The playbook.
Not a module. This is the page to keep open while you write, and the one to come back to when a post has not worked and you want to know why. Nothing here is new; it is the whole course compressed into things you can check.
Twelve checks, about ninety seconds.
How Ingrained writes.
These apply to everything published under our name and everything we write for clients. They exist because the alternative sounds like everyone else, or worse, like a machine.
No em dashes
Commas, colons, full stops, or restructure the sentence.
Match the client's language
British English is our default (organise, colour, centre), but we write to each client's local standard. A US client's posts are written in US English, and the same applies to any other market. Check which applies before you draft.
No staccato fragments
The two-word-sentence rhythm reads as machine-written now. Vary sentence length.
No 'X, not Y' stacking
One contrast in a post is rhetoric. Four in a row reads as machine-written.
Understated over emphatic
No 'game changer', no 'insane', no rocket emojis. Confidence reads quieter than that.
Specific over impressive
Fourteen enquiries beats significant growth every time.
Nothing we would not say aloud
Read it aloud before publishing. This removes most of what makes copy sound synthetic.
It did not work. Now what?
Find the symptom, read the likely causes. Most underperforming posts fail for one of about a dozen reasons, and nearly all of them are fixable before the next one goes out.
Two posts, properly.
Three to five posts a week is where the research lands for a personal profile, but two considered ones beat five thin ones and are far easier to sustain. The rest of the week is capture and conversation.
Monday
Capture. Twenty minutes noting anything from client work that surprised you. No writing yet.
Tuesday
Publish the substantial one: thought leadership, proof or contrarian. Stay available for replies.
Wednesday
Comment properly on eight posts from people you would like to know. Sentences, not agreement.
Thursday
Publish the second one. Shorter, personal or reactive, depending on what the week produced.
Friday
Review. Which posts produced conversations rather than reactions? Note the shape, not the topic.
Commenting is distribution
Judge posts at thirty, not at one
Terms, defined honestly.
How long a reader stays on your post in the feed. Confirmed by LinkedIn as a ranking input, and the reason the middle of a post matters.
Distribution based on what a reader has engaged with rather than only who they are connected to. It is why a good post can reach strangers.
The see more cut. Roughly 140 characters on mobile, 210 on desktop.
The foundation model LinkedIn published in 2025 that now handles ranking across the platform. It reads posts as language.
The widely repeated claim that the first sixty to ninety minutes decide reach. Plausible, unconfirmed, and not worth reorganising your day for.
The mechanism that keeps surfacing a strong post for weeks after publication, independent of follower count.
Asking for interaction without offering anything. LinkedIn has stated it demotes this.
Retired in 2023. The features it gated are now available to everyone.