Craig Bryson is not a LinkedIn influencer. He is an Executive Assistant who got curious about his own analytics, which, as he points out, is just reporting. In our latest Pally Talk workshop, Craig used two of his own posts and their real numbers to show what makes a post start a conversation, what makes one travel, and why the bigger number isn’t always the better one. Here are the key takeaways, so you can put them to work this week.
1. You already have the material
- Your working week is full of posts: “Diary is fine.” 16:52 on a Friday: “Sorry, tiny thing before you go.” The politics of the CC line. The email from your executive that’s just a question mark.
- Keep the situation and the feeling.
- Change the times, numbers and details.
- Leave out names, employers and anyone recognisable.
- Share the observation, then ask a question that invites others in, e.g. “What piece of your work is only noticed when something goes wrong?”
- Try it: think of one moment from this week that made you quietly roll your eyes.
2. Decide what the post is for
Craig compared two posts from the same month:
- Board pack night (nine sets of board packs, one printer with opinions): 3,137 impressions, 31 comments, 2 saves, 0 reposts.
- The 6am post (nobody told me my executive started at 6am): 12,413 impressions, 6 comments, 9 saves, 3 reposts.
- The 6am post travelled. Board pack night started a conversation. Same month, different jobs.
- Your own replies count in your comment total, so reply to people. It’s good manners and it keeps the conversation going.
- Before judging any number, ask: what did I want this post to do?
3. Does the picture earn its place?
- Use an image only if it adds something: atmosphere, recognition or new information.
- Don’t repeat your post text on the image. It’s busy, and people scroll past.
- Worth a picture: a genuine object, an event photo, a screenshot of the real thing.
- Text alone is fine when the scene and the last line do the job.
- Video earns its place when it shows something words can’t, such as a hotel show-round. Video views and post impressions measure different things, so don’t compare them.
4. Which day? Which hour?
- LinkedIn sets no universal “best time”. Its own guidance says test with your audience.
- Craig finds Tuesday to Thursday busier; Monday and Friday quieter.
- He posts between 8:30 and 8:45am to catch the commute. Lunchtime is another window to test.
- Remember your followers’ time zones: your morning is someone else’s evening.
- Activity dips in summer and around big events; it picks back up when people return.
- So: test your own days and windows, and write down what happens.
5. The “golden hour”: what’s real
- LinkedIn hasn’t verified a golden hour as a distribution formula.
- What LinkedIn does say: comments have their own impressions, and it is cutting back generic comments, engagement bait and automated comments.
- Craig’s routine (not a formula): 08:00 comment on other people’s posts → 08:30 his post goes live → around until ~09:00 for replies, if he can. Staying around is optional.
- “Congratulations!” leaves little to reply to. Add a short experience, a point of view or a question. That’s what brings profile visits.
- So: comment when you have something to add.
6. Where event posts fit
- Don’t post event photos the morning after if you already have a post scheduled, as two posts end up competing for attention.
- Give event or resource shares their own space: often a day with no other post, or a lunchtime slot.
- A timely update can justify changing the schedule. Decide on purpose. It’s an editorial choice, not a LinkedIn rule.
7. Four numbers, and why to look at them
- Impressions: how far it travelled (appearances, not people).
- Comments: did it start a conversation? (Includes your replies.)
- Saves: did people think it worth coming back to?
- Reposts: did someone want to pass it on?
8. One simple sum to compare any post fairly
- Comments ÷ impressions × 1,000 = comments per 1,000 impressions.
- Board pack night: 31 ÷ 3,137 × 1,000 = 9.88. The 6am post: 6 ÷ 12,413 × 1,000 = 0.48.
- Same method for saves: board pack night 0.64, the 6am post 0.73.
- Why 1,000? It’s a readable common scale, not a count of unique people.
- Rates help compare posts of different sizes. They don’t remove differences in topic, audience or post age, and they’re your own measures, not LinkedIn’s engagement rate.
9. Where AI helps, and what to keep for yourself
- Friday handover: Craig logs into LinkedIn himself, then lets AI (Claude in Chrome) pull the week’s analytics into his tracker. It takes around 10 minutes and never sees his password.
- No browser AI? Download your LinkedIn analytics exports into a folder alongside the tracker and ask your AI tool to update it from there.
- Keep each post’s link in the tracker. The long ID number in the URL means you never have to scroll back to find a post.
- Craig’s prompt: “Read my POST TRACKER. Rank the posts by comments per 1,000 impressions. What do the top three share: topic, format, publish time? Suggest three post ideas, show the figures behind each, and tell me what we cannot know. Give me 20 hook titles and I’ll assess what I’d like to write from my experience.”
- AI suggests ideas and hooks; you write the post: your story, your voice. Keep the publishing and the final decision.
- A handful of posts is a small sample, and a pattern is not proof.
10. Quick wins from the Q&A
- How often? You don’t need five or six posts a week. Post when you know what you want the post to do.
- Speak to executives too. Craig’s 27,000+ impression post spoke to both assistants and executives, and the exec angle drove more engagement.
- Know your audience before you set out your stall, especially if you’re posting for a business.
- Negative comments? Ignore them, or kill them with kindness.
- Keep upskilling. Practise AI tools in your own time. Skills you build are yours to keep.
Your one experiment this week
- Let AI interview you, one question at a time, to draw out a story.
- Write it as a short story, details changed.
- Post it. Reply when you can (staying around is optional).
- Note your impressions, comments and saves.
Downloads: Craig’s LinkedIn Guide (PDF) and LinkedIn Analytics Tracker (Excel). The tracker does the sums for you. Members can request them from the Pally Talk team or email Craig at craig@adminaiinsights.com.
Missed the session? Watch the full workshop replay in the Pally Talk community.
Craig Bryson is the founder of Admin AI Insights, helping professionals work smarter with AI.