One LinkedIn “best practice” that’s actually a waste of time
- Part 1Waking Up Your Professional Network
- Part 2Should you boost your best-performing LinkedIn posts with paid?
- Part 3Biggest lesson learned scaling Thrillist
- Part 4Putting links in your LinkedIn posts kills your reach?
- Part 5 One LinkedIn “best practice” that’s actually a waste of time
Episode Chapters
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00:36: Quality Over Posting Frequency
Publishing on a schedule misaligned with the pace of genuine insights wastes time and can turn audiences away from the message.
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01:32: Consumer vs Professional Networks
Professional social networks require more thoughtful content creation compared to the spontaneous, inspirational posting that works on consumer platforms like Instagram.
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02:05: Crafting Thoughtful LinkedIn Content
Effective LinkedIn content requires deliberate effort to create considerate, thoughtful, and useful messages rather than quick screenshots or internal updates that lack broader audience value.
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Episode Summary
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Why Your LinkedIn Publishing Schedule Might Be Killing Your Authority
Introduction
Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, challenges a fundamental LinkedIn best practice that many executives follow blindly. Drawing from his experience scaling Thrillist from a 600-person email list to 300 million monthly users before its Vox Media acquisition, Rich argues that forcing yourself to maintain a rigid publishing schedule on LinkedIn can actually damage your professional authority rather than build it. -
The Consistency Trap
Rich identifies publishing on a predetermined schedule as one of the biggest time wasters on LinkedIn. "Feeling like you've got to publish at some schedule that is misaligned with your brand or your pace of insights is a really quick way to waste a lot of time and probably turn people off of you and your message," he explains. This insight challenges the conventional wisdom that consistent posting equals better engagement and authority building. -
The problem isn't consistency itself—it's forcing content creation when you don't have something valuable to share. Rich advocates for a quality-over-quantity approach: "You'd love to have something great to say every day, but if that's just not the frequency with which you're finding you've got stuff that's really must read, you're better off publishing less and having it be better." This perspective shifts the focus from meeting arbitrary posting quotas to delivering genuine value when you have meaningful insights to share.
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LinkedIn Is Not Instagram
Rich draws a critical distinction between consumer social networks and professional platforms like LinkedIn. He shares his own Instagram behavior as a contrast—posting spontaneous photos of grapevines from his backyard vineyard that produces "a whopping five bottles of wine a year." These casual, inspiration-driven posts work on Instagram because the platform rewards authenticity and visual storytelling. -
The Professional Content Reality
LinkedIn demands a different approach entirely. Rich emphasizes that professional content "takes work. It takes effort to craft the message and to write something that is considerate and thoughtful and useful for the audience." The platform's professional context means that quick, unpolished thoughts rarely resonate. What might work as a spontaneous Instagram post—like sharing a screenshot of a new deck—falls flat on LinkedIn because the audience expects strategic insights, not casual updates. -
Building Real Authority Through Strategic Publishing
The key to effective LinkedIn presence lies in aligning your publishing frequency with your actual pace of generating valuable insights. Rather than forcing daily or weekly posts to meet an arbitrary schedule, Rich suggests waiting until you have something genuinely worth sharing. This approach respects both your time and your audience's attention, building authority through substance rather than frequency. -
For executives and marketing leaders, this means rethinking LinkedIn strategy entirely. Instead of treating the platform like a content treadmill where more is always better, successful professionals should focus on crafting fewer, higher-impact posts that demonstrate real expertise and provide actionable value to their network.
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Conclusion
Rich's perspective challenges marketers to abandon the "post daily" mentality that dominates much LinkedIn advice. By recognizing that professional authority comes from thoughtful, valuable content rather than consistent noise, executives can build stronger personal brands while actually saving time. The lesson is clear: on LinkedIn, publishing less frequently with higher quality content beats forcing yourself to maintain an artificial posting schedule that dilutes your message and wastes everyone's time. -
- Part 1Waking Up Your Professional Network
- Part 2Should you boost your best-performing LinkedIn posts with paid?
- Part 3Biggest lesson learned scaling Thrillist
- Part 4Putting links in your LinkedIn posts kills your reach?
- Part 5 One LinkedIn “best practice” that’s actually a waste of time
Up Next:
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Part 1Waking Up Your Professional Network
Most executives struggle to maintain consistent LinkedIn presence. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how AI-powered editorial systems can transform professional expertise into authentic executive content. The discussion covers expert-in-the-loop AI workflows that eliminate content creation homework, strategic approaches to LinkedIn post promotion versus organic reach, and how B2B marketing authority is shifting from corporate brands to individual thought leaders.
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Part 2Should you boost your best-performing LinkedIn posts with paid?
LinkedIn authority increasingly belongs to executives, not brands. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains how professional networks drive B2B marketing success. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale executive content creation and strategic approaches to LinkedIn paid promotion that maintain authenticity while expanding reach to first-party audiences.
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Part 3Biggest lesson learned scaling Thrillist
Professional networks remain underutilized for B2B growth. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, shares strategies for turning executive expertise into consistent LinkedIn presence. Rich discusses using expert-in-the-loop AI systems to scale authentic content creation and explains when to boost LinkedIn posts versus relying on organic reach. He reveals how first-party audience targeting can increase impressions 6x and why frequency caps matter more than promotional tags for executive content strategy.
Play Podcast -
Part 4Putting links in your LinkedIn posts kills your reach?
LinkedIn's algorithm penalizes posts with external links, limiting organic reach. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, discusses strategies for maximizing professional network activation on the platform. He covers the trade-offs between boosting posts versus relying on organic reach, optimal frequency caps for promoted content, and targeting first-party audiences to amplify executive thought leadership without appearing overly promotional.
Play Podcast -
Part 5One LinkedIn “best practice” that’s actually a waste of time
Most executives waste time posting on LinkedIn at arbitrary frequencies instead of focusing on quality content. Adam Rich, CEO of Known For and founder of Thrillist, explains why consistency should align with your actual pace of insights rather than forced daily posting schedules. Rich advocates for publishing less frequently but with higher quality, emphasizing that professional networks require thoughtful, crafted messages rather than spontaneous posts that work on consumer platforms like Instagram.