A hot announcement first!
You know I’ve been into writing online from the day I started on LinkedIn. It got extra momentum after I joined Substack. All along, I’ve been all about testing, implementing, and finding out what works and was compiling everything I’d find into my personal content writing system.
I’ve got a lot of messages from people asking, “how I did this?” and “how I did that?”
So I prepared a digital course out of my writing system.
It’s called The Short Form Writer.
Yes. Short form. The best type of writing on LinkedIn, Substack, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky, etc.
It’s coming out this week. Stay tuned.
LinkedIn is in pandemic mode these days.
Every other post is either about “algorithm sucks,” or “Oh! I just figured out how to spot AI writing,” or any dirty trend on the internet, like the cheating CEO.
Why?
I believe that people are lost.
Sometimes, they have nothing cool to write about. Other times, they don’t know how to write even if they have a cool idea.
And even worse is:
A huge chunk is purely copying each other when it comes to writing, design, or whatever content it is.
Now, I’m not bashing anyone here.
I’m not perfect. Neither are they. Neither are you. Neither is a single person on this planet.
But we all have to learn from our mistakes.
And please, please, please….!
Let’s stop talking about this freakin algorithm.
If the algorithm is so bad and isn’t working, why is it working for so many other people?
And is it really the algorithm that’s gone wrong?
And are you really focusing on the right things, and still nothing works?
Let’s put this into perspective.
I’ve been doing text posts for 1.5 to 2 years now.
It works like it used to work 1.5 years ago. People loved simplicity. They still do.
One tiny thing changed:
Write short and with impact.
Of course, when there’s a huge number of writings, the ones with some substance win.
And if you’re like, “so how can I write like that…”
Here’s how to write with impact:
(so you rule over attention, not it ruling over you)
1. A lot of writings have no soul
I’m not about the oxygen type of soul.
I mean a feeling. An emotion.
And you know what a swipe file is. It’s for using various content from different sources which inspires you to come up with even better content.
But instead, you’ll see overused templates.
And if I see a hook three or five times, it definitely seems like a copy-paste.
Now, everyone feels this way.
This lowers the interest. Your post gets seen by some people, but no engagement. That “less engagement” tells LinkedIn you’re not amazing enough.
And you know what?
Less amazing = less suggested.
Instead, add some depth. And depth will persuade your reader.
Here are some ways to do that:
-Tell a story (even if it’s very short)
You don’t need anything fancy. Nothing fake to impress. Just what happened.
Like…
2. Your readers shouldn’t say, “what the heck is he trying to tell?”
And for you to avoid that is to be specific.
Well, being specific is mainly a benefit.
- You reach the right audience (even if it’s a small one)
- If you go viral, then you go viral big, and all that attention is gold
Like how?
This post didn’t reach a million audience, but the fewer people it reached resonated well with it and showed a great response.
Just a simple personal experience (how I grew writing online).
3. Or if you’re too new to this, use copywriting frameworks
Well, those frameworks are not only for selling some soap.
They go beyond that.
They give you a path to follow, and you’ll hardly miss the point when using them.
Some of the best ones are:
-PAS (Problem → Agitate → Solution)
-AIDA (Attention → Interest → Desire → Action)
-Inverted pyramid (most important info first, details follow)
Let me give you some examples…
This is what a PAS written copy looks like:
This is what an AIDA written copy looks like:
And this is what an inverted pyramid written copy looks like:
Note: There are many copywriting frameworks. These few are some of the best.
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📍Another note:
I lot of the emails I send go to your spam. If you’re reading this, drop a reply “Hi Sami”, or just like this on Substack so that I know you read it at least.
Happy Tuesday,
Sami 👋