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SKILL.md

1	1		---
2	2		name: crafting-linkedin-articles
3		-	description: Writes long-form LinkedIn content. Use when you need assistance with crafting linkedin articles.
	3	+	version: 2.0.0
	4	+	description: Writes evergreen LinkedIn long-form articles and newsletters that earn the click, hold skim-readers, and get surfaced in search. Use when drafting a LinkedIn article or newsletter issue, or repurposing a talk, report, or thread into long-form.
	5	+	category: marketing
	6	+	license: MIT
4	7		---
5	8
6		-	# Crafting Linkedin Articles
	9	+	# Crafting LinkedIn Articles
7	10
8		-	Writes long-form LinkedIn content
	11	+	Feed posts are ephemeral: they peak in ~90 minutes, then the algorithm buries them. Articles are the opposite. They are indexed by Google, surfaced in LinkedIn search months later, emailed to your newsletter subscribers, and they live on your profile's "Articles" tab as a permanent portfolio. Write articles to compound; write feed posts to spike.
9	12
10		-	## Viral Potential: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
	13	+	Use this playbook to produce one 800–2,000-word article that a distracted VP reads to the end on a phone between meetings.
11	14
	15	+	## How articles differ from feed posts (write accordingly)
12	16
13		-	## When to Use
	17	+	\| \| Feed post \| Article / newsletter \|
	18	+	\| ----------- \| ------------------------ \| ---------------------------------------------------------- \|
	19	+	\| Lifespan \| Hours \| Months to years (evergreen) \|
	20	+	\| Discovery \| Home feed only \| Google + LinkedIn search + newsletter email \|
	21	+	\| Length \| 40–120 words, one idea \| 800–2,000 words, one thesis + sections \|
	22	+	\| Formatting \| No H2s, line breaks only \| Real H2 subheads, bold, bullets \|
	23	+	\| Subscribers \| None \| Newsletter = push notification + email to every subscriber \|
	24	+	\| Job \| Reach & reaction \| Authority, SEO, lead capture, repurposing source \|
14	25
15		-	- Writes long-form LinkedIn content
	26	+	Practical consequences:
16		-	- Working on related social media tasks
17		-	- Need expert guidance on crafting linkedin articles
18	27
19		-	## Instructions
	28	+	- Write the title for search, not just the scroll. People will find this by typing a query into Google 8 months from now. Put the actual keyword in the title ("RevOps," "Series A," "onboarding").
	29	+	- Publish as a newsletter, not a one-off article, if you can. A LinkedIn newsletter emails and push-notifies every subscriber on publish — free distribution a bare article never gets. Name the newsletter around a topic ("The Pipeline Memo"), not around you.
	30	+	- The first 2 sentences are the whole game. The article preview card and the search snippet both cut off around 140 characters. No promise there = no click.
20	31
21		-	1. Understand the context and requirements
	32	+	## Headline formulas that earn the click
22		-	2. Apply best practices for crafting linkedin articles
23		-	3. Provide actionable recommendations
24		-	4. Iterate based on feedback
25	33
26		-	## Examples
	34	+	Your headline shows up as a preview card in-feed, as the newsletter email subject, and as the blue link in Google. It must survive all three. Keep it under ~60 characters where possible so it doesn't truncate in email subject lines.
27	35
28		-	### Example: Basic Request
	36	+	Proven structures (with real examples):
29		-	User: "Help me with crafting linkedin articles"
30		-	Response: Provide tailored assistance based on the specific need.
31	37
32		-	## Guidelines
	38	+	- The Number + Outcome + Timeframe — "The 3 Onboarding Emails That Cut Our Churn 22% in One Quarter"
	39	+	- The Contrarian Claim — "Stop Writing Weekly Standups. Nobody Reads Them."
	40	+	- The Named Mistake — "The 'Founder Bottleneck' Is Killing Your Series A Roadmap"
	41	+	- The How-To with Specific Stakes — "How to Run a Layoff Announcement Without Torching Your Employer Brand"
	42	+	- The X vs. Y Reframe — "Retention Isn't a Metric. It's a Forecast."
	43	+	- The Insider Number — "I Reviewed 400 Cold Emails. Here's the Only Opening Line That Worked."
33	44
34		-	- Follow industry best practices
	45	+	Rules for headlines:
35		-	- Provide actionable, specific advice
36		-	- Consider the target audience
37		-	- Iterate and refine based on feedback
38	46
	47	+	- Lead with the specific noun, not the abstraction. "Pipeline reviews" beats "sales processes."
	48	+	- One promise per headline. If you have two, you have two articles.
	49	+	- Numbers beat adjectives. "22%" beats "dramatically."
	50	+	- Never use a colon-plus-buzzword tail ("...: A Deep Dive," "...: Everything You Need to Know"). It signals filler.
	51	+
	52	+	## The promise-first intro
	53	+
	54	+	State the payoff in the first two sentences — before any story, any credential, any windup. This is the part LinkedIn shows in the preview and Google shows in the snippet. If the reader doesn't know what they'll walk away with, they leave.
	55	+
	56	+	Weak (windup): "I've been thinking a lot lately about the way teams handle onboarding. Over my fifteen years in the industry, I've seen a lot change..."
	57	+
	58	+	Strong (promise-first): "New-hire churn in the first 90 days cost us $310K last year. We fixed 80% of it by rewriting three emails — no new tooling, no budget. Here's the exact sequence."
	59	+
	60	+	The promise-first intro answers, in order: What do I get? Is it real (proof/number)? What's the shape of the payoff? Then, and only then, you may earn 2–3 sentences of context or story.
	61	+
	62	+	### Opening story vs. thesis: pick by stakes
	63	+
	64	+	- Open with a thesis when the topic is tactical and the reader wants the answer fast (frameworks, teardowns, "how we did X"). Get to the claim in sentence one.
	65	+	- Open with a story when the topic is emotional, cultural, or counterintuitive and you need to disarm skepticism (layoffs, failure, changing your mind). Keep the story to 3–4 sentences, then hard-cut to the thesis with a line like: "Here's what that taught me about \_\_\_."
	66	+
	67	+	Either way, the promise still lands by the end of the second sentence — a story-open article makes the _tension_ the promise ("I almost lost the deal on a typo. What I do now takes 30 seconds.").
	68	+
	69	+	## Structure: 3–5 sections, one argument each
	70	+
	71	+	Long-form on LinkedIn is read on a phone, mostly by skimming. Architect for the skim first, the deep read second.
	72	+
	73	+	- Use real H2 subheads (the article editor's H2 button), not bolded sentences. H2s create the visual table-of-contents a skimmer scans and are weighted by search.
	74	+	- One argument per section. If a section needs two H2s to explain, it's two sections. Aim for 3–5 total.
	75	+	- Front-load each section. First sentence of every section = the takeaway. The rest is evidence.
	76	+	- Bold the one line per section you'd want screenshotted. Skimmers read bold; give them a spine of bolded takeaways that tells the whole story on its own.
	77	+	- Bullets for lists, prose for arguments. Bullets are for parallel items (steps, examples, criteria). Don't bullet a narrative — it flattens it.
	78	+	- Keep paragraphs to 1–3 sentences. A 6-line paragraph on mobile is a wall. Break it.
	79	+	- Target 900–1,400 words for most business topics. Go to 2,000 only for definitive, "save this" reference pieces. Below 800, publish it as a feed post instead — an article that short reads thin and wastes the evergreen surface.
	80	+
	81	+	## CTA: one ask, at the end and the middle
	82	+
	83	+	Articles convert differently than posts. The reader who finishes is warm — give them exactly one next step.
	84	+
	85	+	- Put a soft CTA mid-article (after your strongest section): a single relevant link — the template, the calculator, the deeper piece. Don't stack five links.
	86	+	- End with one clear ask, matched to your goal:
	87	+	- Authority/reach: "If this was useful, subscribe to [Newsletter] — one issue like this every other Tuesday."
	88	+	- Lead gen: "I wrote the full 12-email sequence as a swipe file. Comment 'sequence' and I'll send it." (Comment-gated CTAs feed the algorithm and build a DM list.)
	89	+	- Discussion: end on a genuine question tied to the thesis, not "Agree? Let me know 👇."
	90	+	- Never end with a generic "Thanks for reading!" It wastes your highest-intent moment.
	91	+
	92	+	## Repurposing: one article → a week of feed posts
	93	+
	94	+	The article is the asset; posts are the distribution. Never publish an article and hope. Mine it:
	95	+
	96	+	1. The teaser post (publish day): the promise-first intro rewritten as a 5-line hook + "Full breakdown in the article, link in comments." (Put the link in the _first comment_, not the post body — external links in the body suppress reach.)
	97	+	2. The single-section post (day 2–3): lift your strongest H2 section, rewrite it as a standalone 120-word post. No link needed — it stands alone and earns reach.
	98	+	3. The list post (day 4–5): turn your bulleted takeaways into a "5 things I learned" carousel or text post.
	99	+	4. The contrarian pull-quote (day 6+): the boldest bolded line becomes a one-line hot-take post.
	100	+	5. The newsletter reuse: the same article emails your subscribers automatically on publish — no extra work.
	101	+
	102	+	One 1,200-word article = 4–5 feed posts + 1 newsletter send + an evergreen search asset. That's the ROI difference vs. a post that dies by lunch.
	103	+
	104	+	## Worked outline: a full example article
	105	+
	106	+	Topic: How a B2B team cut new-hire churn by rewriting onboarding emails.
	107	+
	108	+	Headline options (pick one, A/B the rest as post hooks):
	109	+
	110	+	- "The 3 Onboarding Emails That Cut Our New-Hire Churn 22%"
	111	+	- "We Lost $310K to Bad Onboarding. Three Emails Fixed It."
	112	+	- "Your Onboarding Problem Is an Email Problem"
	113	+
	114	+	Newsletter title: _The Retention Memo_ — biweekly, one retention teardown per issue.
	115	+
	116	+	Intro (promise-first, ~55 words):
	117	+
	118	+	> "New-hire churn in the first 90 days cost us $310K last year — replacement hiring, lost ramp, the works. We cut it 22% in one quarter without new tooling or budget. The fix was three emails, sent on days 1, 14, and 45. Here's each one and why it works."
	119	+
	120	+	Section 1 — H2: "Why onboarding fails in the first 14 days, not the first year"
	121	+
	122	+	- Takeaway (bold, sentence 1): _Most churn is decided in week two, when the new hire feels invisible._
	123	+	- Beats: the "week-two cliff" pattern; the emotional state of a new hire; why managers assume HR has it covered and HR assumes the manager does.
	124	+
	125	+	Section 2 — H2: "Email 1 (Day 1): The 'You made the right call' note"
	126	+
	127	+	- Takeaway: _Day one, kill buyer's remorse before it starts._
	128	+	- Beats: what the email says, who sends it (the skip-level, not HR), the one line that matters, the mistake of making it a checklist.
	129	+	- Bold pull-quote candidate: _"A day-one email from the skip-level manager outperformed a $500 swag box."_
	130	+
	131	+	Section 3 — H2: "Email 2 (Day 14): The 'Here's what good looks like' note"
	132	+
	133	+	- Takeaway: _By day 14, ambiguity is the enemy — define success explicitly._
	134	+	- Beats: the 3 concrete 30-day expectations; linking to one real example of great work; the soft mid-article CTA → link to the expectations template.
	135	+
	136	+	Section 4 — H2: "Email 3 (Day 45): The 'What's not working?' note"
	137	+
	138	+	- Takeaway: _Ask for friction before the hire has decided to leave._
	139	+	- Beats: the single open question that surfaces problems; why 45 days (past honeymoon, before the quit-decision); what to do with the answers within 48 hours.
	140	+
	141	+	Close — H2: "The sequence, and how to steal it"
	142	+
	143	+	- Recap the 3 emails in one bulleted list (the screenshot-bait summary).
	144	+	- CTA: "I turned all three into a copy-paste swipe file. Comment 'onboarding' and I'll send it — or subscribe to _The Retention Memo_ for the next teardown."
	145	+
	146	+	That's ~1,100 words, five sections, one argument each, a bolded spine, one mid-CTA, one end-CTA, and a search-friendly title. Skimmable in 20 seconds, complete in 4 minutes.
	147	+
	148	+	## Do / Don't
	149	+
	150	+	Do
	151	+
	152	+	- Put the keyword and the payoff in the first two sentences and the title.
	153	+	- Publish as a LinkedIn _newsletter_ to trigger email + push to subscribers.
	154	+	- Use real H2 subheads; bold one takeaway per section.
	155	+	- Keep paragraphs to 1–3 lines and sections to one argument.
	156	+	- Put external links in the first comment, not the body.
	157	+	- Repurpose every article into 4–5 feed posts before moving on.
	158	+	- Write for the reader who finds this in Google search in 8 months.
	159	+
	160	+	Don't
	161	+
	162	+	- Open with "In today's fast-paced world..." or a windup that hides the promise.
	163	+	- Bury the ask under "Thanks for reading!"
	164	+	- Bold entire paragraphs (bold everything = bold nothing).
	165	+	- Chase 2,000 words when the idea is 900 words long.
	166	+	- Publish an article under 800 words — that's a feed post.
	167	+	- Stack multiple CTAs and multiple links; give one next step.
	168	+	- Reuse a title that truncates past ~60 characters in an email subject line.
	169	+