linkedin-studio/references/content-framework.md

# Content Framework

A framework for creating LinkedIn content in **your** field — whatever that field is. The structure (pillars, triggers, source tiers, calendar) is domain-general; the subject matter comes from **your content pillars and expertise areas** (loaded from your profile), never baked into this file. The worked examples below deliberately span different domains so you can see the pattern, not inherit someone else's beat.

> **How to read the examples:** placeholders in `[brackets]` are filled from your own domain. Where a concrete illustration is given, it is an *example from one field* — substitute the equivalent from yours.

## The 4 Content Pillars

Structure your content around these four pillars for comprehensive coverage. The percentages are a starting balance, not a rule.

### Pillar 1: News & Commentary (30-40% of content)

**Purpose:** Establish yourself as someone who understands what's happening in your field

**Content types:**
- New releases, products, or capabilities in your domain
- Notable announcements from the players that matter to your audience
- Regulatory or policy developments
- Industry trends and shifts
- Summaries of new research or reports

**Your angle matters:**
- Don't just report news — add perspective
- Connect it to your expertise area
- Explain implications for your audience
- Predict what comes next

**Example transformations (different fields, same move):**

| News Item | Weak Post | Strong Post |
|-----------|-----------|-------------|
| A major product release in your field | "It's here! Amazing!" | "This changes the calculus for [your audience]. Here's what actually matters when you go to implement it..." |
| A new regulation passes | "New rules coming" | "After reading the 200+ pages, here are the 5 requirements that will hit [audience]'s projects hardest..." |
| A large acquisition in your sector | "Big deal in [sector]!" | "This acquisition signals a strategy shift. Here's what it means for anyone building on their platform..." |

### Pillar 2: Practical Implementation (30-40% of content)

**Purpose:** Demonstrate that you've actually done the work

**Content types:**
- How-to guides and tutorials
- Implementation patterns and anti-patterns
- Tool comparisons and recommendations
- Decisions and trade-offs you actually made
- Troubleshooting and problem-solving

**Key principles:**
- Be specific (exact steps, real numbers, real examples)
- Share failures as much as successes
- Explain the "why" behind decisions
- Make it actionable

**Example topics (spanning fields):**

| Category | Example Topics |
|----------|----------------|
| Implementation | "How we cut [a costly metric] by 60% in our [system]" |
| Patterns | "The 3 patterns I reach for on every [type of] project" |
| Tools | "[Tool A] vs [Tool B]: when to use each" |
| Troubleshooting | "Why our pilot succeeded but production failed" |
| Process | "Our 5-step vendor evaluation process" |

### Pillar 3: Strategy & Leadership (20-30% of content)

**Purpose:** Speak to decision-makers and establish strategic credibility

**Content types:**
- ROI and business-case frameworks
- Organizational readiness assessments
- Change management
- Governance and ethics considerations
- Leadership perspectives and decisions

**Target audience:** C-suite, department heads, the leaders in your space

**Example topics:**

| Focus Area | Example Topics |
|------------|----------------|
| ROI | "How to calculate the ROI of [your initiative] (the honest way)" |
| Readiness | "The 5 questions I ask before any [type of] project" |
| Change | "Why your [initiative] failed (it wasn't the technology)" |
| Governance | "Building a governance framework that actually works" |
| Leadership | "What I tell executives who ask 'Should we invest in [X]?'" |

### Pillar 4: Tools & Resources (10-20% of content)

**Purpose:** Provide tangible value and establish generosity

**Content types:**
- Free templates and frameworks
- Tool recommendations and reviews
- Resource roundups and guides
- Skills and capabilities you share
- Checklists and cheat sheets

**Key principles:**
- Give away genuinely useful things
- Don't gate everything behind email capture
- Update regularly as the field changes
- Focus on tools you actually use

**Example shares:**

| Type | Examples |
|------|----------|
| Templates | "The kickoff template I actually use" |
| Checklists | "Pre-deployment checklist (20 items)" |
| Frameworks | "My vendor evaluation scorecard" |
| Guides | "The [current-year] tool landscape for [your audience]" |
| Skills | "A custom tool I built for my own [task]" |

## Content Monitoring Routine

Stay current in your field without drowning in information.

> **Where you look is config, not baked into this file.** The specific sources to monitor — your vendors, regulators, outlets, communities — live in a source list the trend engine loads at runtime: `config/trends-sources.template.md` (shipped generic categories) with a user override at `${LINKEDIN_STUDIO_DATA:-$HOME/.claude/linkedin-studio}/trends/sources.md` (your own niche list, which survives upgrades/reinstalls). Populate the tiers there with **your** domain's sources. The *rhythm* below is what generalizes; the *sources* are yours.

### Daily Routine (10 minutes)

**Morning scan:**
1. Check your top 3 field sources (your Tier 1 list)
2. Note 1-2 stories relevant to your expertise
3. Add to content ideas if commentary-worthy

### Weekly Routine (30 minutes)

**Dedicated research block:**

1. **Deep sources** (10 min) — research, primary reports, authoritative analysis in your field
2. **Industry analysis** (10 min) — podcasts, channels, and the voices your audience follows
3. **Content planning** (10 min)
   - Which items merit posts?
   - What patterns are emerging?
   - What is my audience asking about?

### Source Tiers (cadence, not a fixed list)

Group your own sources into four tiers by how fast they move, then poll on that cadence:

| Tier | What lives here | Cadence |
|------|-----------------|---------|
| **Tier 1 — Primary / breaking** | first-party announcements, authoritative decisions | daily |
| **Tier 2 — Analysis & research** | where developments get interpreted, not just reported | 2-3×/week |
| **Tier 3 — Community signals** | where practitioners surface what matters before the press | weekly |
| **Tier 4 — Niche & seasonal** | slower sources with predictable cadence | monthly |

## Content Trigger Framework

Know when news in your field warrants a post.

### High-Priority Triggers (post within 24-48 hours)

**Always consider posting about:**
- Major releases or capability breakthroughs in your domain
- Regulatory decisions affecting how your audience works
- Major acquisitions or partnerships among the players that matter
- Security or safety issues in systems your audience relies on

**Why timing matters:**
- First-mover advantage in commentary
- The algorithm favors timely content
- Establishes you as "in the know"

### Medium-Priority Triggers (post within a week)

**Consider posting about:**
- Research or reports with practical implications
- Tool updates and feature releases
- Conference takeaways
- Strategy shifts among notable players

### Low-Priority Triggers (optional)

**Skip or brief mention:**
- Incremental updates
- Minor funding rounds
- Personnel changes (unless significant)
- Speculation and rumors
- Vendor marketing announcements

### The Relevance Filter

**Before posting, ask:**

1. **Is this relevant to my expertise areas?** Yes = proceed · No = skip (unless huge news)
2. **Does my audience care?** Check it against the audience in your profile — the people you actually write for. If it's adjacent-but-off, maybe skip.
3. **Can I add unique perspective?** Direct experience = post · Just repeating news = skip or brief
4. **Is there urgency?** Time-sensitive = prioritize · Evergreen = can wait

## Hook Templates

Templates for content built on news and expertise. Fill the `[brackets]` from your domain.

### News Commentary Hooks

```
"[Player] just announced [thing]. Here's what most commentators are missing..."

"Everyone's talking about [development]. After [X] implementations, here's what actually matters..."

"The [announcement] headlines are wrong. The real story is..."

"[Number] hours after [release], here's my first assessment..."

"While everyone focuses on [obvious thing], the real implication of [news] is..."
```

### Implementation Insight Hooks

```
"We just deployed [system] for [use case]. The hardest part wasn't what you'd expect..."

"After [X] projects, I've seen the same pattern [Y]% of the time..."

"Everyone says [common advice]. In practice, the opposite is true..."

"The difference between projects that succeed and fail? It's not the technology..."

"I just reviewed [X] failed projects. They all made this mistake..."
```

### Strategy/Leadership Hooks

```
"Our CEO asked me: 'Should we invest in [X]?' Here's what I told her..."

"Most [domain] strategies fail for the same reason. Here's the fix..."

"Before any [type of] project, I ask these 5 questions. #3 is the killer..."

"The uncomfortable truth about [X] ROI that vendors won't tell you..."

"What separates [X]-ready organizations from the rest? It's not budget..."
```

### Tool/Resource Hooks

```
"I've tested [X] tools for [use case]. Here's the winner (and why)..."

"Free resource: the [framework/template] I use for every [task]..."

"[Tool] vs [Tool]: after using both for [time], here's my verdict..."

"This [free tool] changed how I approach [task]..."

"I built this [skill/template/framework] for my own use. Now it's yours..."
```

## Topic Calendar

Structure your content across the month.

### Weekly Topic Rotation

| Week | Primary Focus | Secondary Focus |
|------|---------------|-----------------|
| 1 | News & Commentary | Strategy insight |
| 2 | Implementation how-to | Tool/resource |
| 3 | News & Commentary | Case study |
| 4 | Strategy deep-dive | Tool/resource |

### Monthly Content Mix

**For 8-12 posts per month:**

| Pillar | Posts | Examples |
|--------|-------|----------|
| News & Commentary | 3-4 | News reactions, trend analysis |
| Implementation | 3-4 | How-tos, patterns, lessons |
| Strategy | 1-2 | Leadership posts, frameworks |
| Tools & Resources | 1-2 | Shares, comparisons, giveaways |

### Seasonal Topics (rhythm, adapt to your field)

The calendar rhythm is general; fill it with your domain's events and cycles.

**Q1 (Jan-Mar):**
- Predictions and trends for the year
- Budget planning
- New-year resolutions/strategies

**Q2 (Apr-Jun):**
- Conference season coverage (your field's events)
- Mid-year assessments
- Implementation case studies

**Q3 (Jul-Sep):**
- Summer project retrospectives
- H2 planning
- Skills and fundamentals content

**Q4 (Oct-Dec):**
- Year-end reflections
- Predictions for next year
- Budget-justification content

## Content Quality Checklist

Before posting:

### Accuracy Check
- [ ] Claims are factually accurate
- [ ] Statistics are sourced and current
- [ ] Technical details are correct
- [ ] No hype or fear-mongering

### Expertise Signal
- [ ] Post demonstrates real experience
- [ ] Specific examples included
- [ ] Avoids generic cliches
- [ ] Shows nuanced understanding

### Audience Value
- [ ] Relevant to target audience
- [ ] Actionable where appropriate
- [ ] Not just information, but insight
- [ ] Answers "so what?"

### Differentiation
- [ ] Adds perspective beyond the news
- [ ] Shows unique angle/experience
- [ ] Not duplicating what everyone else says
- [ ] Reflects my expertise areas

## Content Anti-Patterns

**Avoid these common mistakes:**

| Anti-Pattern | Why It's Bad | Better Approach |
|--------------|--------------|-----------------|
| "[Field] will change everything!" | Vague hype | Specific, grounded claims |
| "[Field] is dangerous/scary" | Fear-mongering | Balanced assessment |
| Just sharing announcements | No added value | Add your perspective |
| "10 [tools] you need" | Generic listicle | Curated with experience |
| Jargon-heavy technical posts | Alienates audience | Accessible explanations |
| "[X] will replace [job]" | Tired take | Nuanced workforce analysis |
| Vendor press releases | Looks like promotion | Independent perspective |
| Repeating common advice | No differentiation | Counter-conventional takes |

## Integration with Main Skill

This framework integrates with the main LinkedIn content skill:

- **Angles:** content uses the same 8 angles (content-angles.md)
- **Formats:** follow format guidelines in linkedin-formats.md
- **Engagement:** apply the same engagement frameworks
- **Growth:** contributes to overall authority building

The difference for fast-moving fields: they require staying current with rapid developments and maintaining technical credibility while remaining accessible to non-specialist audiences.