---
title: 'LinkedIn, Reddit and Zapier: How I Turn the World’s Whiteboard Into Thought Leadership with LiGo'
date: '2025-10-22T14:30:00Z'
lastModified: '2025-10-22T14:30:00Z'
author: Junaid Khalid
authorImage: https://imagedelivery.net/lLmNeOP7HXG0OqaG97wimw/cm2lk00lk000737ldhs2qcy93/d9a59f34-9520-450c-8f30-3e2a6f27f09b.png/public
authorBio: I have helped 50,000+ professionals with building a personal brand on LinkedIn through my content and products, and directly consulted dozens of businesses in building a Founder Brand and Employee Advocacy Program to grow their business via LinkedIn. DM me if LinkedIn is a current focus area for you. 
tags:
- Automation
- LinkedIn_Tips
- LinkedIn
- LiGo_Tips
- Founders
- Agencies
excerpt: 'Turn Reddit signals into LinkedIn thought leadership. Learn the LiGo + Zapier workflow that monitors subreddits, drafts posts automatically, and keeps attribution airtight.'
slug: linkedin-reddit-zapier-turn-worlds-whiteboard-into-thought-leadership-ligo
featureImage: /images/blog/linkedin-reddit-zapier-turn-worlds-whiteboard-into-thought-leadership-ligo.avif
headings:
- id: why-reddit-feels-like-the-worlds-whiteboard-and-why-that-matters-for-linkedin
  title: "Why Reddit Feels Like The World's Whiteboard (and Why That Matters For LinkedIn)"
  level: h2
- id: the-promise-what-the-ligo-zapier-reddit-workflow-actually-does
  title: 'The Promise - What The LiGo + Zapier + Reddit Workflow Actually Does'
  level: h2
- id: who-should-use-this-workflow-and-when-not-to
  title: 'Who Should Use This Workflow (and When Not To)'
  level: h2
- id: overview-the-exact-zapier-flow-i-use-high-level
  title: 'Overview: The Exact Zapier Flow I Use (High Level)'
  level: h2
- id: step-by-step-setup-connect-ligo-to-zapier-and-authorize-reddit
  title: 'Step-by-Step Setup - Connect LiGo to Zapier and Authorize Reddit'
  level: h2
- id: what-you-need-before-you-start
  title: 'What you need before you start'
  level: h3
- id: how-i-connect-ligo-set-the-trigger
  title: 'How I connect LiGo & set the trigger'
  level: h3
- id: building-the-zap-field-mapping-formatting-tricks-i-always-use
  title: 'Building the Zap: Field Mapping & Formatting Tricks I Always Use'
  level: h2
- id: formatter-tricks-i-use
  title: 'Formatter Tricks I Use'
  level: h3
- id: variant-creation
  title: 'Variant Creation'
  level: h3
- id: polishing-automatically-where-ai-fits-in
  title: 'Polishing Automatically: Where AI Fits In'
  level: h2
- id: practical-example-workflow-from-r-productmanagement-to-linkedin-in-minutes
  title: 'Practical Example Workflow - From r/productmanagement to LinkedIn in Minutes'
  level: h2
- id: ethics-attribution-reddit-rules-how-i-stay-respectful-legal
  title: 'Ethics, Attribution & Reddit Rules - How I Stay Respectful & Legal'
  level: h2
- id: testing-monitoring-troubleshooting-your-zap
  title: 'Testing, Monitoring & Troubleshooting Your Zap'
  level: h2
- id: testing
  title: Testing
  level: h3
- id: common-errors-fixes
  title: 'Common Errors & Fixes'
  level: h3
- id: security-rate-limits-api-keys-key-rotation-and-responsible-polling
  title: 'Security & Rate Limits - API Keys, Key Rotation and Responsible Polling'
  level: h2
- id: measuring-value-metrics-that-matter
  title: 'Measuring Value - Metrics That Matter'
  level: h2
- id: advanced-tips-make-the-workflow-work-for-teams
  title: 'Advanced Tips: Make the Workflow Work for Teams'
  level: h2
- id: templates-ready-to-use-zaps-copy-paste-prompts-settings
  title: 'Templates & Ready-to-Use Zaps (copy/paste prompts & settings)'
  level: h2
- id: formatter-rules-i-use
  title: 'Formatter rules I use:'
  level: h3
- id: common-objections-my-answers
  title: 'Common Objections - My Answers'
  level: h2
- id: best-practices-checklist-what-i-do-before-i-hit-publish
  title: 'Best Practices Checklist - What I do before I Hit "Publish"'
  level: h2
- id: a-30-minute-playbook-to-launch-your-first-reddit-ligo-zap
  title: 'A 30-minute Playbook to Launch Your First Reddit→LiGo Zap'
  level: h2
- id: final-takeaway-treat-reddit-as-your-teams-fast-rd-not-a-copying-machine
  title: "Final Takeaway - Treat Reddit as your team's fast R&D, not a copying machine"
  level: h2
- id: related-resources
  title: 'Related Resources'
  level: h2
pageTitle: 'LinkedIn, Reddit and Zapier: How I Turn the World’s Whiteboard Into Thought Leadership with LiGo'
metaDescription: Discover how to convert Reddit signals into LinkedIn thought leadership. Automate subreddit monitoring, LiGo drafting, and ethical attribution using this LiGo + Zapier workflow.
---

_Last updated: October 22, 2025_

Reddit is the closest thing the internet has to a global, always-on whiteboard. People post fresh, unpolished ideas there every minute - experiments, complaints, "I just shipped this" notes, niche reports and raw sentiment. For me, the value isn't in copying posts. It's in catching signals early and turning them into useful, context-rich content my LinkedIn network actually cares about.

That's where my LiGo + Zapier Reddit workflow comes in. It watches the subreddits I care about, turns promising threads into clean draft posts inside LiGo, optionally runs a quick AI polish, routes items for review, and then posts or schedules them to LinkedIn. It's automated market research, not theft - and it's the competitive edge that comes from being first to explain a niche trend to a professional audience.

Below is the full workflow: why it matters, who should use it, a step-by-step build, ethical guardrails, troubleshooting, and the exact prompts and Formatter rules I use. You can easily replicate it, tweak it, and make it your own.

![Reddit to LinkedIn automation workflow overview](/images/blog/linkedin-reddit-zapier-turn-worlds-whiteboard-into-thought-leadership-ligo2.avif)

## Why Reddit Feels Like The World's Whiteboard (and Why That Matters For LinkedIn)

Reddit shows what people actually talk about - unfiltered, fast, and often very specific. Product teams post beta feedback. Engineers share failure postmortems. Customers list annoyances. Those threads are a goldmine of story ideas that read well on LinkedIn: they're timely, practical, and often have clear lessons.

When you're the first person in your network to explain "what this subreddit thread means for our industry," you don't just get engagement - you get DMs, invites to speak, and connection requests from the people who actually need your expertise.

## The Promise - What The LiGo + Zapier + Reddit Workflow Actually Does

In one sentence: it watches subreddits for signals, pulls the content into LiGo as editable drafts, applies cleaning and optional AI polishing with ChatGPT-style steps in Zapier, routes a draft for a quick human review, and then schedules or publishes to LinkedIn.

Key benefits I look for:

- Speed: go from signal → draft in minutes.
- Consistency: a steady stream of idea prompts without manually checking threads.
- Context: LiGo lets me add POV and company context before publish.
- Ethics: the workflow encourages summarizing and attributing, not reposting verbatim.

## Who Should Use This Workflow (and When Not To)

Who it's for:

- Product managers who want early user signals.
- Content leads who need consistent, timely content.
- Recruiters who want to surface industry chatter to candidates.
- Consultants and analysts who want to own commentary on emerging topics.

When to avoid:

- If the subreddit is private or posts are clearly proprietary.
- When the post is personal and sensitive (don't republish anything that could harm someone).
- When your goal is long-form research - this is for real-time signals and short-to-medium form pieces.

## Overview: The Exact Zapier Flow I Use (High Level)

- **Trigger (Reddit)** - "New hot post in subreddit" with filters (upvotes, keywords).
- **Formatter (Zapier Formatter)** - clean text, strip links, extract top comment or TL;DR.
- **Action (LiGo)** - create draft or repurpose request via LiGo Zapier action (map fields).
- **Optional Action (ChatGPT/AI)** - polish tone or create short/long variants.
- **Action (Slack or Email)** - Notify reviewer or add to editorial queue.
- **Action (Scheduler / Google Calendar Zapier)** - optional: add publishing slot to Google Calendar or directly schedule to LinkedIn through LiGo.

> Note: I often add a Google Calendar step so my team can see planned posts in a shared editorial calendar - it's a simple Zapier app integration that keeps timing visible.

See this guide on how to set up the [Google Calendar workflow](https://ligo.ertiqah.com/blog/how-i-turned-google-calendar-into-linkedin-content-machine-ligo-zapier) on Zapier with LiGo.

## Step-by-Step Setup - Connect LiGo to Zapier and Authorize Reddit

### What you need before you start

- The API key of a **paid** [LiGo account]((https://ligo.ertiqah.com/settings#integrations)) with [Zapier access](https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/230853/c0fc17e3b43851ea42fce0ca15b13dd5/).
- A Zapier account (free tier works for simple tests, paid for high volume).
- Reddit account (to create triggers; some subreddits require authentication).
- Optional: an OpenAI or ChatGPT integration if you want on-the-fly polishing.

### How I connect LiGo & set the trigger

- In Zapier, choose **Reddit** as the trigger app → select "New Hot Post" or "New Post in Subreddit."
- Add the subreddit(s) you want to watch (r/productmanagement, r/marketing, etc.).
- Add filters: minimum upvotes (I use 10-20 as a start), keywords to include or exclude.
- Test so Zapier pulls a sample post.

## Building the Zap: Field Mapping & Formatting Tricks I Always Use

Field mapping is crucial. The Reddit payload includes title, body, author, permalink, and comments. I map them into LiGo like this:

- **Title** → LiGo "source headline" (used for context)
- **Body** → LiGo "source content" (stripped of URLs)
- **Top comment** → LiGo "insight" field (if available)
- **Permalink** → LiGo "source link" for attribution

### Formatter Tricks I Use

- Zapier Formatter (Text) to remove markdown formatting and URLs.
- Formatter to truncate long posts to a 280-400 character excerpt for a short LinkedIn variant.
- Regex step to pull quotes inside quotes (useful for callouts).

### Variant Creation  
I create three variants automatically:

- **Short hook** - 1-2 lines for quick LinkedIn hooks.
- **Long post** - 5-8 lines with a mini-analysis.
- **Thread starter** - bullet points someone can expand in comments.

## Polishing Automatically: Where AI Fits In

I often add a ChatGPT step inside the Zap to turn a Reddit thread into a short LinkedIn hook plus two supporting bullets. My prompt pattern is simple and repeatable:

> "You are a professional LinkedIn writer. Summarize the Reddit thread into: (1) a 1-sentence hook, (2) 2 short bullets that add context, and (3) a suggested CTA. Keep tone professional and first-person. Don't copy verbatim; summarize and credit the subreddit."

This step saves time, but I always send the AI output to a human editor in Slack for quick approval. Automation should speed the start of the thought process - not replace judgement.

## Practical Example Workflow - From r/productmanagement to LinkedIn in Minutes

Example (anonymized):

> A r/productmanagement thread reports a surprising user workaround for a popular SaaS tool. My Zap triggers. Formatter pulls the top comment (explains why people do the workaround). LiGo draft is created with the excerpt, top comment, and permalink. ChatGPT suggests a hook: "Users are bending X tool to do Y - here's what that tells me about product priorities." I review, add my point of view, credit the subreddit, and schedule via Google Calendar or publish.

When I posted within an hour vs a day later, the early post got 3x the engagement and sparked a meaningful conversation with product leads - that ripple effect is the whole point.

![Reddit case study results and engagement lift](/images/blog/linkedin-reddit-zapier-turn-worlds-whiteboard-into-thought-leadership-ligo3.avif)

## Ethics, Attribution & Reddit Rules - How I Stay Respectful & Legal

I follow simple rules:

- **Summarize, don't republish.** I paraphrase and credit the subreddit.
- **No screenshots of personal info.** Never publish names or dox.
- **Follow subreddit rules.** If a community forbids republishing, I don't use it.
- **Ask when in doubt.** If a post is a detailed how-to someone built, I ask permission or link back and clearly attribute.

Attribution is simple and polite: "based on a thread in r/productmanagement" with a permalink in the draft. That transparency builds trust.

## Testing, Monitoring & Troubleshooting Your Zap

### Testing

- Use Zapier's sample data to validate each step.
- Run a few manual triggers (create a test post or use historical posts) to check mapping.

### Common Errors & Fixes

- _401/unauthorized_: re-authenticate LiGo or Reddit connection.
- _No sample data_: make sure subreddit restrictions aren't blocking the sample; temporarily set filter looseners.
- _Rate limits_: slow down polling frequency or reduce subreddits watched.

## Security & Rate Limits - API Keys, Key Rotation and Responsible Polling

- Store your LiGo API key securely in Zapier's connection manager or a secrets manager.
- Rotate keys if someone leaves the team.
- Don't hammer Reddit APIs; set sensible polling intervals (e.g., 5-15 minutes depending on volume).
- If you need calendar visibility, use the **Google Calendar Zapier** step to add publishing times instead of querying too often.

## Measuring Value - Metrics That Matter

I track:

- **Speed-to-post**: time from Reddit trigger → publish.
- **Engagement lift**: difference between similar posts posted later.
- **Impressions & clicks**: does this type of content drive profile visits or leads?
- **Inbound conversations/DMs**: real business inquiries that started because of a post.

If a Reddit-sourced post leads to a discovery call or a new client, that's measurable ROI.

## Advanced Tips: Make the Workflow Work for Teams

- Add a **Slack approval** step: Slack message with post preview + approve button.
- Use a **LiGo staging folder**: drafts accumulate until an editor moves them to "ready."
- Prioritize subreddits: create a scoring rule (upvotes + keyword match) to decide what gets auto-drafted versus only flagged for manual review.

## Templates & Ready-to-Use Zaps (copy/paste prompts & settings)

**Zap template #1** - Hot Post → LiGo Draft → Slack for Approval → Add to Google Calendar (publish slot).  
**Zap template #2** - Hot Post → LiGo Draft → ChatGPT Polish → LiGo Draft → Auto-schedule (after manual approval).

### Formatter rules I use:

- Remove links: https?://\S+
- Strip markdown headers: ^#{1,6}\s\*
- Extract top comment: pull comments[0].body or use a simple heuristic for highest score comment.

## Common Objections - My Answers

**"Won't this make me sound robotic?"**  
>No - the automation creates a starting point. You add POV, company context, and human edits before publish.

**"Isn't that just reposting other people's ideas?"**  
>If you republish verbatim, yes; but the goal is to contextualize and credit. That's what thought leadership is: taking raw signals and explaining their meaning.

**"What about Reddit's TOS?"**  
>Summarizing and attributing is generally fine. Don't reproduce copyrighted content or personal data.

**"Does this scale without noise?"**  
>Yes if you add filters, scoring, and a human review step. Automation should surface signals, not force-publish everything.

## Best Practices Checklist - What I do before I Hit "Publish"

- Confirm attribution (subreddit link)
- Add a short company/author POV line
- Remove any personal or sensitive info
- Add CTA or next step for readers
- Check timing in Google Calendar and adjust for audience time zones

## A 30-minute Playbook to Launch Your First Reddit→LiGo Zap

0-10 min: pick 3 subreddits and set up a simple Zapier Reddit trigger.  
10-20 min: map fields to LiGo and add a Formatter step.  
20-25 min: add optional ChatGPT polish and Slack approval.  
25-30 min: run tests, review a generated draft, schedule a publish slot with Google Calendar Zapier step.

## Final Takeaway - Treat Reddit as your team's fast R&D, not a copying machine

Reddit is the world's whiteboard. The LiGo + Zapier Reddit workflow is how I turn that messy, real-time R&D into clear, responsible thought leadership on LinkedIn. When you connect the signal to a clean editorial process - filter, summarize, polish, attribute, publish - you win two things: speed, and credibility. Speed gets you the conversation first. Credibility keeps you in it.

## Related Resources

- [LiGo Integrations Overview](https://ligo.ertiqah.com/integrations) - explore all available LiGo integrations and what each one connects with.
- [LiGo + Zapier Integration Page](https://ligo.ertiqah.com/integrations/zapier) - full details, setup instructions, and support for connecting LiGo with Zapier.
- [How to Publish LinkedIn Posts Instantly from ChatGPT Using LiGo](https://ligo.ertiqah.com/blog/how-to-publish-linkedin-posts-instantly-from-chatgpt-using-ligo?utm_source=chatgpt.com) - a walkthrough on using LiGo with ChatGPT for instant publishing.
- [How to Post on LinkedIn Directly from Claude (Step-by-Step Guide 2025)](https://ligo.ertiqah.com/blog/how-to-post-on-linkedin-directly-from-claude-step-by-step-guide-2025) - learn how to set up LinkedIn posting automations using Claude and LiGo.  

