 posts: Do they all serve your ICP? Do they fit into your pillars? If not, you're diluting your message.
4️⃣ Content That Isn’t Built To Be Shared
LinkedIn shares/reposts are one of the most valuable forms of engagement. A share exposes your content to a whole new network. But people will only share something that makes them look good to their network.
If your content is mediocre, overly personal, or doesn't provide clear value to their audience, they won't feel inclined to repost.
So it’s important to keep these points in mind when creating your content:
Make it easy to understand at a glance: If someone has to read your entire post to understand the value, they won't share it. The hook and the structure should make the value immediately obvious.
Create "credibility by association" content: Frameworks, cheat sheets, and tactical advice make people look smart for sharing them.
Use formats that are inherently shareable: Carousels, infographics, and listicles perform better because they're easy to consume and share compared to something like a wall of text.
5️⃣ A Bad Hook
Your hook is the first 1-2 lines of your post. It's what determines whether someone stops scrolling or keeps going. If your hook is weak, generic, or boring, it doesn't matter how good the rest of your content is. No one will read it.
Strong hooks have to be intentionally engineered:
Lead with tension or curiosity: Start with something that creates a gap in knowledge. "Most LinkedIn advice is backwards." or "I made $100K this year by ignoring every piece of growth advice."
Use pattern-interrupt language: Avoid starting with "I've been thinking about..." or "Here's my take on..." These don’t grab attention. Instead, try something like "After 3 years of [X], here's what actually matters:"
Test different hook styles: Some weeks, lead with a controversial statement. Other weeks, use a question or share a surprising stat. Track what works for your audience.
6️⃣ Bad Design (Or No Design)
LinkedIn is a visual platform. According to the most recent LinkedIn Algorithm Report, carousels get 4x more impressions than text-only posts. Posts with images (e.g. infographics) get 3x more engagement than posts without.
Visuals are crucial to high-performing content, but they have to be designed well. Anything that’s generic or cluttered makes you look unprofessional, and people won’t take your content seriously. This is how you ensure quality across your designs:
Invest time in templates: Create 3-5 carousel templates in Canva or Figma that match your brand. Use consistent fonts, colours, and layouts. This makes your content instantly recognisable.
Use AI for design work: Tools like ChatGPT can generate custom illustrations, icons, and design assets.
Keep it simple: Overcomplicated designs with too much text or too many elements are hard to read. Use white space. Make fonts big enough to read on mobile. Focus on one clear message per slide.
Anatomy of a High-Performing Post
Let’s look at a real example of content that got everything right.
Credit: Richard Harpin
This cheat sheet by Richard Harpin earned 2,924 reactions, 197 comments, 367 reposts, and over 2000 followers. Here’s exactly why it worked:
Authority in the title → “Lessons from building a £4.1 billion business” is simple and establishes credibility immediately.
Hook creates tension → “Most people are taught how to be high performers. But too few are taught how to perform in a team.” This is a pattern interrupt type of hook as it identifies a gap most founders haven’t considered.
Framework-based content = instant shareability → Richard didn’t just share opinions, but compiled 7 proven frameworks. This makes anyone who shares it look knowledgeable and helpful to their network.
Clean, professional design → Every section is like its own mini infographic, making it very visually appealing.
Structure that delivers value fast → Each framework follows the same pattern: framework name + attribution, what it is (explains concept), why it matters (connects to pain points), how to use it (makes it actionable).
The post copy sets up the value → Opened with the problem (team performance gap), personal credibility (HomeServe experience), clear promise (“7 tools I’ve used), subtle book promotion at end, value-driven repost CTA.
Obviously, you can never guarantee virality. But, like Richard has done here, you can engineer your posts in certain ways to maximise their chances of success.
The Part Everyone Skips (That Actually Matters Most)
The final note I want to leave you with is arguably the most important:
Great content with zero network gets you nowhere.
You can write the best post in the world. But if you don’t have people who:
Regularly engage with your content
Share it with their networks
Amplify your message
…then your reach stays limited.
That’s why building relationships on the platform is just as important as creating content. It takes time, but I’d recommend starting here:
Find 5-10 creators in your niche who you genuinely respect.
Engage with their content meaningfully. Not just “great post!” or “love this!”, but thoughtful comments that add to the conversations (e.g. ask questions, share your own experience).
On top of commenting, you can also drop them a DM to show more in-depth interest in one of their posts.
Build reciprocal relationships; when you consistently support other creators, they’ll support you. This isn’t transactional, just genuinely helping each other grow.
Once you have 50-100 people who consistently engage with your content, your posts will start to gain traction. And when your content is genuinely valuable (using the fixes above), those people will naturally want to share it.
If you take away one thing from this read, it should be this:
Strategic content + A network that amplifies it = Consistent growth
You can’t skip either part.
Fix the fundamentals, build the network, and be consistent. That’s it.
Until next time,
Nader 🫡
What this means for you
If you are a founder or executive building a founder-led brand, the uncomfortable diagnosis in this issue is that a post doing 150 impressions and 6 likes is not the algorithm's fault. It is one of four things you control: the advice was generic enough that anyone could have written it, the design looked amateur, there was no clear ICP or set of content pillars behind it, or the network around you was too small to give it a push. Posting more of the same only adds to the pile of AI-generated content LinkedIn is already drowning in, and your buyers have become very good at spotting it.
The fixes are practical and none of them require going viral. Run every draft through the "Only I Could Write This" test and the "So what?" read from your ICP's point of view. Write down the 10-15 pain points your ideal client actually has and check that each post addresses one of them. Audit your last 20 posts against 3-5 content pillars. Engineer the hook rather than opening with "I've been thinking about". Give your carousels and cheat sheets a consistent template so they are recognisable at a glance. Then do the part most founders skip: spend real time engaging with 5-10 creators your ICP already follows, because the Richard Harpin example shows that a framework-driven post only travels when there are people ready to share it.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my LinkedIn content flop even though I post consistently?
Because posting more is not the same as posting better. LinkedIn is packed with generic AI-generated content, and adding to it will not fix the real issues: your content is not valuable enough to share, your design looks amateur, you have no clear strategy or audience, or your network is not big enough to give your posts the push they need. None of these are algorithm problems or bad luck. They are strategic mistakes you can control, which is why the fix starts with the fundamentals rather than with volume.
How do you write LinkedIn posts that people actually want to share?
People only share something that makes them look good to their own network, so mediocre, overly personal or vague posts do not get reposted. Make the value obvious at a glance through the hook and the structure, because nobody shares a post they had to read in full to understand. Create "credibility by association" content such as frameworks, cheat sheets and tactical advice that make the sharer look smart. Use formats that are inherently shareable: carousels, infographics and listicles outperform a wall of text because they are easy to consume and pass on.
What makes a strong LinkedIn hook?
The hook is the first 1-2 lines of your post and it decides whether someone stops scrolling. If it is weak, generic or boring, the rest of the post does not matter because no one reads it. Strong hooks are engineered on purpose: lead with tension or curiosity to create a gap in knowledge, use pattern-interrupt language instead of openers like "I've been thinking about..." or "Here's my take on...", and test different styles across weeks (a controversial statement, a question, a surprising stat) while tracking what works for your audience.
Does great content work on LinkedIn without a network?
No. Great content with zero network gets you nowhere, because reach depends on people who regularly engage with your posts, share them with their networks and amplify your message. Building relationships is as important as creating content. Find 5-10 creators in your niche you genuinely respect, leave thoughtful comments that add to the conversation rather than "great post!", follow up with a DM where there is real interest, and support them consistently so they support you back. Once 50-100 people engage with your content regularly, posts start to gain traction and valuable content gets shared naturally.
Related reads
About the author
Nader Alnajjar is co-founder of LeverBrands, where he builds personal brands and content ecosystems for founders and executives. More at leverbrands.com/about and on LinkedIn.