I posted the exact same video twice on LinkedIn. One got 300 impressions. The other got 20,000.

I posted the same video twice... two days apart.

The first video got 300 impressions.
The second video got 20,000 impressions.

LinkedIn, you messy little nightmare app. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING???

Last Friday, I posted a video about “10 LinkedIn hooks that always work” and gave my audience the full list of hooks within the text copy of my post. (You’ll find it at the end of this article.)

• Normally, my average impressions after two days are ~10,000.

• This post’s impressions after two days: 300 (now at 1,779)!

• That’s a 97% decline versus my average!!

Never in my LinkedIn posting career have I had a post stuck at 300 impressions. 💀

Now, before you yell at me that impression doesn’t matter…

You’re right.

But helping people scale their LinkedIn is literally my job. So yes, if something smells fishy, I’m naturally curious about what is happening.

So, I messaged our beloved friends at LinkedIn Support.
Their response:

“𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.”

• Nothing got flagged.

• No platform-wide issues.

• Apparently, it just didn’t resonate with my audience.

I guess at this point, I should just let it go, right?

Nah. I knew it was a good post and that my audience would find it valuable.

So I posted it again.

Second time round, my post’s impressions after two days: 20,000 (now at 27,549)!

That’s a 100% increase versus my average!! 🔥

• 1,116 Engagements

• 10 Reposts

• 451 Saves

(Told you I knew it was a good post 🤓)

But WHYYY didn’t it get pushed the first time???

Lots of people have had weird reach lately. It always happens when LinkedIn is tweaking things.

In the text of my first post, I used the letter “X” as a placeholder a total of 12 times. In the second post, I replaced the “X” with “[…]”.

My first post could have made LinkedIn think I was:

a) Posting p0rn
b) Aggressively promoting one of their key competitors

Now, I could go down a rabbit hole and argue with LinkedIn Support to get to the bottom of this... But we’ll probably never know what actually happened. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The support team might not have looked into my case properly and just responded to my query with a standard reply, in an effort to hit their response-time targets. Annoying, but I get it.

The point here is that not every bad post means:

• Your content is bad

• The algorithm hates you

• Your audience is bored of you

• Your career is over and you should work on a farm in Wales

Sometimes the app is just acting like a little weirdo.

If you think your content was good. Just post it again. In the meantime: Drink some water. Touch grass. Enjoy the sun. Hug your loved ones.

Tomorrow is another day on the internet.

🌷

P.S. To the people who noticed the text placement changed in the second video:

Firstly, I both fear and respect the level of attention you pay to my content.

Secondly, it turns out that when you place the text too high, LinkedIn’s interface blocks it.

We live and learn.

Anyway, here’s the video! ⤵

Text copy of my LinkedIn post:

10 LinkedIn Hooks that always work 👇🏻

1️⃣ “Stop doing [...]”
→ Contrarian and demands attention

2️⃣ “The truth about [...]”
→ Promises insider knowledge

3️⃣ “Here's the secret I learnt the hard way”
→ Vulnerability + exclusivity

4️⃣ “The number one mistake new [...] make”
→ Specific, actionable, fear of missing out

5️⃣ “The biggest mistake I made when it comes to [...]”
→ Personal story + Lesson = Gold

6️⃣ “I can't believe I just (learned/noticed) [...]”
→ Genuine surprise is contagious

7️⃣ “This is your sign to [...]”
→ Permission-giving, emotionally resonant

8️⃣ “POV: you [...]”
→ Immersive, relatable, great for storytelling

9️⃣ “Your [...] isn't (ugly, lame, etc.), you just need [...]”
→ Reframe + solution = Share/Save-worthy

1️⃣0️⃣ “If you have ever struggled with [...], do [...]”
→ Targets the pain point directly, promises relief

🎁 Bonus 🎁

1️⃣1️⃣ “As a [credibility], [followed by your chosen hook]”
→ Instant credibility

1️⃣2️⃣ Add numbers (ideally $$$)
→ Pattern interrupt, tangible

And yes, some of these hooks feel quite lame.

Why's that?

Because we have seen them a lot.

Why's that?

BECAUSE THEY WORK!!!

Why's that?

1️⃣ Emotional triggers
→ Fear, curiosity, relief, validation

2️⃣ Specificity
→ No vague promises, clear simple language

3️⃣ Pattern interrupts
→ Stop scrolling moments

4️⃣ Story potential
→ Personal experience brings your post to life

5️⃣ Under 12 words
→ Roughly when users need to click “see more”

Remember:

Your hook makes or breaks your post.
If people don’t click “see more”, you’ve already lost.

Sad but true.

💔