What is a LinkedIn ghostwriter, and is it honest to use one?

For founders, financial advisers and wealth managers deciding whether to pay someone to write their LinkedIn posts. Where LinkedIn or the FCA has a rule that applies, the answer links to it.

What is a LinkedIn ghostwriter?

A LinkedIn ghostwriter writes posts that go out under your name. You supply the ideas, stories and opinions. They turn them into finished posts, and you approve each one before it’s published. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a ghostwriter as someone who writes a book or article for another person to publish under their own name.

What you should expect from one:

• Regular questions that draw out your ideas, stories and opinions.
• Drafts written in your voice, ready for you to edit or approve.
• A posting schedule you agree in advance.

What they shouldn’t need is your password. The LinkedIn User Agreement says you won’t share or transfer your account (section 2.2). It also bans using another person’s account, “such as sharing log-in credentials or copying cookies” (section 8.2). You can publish each approved post yourself, or schedule it from LinkedIn’s post box with the clock icon (LinkedIn Help).

If you’re a financial adviser, a ghostwritten post is still your firm’s communication. Under FCA guidance, “communicate” includes causing a communication to be made. The same sign-off and record-keeping rules apply whoever drafted it (FG24/1, paragraphs 2.3 and 3.15 to 3.17).

How much does LinkedIn ghostwriting cost in the UK?

It depends on how many posts you get and what else is included. OwnDesk charges £250 a month for one post every weekday, £350 a month for two every weekday, and £950 a month for two every weekday plus paid ads management. Ad spend is paid on top of the £950.

Compare quotes on the same basis: cost per post, and what you get besides the writing.

Questions to ask before you sign:

• How many posts a month, and on which days?
• How do they get your input: calls, forms, or messages you can send in a spare five minutes?
• Who approves each post, and how long do you get to review it?
• What else is included, such as replies to comments, outreach or ads?
• How much notice do you need to give to stop?

At OwnDesk, posts are written from the answers you send each week by text or voice note. Nothing goes out until you, or your compliance team, approve it.

Is using a ghostwriter on LinkedIn dishonest?

Not if the ideas, stories and opinions are yours and you approve every word. LinkedIn asks members to use their true identity and not to share content that is false, misleading or intended to deceive. Neither its User Agreement nor its Professional Community Policies mention ghostwriting. A post turns dishonest when it invents experiences, results or views you don’t have.

The rules that matter are in LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies: “Use your true identity and share information that is real and authentic”, and “Do not share content that is false, misleading, or intended to deceive.”

LinkedIn’s help page on content created with the help of AI says its focus “is not on how content is created, but whether it adds value”. It also says content should reflect the member’s own voice, perspective and experience. That page is about AI, but it’s a fair test for a human writer too.

You also carry the responsibility. The User Agreement says you are responsible for anything that happens through your account (section 2.2). For financial advisers, COBS 4.2.1R adds that a financial promotion must be fair, clear and not misleading, whoever drafted it.

Lines to hold with any writer:

• No made-up client stories, figures or quotes.
• No opinions you wouldn’t defend in a meeting.
• If someone asks if you write your own posts, tell the truth.

Will people know my LinkedIn posts are ghostwritten?

Not from anything LinkedIn shows. Your name and photo sit on the post, and LinkedIn’s Content Credentials label covers images and videos with C2PA data, not the text of a post. People notice when a post doesn’t sound like you, or when you can’t talk about it in person. Readers can also flag posts that seem like AI slop.

LinkedIn Help on Content Credentials says members can view them “on all image and video content that has C2PA information attached”. Text isn’t mentioned.

Members can also tap the menu on a post or comment and choose “Seems like AI slop”. If a post gets enough of this feedback, you see a tip in your post analytics. LinkedIn says the tip doesn’t mean your post was taken down or that a policy decision was made. It also says content that feels generic, repetitive or lacks a clear point of view is less likely to be widely distributed (LinkedIn Help).

How to keep posts sounding like you:

• Reply to comments yourself.
• Only post stories you’d happily tell again out loud.
• Cross out phrases you’d never use, so the writer stops using them.

How does a ghostwriter capture my voice?

By working from your own words, not a blank page. A good ghostwriter asks you specific questions, keeps your phrases, examples and opinions in the draft, and learns from every edit you make. OwnDesk sends you questions each week, and you answer by text or voice note, so the raw material is the way you speak.

What helps a writer get your voice sooner:

• Voice notes. They keep the words you’d use out loud.
• Old material you’re happy with: emails, talks, podcast answers, past posts.
• A short list of words and phrases you never use.
• Edits made on the draft itself, rather than a rewrite from scratch, so the writer sees exactly what you changed.
• A view on each topic. LinkedIn says content that lacks a clear point of view is less likely to be widely distributed, and the view has to be yours.

Put the most effort into editing the first few drafts. Those edits show the writer how you sound.

Should I use a ghostwriter or an AI tool for LinkedIn posts?

Use an AI tool if you have time to prompt it, check the facts and edit the draft yourself. Use a ghostwriter if you’d rather answer questions and approve finished posts. Either way you’re responsible for what’s posted. LinkedIn urges you to review, edit and approve any content you’ve used AI to help with.

LinkedIn’s guidance on content created with the help of AI says:

• AI tools can help refine language, proofread or make writing more concise, but content should still reflect your own voice, perspective and experience.
• If you’ve relied heavily on AI, LinkedIn recommends letting others know, unless it’s obvious from the context.
• You are responsible for everything you post.

The User Agreement adds a warning about AI-generated content: it “might be inaccurate, incomplete, delayed, misleading or not suitable for your purposes”. It asks you to review and edit such content before sharing it.

Watch for tools that comment on or like posts for you. Section 8.2 of the User Agreement bans bots and other unauthorised automated methods used to create, comment on, like or share posts.

The practical difference is who does the work. An AI tool writes from what you type into it. A ghostwriter asks the follow-up questions, finds the story in your answer and drafts it for you to approve.

Sources

• Cambridge Dictionary, ghostwriter
• LinkedIn User Agreement
• LinkedIn Professional Community Policies
• LinkedIn Help, Best practices for content created with the help of AI
• LinkedIn Help, Content credentials
• LinkedIn Help, Post and share updates
• FCA, FG24/1: Finalised guidance on financial promotions on social media (PDF)
• FCA Handbook, COBS 4.2: Fair, clear and not misleading communications

Want posts written from your own answers? See our LinkedIn packages.