To repost on LinkedIn, click the Repost button under any post and choose either "Repost" to share it instantly or "Repost with your thoughts" to add your own commentary above it. Plain reposts usually get very little engagement, so add your thoughts whenever you have a real opinion. The strongest use of reposting is strategic: co-creating and cross-sharing content with bigger names in your field puts you on their level in the reader's mind.
To repost on LinkedIn, find the post, click Repost under it, and pick one of two options. Repost shares it to your network instantly with no comment. Repost with your thoughts opens the post composer with the original embedded, so you can write your own take above it and publish it as a new post.
That's the whole mechanic. The more useful question is when a repost is worth doing, because in my experience most reposts get close to nothing. I'll cover the steps for desktop and mobile, the difference between the two options, what I've seen reposts actually get, and the one way of using reposts I'd recommend to almost any founder in a small market: co-posting with the people above you.
How to repost on LinkedIn, step by step
LinkedIn used to call this "Share." It's now "Repost," which is why older guides can be confusing. The steps are nearly identical on desktop and in the mobile app.
On desktop:
- Find the post in your feed or on someone's profile.
- Click Repost in the row of buttons under the post (next to Like, Comment and Send).
- Choose Repost to share it instantly, or Repost with your thoughts to add commentary.
- If you chose to add thoughts, write your text, tag anyone relevant with @, and click Post.
On mobile:
- Tap Repost under the post.
- Pick the instant repost or the option to add your thoughts.
- Write your commentary if you're adding it, then tap Post.
A few practical notes. You can tag people in your commentary the same way you would in any post. If you change your mind, find the repost in your activity and remove it from its three-dot menu. And if you want to send a post privately to one person, use Send, which shares it in a message and doesn't touch your feed.
Repost vs repost with your thoughts
This is the choice that actually matters, so here's how the two compare in practice:
| Repost (instant) | Repost with your thoughts | |
|---|---|---|
| What your network sees | The original post, with a line saying you reposted it | Your text on top, with the original embedded below |
| Your voice in it | None | Whatever you write |
| Where reactions and comments go | Mostly to the original post | To your new post |
| Effort | One click | A few minutes |
| Best for | Quietly supporting a colleague or friend | Adding a real opinion, context or disagreement |
An instant repost is a signal of support. It's a nice thing to do for a teammate's launch or a friend's job search. What it doesn't do is build anything for you, because there's nothing of you in it.
A repost with your thoughts is a post. It gets judged like any other post, starting with its first line. If your commentary is "Great read, worth your time!", it's still an empty repost with more words.
Does reposting hurt your reach?
I don't have LinkedIn's internal numbers, and I'm wary of anyone who claims to know exactly how the algorithm scores reposts. What I can tell you is what I've seen in real data.
When I've looked at executives who mostly repost their company page, the pattern is consistent: the reposts barely register, and the rare original post in their own words does far better.
I see the same tension inside startups from the other side. The founder's personal posts clearly outperform the company page, the data is right there, and the company's content effort still goes into the page, with executives asked to repost it. It isn't malice. Marketing leaders are buried in agency pitches and trained on volume metrics like page impressions and whitepaper downloads, so one person's profile doesn't register as marketing. Asking the team to repost the page feels like distribution. In practice it's the weakest version of it.
So does reposting hurt your reach? In my experience a repost itself does little damage. It just wastes the slot. Each time you appear in someone's feed, you're spending a bit of their attention. If most of your appearances are reposts that nobody reacts to, you're training your network to scroll past your name. That's the real cost.
The pattern I see:
- Instant reposts of company or third-party content get very little engagement, most of it from coworkers.
- Reposts with a short, generic comment do about the same.
- Reposts with a genuine take, where you add context only you have, can perform like a normal post.
- Original posts in your own voice outperform all of the above, usually by a wide margin.
For more on what the feed rewards in general, I wrote up how the LinkedIn algorithm works.
When a repost is worth it
I'd repost in four situations:
- You have something to add. A number from your own experience, a disagreement, a story that extends the original. This is the best reason.
- You're in the post. Someone featured your work, quoted you, or listed you. Reposting with a thank-you and your own angle closes the loop and puts you in front of their audience too.
- You're supporting a person. A colleague's first post, a friend's hiring announcement. An instant repost is fine here. You're doing it for them.
- It's part of a collaboration. You and others created something together and each of you shares it to your own network. More on this below, because it's the most underrated use of the button.
If none of these apply, a comment on the original post is usually a better move. It shows up to the author's audience, and it keeps your own feed slot for something that's yours. I've written about why comments are such a strong channel as part of a posting system.
How to write a repost with your thoughts that people read
Treat the commentary as a post with a built-in visual. A few rules I follow:
- Lead with your take, in the first line. Readers see your words before they see the embedded post, and only the first couple of lines show before "see more." A hook generator can help you test a few openings.
- Say why it matters to your audience specifically. "This is exactly what we saw when we rolled out X" beats a summary of the original.
- Disagree when you disagree. A respectful "I see this differently" is more interesting than agreement.
- Tag the author if you're building on their idea. It's polite, and it gives them a reason to join the conversation.
- Keep it short. Three to six lines is usually enough. The embedded post carries the rest.
Co-posting: how reposts get you into a bigger league
Here's the part most "how to repost" guides skip, and it's where I think reposting has real strategic value.
In small, deep markets, the whole field is often about five serious players. Most founders in those markets treat competitors as people to out-shout. I think the better move is the opposite: build content collaborations with the rivals above you.
The mechanic is mutual elevation. You publish a piece that carries the takes of the most credible names in your category, for example their predictions for the year or their read on where the field is going. You're the one who assembled it. You're the name standing behind the publication. Then each person you featured shares it with their own thoughts, and the piece travels through every one of their networks with you at the center.
The act of convening the big voices puts you on their level in the reader's mind, even when you're the smaller player.
I saw this happen from the reader's side. I had read two posts by a founder before I realized his company was even on the industry map. I only caught it from a co-author's version of a shared piece that listed everyone in the category. The list is what placed him in my head as a real player.
How to run a co-posted piece
If you want to try this, here's the playbook I'd use:
- Pick the question. Something every serious player has an opinion on: predictions for the year, the biggest mistake buyers make, what changed in the last 12 months.
- Build the list. Include the most credible names in your space, including direct competitors above you. Generosity toward competitors in a tiny market is a status move.
- Ask for a short take. Two or three sentences each is enough. Make it easy to say yes.
- Publish it yourself, tagging every contributor, with your own take included as one voice among them.
- Invite each contributor to repost with their thoughts. Most will, because the piece makes them look good.
- Follow up personally. Every name on the list is now a warm opener for a direct message.
There's an adjacent version for when the market is less tight: a per-industry piece built around a quote from a recognized expert. Their credibility does part of the work for yours, and you get a natural reason to message everyone you included. It's the same logic as the bridge play I described for markets where buyers aren't on LinkedIn.
No AI replaces this part. It's relationship work, which is exactly why it's defensible. AI can help you draft the piece and your commentary (it's part of what I built Liftli to do), but it can't get five competitors to agree to be in the same post. You have to do that.