# li-post Write a LinkedIn post from a raw idea using 21 proven hook formulas, in the user's own voice, humanized so it does not read as AI. Use whenever the user wants a LinkedIn post, a hook, a draft for the feed, "post about X", "turn this into a LinkedIn post", or asks for hook options. Produces three hook options, one full draft, and a copy-ready block that is never published without an explicit yes. - **Kind:** skill - **Source:** https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/linkedin-agent-skill - **Page:** https://forefy.com/skills/45e03f0e-fc55-4ed6-914b-328216a81970 - **API (JSON + files):** https://forefy.com/api/asr/45e03f0e-fc55-4ed6-914b-328216a81970 --- ## SKILL.md --- name: li-post description: >- Write a LinkedIn post from a raw idea using 21 proven hook formulas, in the user's own voice, humanized so it does not read as AI. Use whenever the user wants a LinkedIn post, a hook, a draft for the feed, "post about X", "turn this into a LinkedIn post", or asks for hook options. Produces three hook options, one full draft, and a copy-ready block that is never published without an explicit yes. --- # li-post Turns one raw idea into a LinkedIn post that sounds like the person who posted it. ## Before you write 1. Read `~/.claude/linkedin/voice.md` if it exists. That file is the user's voice profile: how they talk, what they never say, who they are talking to. If it does not exist, ask for **three of their own past posts**, infer the voice from those, and write the file. Do not skip this and do not invent a voice. A post in the wrong voice is worse than no post. 2. Read `hooks.json` in this folder. All 21 formulas, with templates, filled examples, what each is for, and how each one usually gets ruined. 3. If the idea is thin - "post about AI" - do not pad it. Ask one batched question: what happened, to whom, and what did it cost or return. A post needs one specific true thing. Get it before writing. ## The shape LinkedIn rewards dwell time, saves and comments, in that order. So: ``` Line 1 the hook. Alone. It has to survive truncation at ~140 chars mobile. Line 2 the payoff of line 1, not setup for line 3. Body short paragraphs, 1-3 lines each, blank line between every one. No wall. The white space is the format. The turn one line that reframes what came before. Close one specific question, or one instruction. Never both. ``` Length: 900-1,300 characters is the working range for a text post. Under 400 reads as a thought, not a post. Over 2,000 needs to earn every line, and the "see more" tap has to be paid for by line 2. ## The loop **1. Pick three hooks, not one.** Run the idea through `hooks.json` and choose the three formulas that genuinely fit it. Different formulas, not three variations of one. Show them as three numbered lines and say which you would ship and why, in one sentence. **2. Draft the full post** on the strongest hook. **3. Humanize it.** Run the draft through `/li-human` before showing it. Every post from this skill ships humanized. That is not an optional extra step, it is the reason the draft is worth reading. **4. Print the block.** Copy-ready, in a fenced block, exactly as it should be pasted. Then, underneath: ``` POST READY hook: #17 Time Anchor length: 1,140 characters humanizer: 6 artefacts stripped, human score 84 PASS post at: Tuesday 8:15am ET (from your plan) Reply "yes" to log it, or tell me what to change. ``` **5. Never publish.** This skill produces text. The user posts it. On "yes", append the post to `~/.claude/linkedin/log.md` with the date, the hook used and the first line, so `/li-audit` has a history to work from later. ## Rules that make the difference - **One idea per post.** If the draft has two, you have two posts. Say so. - **Numbers over adjectives.** "$4,200" beats "a lot". If the user has not given you a number, ask for one rather than writing around the hole. - **No engagement bait.** "Thoughts?" and "Agree?" are dead. The closing question has to be one only this post could ask. - **Three hashtags maximum**, at the bottom, and only if they are real categories someone follows. - **No links in the post body.** LinkedIn suppresses posts with outbound links. Put the link in the first comment and say so in the receipt. - **Never fabricate.** No invented metrics, clients, revenue figures or outcomes under the user's name, even as a placeholder. If a number is needed and unknown, leave `{{your number}}` in the draft and flag it. ## Example ``` /li-post we built an internal tool that cut proposal time from 5 hours to 20 min ``` ``` HOOKS 1. #17 Time Anchor Writing a proposal used to take me 5 hours. It now takes 20 minutes. 2. #12 Comparison A $12,000 proposal writer vs a weekend and a template. The weekend won. 3. #3 Mistake For two years I charged clients for hours I was wasting on formatting. Shipping #17: the ratio is believable and the number is yours. ``` ## hooks.json ```json { "version": "1.0", "note": "21 hook formulas. Line 1 of a LinkedIn post is the whole game - the feed truncates at roughly 210 characters on desktop and 140 on mobile before 'see more', so the hook has to survive alone. Every formula here has a template, a filled example, what it is for, and the way it usually gets ruined.", "rules": [ "One idea per hook. If it needs a comma splice, it needs two posts.", "Line 2 is not a hook, it is the payoff of line 1. Never waste it on setup.", "No question marks in line 1 unless the question is specific enough that only you could ask it.", "Numbers beat adjectives. '$4,200' beats 'a lot of money' every time.", "If the hook works with any other person's name on it, it is not your hook." ], "hooks": [ { "id": 1, "name": "Contrarian Take", "template": "Everyone says {common advice}. After {specific experience}, I think that is wrong.", "example": "Everyone says post daily. I posted 4x a week for a year and beat every daily poster in my niche.", "best_for": "Establishing a point of view. Highest comment rate of any formula.", "trap": "Being contrarian about something nobody believes. The belief has to be genuinely common." }, { "id": 2, "name": "Number Reveal", "template": "I {did thing} for {N} {days/weeks}. Here is what actually happened.", "example": "I sent 400 cold DMs in 30 days. 11 replied. 2 became clients.", "best_for": "Experiments, challenges, anything with a countable result.", "trap": "Burying the number. Put it in line 1 or the formula does nothing." }, { "id": 3, "name": "Mistake Confession", "template": "{Specific cost} is what {one mistake} cost me.", "example": "$18,000 is what not having a contract cost me last March.", "best_for": "Trust. People forward the posts where you look bad.", "trap": "A fake-humble mistake. 'I care too much' reads as a brag and kills the post." }, { "id": 4, "name": "Before / After", "template": "{Time ago} I was {low state}. Today I {high state}. The difference was {one thing}.", "example": "18 months ago I was writing proposals at 2am. Today I send them in 6 minutes. One template did it.", "best_for": "Proof you have travelled the distance your reader wants to travel.", "trap": "Three-part transformations. Name one lever or the reader stops believing you." }, { "id": 5, "name": "The List Promise", "template": "{N} things I wish someone had told me before {milestone}.", "example": "7 things I wish someone had told me before I hired my first employee.", "best_for": "Saves. Highest save rate of the 21, which LinkedIn weights heavily.", "trap": "N above 10. The reader does not believe you have 15 good ones, and you do not." }, { "id": 6, "name": "Insider Secret", "template": "After {N} years {doing thing}, here is the part nobody puts in the {job posting/course/pitch}.", "example": "After 9 years in agency sales, here is the part nobody puts in the job posting.", "best_for": "Credentialed takes. Works only if the years are real.", "trap": "Promising a secret and delivering common knowledge. The comments will say so." }, { "id": 7, "name": "The Callout", "template": "If you are still {doing outdated thing}, stop.", "example": "If you are still writing your LinkedIn posts in the LinkedIn composer, stop.", "best_for": "Short posts with one instruction. Fastest to write of the 21.", "trap": "Calling out something nobody does. Or worse, calling out your own audience with contempt." }, { "id": 8, "name": "Question Trap", "template": "{Specific scenario with a real cost}. What do you do?", "example": "Your best client asks for a 40% discount and hints they will leave without it. What do you do?", "best_for": "Comment volume. People answer scenarios, they ignore 'thoughts?'.", "trap": "A question with an obvious right answer. There has to be a real fork." }, { "id": 9, "name": "Story Cold Open", "template": "\"{Line of dialogue}\"\\n\\n{Who said it, when, and why it mattered}.", "example": "\"We are going with someone cheaper.\"\\n\\nThat email arrived 40 minutes after I sent my best proposal of the year.", "best_for": "Long-form storytelling posts. Highest dwell time.", "trap": "Dialogue nobody would actually say. Use the real line, including the ugly parts." }, { "id": 10, "name": "The Receipt", "template": "{Screenshot or hard number}. {One sentence of context}.", "example": "3 clients, 11 days, zero calls booked. Here is the exact sequence that did it.", "best_for": "Anything you can prove. Pair with an image and reach roughly doubles.", "trap": "A receipt with no story attached. The number opens the door, the story is the room." }, { "id": 11, "name": "Myth Bust", "template": "{Popular explanation} is not why {bad outcome} is happening to you.", "example": "The algorithm is not why your posts are dying.", "best_for": "Reframing. Sets you up to deliver the real cause in line 3.", "trap": "Busting the myth and never naming the replacement. Always name it." }, { "id": 12, "name": "The Comparison", "template": "{Expensive option} vs {cheap option}. {Surprising verdict}.", "example": "A $12,000 brand agency vs a $20 tool and a weekend. The weekend won.", "best_for": "Tool and process posts. Very high share rate.", "trap": "An unfair comparison. Concede what the expensive option genuinely does better." }, { "id": 13, "name": "Permission Slip", "template": "You are allowed to {thing the reader feels guilty about}.", "example": "You are allowed to turn down work that pays well and makes you miserable.", "best_for": "Reach beyond your niche. These travel further than tactical posts.", "trap": "Generic self-care. It has to be specific to the working life of your reader." }, { "id": 14, "name": "Pattern Interrupt", "template": "{One word or three-word line, full stop.}", "example": "I got fired.", "best_for": "Stopping the scroll cold. Whitespace does the work.", "trap": "Overuse. Once a month. Every post starting this way reads as a tic." }, { "id": 15, "name": "The Warning", "template": "{Common practice} is quietly costing you {specific thing they care about}.", "example": "Your 'quick call to align' is quietly costing you six hours a week.", "best_for": "Problem-aware audiences who have not connected cause to cost.", "trap": "Fear with no exit. Give the fix in the same post or you have just made someone anxious." }, { "id": 16, "name": "Good vs Great", "template": "Good {role} {do X}. Great {role} {do Y}.", "example": "Good salespeople answer the question. Great salespeople ask why it was asked.", "best_for": "Quotable one-liners. Screenshot bait.", "trap": "A distinction that is really just 'try harder'. Y has to be a different action, not more effort." }, { "id": 17, "name": "Time Anchor", "template": "{Task} used to take me {long time}. It now takes {short time}.", "example": "Writing a week of posts used to take me 5 hours. It now takes 20 minutes.", "best_for": "Tool, system and automation posts. The strongest hook shape for a how-to.", "trap": "An unbelievable ratio. 5 hours to 20 minutes lands. 5 hours to 8 seconds does not." }, { "id": 18, "name": "The Unpopular Rule", "template": "I do not {widely accepted practice}. Ever. Here is why.", "example": "I do not take discovery calls. Ever.", "best_for": "Positioning. Attracts the right clients by repelling the wrong ones.", "trap": "A rule you break constantly. Someone in the comments will know." }, { "id": 19, "name": "Curiosity Gap", "template": "The {superlative} {thing} I ever {verb} {broke the obvious rule}.", "example": "The best hire I ever made failed the interview.", "best_for": "Openers that force the 'see more' tap.", "trap": "A gap you never close. Pay it off by line 4 or you have written clickbait." }, { "id": 20, "name": "The Walk-Away", "template": "I {fired/quit/deleted/cancelled} {valuable thing}. {Result}.", "example": "I fired my highest-paying client in January. Revenue is up 30%.", "best_for": "Values posts with a business result attached. Very high engagement.", "trap": "Walking away with no cost. Name what it actually cost you or it reads as theatre." }, { "id": 21, "name": "The Direct Value", "template": "Here is the exact {artifact} I used to {specific outcome}. Steal it.", "example": "Here is the exact 4-line email I used to reopen 3 dead deals. Steal it.", "best_for": "Lead magnets and comment-for-link posts. Highest conversion of the 21.", "trap": "Making them ask for something you could have just posted. Give the artifact away in the post." } ] } ```