LinkedIn’s Top Creators Are Doing the Opposite of What You’ve Been Told

Let’s be honest—most LinkedIn advice floating around out there sounds like guesswork in a business suit.

“Post daily!”

“Use hashtags strategically!”

“Tag influencers and post carousels to go viral!”

Sound familiar? Sure. But here’s the twist—brand-new data from 300 top-performing LinkedIn posts across 100 high-engagement creators flips a lot of this conventional wisdom on its head.

If you’ve been playing the algorithm like a game of darts in the dark, this might be the clarity you’ve been waiting for. Let’s break down the most surprising, even counterintuitive, takeaways from this analysis.

Why Posting Frequently Beats Posting “Perfectly”

Let’s start with what seems obvious but isn’t: consistency trumps content quality. 91% of top LinkedIn creators post at least once every three days. What’s wild is that only 20% post daily, busting the myth that you have to be online 24/7 to build a following.

You know that painstaking carousel you spent four hours designing? According to the data, you’re better off posting a decent image or idea more often than waiting to post perfection once a week.

Here’s the kicker: even reposts performed surprisingly well—17% of top-performing posts were reposts, and two-thirds of those actually outperformed the originals.

Takeaway: Quantity with decent quality beats sporadic excellence.

Image Posts Are the Unexpected MVPs

You’ve probably heard that video and carousels are the future. But the numbers tell a different story:

• 59% of all content posted was image-based

• 67% of the top-performing posts were image-based

That’s right—simple graphics, often unpolished, are dominating engagement. In fact, only 8% of the top posts were videos.

What gives?

Turns out, speed and comprehension matter. Images are quick to digest. In a scroll-happy feed, that split-second clarity wins more eyeballs than a three-minute video ever could.

Even more telling: 37% of top image posts were just cell phone pics of the creator—proof that authenticity outshines production value.

Borrowing Works—If You Credit Creators

Here’s something most gurus won’t tell you: 16% of the top image and video posts weren’t original. They were borrowed (with permission) from other creators.

This isn’t shady—it’s smart. When time is tight, repurposing useful content can keep your posting rhythm steady without reinventing the wheel. Just give credit. It’s not just ethical—it’s good networking.

Don’t Chase Followers—Chase Engagement

Think more followers equal more engagement? Think again.

Influencers with fewer than 50,000 followers actually had the highest engagement rate—a full 1.38%, compared to just 0.51% for those with 200K–500K followers.

This flips the script. Your actual reach has more to do with how tight-knit your audience is than how big it is.

So what should you do?

Repost high-performing content when your follower count grows. It’s likely that most people didn’t see it the first time anyway.

The Hashtag and Tagging Trap

You’ve probably heard: “Tag others to boost reach!” But only 17% of the top posts did any tagging at all—and when they did, no one tagged more than two people.

It gets better: 88% of top posts didn’t use a single hashtag.

So if you’ve been stuffing your posts with #growthmindset and tagging eight people hoping for a like, maybe it’s time to refocus. It’s the content—not the tags—that moves the needle.

Stop Overthinking Post Timing and Gated Offers

Yes, 8AM PDT / 11AM EST was the most common posting time. But here’s the truth: good content wins no matter when it goes live.

And those posts where you ask for a comment to get a free PDF? They were only 14% of top-performing posts. Gated content has its place, especially for list building, but don’t bank on it going viral.

Final Thought: Find Your  Style and Stick With It

This might be the most counterintuitive advice of all—repetition works. The top three posts from each creator were usually very similar in tone, format, and topic.

No need to reinvent your content style every week. Find your lane, and run in it.

Bottom Line? Stop Waiting. Just Start Posting.

Forget the overly engineered strategies. What this data shows—plain and simple—is that LinkedIn rewards consistency, clarity, and authenticity. Fancy formatting and slick videos are nice, but not necessary.

So if you’ve been sitting on a post draft for days, waiting to “get it just right,” let this be your sign. Hit publish.

And then? Do it again in a couple of days. Source: https://copyblogger.com/linkedin-personal-branding-statistics/