LinkedIn Doesn’t Reward Great Content. It Rewards Great Networks.

I really wish this weren't true but LinkedIn does not reward great content. It rewards great networks.

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This is one of the most misunderstood realities of LinkedIn marketing, especially among executives. I’ve worked with some of the smartest, most impressive leaders in the world, and many of them still believe a version of the same myth:

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“If the post is smart enough, it will find my target audience.”

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Or worse:

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“If I publish at exactly the right time, with the perfect hook, the ideal character count, and a selfie image, LinkedIn will show it to the right people.”

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This is not how LinkedIn works.

How LinkedIn Content Distribution Actually Works

LinkedIn is not TikTok. It is not an interest-based discovery engine. Roughly 90% of LinkedIn content distribution is network-based, not interest-based.

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Here’s what that means in practice:

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When you publish a post, LinkedIn first shows it to a small slice of your existing connections and followers. If that group engages, the post may expand outward into their networks. If they don’t, distribution stalls almost immediately.

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There are a few limited placements like “suggested posts” that use a broad interest graph. But those placements are the exception, not the rule.

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LinkedIn is not taking your “AI-for-CFOs” hot take and showing it to every CFO interested in AI.

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Your content lives and dies by who you’re connected to, who follows you and how relevant your network is to your topic, and not by how clever your hook is.

Why Executives Struggle With LinkedIn Content

This network-first reality creates a common trap for executives.

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Most executives:

• Have relatively small followings
• Have highly mixed networks (former colleagues, peers, recruiters, vendors, friends)
• Do not yet have a buyer-heavy audience

Despite that, they often post low-funnel, in-market content aimed directly at buyers. The content itself is usually solid but the problem is distribution.

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If there aren’t many buyers in your network yet, your buyer-focused content has nowhere to go. It never reaches escape velocity.

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So executives conclude the content “didn’t work,” when in reality, the network wasn’t ready.

LinkedIn Is a Network Game, Not a Content Hack Game

Unlike most other platforms, LinkedIn does not reliably reward content quality with distribution.

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On platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or even X, great content can be discovered by strangers through interest graphs.

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On LinkedIn, discovery is earned slowly through network composition.

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That leaves you with two real options if your network isn’t already ICP-heavy:

1. Pay to circumvent the algorithm: This is where thought leadership ads (TLAs) come in using paid distribution to put organic-style content directly in front of your ICP.‍
2. Widen the top of the funnel organically: Grow a larger, more relevant audience over time so that a meaningful percentage of your network eventually is your ICP.

Most people skip option two. That’s where things stall.

The Content Mix That Actually Works on LinkedIn

If your network is still growing and not yet buyer-dense, your content mix matters a lot.

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In practice, a sustainable LinkedIn strategy usually looks like this:

• 60% upper-funnel content: Broad industry POVs, narratives, and insights that are interesting to your widest total addressable market (TAM).
• 30% mid-funnel content: Posts that address problems, trends, and challenges specific to your ICP—but are still educational and broadly relevant.
• 10% lower-funnel content: Direct, buyer-ready content aimed at in-market prospects.

As your audience grows and shifts toward your ICP, this mix can shift too. But if you ignore this stage and only post buyer-ready content to a buyer-light network, growth will stall.

The Core Difference Between LinkedIn and Every Other Platform

Every other major platform rewards content quality with distribution. LinkedIn rewards network composition with reach.

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That distinction explains why great posts underperform, smart executives get frustrated, and people chase posting “best practices” that don’t move the needle.

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Until you internalize how LinkedIn actually distributes content, you’ll keep writing posts that deserve to work and wondering why they don’t.

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LinkedIn success isn’t about gaming the algorithm with timing tricks or formatting hacks. It’s about building the right network or paying to reach it.

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Once you understand that, your strategy changes and suddenly, your results do too.

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