Hate Marketing Yourself on LinkedIn? Here Are Ways to Make It Less Cringe.

Many people find posting on LinkedIn terrifying. I’ve heard comments ranging from “I don’t know what to post” to “I always second-guess myself.”

But there’s an undeniable benefit to being on LinkedIn when you're running your own business. LinkedIn is very effective at driving high-quality leads and produces better organic results than other platforms.

You can be active on LinkedIn without the cringe. I’ve spent more than 18 months building a network and personal brand — one that DOESN’T revolve around constant self-promotion and instead revolves around building awareness and a personal brand.

(Say what you want about the cringey-ness of personal brand; it works.)

How LinkedIn helps freelancers grow their businesses

Some people don’t mind being self-promotional. I am not one of those people.

Yet here I am, a freelance fintech writer who relies on LinkedIn for business. Before that, I ran sales at a marketing agency and was expected to bring in new clients.

LinkedIn isn't just another social media platform — it's where decision-makers spend their time. The people scrolling LinkedIn are managers, founders, VPs, and directors who actually have the budget and authority to hire freelancers. That makes it one of the few platforms where showing up consistently can lead directly to client work.

For freelancers and solopreneurs, this means LinkedIn doubles as both a networking tool and a lead generation channel. By posting useful content and engaging with the right people, you're building visibility with the exact audience who might need your services. The key is doing it in a way that feels natural (and not sales-y).

5 ways to show up on LinkedIn

You don't have to overhaul your entire online presence to make LinkedIn work for you.

These are the strategies I've used over the past few years to build a network, attract clients, and grow my personal brand — all without feeling like I'm constantly selling.

Pick one to start with and build from there.

1. Repurpose your LinkedIn comments

If you’re not sure what to post, start by commenting on other people’s posts. You’re using their post as a prompt for your own ideas.

This doesn’t work if you reply with something like, “I agree!” It has to be substantial. The benefits are twofold: you’ll generate ideas for future content of your own and you’ll start showing up in the feeds of other people. Start small, like commenting on at least five posts per day.

Then you’ll take your comments and turn them into your own posts. Repurposing is always easier than coming up with net new content. You’ve already had the idea when you left the comment. Why not get extra mileage out of it?

2. Schedule posts in advance

Part of the paralysis people experience comes from cringing at their own posts the minute they hit “Publish.” This is especially true if you’re not used to writing publicly. You worry that low engagement means people didn’t like your post (it doesn’t — it just takes a long time to build up enough of an audience to get consistent engagement).

You can remove some of your trepidation by scheduling your posts in advance. I schedule mine weeks in advance. By the time the posts actually go live on LinkedIn, I’ve forgotten what I’ve written.

I also schedule many of them for 8:00 am, when I’m in the middle of getting my kids out the door for school and not looking at LinkedIn anyway. By the time I check to see if the post has any engagement, it’s been live for at least 20 minutes.

If you’re repurposing your comments as posts, this is even easier. Ten comments will get you two weeks’ worth of posts if you schedule one per day.

LinkedIn has a native scheduling option, but it’s terrible and clunky. Scheduling tools will make your life easier. I use Buffer [affiliate link*], but there are a lot of options out there, like Hootsuite, Loomly, CoSchedule, and Sprout Social.

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3. Keep self-promotion to a minimum

I worked with a woman who was trying to become more active on LinkedIn. She had some really unique ideas; writing wasn’t her problem. But she was only publishing once every two weeks, and every post ended with a really strong CTA to connect with her and learn more about how she could help.

Two problems with this approach:

First, once every two weeks is not nearly enough. You need consistent, daily posting to become memorable (though you can work up to daily posting over time).

Second, every post was self-promotional. That doesn’t work. The people who grow on LinkedIn freely share information and get attention that way. If someone really wants to learn more about what you do, they’ll click over to your profile.

LinkedIn is a place for conversations, not constant sales pitches. If every post is, “Come work with me!” or “Reach out to learn more about this company/product!” people will start to tune out.

Post self-promotional content once every two weeks, and keep it subtle. For example, I’ll say something like, “As a freelance fintech writer…” reminding people of what I do. Everything else can be interesting content about topics you're interested in.

You can also share "behind-the-scenes" posts about how you work. This gives potential clients confidence that you run your business as a business and not a side hustle.

4. Connect with potential clients

I spend a lot of time connecting with potential clients. Even if they’re not interested in working with me, more connections means more potential for people to interact with my content — which puts me in the feed and in front of potential clients I may not be aware of.

I’m in a bunch of Slack communities, meet people there, then connect on LinkedIn. I do not immediately pitch them. There’s nothing more annoying than a “pitch slap” in LinkedIn’s DMs. Better to build a relationship over time. I use a personal CRM to keep track of these interactions.

You can use the “bell” icon on the person’s profile to get notifications when they post. Then, interact with that person’s posts. That way, you stay on the person’s radar, and hopefully, they’ll reach out if they ever have a need for your services.

5. Collaborate with other people

If you collaborate with other people, you’ll benefit from their networks when they share info about the collaboration on LinkedIn.

For example, I appear on podcasts, write guest posts, and host webinars with other people. These are instant cross-promotions, and sometimes with people who have a much larger network than me. It exposes me to a new audience and potential clients.

And unlike “Come work with me!” posts, people expect you to be self-promotional with this type of content  —  you have something to share! You'll know it's working when you hear people say, “I heard you on this podcast…” or “I read this article you wrote…” so you'll know the effort is worthwhile.

Common mistakes freelancers make with LinkedIn posting

Building a LinkedIn presence takes time, and it's easy to fall into habits that slow your progress. Here are a few things to watch for as you get started.

• Making every post self-promotional. Let your expertise speak for itself and save the direct CTAs for occasional posts.
• Pitch-slapping new connections in DMs. Nothing kills a potential relationship faster than an immediate sales message. Connect first, engage with their content, and let the relationship develop naturally.
• Waiting for engagement before posting again. Low engagement early on doesn't mean your content isn't working — it means the algorithm hasn't learned who you are yet. Keep posting, and engagement will follow.
• Overthinking every post. The more time you spend second-guessing yourself, the less you'll actually publish.

A long-game strategy to avoid the hard sell

I hate a hard sell. I hate doing it, and I hate being on the receiving end.

And buyer behavior has changed. With all of the noise on the internet, they’ll tune out what they don’t want to hear. They’re more focused on relationships, referrals, being aware of brands, and “good vibes.”

Overly promotional marketing doesn’t work anymore. People want to buy from people  —  and, more specifically, people they like. Show up where buyers are on LinkedIn and become an interesting presence, and you won’t need a hard sell.

Presence matters, and it pays off.

Still not sure what to post on LinkedIn? Check out my e-course: Authentic Online Writing: 30 Days of Prompts.

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