Social Media Style Guide Examples for Founders on LinkedIn

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Last updated: October 14, 2026

BLUF: A LinkedIn style guide for a founder is a short document that tells anyone writing in your name how you sound. It covers four things: your tone, how your posts are formatted, the phrases you never use, and real before and after examples. Brand guides from companies like Mailchimp are a good model for structure, but a founder's guide has to be personal and specific. This page gives you the template I use with ghostwriters, plus examples from my own ban list and my own edits.

Key takeaways

A founder style guide is personal. It describes one person, so write it in the first person and keep it to a few pages.

Separate voice from tone. Your voice stays the same. Your tone shifts between a story post and a hot opinion.

Formatting rules belong in the guide. Line breaks, paragraph length and hook style change how a post sounds.

A ban list does more work than an adjective list. "Never write 'game-changer'" is easier to follow than "be authentic."

Real before and after edits are the most useful section. Your ghostwriter learns more from one edit than from ten rules.

Keep the ban list out of the drafting step. Use it to review a finished draft.

Book a discovery call if you want help writing your own guide.

What is a social media style guide?

A social media style guide is a written set of rules for how an account sounds and looks. For a brand, it covers logo use, colors, hashtags, community replies and crisis protocol. For a founder on LinkedIn, the visual part barely matters. What matters is the writing.

That changes what goes in it. A company guide is written for a team of 20 people who never met the brand. A founder guide is written for one or two people, usually you and your ghostwriter, who need to sound like one specific human.

If your posts already sound like someone else, start with why your LinkedIn doesn't sound like you and how ghostwriters fix it. The style guide is the document that keeps it fixed.

Brand style guide vs. founder LinkedIn style guide

Section	Brand social media guide	Founder LinkedIn guide
Who it describes	A company	One person
Point of view	"We"	"I," with "we" for team stories
Visuals	Logos, colors, templates	Profile photo and the odd image
Voice	Brand personality traits	How you talk in a DM to a peer
Rules	Grammar, hashtags, reply policy	Formatting, hooks, banned phrases
Examples	Approved campaign posts	Your real posts and real edits
Owner	Marketing team	You, with your ghostwriter

The 5 sections of a founder LinkedIn style guide

1. Voice: who you are on the page

Write one paragraph that describes how you sound to someone who has never read you. Mine starts with this line: "You are an operator showing the move, mid-thought, to a peer who runs the same kind of shop."

Under it, list a few core principles in order of priority, so a writer knows which rule wins when two conflict. Mine include owning the flops, showing the move instead of describing it, and always connecting a story to the reader's problem.

Mailchimp's voice and tone guide explains the split well: their voice doesn't change much from day to day, but their tone changes all the time. That distinction is the backbone of a founder guide too.

2. Tone: how you shift by post type

Your voice is fixed. Your tone moves with the post. Write a short note for each type of post you publish:

Story posts: casual, first person, specific moments with names and numbers.

Opinion posts: direct, with "I think" instead of declaring universal truths.

Teaching posts: plain steps, no lecture at the end.

Add the words you'd use in a Slack message to a friend, and the words you'd never use. If occasional swearing or a "haha" is fine for you, say so. A ghostwriter will not guess it.

3. Formatting rules

Formatting is part of voice on LinkedIn. Put the rules in writing:

Paragraph length. Some founders read best in one-liners. Others read best in bulk paragraphs. Pick yours and say so.

Line breaks. Use them for rhythm. A line break before a reveal creates a pause.

Punctuation. I ban em dashes and double hyphens in my own guide. Periods and commas do the work.

Emojis. One or two per post at most, or none. Write down which.

Hooks. Note which openers you like and which you never use.

4. Banned phrases

This is the section ghostwriters use most. Keep it concrete. Here is a sample from my own ban list:

Category	Banned examples	What to do instead
Reframe constructions	"It's not about X, it's about Y." "Stop X. Start Y."	State the true thing directly
Scaffolding	"Here's the thing:" "Hot take:" "The result?"	Let the sentence land on its own
Engagement bait	"Drop a 🔥 if you agree." "Comment below."	Ask a question you'd read the replies to
Guru posture	"I cracked the algorithm." "DM me [keyword] for the guide."	Show the method
Vague quantifiers	"Many," "a lot of," "most" as the first word	Use a real number or cut the claim
Clichés	"Unlock potential," "through the noise," "game-changer"	Describe what literally happened
Words	"Delve," "elevate," "leverage," "robust," "transformative"	Pick a more specific word
Stock openers	"In today's fast-paced world..."	Open with the hook

One rule about using it: read the ban list after a draft exists, not while drafting. Loading a list of phrases during writing tends to put those patterns in your head.

5. Before and after examples

Rules tell a writer what to avoid. Examples show them what you sound like. Include a few of your best posts verbatim, and at least one real edit with notes on why you made each change.

Before and after examples from a real edit

These are edits I made to one of my own LinkedIn posts, about AI and ghostwriting.

Draft line	Final line	Why
"This doesn't slow down. It accelerates."	"I don't think this slows down."	Personal stance instead of guru certainty
"On opinions that feel earned, not generated."	"On opinions that feel earned, based on lived experience."	Removes the clever contrast
"Clients are willing to pay more to stay on the right side of that gap."	"There are people who are willing to pay more to stay on one side of that gap."	Less salesy, more observational
"Not because AI is bad at writing. Because it's too good at sounding like everything else."	Cut	A copywriter's line, not mine

The lessons I wrote under that edit are the kind of notes a guide needs. "I think" sounds more like me than a declaration. The last line should feel like a conclusion I arrived at, not a punch I planned. Vary paragraph length on purpose, because equal paragraphs read as assembled.

How to build your style guide in an afternoon

Pull your best posts. Pick the posts that got the best response and that you're proud of. Paste them in verbatim.

Describe your voice in one paragraph. Write it as if briefing a new writer.

List your tone per post type. Story, opinion and teaching are enough to start.

Write your formatting rules. Paragraph length, line breaks, punctuation, emojis.

Start the ban list. Go through drafts you disliked and write down every phrase that made you cringe.

Add one annotated edit. Take a draft, fix it, and note why.

Keep it alive. Add to the ban list every time a new tell shows up in a draft.

How to use the guide with your ghostwriter

Give your ghostwriter the guide before the first draft. Then review against it, not against a feeling. "This breaks rule 4" is easier to act on than "this doesn't sound like me."

Update the guide after every round of edits for the first month. Then review it every quarter. A guide that never changes stops describing you.

If you write your own posts, the guide works the same way. Use it as a review checklist before you publish. For more on drafting with AI tools, see should you use AI to write your LinkedIn. For real posts to study, see these LinkedIn post examples.

Common style guide mistakes

Adjectives instead of rules. "Authentic, bold, approachable" gives a writer nothing to act on.

No examples. A guide without real posts forces the writer to guess.

Writing it for a company. Founder content needs "I," your stories and your opinions.

Never updating it. Your voice and your offers change. The guide should too.

FAQ

What should a LinkedIn style guide include?

Voice, tone by post type, formatting rules, banned phrases and before and after examples. For a founder, that fits on a few pages.

What is the difference between voice and tone?

Voice is who you are, and it stays the same. Tone is how you adjust to the post and the moment. A story post and a sharp opinion share your voice and use different tones.

How long should a founder style guide be?

Short enough that your ghostwriter reads all of it. A few pages plus your example posts is a good target.

Do I need a style guide if I write my own posts?

It still helps. It becomes your editing checklist, and it is ready the day you bring in a ghostwriter or an AI tool.

Should a ban list include specific words?

Yes. Specific words and phrases are easier to catch than general advice. Add a short note on what to do instead.

Are brand style guides like Mailchimp's useful for founders?

Yes, for structure. Mailchimp's split between voice and tone is useful. The content of a founder guide has to come from your own posts and edits.

Next step

If you want help turning your posts into a style guide your ghostwriter can follow, book a discovery call. Bring a few posts you like and a few you don't.

I'm Frank Velasquez. I'm Head of Content at a ghostwriting agency, and I run Mentorship on the side for four founders at a time. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Social Media Style Guide Examples: A LinkedIn Voice Guide for Founders