| name | linkedin-editing |
| description | Edit a LinkedIn draft before its copy lands in the Jira CSV. Two quick passes (hook/tightness, then a hard compliance gate) plus a scaled score. Enforces linkedin-writing-guide.md so voice/policy rules are checked by a fresh pass, not self-graded by the drafter. Use inside linkedin-process.md (Step 4.5) or standalone on any drafts/ file. |
LinkedIn Editing
A short two-pass edit for a single LinkedIn draft. The blog has seo-blog-editing; this is its scaled-down sibling for social copy. It exists because the LinkedIn writing guide is only a guardrail if something checks the draft against it with fresh eyes — a drafter grading its own output is the anti-pattern that lets hashtags, first-comment links, em-dashes, and "actually" slip through.
Input and output
- Input: a draft at
channels/linkedin/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_[type]_[slug].md
- Output: the same draft file, edited in place, with a
## Edit log block appended.
LinkedIn has no draft→live split (unlike the blog). The draft is the source of truth, so this skill finalizes it in place. Do not create a second file.
Load ../../linkedin-writing-guide.md and ../../CONTEXT.md first. The banned words/structures are shared with the blog — cross-reference these verbatim, do not fork them:
The blog-specific items in those references (CTA variant names, FAQ schema, body markers, internal-link rules) do not apply to LinkedIn — take only the voice-level phrase/structure bans.
Pass 1 — Hook and tightness
Read the whole caption first. Fix structure before wording.
- Hook: does line 1 stop the scroll on its own? If it opens with setup or context, cut to the line that actually hooks.
- Tightness: every line earns its place. Cut anything that repeats a point or over-explains. A reader should get the whole point in one scroll.
- Length band (from the writing guide's per-type table):
carousel / short-video — very short (2–4 lines / 2–3 lines); the asset carries the contentstatic-theme — 3–5 short paragraphsstatic-blog — 2–4 short paragraphspoll — 3–4 short paragraphs
- Scannability: line breaks between beats, no wall of text.
- Payoff + CTA: the point lands, and the destination link (registration / blog) is present in the caption.
Do not rewrite word-by-word yet. Finish the pass, then rewrite.
Rewrite pass — voice + banned list
Fix what Pass 1 flagged, then run the banned list (cross-referenced from the blog references above):
- Adverbs — kill all: actually, really, just, genuinely, simply (plus fundamentally, crucially, importantly).
- Binary contrasts / negative listing: "It's not X, it's Y" and "Not A. Not B. C." → state the positive directly.
- Em-dashes: none. Use a comma, period, or parentheses.
- Filler openers: "At its core," "when it comes to," "in a world where," "here's the thing."
- Dramatic fragmentation for manufactured emphasis, false agency (name the human actor), elegant variation (repeat the right word instead of reaching for a synonym).
- Engagement-bait: "comment YES if…", "tag someone who…", lowercase-thought-leader voice.
Pass 2 — Compliance gate + score
Compliance gate (hard pass/fail — all must pass)
This is deterministic; most of it is greppable. If any check fails, fix and re-run this gate — a draft cannot exit editing until every line is pass.
| # | Check | Fail signal |
|---|
| 1 | No hashtags | any # in the caption |
| 2 | Link in the caption, not the comments | a "first comment:" / "link in comments" line carrying the destination URL |
| 3 | No em-dashes | any — |
| 4 | No banned adverbs | actually / really / just / genuinely / simply |
| 5 | No binary-contrast / negative-listing structures | "not X, it's Y" / "Not A. Not B." |
| 6 | No engagement-bait | "comment YES", "tag someone" |
| 7 | Caption within the per-type length band | paragraph/line count outside the band above |
| 8 | Dates YYYY-MM-DD in any meta lines | other date formats |
Exception handling: a hashtag or comment-link is allowed only if the draft carries an explicit, one-line campaign-exception note the writer flagged (per the writing guide). Absent that note, it fails.
Score (scaled for short copy)
| Dimension | Question | Score (1–10) |
|---|
| Hook | Does line 1 stop the scroll? | |
| Tightness | Every line earns its place? Within band? | |
| Voice | Cerkl-plain, no banned words/structures? | |
| Payoff | Clear takeaway + CTA/link in the caption? | |
Exit condition: 28/40 or higher AND the compliance gate fully passed. If below 28, rewrite only the failing dimension and re-score. The compliance gate is not negotiable regardless of score.
Finalize
Append this block to the bottom of the draft (keep the caption + asset sections above it intact):
## Edit log
- Compliance: hashtags 0 · em-dashes 0 · banned adverbs 0 · link-in-caption yes · engagement-bait 0 · length <n> paras (band X–Y) · <PASS/exception note>
- Score: XX/40 (Hook X, Tightness X, Voice X, Payoff X)
- Fixes: <one line on what changed>
Return: the draft path + the score line + a one-word compliance verdict (PASS / fixed). If this runs as a subagent inside linkedin-process.md, return those values — the orchestrator inserts the edited caption into the CSV. Do not edit the CSV from here.
Standalone use
"Edit the LinkedIn draft for [slug]" — run the two passes on one drafts/ file and finalize in place. For a whole week, linkedin-process.md calls this per draft between drafting (Step 4) and CSV insert (Step 5).
