Caroline Otterheim's AuthorDNA
The writing patterns that make your content uniquely yours
What is AuthorDNA?
AuthorDNA is a hidden linguistic profile - the subconscious patterns and habits unique to how someone writes. We analyze posts across 243 style metrics specific to B2B social content and compare them to thousands of other authors.
These are the markers most people don't even notice - but they're what makes writing sound authentic.
Does More Of...
Patterns you use more often than typical LinkedIn authors
See example from 05 Dec 2025
Does Less Of...
Patterns you use less often - that's part of your style too!
Your AuthorDNA Profile
You probably didn't realize, but your posts are essentially emoji-powered - you use positive or celebratory emoji 12 times more than the average person, and nearly every other line you write contains at least one. In fact, for every sentence, you’re stacking in 9 times more emoji than your peers. It’s not just a sprinkle - it’s a full-on confetti cannon, and your balance between positive and negative emoji is off the charts at 13x the norm.
This works because it signals relentless energy and approachability. Readers don’t just see your message - they feel it, instantly. Now imagine trying to brief this to a ghostwriter: “Hey, make sure 6 out of every 10 lines have at least one celebratory emoji, but don’t overdo the syllables or paragraphs.” They’d stare at you like you’d lost your mind. This isn’t a checklist; it’s your subconscious in action. You can’t reverse-engineer this even if you wanted to.
Posting 4.7 times per week, you’ve built a signature rhythm your audience can’t quite put their finger on - but they feel it. This is exactly what Drumbeat captures - the patterns you can’t articulate but your audience feels. Your company’s message, in each team member’s authentic voice, at scale.
Signature Phrases
Your most frequently used words and phrases
Posting Consistency
06 Sep 2025 - 10 Dec 2025
Deep Dive
Explore all 17 categories of writing style
Call-to-Action Patterns 7
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average position of CTAs in the post | Upper half | HIGH | STEADY |
| CTAs using command verbs (Click, Share, Comment, etc.) | 50% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Whether CTAs include emoji | 13% of posts | HIGH | VARIES |
| Whether any call-to-action exists | 87% of posts | HIGH | STEADY |
| CTAs phrased as questions vs statements | 1% | LOW | STEADY |
| Whether CTAs are concentrated at the end of the post | 3% | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether CTAs include hashtags | 1% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
Emoji Usage 38
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average emoji per line of text | 66% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Average number of emoji appearing together in clusters | 56% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Balance between positive and negative emoji | 58% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Count of neutral/functional emoji | 0.0 - 2.5 | HIGH | VARIES |
| Count of positive/celebratory emoji | 0.1 - 2.1 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Emoji count relative to sentence count | 88% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Emoji density in CTA sections | 3 - 84 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Emoji density in the hook section | 7 - 79 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Emoji used to replace words entirely | 12% | HIGH | VARIES |
| How consistently emoji pair with specific words | 10% | HIGH | VARIES |
| How consistently the same emoji is used for bullets | 6% | HIGH | VARIES |
| How often the same emoji repeats across the post | 7% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Largest group of adjacent emoji | 56% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Number of emoji clusters (groups of adjacent emoji) | 0.0 - 0.6 | HIGH | VARIES |
| Number of emoji in call-to-action lines | 0.1 - 2.1 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Number of emoji in the opening hook | 0.1 - 3.1 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Percentage of emoji that are neutral/functional | 42% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Percentage of emoji that are positive/celebratory | 58% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Percentage of lines containing at least one emoji | 45% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Proportion of emoji appearing in clusters | 16% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Proportion of emoji that appear multiple times | 12% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Variety of different emoji used as bullets | 3% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Whether emoji are used as bullet point markers | 6% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Average distance between repeated emoji | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Count of negative/warning emoji | ~0.0 | LOW | STEADY |
| Emoji usage in the middle section of the post | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Percentage of emoji that are 'corpspeak' type | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Percentage of emoji that are negative/warning | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Percentage of lines that contain only emoji | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Whether the post starts with an emoji | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Consistency of emoji bullet indentation | 0% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Emoji count per 1000 words | 10% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Number of bullet point lines using emoji as markers | 0.0 - 0.6 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Number of different emoji types used | 0.0 - 1.4 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Total count of repeated emoji across the post | 0.0 - 0.7 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Total number of emoji in the post | 0.0 - 1.5 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Variety of different emoji used (unique/total ratio) | 20% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether any emoji are used in the post | 23% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Formality & Tone 9
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratio of negative to positive contractions | 86:1 | HIGH | VARIES |
| Count of negative contractions used | 10% | LOW | VARIES |
| Count of positive contractions used | 20% | LOW | VARIES |
| Number of different contraction types | 29% | LOW | VARIES |
| Total number of contractions | 30% | LOW | VARIES |
| Usage of positive contractions (it's, I'm, we're) | 38% | LOW | VARIES |
| Percentage of words that are contractions | 60% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of negative contractions (don't, won't, can't) | 22% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Variety of different contractions used | 25% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Function Words 21
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usage of 'a' per 1000 words | 0 - 30 | LOW | VARIES |
| Usage of 'because' per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Usage of 'but' per 1000 words | 0-5 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Usage of 'if' per 1000 words | 0-6 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Usage of 'so' per 1000 words | 0-5 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Usage of 'who' per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Overall grammatical word usage | 138 - 247 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Usage of 'and' per 1000 words | 11 - 57 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Usage of 'as' per 1000 words | 0-9 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'at' per 1000 words | 0-16 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'by' per 1000 words | 0-12 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'for' per 1000 words | 0 - 29 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'is' per 1000 words | 0-21 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'of' per 1000 words | 0 - 29 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'on' per 1000 words | 0-22 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'that' per 1000 words | 0-13 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'the' per 1000 words | 2 - 62 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Usage of 'to' per 1000 words | 20 - 65 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Usage of 'which' per 1000 words | 0-3 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Usage of 'with' per 1000 words | 0 - 26 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Variety of function words used | 31% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Hashtag Usage 12
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average character length of hashtags | 7 - 12 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Proportion of hashtags in ALL CAPS | 8% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Proportion of hashtags placed at the end | 83% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Proportion of hashtags using CamelCase | 85% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Hashtag density per 100 words | 81% | LOW | VARIES |
| Proportion of all-lowercase hashtags | 2% | LOW | VARIES |
| Proportion of hashtags woven into the text | 1% | LOW | VARIES |
| Ratio of inline hashtags to end hashtags | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Total number of hashtags | 0.0 - 1.4 | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether any hashtags are used | 23% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| Proportion of hashtags in the opening | 16% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether the opening line contains a hashtag | 19% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Opening Hooks 14
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of emoji in the hook | 0.0 - 1.3 | HIGH | VARIES |
| Negation words in the hook | 0.0 - 0.4 | LOW | VARIES |
| Use of 'you/your' in the hook | 1% | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether the hook starts with a conjunction | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Whether there's a clear opening hook section | 11% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| ALL CAPS words in the hook | 3% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Character count of the hook | 181 - 313 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Character position where the hook ends | 181 - 313 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Hook length relative to total post | 83% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Hook lines relative to total lines | 74% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Where LinkedIn's 'see more' cuts off | 83% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Whether the hook contains a question | 13% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether the hook contains emoji | 17% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether there's a blank line after the hook | 20% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Line Structure 18
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blank lines per 100 total lines | 30 - 45 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Lines containing exactly one sentence | 83% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Percentage of single-word lines | 4% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Predictability of line length pattern | Very consistent | HIGH | STEADY |
| Proportion of blank space | 38% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Spacing between content-rich lines | 1.6 - 2.3 | HIGH | STEADY |
| Ratio of lines starting with numbers | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Ratio of lines starting with punctuation | 2% | LOW | VARIES |
| Ratio of lines starting with quotes | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Variation in block sizes | 8% | LOW | VARIES |
| Variation in line lengths | 5 - 211 | LOW | STEADY |
| Average characters per line | 69 - 130 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Average lines per text block | 0.9 - 1.2 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Average spacing between blank lines | 0.4 - 2.5 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Average words per line | 11 - 22 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Number of visual text blocks | 2.1 - 4.2 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of very short lines (<5 words) | 9% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Ratio of lines starting with ALL CAPS | 3% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
List Patterns 15
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average items per dash/bullet list | 9% | LOW | VARIES |
| Average items per emoji list | 3% | LOW | VARIES |
| Consistency of emoji bullet indentation | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Consistency of numbered list formatting | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Nesting depth of numbered lists | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Number of dash/bullet list sections | 0.0 - 0.2 | LOW | VARIES |
| Number of emoji bullet list sections | 0.0 - 0.1 | LOW | VARIES |
| Number of numbered list sections | ~0.0 | LOW | STEADY |
| Use of fraction-style numbering (1/, 2/) | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Use of inline enumeration | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Whether any list structure is used | 4% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether emoji bullet lists are used | 1% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether numbered lists are used | 0% of posts | LOW | STEADY |
| Variety of emoji used as bullets | 1% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Whether dash/bullet lists are used | 3% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Vocabulary & Phrases 10
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common idioms and expressions per 1000 words | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Count of idiomatic expressions | ~0.0 | LOW | STEADY |
| How often three-word phrases repeat | 34% | LOW | VARIES |
| How often two-word phrases repeat | 0.0 - 5.7 | LOW | VARIES |
| Length of longest repeated phrase | 76% | LOW | VARIES |
| Count of words used only once | 27 - 49 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Number of unique words used | 29 - 58 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words used only once | 88% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Ratio of meaningful words to grammatical words | 5% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Unique words divided by total words | 87% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Sentence Openings 16
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Count of sentences starting with discourse markers | 0.0-0.4 per post | HIGH | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with subordinate clauses | 0.0-0.5 per post | HIGH | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with Actually, Basically, etc. (%) | 3% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with subordinate clauses (%) | 3% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with -ing verbs | 0.0-0.2 per post | LOW | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with There is/It is | ~0.0 per post | LOW | STEADY |
| Count of sentences starting with conjunctions | 0.0-0.2 per post | LOW | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with 'There is/are' or 'It is' (%) | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Sentences starting with -ing verbs (%) | 76% | LOW | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with adverbs | 0.0-0.5 per post | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with pronouns | 0.0-1.3 per post | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Count of sentences starting with time words | 0.0-0.2 per post | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with And, But, Or, So (%) | 97% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with adverbs (%) | 3% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with pronouns (I, You, We, They) (%) | 0 - 32 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Sentences starting with time words (%) | 68% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Closing Patterns 11
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of emoji in the closing | 0.0 - 1.3 | HIGH | VARIES |
| Whether the closing has a signature phrase | 33% of posts | HIGH | VARIES |
| Whether the closing has emoji clusters | 4% | HIGH | VARIES |
| Whether the ending has a call-to-action | 61% of posts | HIGH | STEADY |
| Whether the ending includes hashtags | 23% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| ALL CAPS words in the closing | 3% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Character length of the closing | 174 - 345 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Closing length relative to total post | 87% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Whether the ending includes emoji | 21% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether the ending is a question | 13% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Whether there's a clear closing section | 86% of posts | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Paragraph Structure 13
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closing paragraph length vs body average | 1% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Average change in length between paragraphs | 31% | LOW | VARIES |
| Average sentences per paragraph | 0.8 - 1.7 | LOW | STEADY |
| Average sentences per paragraph | 0.8 - 1.7 | LOW | STEADY |
| Consecutive long paragraphs | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| How much paragraph length varies | 20% | LOW | VARIES |
| Length of your longer paragraphs (80th percentile) | 0.8 - 2.2 | LOW | STEADY |
| Typical paragraph length (median) | 0.7 - 1.6 | LOW | STEADY |
| Variation in length changes between paragraphs | 15% | LOW | VARIES |
| Consecutive short paragraphs | 1.9 - 4.0 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| How frequently new paragraphs start | 44 - 85 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Opening paragraph length vs body average | 1% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Total number of paragraphs | 2.1 - 4.2 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Parts of Speech 9
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balance/distribution of different word types | Moderately varied | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of auxiliary/helper verbs | 4% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are adjectives | 8% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are adverbs | 4% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are determiners | 5% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are nouns | 15 - 29 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are prepositions | 6 - 15 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are pronouns | 7% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of words that are verbs | 11 - 20 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Post Basics 7
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Count of complex words (3+ syllables) | 3 - 12 | LOW | STEADY |
| Total sentence count | 1.8 - 4.8 | LOW | STEADY |
| Total syllables in the post | 50 - 115 | LOW | STEADY |
| Total word count of the post | 31 - 71 | LOW | STEADY |
| Average word complexity (syllables per word) | 1.4 - 1.8 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| How easy the text is to read (higher = easier) | 37 - 71 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of complex words (3+ syllables) | 8 - 22 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Punctuation Style 17
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colon usage per 1000 words | 8-58 per 1k words | HIGH | STEADY |
| Comma usage per 1000 words | 17-94 per 1k words | HIGH | STEADY |
| Ellipsis (...) usage per 1000 words | 0-5 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| En dash (–) usage per 1000 words | 0-3 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Exclamation marks per 1000 words | 0-28 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Mixed punctuation clusters per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Multiple exclamation marks per 1000 words | 0-4 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Multiple question marks per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Parentheses usage per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Question marks per 1000 words | 0-16 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Quotation mark usage per 1000 words | 0-7 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Semicolon usage per 1000 words | ~0 per 1k words | LOW | STEADY |
| Em dash (—) usage per 1000 words | 0-8 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Hyphen usage per 1000 words | 0-29 per 1k words | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Percentage of sentences ending with a question | 5% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Percentage of sentences ending with exclamation | 0 - 32 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Percentage of sentences trailing off with ellipsis | 95% | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Quotes & Narrative 10
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average length of quoted passages | 0 - 54 | LOW | VARIES |
| Lines starting with quotation marks | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Number of quotation blocks | 0.0 - 0.8 | LOW | VARIES |
| Presence of dialogue attribution patterns | 0% | LOW | STEADY |
| Total characters in quoted content | 0 - 54 | LOW | VARIES |
| Use of story transitions | 5% | LOW | VARIES |
| Whether the post tells a story | 24% of posts | LOW | VARIES |
| Lines using past tense | 34% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Number of narrative/story signals | 0.3 - 1.9 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Whether the post contains quotations | 36% of posts | TYPICAL | VARIES |
Sentence Rhythm 16
| Feature | Your DNA | vs Others | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| How often paragraphs contain just one sentence | 82% | HIGH | STEADY |
| Parenthetical breaks per 1000 words | 0-8 per 1k words | LOW | VARIES |
| Percentage of sentences under 8 words | 20% | LOW | VARIES |
| Average number of clauses per sentence | 1.5 - 3.7 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Average number of words per sentence | 10 - 24 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Average words per sentence | 10 - 24 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| How much sentence length varies (normalized) | 56% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Length of your longer sentences (80th percentile) | 16 - 36 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Length of your shorter sentences (20th percentile) | 2 - 18 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Overall sentence complexity | 5 - 97 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Percentage of sentences over 20 words | 33% | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Typical sentence length (median) | 9 - 24 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Variation in clause count across sentences | 0.0 - 4.1 | TYPICAL | VARIES |
| Variation in sentence lengths | 3 - 15 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Word count of shortest sentence | 1 - 17 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
| Word count of the longest sentence | 17 - 36 | TYPICAL | STEADY |
Let's turn your leadership into lead magnets
Create, personalise and orchestrate professional social content across your whole team - in THEIR voice, on YOUR message, at ANY scale.
Book a Demo