Stop Teaching on LinkedIn. It No Longer Works, Except...

There are 4 important things I want to share with you today:

1: Why teaching posts don’t work anymore (and what is currently working instead)

2: What works for LinkedIn company pages

3: The best place for the “book a call” link

4: Everything you need to make your first 10k from LinkedIn

Let’s get into it.

Why Teaching Posts Don’t Work Anymore

This is one of the biggest shocks to people who have been building an online following for years. Maybe you are one…

You make these teaching posts on social media. And they used to perform well and go viral. But now, they rarely make a dent.

You don’t get much engagement on them anymore and they barely have any reach.

Some people rationalized this as a quality problem. But this is not true.

It doesn’t matter how quality your teaching posts are, it is never going to perform like it used to. That era is over. And I have some conclusive evidence on this matter.

People don’t want to learn anything from social media, especially with short form content. People want to satisfy their curiosity instead.

Over the last few days, I deliberately made some very good teaching posts. And they all fell flat. The content quality was so good you could charge for it. But nobody cared. Almost nobody.

Before I tell you about the replacement, first there is the exception to this rule. Teaching content works when it is a conversion post.

Remember, you make some posts for reach and you make others for conversions.

When it is a conversion post, you can teach. That way you are talking to your ICP (Ideal Client Profile). You know your teaching is to get them to take a specific action.

But when it is not a conversion post and you are posting for reach, you should never teach. Don’t even try.

AI has made this worse. Now, anybody can come up with a teaching post. It has been made pointless.

This is particularly about general things like leadership, mindset, business ops, etc. Don’t be fooled by the content you see like this that are going viral. There is often a lot under the hood that you don’t see.

Do not teach anything for reach. Do not advise anyone. Don’t share your frameworks. It will not perform well. If it does, that is an anomaly.

Instead, (and this is the big idea)…

Write advocacy posts.

Don’t teach anything. Advocate for something. And of course, it must be something you truly believe in. This is how you get reach.

Don’t advise people. Express your support for something they deeply care about. This is the new way to win on LinkedIn.

This can change next year, but so far in 2025, advocacy posts are the winning posts.

Think about it. It is why you would want to react and comment. It is why you would want to repost and share.

If you have a huge following and your reach has been mediocre, switch to advocacy posts. You would see how it would pick up.

People are not on social media to learn. People are on social media to support what matters to them.

Never ever forget that.

What Works for LinkedIn Company Pages

I started a LinkedIn company page for this newsletter. And the goal is in two folds.

First, to promote this newsletter on LinkedIn. Second, to understand how LinkedIn company pages work.

From my experience thus far, LinkedIn company pages are vastly different from personal pages. Here are 5 discoveries I have made about growing a LinkedIn company page:

1. The company page feed can only be filled with other company pages. So, I am having to rely on my personal feed to find posts to engage with

2. Commenting makes a difference for the company page’s visibility (via search)

3. Engagement is not as smooth as a personal account. I am assuming LinkedIn doesn’t expect company pages to be actively engaging

4. Thus far, frequency of post doesn’t matter (at the early stages). I guess you can post once or twice per week

5. Industry educational posts work best

Let’s expand a bit on that last point. I have discovered through my posts and posts of other company pages that LinkedIn favors more authoritative posts from company pages.

Teach the basics of your industry that people can relate to. Why teaching and not advocacy? Well, company pages are sort of more optimized for conversions. If you seek reach, you will get it easier and better through the personal account.

It is quite difficult to get reach through company pages. So, it is better to just focus on conversions. This is also why it is more optimized for ads.

You are better off running an ad from a LinkedIn company page than from a personal page (with all other things equal). More about this later.

But one quick thing you should note about LinkedIn ads is that it is for B2B. B2C ads are not worth it on LinkedIn. LinkedIn ads are too expensive for B2C.

Let’s Talk About the “Book a Call” Link

I have seen people put the call link in their post. Bad idea.

It’s a terrible idea. However, if you are the “break all the rules” type of persona, you can do it and get some traction. It lines up with the brand of some people and they get results for it.

However, for most people, this would not work.

Up next are those who put the call link in the comments. Also, bad idea.

Remember that the LinkedIn algorithm naturally hates anything that takes people off the platform. And if you want to put links in your posts, it is better to optimize for saves by putting a lot of links. When the algorithm sees that lots of people are saving the post, the post gets throttled more.

Very rarely do people click a call link in the comments. I don’t know anyone it has worked for. And in a lot of cases, you attract people who will waste your time if you do it that way.

Another place I have seen the call link is in the featured section. This may sound smart and witty, but I don’t think it is as converting as most people think.

Yes, you can put the call link there if the call consultation is free. But I strongly recommend to use your featured section to showcase your top posts in your niche.

I know a big LinkedIn influencer who has the call link as the first thing in his featured section. But from an appeal standpoint, it is weak.

Your lead magnet should never be to “book a call”.

If you work in sales for a big organization and you are pitching clients from LinkedIn, booking a call is an important part of your process.

But to capture leads from people who view your personal profile, as a businessperson or freelancer, booking a call is very weak. It is too much of a jump.

You are asking people to go from strangers to booking a call with you. That is just like asking strangers for a romantic date. It is a hard sell.

Instead, start with engagement on comments. And then, take it to the DMs. And after a few back and forth on DM, you share your call link.

This is the method that works well that I know of.

Alternatively, you can create a much simpler lead magnet that gets them into your CRM from a conversion post. Give something valuable for free. Make it a conversion post. Then you can pitch your call link from your email sequence.

That’s the kind of method I am using here. You are on my email list. And then, there is a link to book a call at the end of my newsletter articles.

Always think about the sales cycle and not just about the sales transaction.

The person with the longest pipeline eventually makes the most amount of money. There are some industry deviations, but if you understand the idea here you can adapt it to your situation.

Prioritize the sales cycle over the sales transaction.

Making Your First 10k From LinkedIn

There are 4 things you need to make your first 10k from LinkedIn:

1. A lead magnet that works (and it must not be informational)

2. Reach posts (using the viral content framework)

3. Conversion posts

4. A 7-day email sequence to sell your offer

You can actually do this yourself, but let me show you the most common loopholes that gets people frustrated. I know because I have been there…

First, an informational lead magnet will not work on LinkedIn. Nobody wants to read. They want results fast.

Second, the reach post must attract peers and your ICP. It has to be both.

Third, you know the LinkedIn algorithm doesn’t like links on your posts. So, the conversion must be one of a kind

Fourth, you need a 7-day email welcome sequence to sell your offer as soon as someone takes your lead magnet. And this is actually when you make money.

P.S. If you are ready to take LinkedIn seriously but don’t know where to start, book a consultation with me here