linkedin-post-formatter

# LinkedIn Post Formatter Transform raw content, ideas, or technical material into polished, engagement-optimized LinkedIn posts using Unicode typography and proven structural patterns. ## Overview LinkedIn only supports plain text — no Markdown rendering, no rich formatting. This skill uses Unicode Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols to simulate bold, italic, and bold-italic text that renders natively in the LinkedIn editor without any external tools. ## Unicode Typography Reference When converting plain text into Unicode-styled LinkedIn text, first load and use `references/unicode-charmap.md` as the authoritative character mapping reference. Apply these character mappings to create visual emphasis in plain text: ### Bold (Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold) Use bold for key phrases, section headers, and emphasis words. | Plain | Unicode Bold | |-------|-------------| | A-Z | 𝗔-𝗭 | | a-z | 𝗮-𝘇 | | 0-9 | 𝟬-𝟵 | ### Italic (Mathematical Sans-Serif Italic) Use italic for subtle emphasis, technical terms, or quotes. | Plain | Unicode Italic | |-------|---------------| | A-Z | 𝘈-𝘡 | | a-z | 𝘢-𝘻 | ### Bold-Italic (Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Italic) Use sparingly for maximum emphasis. | Plain | Unicode Bold-Italic | |-------|-------------------| | A-Z | 𝘼-𝙕 | | a-z | 𝙖-𝙯 | ## Visual Separators Use these characters to create visual structure: - **Section divider**: `━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━` (box-drawing heavy horizontal) - **Bullet points**: `◈` (diamond with dot) or `◎` (bullseye) - **Arrow flow**: `↓` for vertical flow, `→` for horizontal continuation - **Sub-points**: `↳` for indented sub-items - **Numbered items**: Use bold Unicode digits `𝟭. 𝟮. 𝟯.` etc. ## Post Structure Patterns ### Pattern 1: Hook → Content → CTA (General Purpose) ``` [Bold hook line — provocative statement or question] [1-2 lines of context setting the stage] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Main content with bold section headers] [Bullet points using ◈ or numbered with bold digits] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Bold takeaway or summary] [Call to action — repost, comment, or grab resource] #Hashtags ``` ### Pattern 2: Listicle (Numbered Insights) ``` [Bold opening line with a strong claim] [Setup line explaining what follows] 𝟭. [Bold item title] [Supporting detail] 𝟮. [Bold item title] [Supporting detail] ... 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: [Summary in italic] #Hashtags ``` ### Pattern 3: Story → Lesson (Thought Leadership) ``` [Italic opening with a personal or observed moment] [2-3 short paragraphs telling the story] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻: [Bold lesson or principle extracted from the story] [CTA] #Hashtags ``` ### Pattern 4: Resource Share (Cheatsheet/Guide/Tool) ``` [Hook: "If you do X, you cannot miss this..."] [Brief description of what the resource covers] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Bold section count]. [Bold section titles as numbered list] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: [Why this resource matters — bold key phrase] [Grab it / Share it CTA] ♻️ 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 if this is useful to your network. #Hashtags ``` ## Formatting Rules 1. **Line breaks matter**: LinkedIn collapses multiple blank lines. Use single blank lines between paragraphs. 2. **Hook above the fold**: The first 2-3 lines must compel the reader to click "see more." Front-load value. 3. **Short paragraphs**: 1-3 sentences max per paragraph. Wall of text kills engagement. 4. **Bold sparingly**: Bold key phrases and headers, not entire paragraphs. 5. **Italic for nuance**: Use italic for technical terms, internal thoughts, or subtle emphasis. 6. **Hashtags at the end**: 5-8 relevant hashtags on the last line. No mid-post hashtags. 7. **No emojis in body** unless the user explicitly requests them. Exception: one strategic emoji in CTA (♻️ for repost). 8. **Character limit**: LinkedIn posts can be up to 3000 characters. Aim for 1500-2500 for optimal engagement. 9. **No URLs in body**: LinkedIn suppresses reach for posts with links. Add links in comments instead. Mention "link in comments" or "grab it below" as CTA. ## Engagement Optimization - **Opening hooks that work**: Questions, bold claims, "If you do X...", contrarian takes, surprising stats. - **Closing CTAs that work**: "♻️ 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 if...", "Save this for later", "Tag someone who needs this", "What's your take? 👇" - **Whitespace is your friend**: Dense text gets scrolled past. Airy, scannable layout wins. - **The "see more" hook**: LinkedIn truncates posts after ~210 characters on desktop. Make sure the first 2 lines create enough curiosity to click. ## Process 1. Analyze the source content (text, HTML, image, or idea). 2. Identify the best post structure pattern (Hook→Content→CTA, Listicle, Story→Lesson, Resource Share). 3. Extract the core message and 3-5 key points. 4. Apply Unicode bold/italic formatting to headers and emphasis words using `references/unicode-charmap.md`. 5. Add visual separators between sections. 6. Write a compelling hook for the opening. 7. Add a CTA and hashtags at the end. 8. Verify the post is copy-paste ready for LinkedIn.