EP #065 - Try a 1,500-Word Post This Week–Here's Why

I've been thinking about why so many executives write LinkedIn posts like they’re composing telegrams in 1920.

"Market update. Good quarter. Team rocks. Grateful."

Then these same executives wonder why nobody engages.

Meanwhile, the data from over 8,000 executive posts shows something fascinating: longer posts consistently crush shorter ones. 

We're talking about 2x the engagement rates. 

The executives afraid of "rambling" are actually starving their audience of the substance their audience craves.

The Short Post Trap (Or How to Sound Like a Robot)

Here's the conventional wisdom: keep it brief. Get to the point. Respect people's time. And sure, that works great if you're writing parking tickets.

But on LinkedIn, short posts under 250 characters averaged just 0.95% engagement in our analysis. Short posts are forgettable, skippable, and about as compelling as elevator music.

Posts in the 1,500-3,000 character range, however, hit 2.10% engagement rates. 

Most executives think these longer posts are "too long." But the irony is delicious: executives worried about boring their audience are actually boring their audience by being too brief.

Why Length Works

There are several reasons longer posts perform better on LinkedIn:

• Your expertise needs room to breathe: When you rush through an idea in 50 words, you sound like everyone else. When you take 300 words to explain what you learned from a difficult decision, you sound like a leader.

• Good stories can't be summarized: "We pivoted our strategy" tells me nothing. "Here's why we pivoted our strategy, what almost went wrong, and what I'd do differently next time" tells me everything.

• People want the real details: Your audience doesn't just want to know you closed a big deal. Your audience wants to know how you closed it, what you learned, and how it applies to their own challenges.

• Longer posts create better conversations: When you give people multiple angles to respond to, you get better comments than "Congrats!" or "Great post!"

What 1,500 Characters Actually Looks Like (Spoiler Alert: It's Not War and Peace)

1,500 characters on LinkedIn isn't actually that long - we're talking about 250-400 words depending on your writing style. You know, roughly the length of a decent paragraph or two.

This isn't asking you to write Moby Dick. This word count is simply enough space to:

• Set up a situation or challenge (instead of just announcing it happened)

• Share your experience or observation (with actual details)

• Explain what you learned (the part most executives skip entirely)

• Connect it to a broader principle (so the post is useful to others)

• Ask a thoughtful question (not "Thoughts!")

Most executives can cover this ground easily. The problem is executives panic and hit "Post" after the first sentence, like executives are afraid LinkedIn charges by the character.

The Executive Advantage

As a leader, you have natural advantages when it comes to longer-form LinkedIn content:

• You've actually done stuff: Most LinkedIn content is theoretical. You've made real decisions with real consequences. That's automatically more interesting.

• You see patterns others miss: Your job is connecting dots across teams, markets, and time horizons. Share those connections.

• You have better stories: Team transformations, strategic bets, customer conversations, board meetings. This beats "5 Tips for Better Productivity" every time.

• People want to learn from you: Whether you're sharing management lessons or industry insights, your audience is hungry for practical wisdom from someone who's been there.

So if you're ready to try a longer post this week, here's a simple structure that works:

• Start with a moment: Share a specific situation, conversation, or realization. Give your audience something concrete to anchor on.

• Unpack the significance: Explain why this moment mattered, what it revealed, or how it changed your thinking. This is where most executives stop too early.

• Connect to broader principles: Help your audience understand how your specific experience applies to their own challenges or decisions.

• End with engagement: Ask a question, share a related resource, or invite others to share their own experiences.

This framework naturally guides you toward longer content while ensuring every word serves a purpose.

Making the Leap (Without Overthinking It to Death)

This week, I dare you to write a LinkedIn post that feels uncomfortably long. 

Share a story that actually matters. 

Develop an idea beyond the surface level. 

Trust that your audience has the attention span of adults, not goldfish.

You might be surprised by how naturally your expertise expands when you give your expertise room to breathe. You might also be surprised by how much better your audience responds when you give your audience something substantial to sink their teeth into.

So here's my challenge: pick one story from your leadership experience that deserves more than a tweet-sized summary.

— Justin

Justin M. Nassiri | Founder & CEO
M: 650.353.1138 | E: [email protected]
250 Fillmore St Suite 150, Denver, CO 80206
www.ExecutivePresence.io

Executive Presence specializes in helping top-tier executives boost their visibility, activate their network, and position themselves as thought leaders via our premium, fully-managed LinkedIn service.

Our unique process involves ex-McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants conducting monthly hour-long interviews with our clients, and turning them into impactful daily LinkedIn posts to establish their unique voice and authority. On average, our clients see a 500% bump in engagement in their first 30 days with us. Data is continuously analyzed to improve engagement and identify impactful messaging that you can use for conferences, podcasts, and internal communications.