Don’t underestimate the intensity required to do something well. That applies to your business and sport, your customer service and your writing. Your Twitter, LinkedIn or Threads activity. If you’re going to do LinkedIn, do it properly. Learn from the experts, put your plan together and commit to showing up even when you don’t feel like it. Start on the route towards mastery to hit the results that hardly anyone achieves.
Lara Acosta grew her LinkedIn from zero to 78,000 followers in just over a year by studying LinkedIn every day and sharing what she learned. Her agency, LA Digital, works with entrepreneurs and business leaders, helping them to break out of their outdated marketing ways by using innovative marketing, sales and copywriting techniques and sharing personal stories that resonate.
Acosta writes hundreds of LinkedIn posts every single month, for herself and her clients. Recently she has been co-creating with AI to improve results. She explained, “ChatGPT isn’t a replacement for writing, it’s a writing assistant. It’s incredible at research and logic, and with the right prompts I’ve been able to massively increase my output and improve the engagement of every post in the same amount of time.”
Here are the top prompts Acosta actually uses to supercharge LinkedIn for herself and her clients.
ChatGPT prompts for LinkedIn content
Resonate with a specific audience
The more you can appeal to your ideal customer, the further your posts will go. Acosta uses this prompt for her lead-generation clients, to ensure they are resonating deeply with that one specific avatar. “This is a simple way of understanding your audience, so you can produce headlines that entice them to click and read,” she explained. “I add information about my client, describe their target audience, and let ChatGPT come up with answers.”
The prompt to copy, paste and edit goes like this: “My target audience consists of [describe your target audience and their main challenges] within the industry of [add industry explainer]. Write [number] attention-grabbing headlines for LinkedIn posts that entice my target audience to click and read.” Further this prompt by asking ChatGPT to: “Suggest the copy for the rest of each post. Make these posts about [describe the content topics you want to discuss] and format them as follows: [include any style or formatting guidelines ChatGPT should follow].”
Generate ideas for hooks
Hooks are top priority when it comes to creating a compelling LinkedIn update,” said Acosta, “but coming up with the right ones is hard.” Another way Acosta finds scroll-stopping openers is by adapting those written by top creators to suit her own needs. She builds on their creative work, adding a twist to apply the sentiment to her or her client’s business. “Work smart,” she said. Nothing is truly original, everything is inspired by other artists.
You can replicate this process using ChatGPT’s wisdom. “Analyse this hook [include the hook that performed well] and give me 10 similar, bold ideas for [describe your industry and type of work].” You can also include the next few lines of the post, so ChatGPT gives you suggestions for more of the copy. Repeat this prompt for every hook you want to adapt.
Replicate proven structures
“If you’ve created a post that outperformed the others, or seen someone who’s done it well, take the structure and apply it to a new piece of content,” explained Acosta. Use your success to date to secure even more. She often sees creators put content creation off due to writer’s block, or simply confess that they don’t know where to start, but “replicating proven structures will make the process much less daunting, and unlock plenty of new ideas.”
Here’s the prompt to turn one success into many: “This LinkedIn post performed well” [insert post]. Create a similar post with the same structure, but on the topic of [describe your topic here.]” Use one of the hooks suggested so far to see what comes out, make edits, and re-prompt until you’re happy.
Channel thought-leaders
“ChatGPT may not write for me but it definitely thinks faster than me,” explained Acosta. She uses this speed to her advantage. “Instead of spending hours doing research on a topic for a client, I channel the thought-leaders they are inspired by to come up with content pillars.” They often have one person in mind whose style and topics they want to mimic, so Acosta asks for help with building out their values, business or personality into ideas.
The prompt is simply: “Content pillars are a set of themes or topics that a brand can use to create posts. Please come up with 5 content pillars and sub-pillars for [describe the work of an influencer or entrepreneur that resonates with you].” From here, choose which spark the most inspiration and get creating.
Finish strong
“Hooks are important, but it’s always the last two lines that make an impact,” said Acosta, who puts effort into that call to action to provoke a response from an audience. This is also about delivering on the promise of the hook, which “they will have probably forgotten about by the time they finish reading.” You’re looking for congruence in your posts, so they tie up any loose ends and satisfy the reader. Sometimes the ending is the hardest part to nail. You want to be powerful without being cheesy, inspirational without sounding glib.
Acosta recommends you ask ChatGPT to finish where you left off using this prompt: “Please finish writing this post by adding two more lines of text (fewer than 30 words in total), use persuasive psychology to compel an action in the reader, and relate back to the hook.”
Proofread like a pro
“There is nothing worse than hitting publish on a LinkedIn post only to realise there’s a huge, glaring typo,” said Acosta. “Ideally, you don’t edit your post once it’s sent.” Make your first go exactly right with help from ChatGPT, by enlisting its help as a proofreader. Acosta recommends not only do you add your post into the chat, but you specify the type of proof you want, and you ask for details of the changes.
Here’s the prompt she recommends. “Please proofread this post, edit any spelling or grammar mistakes, ensure it reads below a 5th grade level and tell me which changes you have made: [Include your LinkedIn post here].”
ChatGPT prompts to supercharge your LinkedIn growth
Don’t let not knowing what to post stop you showing up on LinkedIn. Target posts to speak to your audience’s challenges and grab their attention with your words. Generate ideas for hooks, replicate proven structures and channel thought-leaders who are a few steps ahead. Finally, finish strong and proofread like a pro. Build a huge following on LinkedIn with help from ChatGPT.
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