You’ve heard of FOMO, but I’m here today to talk about FOPOL – the fear of posting on LinkedIn.

I’ve had a LinkedIn profile set up for more than five years now, but until recently, I’d posted rarely. As a result, what I did post received very little interaction.

My main fears were:

• Nobody liking what I posted
• Someone calling me out in the comments
• Coming across too corporate
• Adding to the churn of LinkedIn slop that doesn’t reach its target audience.

Then, I went through a career change that prompted me to start taking LinkedIn seriously.

In January, I was promoted to head of content at Yardstick. With this promotion came a whole new wave of imposter syndrome, but at the same time, it was clear that I needed to start acting like the confident marketer I wanted to be.

So, I designed a posting framework with the help of Abi and Katie, our two social media gurus. This strategy:

• Increased my impressions by more than 4,996%
• Helped me reach nearly 15,000 LinkedIn members
• Grew my following by 43%.*

*Between 1 January 2026 and 27 July 2026.

This three-step framework is easy to implement, even if you have a busy job and life. The numbers don’t lie!

Now, I’m giving it to you for free (you can thank me by connecting with me on LinkedIn – see what I did there?).

If you’re a financial planner/adviser with a serious case of FOPOL, here’s my cheat sheet to get rid of it once and for all.

Step 1: Bottle your USP

Your unique selling point (USP) is another way of saying, “What do you do better or differently to anyone else?”

For me:

• I’m both a copywriter and a team leader.
• I am interested in how financial services and marketing work together.
• I have relatable personal goals and hobbies that I like to share.

Yours might be:

• A niche area of advice (expats, business owners, etc.)
• Your involvement with the local community or charity work
• “Telling it like it is” and breaking through the corporate jargon
• Being a “nerd” about complex finance topics.

Once you’ve found your USP, LinkedIn will help you bottle it.

I started a weekly series called “Compliance Corner” where, on a Thursday, I post about common misconceptions, barriers, or feedback my team has encountered when producing financial promotions for advice firms.

I also try to post weekly about something outside of finance – personal accomplishments (including my much-loved vegetable garden), technology recommendations, and so on.

That’s it. That’s my USP. Relatable lifestyle content plus some niche financial promotion content thrown in for good measure.

You don’t need to revolutionise LinkedIn. All you need to do is find what you’re good at talking about and start posting.

Step 2: Establish a schedule

This is where most people fall down, which is a shame, really, because it’s the easiest bit.

Pick two or three days of the week and figure out a theme for each one.

For example, Abi posts a “My Weekend in Pictures” on a Monday morning, and I’ve stuck to Thursdays for Compliance Corner.

From there, you can batch-write posts and schedule them. Here’s how:

• Go to your news feed and click “Start a post” at the very top.
• Write the post you want to put out, or paste it in if you’ve done it elsewhere.
• At the bottom of the pop-up, there’s a clock symbol – click this, and schedule the post for a date and time of your choice.
• If you want to revise your existing scheduled posts, go to “View all scheduled posts”.

A schedule is important because it keeps the LinkedIn algorithm happy. Regular posting is essential for bringing your posts into people’s feeds.

Step 3: Engage with other people’s posts and comments

The old adage that “you get back what you put in” is true for LinkedIn.

Instead of scheduling your posts then never actually checking your feed, you should spend 5 – 10 minutes a day:

• Liking and commenting on posts you find interesting
• Replying to comments on your posts
• Sending connection requests and responding to ones you’ve received.

The LinkedIn ecosystem will thank you for it.

Still battling FOPOL? We can help

If my framework for getting over your FOPOL and growing your network still doesn’t cut the mustard, our Yardstick social media and content teams can support you.

Our range of affordable posting and engaging packages could take you from zero to hero on LinkedIn without you having to do much legwork at all.

Email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk to find out more about what we offer.