How I built a LinkedIn habit

Since I’m often looking to reach business owners and nonprofit leaders, I’ve become a fairly regular poster on LinkedIn. If you’d told me that would be the case a couple of years ago, though, I’d have laughed, for a few reasons:

1. LinkedIn felt like a space for rigid, corporate personalities (of which I am definitely not one)
2. I didn’t want to add Yet Another Social Platform to my stack (I know better than to spread myself too thin)
3. Even if I did, I’d probably get derailed by the Executive Dysfunction Shuffle (a dance I find myself doing regularly)

To my surprise, I later posted the occasional one-off that resulted in some actually-rewarding discussions in the comments. I also got feedback from several connections that they appreciated what I’d shared, and that I was “the only one talking about these things” in their feeds. 

So, I decided to give it an honest try. I knew I needed a concrete process in order to make it happen, though, or ADHD would thwart me once again.

If you spend too much time on social content, or struggle getting yourself to create content at all, here’s a look at how I turned those occasional one-offs into a full-blown habit.

Start with loose constraints for social media posts

When I decided to give LinkedIn a proper try, I knew I needed to keep the pressure off of myself. I wasn’t going to go from Zero to LinkedIn Influencer in just a few weeks--no one can do that!

So, I kept my standards loose: I had to post something that was at least vaguely work-related. That was it.

A really common problem for business owners is getting caught up in the notion that Every Post Must Be Perfect. We feel like a piece of content isn’t worth posting if it’s not sheer brilliance or worthy of going viral.

In reality, it’s less important to have a constant stream of perfectly-worded, genius ideas. It’s more about showing up regularly, so when that genius idea does hit you, it’ll actually be shown to your following.

Use your existing systems to reinforce the habit

Over a decade ago, I made my first hire: a Project Manager. It was too early for me to be hiring, but I was overwhelmed, I didn’t know any better, and I didn’t have good systems in place at the time.

Today, I still have that Project Manager, but I also have tools and systems to help me stay on top of tasks. I also knew that, if I really wanted to make this LinkedIn habit stick, I’d have to get my existing systems involved.

I intentionally chose a day of the week when I’d historically had fewer meetings, as my LinkedIn posting day. I also created a recurring task in my project management tool, so it would remind me each week to post. 

Once I started using Sunsama, I also created a recurring task there, and I was also able to slot in that task during a time of day when writing comes more easily to me.

Even if you’re not living with ADHD, it takes more than “shoulds” and guilt tripping yourself to make your online marketing happen. I needed to be reminded regularly, and honor the shifts in my energy to set myself up for success. You may need something different, so take the time to figure out what that is.

Keep an ongoing list of current and past content prompts

Ah, the eternal question when you’re marketing yourself: “what the heck do I post about?”

The trouble with content ideas is that they rarely come to you when you sit down to create content. They’re sparked during a client call, or float up while you’re commuting, or come to you while you’re cooking dinner. If I had a nickel for every shower thought that bloomed into a full-blown piece of content, I’d be able to buy a really good sandwich (plus tip!).

No matter what kind of content you’re creating, whether it’s social media, email marketing, or even video or podcasting, you should have a designated place to jot down ideas as they come to you. I have a list of future prompts that I keep in my content planner, and a notepad on my phone for when I’m on-the-go.

In the moments when I felt too strapped for time or brain juice to squeeze out something new, that’s when I turned to past content. I always had a past or upcoming newsletter that I hadn’t promoted yet, or a social post I could reshare and expand upon.

Because I kept my constraints loose, there were definitely times when I simply posted what was on my mind. I have the CoPromotion Club to thank for several juicy topics about business ownership and why we do it. But, even if I drew a blank on a given week, I always had past content and newer ideas at hand to jump-start my process.

Done is better than perfect

Over a year later, I’m still showing up on LinkedIn each week--sometimes even more than once a week! Yeah, I did miss a week here or there, usually because I was going on vacation, but perfection was never the point.

The goal was to build that habit. With a bit of intention and planning at the beginning, you can get to a place where the off weeks are the exception, not the norm.