Posting on LinkedIn, but no newsletter?

How to turn LI posts into engaging emails (in 5 simple steps)

Here’s something that blows my mind:

Every day, I see dozens of founders & creators who’re absolutely crushing it with their LinkedIn content.

But when I go to their profile to see if they have a newsletter, most of them don’t.

So I started asking people why.

Wanna guess want the single, most common answer was?

“I don’t know what to write about in my newsletter!”

What’s funny is…

If you’re posting on LinkedIn at least a few times per week, you’re sitting on a goldmine of potential newsletters.

That’s right - every one of your best-performing LinkedIn posts could easily be repurposed as a newsletter.

Most of your email subscribers probably never saw your LinkedIn posts anyway.

And if they did see them, they can still get more value from the content (if you do some intentional repurposing vs just copy-pasting the piece).

Think about what you're throwing away by NOT repurposing your LinkedIn posts as emails:

• Proven hooks

• Pre-tested topics

• And most importantly, content your audience has already engaged with

And the ironic part?

While you’re sitting on all that awesome LinkedIn content that you could repurpose, you're also staring at a blank page every week for your newsletter - wondering what the hell to write about.

Now, at this point, you’re probably wondering…

"Okay Daniel, but how do I actually turn my LinkedIn posts into newsletters?"

So, let me walk you through the exact process I use for myself & my clients.

My 5-Step LinkedIn To Newsletter Repurposing Process

In the past few years, I’ve written hundreds (if not thousands) of emails and hundreds of LinkedIn posts.

And after repurposing dozens of posts as emails, I've created a simple, 5-step process to go from LinkedIn post to newsletter in 10-15 minutes.

Here’s how it works (with a real life example):

Step 1: Pick Your Winner

Pull up your LinkedIn analytics and find a post from the past 30 days that crushed it.

The 2 criteria I usually look for:

• First, you want a post that already performed well. High engagement means people found value in it - and that's worth doubling down on.

• But second, you also want to consider the format. Posts organized as listicles or with clear structure are WAY easier to repurpose than less structured, more stream-of-consciousness-y posts.

So after taking a quick pass at my analytics from the last month, I’ve found a post with a ton of “newsletter potential.”

Step 2: Export The Post To Your Writing Tool

Once you’ve found your post, go ahead and copy/paste it into your preferred writing tool.

It can be:

• Notion

• Apple Notes

• Google Docs

• Whatever you use

I generally do my writing on Notion or Google Doc.

But any note-taking/writing tool should do.

Step 3: Prep The Page

Now, before we write a single word, we want to make sure this LinkedIn post starts to look and feel like an email.

These are usually the 3 things I do at this stage:

• I add sub-headings for each “section”

• I get rid of any LinkedIn-specific formatting

• And I adjust/remove the “hook” of the post (if it does’t make sense as an “intro”)

Oftentimes, LinkedIn posts have some weird or unique formatting that doesn't really look great in emails.

So, all we’re doing here is removing that and shelling out the big “sections” of the email.

Here’s how the piece looks after making this initial tweaks… see the difference?

Step 4: Expand Without Adding Fluff

Now, this is where the magic happens.

As I said earlier, we don’t want to just copy/paste a LinkedIn post, send it as an email, and call it a day.

The goal is to expand the piece - but do so without adding fluff.

Which means, every addition should make the content more valuable and/or useful.

With that in mind, here are 5 different ways you can easily expand any section of your piece while also adding more value:

• Share a specific tip to execute what you’re explaining

• Explain the "why" behind a point or recommendation

• Explain a benefit of doing the thing you’re explaining

• Add a specific example that drives your point home

• Share a relevant visual or screenshot

Generally, I aim to make my piece around 20-25% longer - and keep the email between 600-800 words.

Now, don't worry - I've got an AI prompt below that will help you figure out exactly which “expansion blocks” to use for each post.

But here’s a quick list of the additions I made to this specific LinkedIn post:

Step 5: Craft Killer Subject Lines

Last but not least, it’s time to brainstorm some subject lines.

Now, a common question I hear when I explain this step is:

“But Daniel, can’t I just use my LinkedIn post hook as a subject line?”

And the answer is…

You could - but there are some nuances.

At the end of the day, a “subject line” is the equivalent of your LinkedIn post hook. However, when you’re writing a subject line, you have WAY less real estate.

Generally, I like to keep my subject lines under 42-44 characters so they’re fully readable both on desktop and mobile.

The other thing is - it’s harder to write a great hook when you have to be so concise.

Which is why I always like to brainstorm at least 10-15 subject line variations for each newsletter I write.

This last step is crucial - because even if your email is great, people are not going to read it if your subject line blows.

Don’t worry, though. I also have an AI tool to help you with this…

Now, before I share all of those goodies, these are the subject lines I brainstormed for this specific email I’m writing (the one that’s bolded is the one I chose!):

1. The $20k mistake I had to fix

2. How I quietly built a $20k/yr newsletter

3. Why I'm all-in on Substack now

4. 90 users, $20k ARR, and one big change

5. I was wrong about Substack

6. From 3 tools to 1: here’s why

7. Building a paid newsletter? Read this

8. Simplifying my stack, growing faster

9. Substack vs duct tape: I switched

10. Would you pay for AI email prompts? 90 did

11. What’s next for my paid newsletter

12. $20K ARR, and I nearly burned out

13. Why “community” confused my users

14. The real reason I didn’t use Substack (until now)

This Week's AI Prompt

Alright, ready to write your next newsletter?

This AI prompt is designed to help you brainstorm 10 potential ways you could expand any LinkedIn post - so you can easily make it more valuable AND repurpose it as an email newsletter.

Here's what you'll need to do:

1. Go through Steps 1-3

2. Grab the prompt below & open your preferred AI tool

3. Add the LinkedIn post you want to repurpose to the prompt

4. Pick your favorite expansion suggestions for this post

5. Write your newsletter in half the time!

Wanna give it a try?

Boom - here’s the prompt: