If you have ever spent an hour a day commenting on other people’s posts just to boost your own reach, you are playing a short-term game. While outbound activity can spark visibility, it often does nothing to build the LinkedIn thought leadership required to win high-ticket clients.
It Works, But It’s Transactional
When you engage with other people’s content, many of them engage back. Your reach grows. Your engagement numbers go up. Looks good on paper.
But look closer. It’s often the same people. Creators engaging with creators. Everyone doing it to get it back.
I tried this. I was engaging with 100 people per day. My numbers lifted. But it was the same crowd returning the favour. Transactional engagement from people who wanted reciprocation, not from potential clients.
It was exhausting. And it wasn’t bringing me business.
The Creator Bubble: A Roadblock to Authentic LinkedIn Thought Leadership
97.5% of users are ‘lurkers’ who never post. If your activity focuses only on commenting on other creators’ posts, you are ignoring the vast majority of your potential buyers. Real LinkedIn thought leadership happens when you reach the silent majority who are looking for expertise, not just a ‘like’ back.
So when you’re doing outbound engagement, you’re engaging almost exclusively with the 2.5% who do post. Creators. Coaches. Consultants. People building their own audiences.
Your ideal clients are likely in the silent majority. As the Nielsen Norman Group’s research on participation inequality confirms, 90% of users in online communities are ‘lurkers’ who consume high-value content without ever engaging. Your LinkedIn thought leadership must be designed for them.
You end up growing visibility with the wrong people.
Why Resonance Beats Reciprocation for LinkedIn Thought Leadership
Posts that work don’t need engagement tactics to prop them up. They trigger a felt experience in your audience. They make people think “that’s exactly what I’m dealing with.”
If you do that well, the outbound engagement grind doesn’t matter.
A post with 10 likes that brings 2 leads is worth more than 200 likes from people just returning a favour. True LinkedIn thought leadership for 2026 focuses on a felt experience, making your audience think, ‘That is exactly what I am dealing with.
Focus on creating content that resonates with your audience. Not on gaming engagement from other creators.
What I’d Do Instead: Scaling Your LinkedIn Thought Leadership
Stop the 100-comments-a-day grind. Instead, put that energy into a balanced content mix. By following the LinkedIn company page frequency we recommend, you can focus on ‘Attention’ and ‘Retention’ posts that naturally attract the silent majority without you having to chase them.
Put that energy into creating content that speaks directly to your audience’s problems. Content that makes the right people feel seen. That’s what opens doors.
Engagement tactics are a treadmill. Resonance compounds.