Before publishing, ask: "If I described this story to someone at a party, would they be interested?" If the answer is no, the core concept isn't compelling enough. This simple filter ensures your content is inherently engaging for a general audience, forcing you to find a better story or angle.
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Use X's (Twitter's) short-form, high-feedback environment as a low-cost testing ground for content ideas. Once a concept gains traction and high engagement, expand it into longer-form content like a newsletter or YouTube video. This workflow ensures you only invest significant effort in pre-validated topics.
A16z discovered their most successful content wasn't market commentary ("are we in a bubble?") but timeless, practical guides like "Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager." This type of actionable content provides enduring utility to the target audience (entrepreneurs), building a deeper, more trusting relationship than fleeting, topical chatter.
Many writers view editing as a chore. Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, argues the opposite: editing is where the most creative work occurs. This is the phase where you confront core questions about audience, structure, and clarity, transforming raw ideas into a polished, impactful piece of communication.
Most communicators mistakenly focus on the medium (podcasts, TV, blogs). The most leveraged approach is to first craft an irresistible hook and a compelling story. True distribution power is achieved when an idea becomes so interesting that people cannot help but share it themselves.
Before posting, dedicate a month to actively consuming content on LinkedIn. Every time you like, comment, or save a post, analyze its topic, angle, and tone. This builds the 'taste' necessary to create resonant content.
Your promotional content must be immediately understandable to a distracted audience. If a 'drunk grandma' couldn't grasp your offer, it's too complex. Simplicity sells better than a superior product with confusing marketing because 'when you confuse, you lose.'
Tushy develops viral brand campaigns by filtering ideas through a critical lens: 'Would people outside this room actually care and talk about this?' They embrace a performance mindset, taking many 'shots on goal' to find ideas with true cultural resonance, even tracking metrics like 'post shares' in ad accounts.
Before committing to a large content project like a 2,000-word article or a webinar, validate the core idea with a short LinkedIn post. Strong engagement serves as a reliable leading indicator of audience interest, allowing you to focus resources on topics that are proven to resonate.
Use comments on others' LinkedIn posts as a low-risk testing ground for new content formats or edgier ideas. If a comment flops, the impact is minimal. If it succeeds, it validates the idea for a future post on your company's page, bypassing initial brand guardrails.
To maintain quality and prevent self-promotion from overwhelming a community, ask a simple question for each post: "What if every member posted something like this?" If the answer is that the community would devolve into a low-value feed, the post should be disallowed.