Perspectives: What we learned by sounding more human - and less corporate - on LinkedIn

For some time, we approached LinkedIn the way many companies do: somewhat cautiously, kind of sparingly, and with a concern of oversaying or posting too often. And like many in-house teams, we also believed in giving our posts "breathers" - letting one update sit for a day or two before publishing the next.

But over the past year, we've deliberately challenged those assumptions - not accidentally, not tactically, but strategically and intentionally. We decided to sound more human and less corporate. The aim was not to chase followers per se, but rather to build relevance, familiarity, and trust over time. In doing so, we clarified what actually drives engagement for organisations operating in complex, technical environments.

The results surprised us. Over the past year, Yinson Production’s LinkedIn engagement reached 111.9 per cent - nearly nine times the peer average - while impressions topped 2.2 million and followers grew 74 per cent. Here's what changed, and why it mattered.

Treating LinkedIn as an editorial platform, not just a broadcast channel
The first shift was our mindset. We stopped treating LinkedIn as just a broadcast channel and started treating it as more of an editorial one. That meant trusting content quality over artificial spacing, which led us to remove our previous internal policy of giving posts a full day's gap.

Our simple view still applies today: if content is relevant, well-written, and grounded in real stories, then frequency and quality don't have to be trade-offs. They can rise together.

That said, we didn't abandon judgment. For major announcements or milestones, we still try to create a day's distance where possible - not because of algorithms, but out of respect for significance. Some stories deserve room to breathe, while others don't need to wait.

We're often asked about "ideal" posting times and release windows. While we're aware of them, we found that timing mattered less than substance, especially if you have a global audience. A strong story that's clearly written and grounded travels across time zones, while a weak one doesn't - no matter when it's posted.

We also found that engagement on a recent post often leads to "spillover" engagement on older posts - even if they are weeks, or sometimes months old.

Investing in human stories and letting performance do the talking
The second - and more important - shift was with our content. We deliberately invested in human-angle storytelling, not as a campaign, but as a sustained editorial choice.

Over the past 12 months, we dedicated multiple mid- to long-form pieces to get to know our offshore colleagues - not just about what they do, but who they are. Some examples include articles about our staff aboard FPSO Maria Quitéria and FPSO John Agyekum Kufuor, as well as a piece on diversity and women taking roles in offshore operations.

These weren't glossy profiles or corporate declarations - they were conversations. They took time, required trust, and consistently resonated with audiences, not because they were engineered to, but because the people and perspectives were real.

Importantly, this storytelling didn't exist in a vacuum. It helped that Yinson Production was delivering in terms of our work - operations were stable and reliable, projects were executed safely, and assets were delivered in a timely manner. Operational credibility matters: when organisations perform well and meet their commitments, audiences are more receptive. Stories land differently when they are underpinned by real-world delivery.

At the same time, we consciously strengthened our external communications with the news media. We shared milestones, operational and financial updates, and context around what the business was doing and why it mattered. This combination of strong execution on the ground paired with clearer, more open communication proved to be a powerful engagement driver.

When engagement supports trust, reputation, and business development
Our new approach to utilising LinkedIn also began to support our business development in subtle but meaningful ways. The platform can act as a place where potential partners, clients, and stakeholders see how a company operates, how its people think, and how it delivers - often before any formal conversation takes place. For business development teams, this kind of visibility and familiarity matters. It shortens the distance between introduction and trust, ensuring that when conversations begin, they start from a more informed place.

The impact of this approach was visible in our data. As mentioned earlier, we've seen exponential growth in our LinkedIn engagement rate at 111.9 per cent, which constitutes follower interactions with posts through likes, comments, and reposts, calculated as total engagement divided by total followers. This was nearly nine times higher than the average engagement rate across four comparable companies in our sector, which sat at 12.8 per cent.

Drilling down further, engagement per post - calculated as engagement rate divided by total posts - stood at 0.60 per cent, compared with an average of 0.15 per cent among the same peer group. In practical terms, each post generated roughly four times more engagement than the peer average. We also generated more than 2.2 million LinkedIn impressions and grew our follower base by 74 per cent during the same period.

These figures showed that the underlying shift mattered. We moved from telling people who we are to showing them. Instead of declaring that we are people-focused, values-driven, or inclusive, we demonstrate those qualities through voices, moments, and lived experience, letting the audience draw its own conclusions.

Internally, this requires discipline as not everything makes it to LinkedIn - in fact, much doesn't. Editorial judgment - deciding what not to publish - became just as important as publishing itself. That judgment isn't easy to codify, but it shows up clearly in outcomes.

One of the more counterintuitive lessons was that sounding less "corporate" didn't mean sounding casual or unprofessional. It meant being simpler, more precise, and grounded. In many cases, it required more work, not less.

We're still learning, but one thing is clear: when organisations speak with people rather than at them - and when those stories are backed by real performance and visible delivery - engagement tends to follow. For us, sounding more human wasn't a stylistic choice, it was a strategic one. It fundamentally changed how we think about LinkedIn - not just as a communications platform, but as a contributor to trust, reputation, and long-term business development.

'Perspectives' is a Telum Media submitted article series, where diverse viewpoints spark thought-provoking conversations about the role of PR and communications in today's world. This Perspectives piece was submitted by Vladimir (Vlad) Guevarra, Head of Communications at global offshore energy company, Yinson Production.

Vlad is a former journalist at The Wall Street Journal and The Straits Times, and has held senior communications roles across banking, technology, telecoms, and energy. He focuses on building credibility, clarity, and trust through disciplined storytelling in complex industries.