The Case for Flirting With Substack

... While Sticking With LinkedIn

There’s been a lot of acrimony lately on LinkedIn about the platform itself and the direction it’s going in. I won’t get into details here about it, as it tends to really get me down and even a bit angry.

You see, as one of the first users of LinkedIn (joined in December of 2003 as member #74,899), I immediately saw its potential as a networking tool and site. A lot of the features they’ve added over the years have only enhanced it as both a career site and a business development tool.

No matter how you feel about what LinkedIn (and Microsoft) is doing to the site’s functionality and usefulness, though, there’s a point that no one should forget: LinkedIn remains the #1 platform for professional relationship-building.

It’s where your network is already at… especially if you’re in sales or business development, or if you’re building thought leadership. And the reach you can get from a well-crafted post or comment is still unmatched. After all, you’re speaking directly to an audience you’ve built and curated on LinkedIn.

But LinkedIn is still a rented stage. As the platform “optimizes,” features come and go. Sometimes those changes simply alter how a tool works; other times, they remove capabilities entirely. And the algorithm there creates headaches through alchemy, pixelated fairy dust, and an almost opaque veil of secrecy.

Recently, many users lost the ability to save a profile as a PDF. Although that functionality appears to have returned, it may disappear permanently for LinkedIn’s free members. Over the years, we’ve also seen native document carousels retired, “Stories” appear and vanish, cover-story profile videos removed, “Creator Mode” sunset, and Collaborative Articles put into read-only mode.

While LinkedIn continues to develop and refine other features, these retirements serve as a reminder that everything you do on LinkedIn is ultimately at the mercy of the platform’s masters.

That’s why more professionals are turning to Substack, and some are even leaving LinkedIn behind. Those who are going with a Substack-only approach see it as a place to build something LinkedIn can’t take away: owned reach and lasting conversations.

My argument isn’t that Substack should replace LinkedIn. Instead, savvy users should utilize the best functions of both.

LinkedIn vs. Substack: What Each Does Best

When it comes to distribution and reach, LinkedIn’s algorithmic feed and notifications can drive tremendous visibility, but only if you understand how to work with the algorithm. Substack takes a different approach: content goes straight to your subscribers’ inboxes, bypassing algorithms entirely for consistent engagement.

For audience ownership, LinkedIn keeps your network on-platform. You can export some basic connection data, but it’s limited. Substack hands you the keys, giving you complete control over your email list to export, back up, and take with you anywhere.

In terms of discovery, LinkedIn still dominates. Its search filters by title, company, and industry (especially when paired with Sales Navigator) make it a powerhouse for finding exactly the right people. Substack’s discovery tools, like topic hubs and recommendations, are improving but remain more creator-content focused and less about connecting specific individuals.

Conversations also look different. On LinkedIn, public comments and DMs can spark large-scale interaction, but the volume can make it noisy. Substack’s conversations are smaller, focused, and opt-in by nature. While that reduces noise, it also means you’re speaking to a narrower group (for now, anyway).

When it comes to monetization, LinkedIn is indirect: you build credibility and trust that lead to opportunities. That’s hugely important, but Substack can generate revenue more directly through paid subscriptions and lead capture… often in fewer steps.

And portability is where the contrast is sharpest. LinkedIn’s less-than-detailed exports (via its “Get a copy of your data” tool) can’t give you the full reach you’ve built if you ever leave. Substack offers complete portability: It’s your audience and your content, and it’s under your control.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Why Substack Helps

GEO is about earning mentions and links in AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews, as well as LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and so on. Practically, you still need classic SEO with clean, crawlable pages that rank. Substack helps here because posts are public, indexable, and let you set SEO titles, descriptions, and slugs, so your deep-dive explainers can rank for the queries you care about, and thus better qualify for AI citations.

LinkedIn content is also indexed and, according to recent studies, is frequently linked in AI Overviews… especially for profiles and credibility cues. My recent LinkedIn post (NOT a full LinkedIn Article, just a post) on the whole “Save as PDF” situation became part of AI Overviews when a Google search was run about that situation.

The smartest approach is to split the work: publish the evergreen, explanatory content on Substack to build GEO-friendly authority, then use LinkedIn to distribute that Substack post to entity-signal (your role, company, expertise) and drive discovery. Substack gives you GEO-able depth; LinkedIn gives you reach and credibility. Together, they cover both sides of the equation.

This “both sides of the equation” way of thinking dovetails perfectly into…

Your Potential Play if You’re a Sales Pro or Content Creator

The smartest approach isn’t choosing between LinkedIn and Substack. It’s knowing how to use each for what it does best. Call it platform pairing.

LinkedIn should remain your go-to for visibility and credibility. It’s still the best place to get in front of your industry, spark conversations, and create proof of expertise in a public setting.

Substack is where you build your moat, the asset no algorithm change can take away. Here you grow your email list, publish long-form ideas, create reusable resources, and host conversations you can return to long after a LinkedIn post has disappeared into the scroll.

The real magic happens when you cross-post intentionally. Treat Substack as your permanent library of authority-building content — your “publication of record.” Use LinkedIn as the distribution satellite that amplifies that content to your professional network. This way, you get the discoverability of LinkedIn paired with the ownership and staying power of Substack.

Bottom Line

Substack doesn’t need to “chase” LinkedIn with your content, and it shouldn’t. Instead, it should lean into what LinkedIn can’t match: true audience ownership, complete portability, and trust. Give creators richer professional identity, better discovery, smarter collaboration, and analytics that reward teaching. Keep the email inbox superpower. Make sure your most valuable work lives somewhere you control.

And let LinkedIn do what it does best: remain the world’s #1 platform for professional relationship-building. Use the connection-building superpower that LinkedIn gives you to broaden your network and start sales conversations… without being salesy.