WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.241 --> 00:00:05.020
Most recruiters posting on LinkedIn right now are getting less reach than they did two years ago

2
00:00:05.501 --> 00:00:06.966
for the same amount of effort.

3
00:00:07.207 --> 00:00:10.960
That's because LinkedIn fundamentally changed how it distributes

4
00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:16.600
content and the strategies that used to work for reaching clients may now be working against you.

5
00:00:17.180 --> 00:00:19.152
Welcome to the Resilient Recruiter Podcast.

6
00:00:19.313 --> 00:00:20.420
I'm your host, Mark Whitby.

7
00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:22.808
My guest today is Richard Vanderblom.

8
00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:25.880
Richard is the creator of the annual LinkedIn Algorithm

9
00:00:25.940 --> 00:00:27.725
Report, now in its seventh edition.

10
00:00:28.107 --> 00:00:32.680
It's built on the analysis of 1.3 million posts and has become

11
00:00:32.760 --> 00:00:37.300
the go-to resource for businesses wanting to understand what actually works on LinkedIn.

12
00:00:37.941 --> 00:00:43.220
In this conversation, Richard breaks down exactly what changed and what it means for your LinkedIn

13
00:00:43.401 --> 00:00:43.902
strategy.

14
00:00:44.223 --> 00:00:49.340
You'll hear why your profile and your comments shape who sees your content and why one

15
00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:52.893
tactic most recruiters still use is quietly costing them reach.

16
00:00:53.295 --> 00:00:54.600
If LinkedIn isn't delivering the

17
00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:59.494
results you want, this conversation tells you exactly why and how to fix it.

18
00:01:00.838 --> 00:01:01.380
So for those who

19
00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:05.897
don't know, could you explain the LinkedIn algorithm report and how it's created?

20
00:01:06.419 --> 00:01:06.660
I've been

21
00:01:06.660 --> 00:01:08.225
on LinkedIn since 2005.

22
00:01:08.345 --> 00:01:12.097
I started my own consulting training business back in 2010, where we literally

23
00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:17.936
started to explain people, mind you, 16 years ago, what is LinkedIn?

24
00:01:17.976 --> 00:01:18.959
How can you use it for B2B

25
00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:19.721
purposes.

26
00:01:20.624 --> 00:01:23.130
And that, we did that for about 10 years.

27
00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:26.920
And then back in 2020, I got some questions

28
00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:31.031
from actually were two corporate clients, summertime.

29
00:01:31.894 --> 00:01:34.120
And they said that they experienced

30
00:01:34.241 --> 00:01:36.250
something that they couldn't like explain.

31
00:01:36.371 --> 00:01:38.340
And for me, it was very easy because it was,

32
00:01:39.842 --> 00:01:41.909
they published a white paper on a company page.

33
00:01:42.732 --> 00:01:44.860
They had very high expectations and it flunked.

34
00:01:44.961 --> 00:01:45.793
It had like 3,000 views.

35
00:01:47.580 --> 00:01:55.340
And then someone published, I think it was a picture of a Boston Marathon or New York Marathon, I can't remember, of their sales team participating.

36
00:01:56.343 --> 00:01:57.874
And it reached like 35,000, 40,000 views.

37
00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.480
And they were like, no, no, we want that to be the other way around.

38
00:02:03.421 --> 00:02:08.080
And how, Richard, how can you explain this huge difference in performance?

39
00:02:08.221 --> 00:02:13.260
And back then, I could explain it, like you said, from my personal opinion, personal experience.

40
00:02:13.905 --> 00:02:15.720
but I felt we needed to have some more data.

41
00:02:16.621 --> 00:02:19.580
So the first thing I did was researching the internet

42
00:02:19.923 --> 00:02:21.800
if there was any data available on the algorithm

43
00:02:21.861 --> 00:02:22.920
and that was very limited.

44
00:02:23.161 --> 00:02:30.360
And if there was, it was based on a very small experiment

45
00:02:30.982 --> 00:02:34.320
or it was literally based on the author's own experience.

46
00:02:34.540 --> 00:02:38.340
So I have a friend, he's an expert in market research.

47
00:02:38.600 --> 00:02:40.460
He's also a professor at a university and said like,

48
00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:42.420
can you spare me like five students?

49
00:02:42.601 --> 00:02:45.000
I will instruct him and we do some research on LinkedIn.

50
00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:45.999
And he loved the project.

51
00:02:46.160 --> 00:02:47.077
So we started 2020.

52
00:02:48.481 --> 00:02:53.220
And the conclusions we drew back then, it was six pages.

53
00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:54.840
And I sent it to the corporate clients.

54
00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:55.546
They were cheering.

55
00:02:56.820 --> 00:02:57.500
They were so happy.

56
00:02:57.560 --> 00:02:58.800
And they said, hi, this makes sense.

57
00:02:58.980 --> 00:03:02.459
And then just a week later, I thought, well, we've made it.

58
00:03:02.863 --> 00:03:03.520
We've done this research.

59
00:03:03.681 --> 00:03:04.659
Why not publish it on LinkedIn?

60
00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:06.460
So I published a six-page document.

61
00:03:06.540 --> 00:03:07.280
It was a carousel.

62
00:03:08.166 --> 00:03:08.900
And it went bananas.

63
00:03:09.421 --> 00:03:11.059
I get more than 1 million views.

64
00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:13.628
people started asking questions and I was like, hey, this is amazing.

65
00:03:15.313 --> 00:03:16.978
And funny enough, it still

66
00:03:17.540 --> 00:03:20.570
didn't struck to me like this is something that you can repeat.

67
00:03:20.891 --> 00:03:23.560
And until six, seven months later,

68
00:03:23.661 --> 00:03:26.800
people started to send me messages and say, hey, you published something about the algorithm

69
00:03:27.462 --> 00:03:30.650
and we've seen some changes.

70
00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:32.756
Do you have new updated stats?

71
00:03:32.956 --> 00:03:34.460
And that was actually when I

72
00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:37.275
went back to my friend and said, hey, can we do it again this year?

73
00:03:37.295 --> 00:03:38.300
Because then we can compare

74
00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:38.982
to last year.

75
00:03:39.544 --> 00:03:40.908
So we did it in 2021.

76
00:03:41.149 --> 00:03:44.580
We went from six pages to nine pages, published on LinkedIn.

77
00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:45.803
Again, it went crazy.

78
00:03:46.385 --> 00:03:49.234
And that is when we started to do it on an annual basis.

79
00:03:49.755 --> 00:03:50.518
Fast forward to 2026,

80
00:03:52.220 --> 00:03:53.244
April 29th.

81
00:03:53.545 --> 00:03:56.113
So two months ago, we released the seventh edition.

82
00:03:56.895 --> 00:03:58.279
It's now, it's ridiculous.

83
00:03:58.340 --> 00:03:58.440
It's

84
00:03:58.480 --> 00:03:59.624
gotten completely out of hand.

85
00:03:59.784 --> 00:04:01.128
It's more than 300 pages.

86
00:04:02.172 --> 00:04:04.900
And we've analyzed in the last six months,

87
00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:07.929
only 1.3 million posts.

88
00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:11.720
And it's a massive resource for a lot of our corporate clients,

89
00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:17.080
but also a lot of entrepreneurs, recruitment businesses to understand what's happening

90
00:04:17.421 --> 00:04:18.724
on LinkedIn at this moment.

91
00:04:19.566 --> 00:04:25.220
So I've read the 2026 version, a tremendously valuable resource,

92
00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:31.060
definitely worth getting your hands on through Richard's website and his team.

93
00:04:32.505 --> 00:04:33.528
really, really interesting.

94
00:04:33.588 --> 00:04:37.280
So I guess the next logical question, Richard, is what has been the

95
00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:45.900
biggest change in what your data shows between last year and then the new edition of the algorithm

96
00:04:46.100 --> 00:04:46.482
report?

97
00:04:47.063 --> 00:04:52.640
I was really looking forward to this year's edition because of the massive change that

98
00:04:52.660 --> 00:04:54.305
LinkedIn has done to its own algorithm.

99
00:04:55.208 --> 00:04:58.680
When I speak to my clients, I call it like LinkedIn had

100
00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:02.271
some brain surgery, they really like implemented a new brain.

101
00:05:02.933 --> 00:05:05.480
And that's the massive shift that

102
00:05:05.540 --> 00:05:11.453
they made from going from previously a relationship graph.

103
00:05:12.616 --> 00:05:14.500
So they would actually ask us the question,

104
00:05:14.840 --> 00:05:16.407
like, who do you know?

105
00:05:16.568 --> 00:05:19.440
That was basically the question that we got from LinkedIn, like for

106
00:05:19.601 --> 00:05:20.927
years, like, who do you know?

107
00:05:20.967 --> 00:05:23.920
You know, that's why you saw those features, like, who do you know,

108
00:05:24.441 --> 00:05:30.920
with whom have you studied and you could reconnect with those people and now it completely shifted to

109
00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:37.680
what they call um an interest-based craft so now it's not asking who do you know but what do you

110
00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.820
want to be known for what's your main topic of interest because their promise is that they are

111
00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:50.160
going to look to find more people that are looking for your experience or your topic of of interest

112
00:05:51.804 --> 00:05:59.060
and i remember it was may 2025 when uh had a product linkedin had an interview and he said

113
00:06:00.243 --> 00:06:05.780
we don't want our members to go viral but we want them to become more relevant because

114
00:06:06.342 --> 00:06:11.638
remember a year ago our feed was flooded with copy pasted content quote cards uh

115
00:06:13.303 --> 00:06:18.760
infographics that were like shared in massive engagement pods to be posted so people were

116
00:06:18.780 --> 00:06:19.664
chasing virality.

117
00:06:20.428 --> 00:06:22.879
And that's when they came and said, we don't want people to go viral.

118
00:06:22.899 --> 00:06:23.120
We want

119
00:06:23.140 --> 00:06:24.484
them to become impactful.

120
00:06:24.504 --> 00:06:26.891
So we're going to change the algorithm.

121
00:06:27.834 --> 00:06:30.040
And this comes with less reach,

122
00:06:30.662 --> 00:06:31.970
but it should be more relevant.

123
00:06:32.091 --> 00:06:33.720
And I was very skeptical when they said it,

124
00:06:35.563 --> 00:06:38.431
because my reach was going down for two years.

125
00:06:39.313 --> 00:06:41.459
It has stabilized over the last six months.

126
00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:41.760
Mind

127
00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:44.730
you, I still have 60% less reach than two years ago.

128
00:06:45.814 --> 00:06:47.760
Basically, all creators on LinkedIn have

129
00:06:47.820 --> 00:06:48.322
less reach.

130
00:06:49.004 --> 00:06:53.660
But since six months, since the change from a relationship-based graph to an

131
00:06:53.700 --> 00:06:57.052
interest-based graph, I have seen an uptick in my engagement.

132
00:06:57.353 --> 00:06:59.340
So I get less reach, but I get

133
00:07:00.023 --> 00:07:00.725
more engagement.

134
00:07:00.926 --> 00:07:04.400
So this basically means that the people LinkedIn is showing my content to

135
00:07:05.262 --> 00:07:10.436
are more interested in what I have to say and more likely to respond.

136
00:07:10.837 --> 00:07:11.760
And this is what we see

137
00:07:13.005 --> 00:07:14.573
for 96% of creators.

138
00:07:14.593 --> 00:07:16.100
This is the story what's happening at the moment.

139
00:07:16.621 --> 00:07:29.718
It can be very discouraging if you work really hard to produce high quality LinkedIn content and publish consistently, but to see your reach decline, right?

140
00:07:30.099 --> 00:07:31.180
That can be discouraging.

141
00:07:31.820 --> 00:07:57.940
So now having said that, obviously, some people have found an increase, but that's probably, for example, if you go from never posting to starting to post or from posting occasionally to being more consistent or to posting without intention to being really intentional and thoughtful about what you're posting, then, of course, your numbers are going to go up.

142
00:07:58.301 --> 00:08:07.080
But we're talking about creators who are already mature, who are already posting consistently for the same amount of effort.

143
00:08:07.340 --> 00:08:11.580
They may see less views or less impressions, for example.

144
00:08:12.380 --> 00:08:16.060
So LinkedIn is talking about the relevance being important.

145
00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:22.760
And you've described this in the report as sort of topic relevance rather than the size of your follower account.

146
00:08:23.302 --> 00:08:24.900
It's more about the topic relevance.

147
00:08:25.621 --> 00:08:30.487
So I guess, what does that mean in practical terms?

148
00:08:30.567 --> 00:08:40.680
And how can we, knowing that, how should we be thinking about what we're posting and who is seeing our content?

149
00:08:41.341 --> 00:08:52.600
So basically what you need to understand is if LinkedIn cannot classify you, if LinkedIn does not know what is your main topic or expertise, it cannot advocate for your content.

150
00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:55.140
It cannot show your content to the right people.

151
00:08:55.943 --> 00:08:58.200
And they call it internally topic fingerprinting.

152
00:08:59.022 --> 00:09:00.880
So we need to build a fingerprint.

153
00:09:01.341 --> 00:09:07.180
And when I received the raw data back in February this year, even before I started writing, something stood out to me.

154
00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:11.440
And I thought, like, your topic fingerprinting starts with your profile.

155
00:09:11.821 --> 00:09:16.780
And many of us, including myself, we do make some small adjustments every now and then.

156
00:09:17.582 --> 00:09:21.140
We might change our headline, might add something to our work description.

157
00:09:21.881 --> 00:09:28.340
But a real redesign of our profile, very few people have done that in the last, let's say, one to two years.

158
00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:37.600
So one of the first things I did myself, Mark, to start build my topic fingerprint, which has become massively important now, I completely redesigned my profile.

159
00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.180
So, for example, I killed all my second language profiles.

160
00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:46.000
I had an English profile, a French one, a Dutch one, a German one, a Spanish one.

161
00:09:46.121 --> 00:09:46.700
I killed them all.

162
00:09:46.780 --> 00:09:49.820
I just have one English default profile now.

163
00:09:50.661 --> 00:09:56.680
Second, to reduce noise or any of those profiles not being up to date.

164
00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:57.180
Okay.

165
00:09:58.522 --> 00:10:01.860
Second, I deleted 50% of the content on my profile.

166
00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:13.760
Everything I did in the past that is no longer relevant for my knowledge, my topic of expertise, or my services, my clients, I deleted.

167
00:10:13.900 --> 00:10:19.560
So everything I did in the past, and I was in recruitment myself, and I worked in staffing agencies, I deleted.

168
00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:23.620
Because I don't see my profile as my resume.

169
00:10:24.221 --> 00:10:26.260
I do have a resume in Word.

170
00:10:26.483 --> 00:10:26.740
Okay.

171
00:10:26.961 --> 00:10:32.280
It's complete, but I've deleted everything that's no longer relevant for who I am today

172
00:10:32.623 --> 00:10:34.500
and what is important to my clients.

173
00:10:35.160 --> 00:10:42.160
And then the parts that are most important, headline, about section, work description

174
00:10:42.260 --> 00:10:47.960
that is relevant, I completely have rewritten this from a client perspective.

175
00:10:48.121 --> 00:10:49.100
Who's my target audience?

176
00:10:49.823 --> 00:10:51.080
What are the most important keywords?

177
00:10:51.321 --> 00:10:52.840
And what do I want to be known for?

178
00:10:53.582 --> 00:11:01.380
and believe it or not within three weeks i got 20 to 30 percent more reach for my content so that

179
00:11:01.520 --> 00:11:07.180
already confirmed that linkedin now know okay because i mentioned the target audience in my

180
00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:12.200
about section i mentioned my expertise and my authority i described my authority in my about

181
00:11:12.300 --> 00:11:16.520
section in my work description so that's the first thing how do you build a topic fingerprint

182
00:11:16.921 --> 00:11:22.800
your profile second everything you do on linkedin every simple action you take i'm not i'm not

183
00:11:22.900 --> 00:11:28.960
just talking about publishing content, but every click, every scroll, every message you send,

184
00:11:29.160 --> 00:11:34.834
every comment you leave, every media you attach to your post is analyzed by LinkedIn.

185
00:11:35.636 --> 00:11:37.100
And I've read

186
00:11:37.762 --> 00:11:44.320
that they look back 90 days or approximately a thousand actions, okay, just to give you an idea.

187
00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:50.558
And what you do in that term, in that period, helps LinkedIn to understand who you are.

188
00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:51.040
So that

189
00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:52.284
means a few things.

190
00:11:53.629 --> 00:11:56.600
It's no longer possible, and that for some people is a challenge,

191
00:11:57.141 --> 00:12:01.312
to go very broad when it comes to topics of your content.

192
00:12:01.513 --> 00:12:04.140
I can no longer share tips on email

193
00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:09.980
marketing on Monday, tips on recruitment on Wednesday, and on sustainability on Friday,

194
00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:13.990
because that completely confuses the algorithm and it dilutes my reach.

195
00:12:14.953 --> 00:12:17.880
So now, I always advise

196
00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:21.110
people go for one, maybe two main topics.

197
00:12:22.092 --> 00:12:23.617
And yes, you can have subtopics.

198
00:12:23.637 --> 00:12:24.660
So from my own experience,

199
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:29.300
for example, my main topic is LinkedIn, obviously, but my subtopics are LinkedIn,

200
00:12:30.241 --> 00:12:30.903
sales related.

201
00:12:31.004 --> 00:12:33.634
So how do you use LinkedIn to build a business?

202
00:12:33.674 --> 00:12:34.879
LinkedIn and thought leadership.

203
00:12:34.899 --> 00:12:35.040
How

204
00:12:35.060 --> 00:12:37.071
do you use LinkedIn to stand out as a thought leader?

205
00:12:37.413 --> 00:12:38.499
LinkedIn and the algorithm.

206
00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:38.740
So those

207
00:12:38.760 --> 00:12:43.540
are my subtopics, but it all comes back to LinkedIn as my main topic of expertise.

208
00:12:44.681 --> 00:12:50.220
It also means that I need to be very careful what type of content do I comment on.

209
00:12:50.520 --> 00:12:58.900
To give you an example, if I get a request from a client who has a job posting for a CFO, just to give an example,

210
00:12:59.741 --> 00:13:03.120
and he said, like, can you comment or can you share this?

211
00:13:03.220 --> 00:13:04.160
Then normally I would do that.

212
00:13:04.261 --> 00:13:05.060
I don't do that anymore.

213
00:13:05.522 --> 00:13:05.738
Okay.

214
00:13:05.880 --> 00:13:11.600
Because if I leave a comment on that type of content, instantly LinkedIn associates me with recruitment and CFO.

215
00:13:12.510 --> 00:13:13.440
And that's not my target.

216
00:13:13.560 --> 00:13:13.902
audience.

217
00:13:14.363 --> 00:13:19.520
So instead, I will do some different things, but I will not repost or leave comments

218
00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:20.906
on that type of content anymore.

219
00:13:21.348 --> 00:13:23.940
So also with your engagement, for 80%, you need to stay in

220
00:13:24.020 --> 00:13:24.241
lane.

221
00:13:25.004 --> 00:13:29.260
It's very important to understand that LinkedIn does make a difference between what

222
00:13:29.300 --> 00:13:32.550
they call relationship-based engagement.

223
00:13:34.455 --> 00:13:36.140
You achieve something very beautiful, Mark,

224
00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.694
and I leave a comment and say, hey, Mark, congrats on this huge achievement.

225
00:13:40.196 --> 00:13:41.060
That's completely fine

226
00:13:41.482 --> 00:13:44.420
because LinkedIn understands that's a comment made because of a relationship.

227
00:13:44.580 --> 00:13:46.300
It has nothing to do with my topic of expertise.

228
00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:51.280
But me giving my opinion on something that has to do with sustainability,

229
00:13:52.040 --> 00:13:57.320
me giving an opinion on something that is trending in the automotive industry is a no-go.

230
00:13:57.702 --> 00:13:58.580
I might have an opinion.

231
00:13:58.800 --> 00:14:02.020
I don't go there because I dilute what LinkedIn thinks is important for me.

232
00:14:02.640 --> 00:14:04.860
So a summary.

233
00:14:05.561 --> 00:14:09.320
It's your profile that is the foundation of your topic fingerprint.

234
00:14:09.681 --> 00:14:15.020
It's your content strategy that for 80% should be centered around your main topic.

235
00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:28.660
And it's your engagement that also teaches LinkedIn what type of discussions are important for you, what kind of people do we need to show more in your feed, but also to whom do we need to make your content visible.

236
00:14:29.441 --> 00:14:33.380
And that's the completely new game that we are playing on LinkedIn now.

237
00:14:33.941 --> 00:14:47.200
I think it speaks to the fact that just random posting or random actions on LinkedIn are undermining the visibility and the reach of your content.

238
00:14:48.222 --> 00:14:52.640
So we need to be more thoughtful, more strategic about everything that we're doing on LinkedIn.

239
00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:55.900
And I didn't realize about the profile having an impact.

240
00:14:56.781 --> 00:14:58.220
But now that you've explained it makes sense.

241
00:14:58.541 --> 00:15:07.780
And I definitely didn't realize about the actions being factored in as well, particularly like what content you're engaging with and commenting on.

242
00:15:08.140 --> 00:15:13.968
There are many, many topics that I post about, but I think there's a hierarchy.

243
00:15:14.008 --> 00:15:23.060
So obviously recruitment and particularly recruitment agency, the recruitment industry is my primary topic.

244
00:15:23.301 --> 00:15:27.680
but I'd say there's sort of three main subtopics.

245
00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:30.340
So it could be on how to increase your billings as a recruiter,

246
00:15:31.024 --> 00:15:33.519
or it could be about how to scale and grow your business as a,

247
00:15:33.881 --> 00:15:37.700
as a recruitment business owner, or it could be, you know,

248
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.560
the impact of AI on recruitment.

249
00:15:41.282 --> 00:15:45.360
Is that related enough as a cluster of topics or is that too different?

250
00:15:46.024 --> 00:15:47.360
I'm just listening to what you're saying.

251
00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:51.420
You literally say like how to scale your billing as a recruiter.

252
00:15:51.968 --> 00:15:52.100
Yeah.

253
00:15:52.844 --> 00:15:55.339
how to use AI in the recruitment industry.

254
00:15:55.680 --> 00:15:57.960
So you're actually making the connection already

255
00:15:58.022 --> 00:15:58.760
with the main topic.

256
00:15:59.860 --> 00:16:02.498
And if you would share a post on how to use AI,

257
00:16:03.401 --> 00:16:06.540
just to give an example, as a marketing agency,

258
00:16:07.401 --> 00:16:09.460
then LinkedIn goes like, wait a minute, Mark,

259
00:16:09.802 --> 00:16:10.780
you're the guy about recruitment

260
00:16:10.881 --> 00:16:12.859
and now you're talking about AI related to marketing.

261
00:16:13.121 --> 00:16:13.859
So why is that?

262
00:16:15.026 --> 00:16:17.780
And it's not as complicated

263
00:16:18.305 --> 00:16:19.720
because a lot of people, when they read it,

264
00:16:19.780 --> 00:16:21.300
they go like, ah, this is very difficult

265
00:16:21.523 --> 00:16:22.920
and I need to be very, it's not.

266
00:16:23.761 --> 00:16:25.739
Because just mentioning,

267
00:16:26.987 --> 00:16:28.259
imagine you make a post about AI.

268
00:16:29.541 --> 00:16:32.560
Just in the copy, you mentioning words

269
00:16:32.641 --> 00:16:34.900
like recruitment agencies, recruitment world,

270
00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.360
trending topics in recruitment,

271
00:16:36.821 --> 00:16:39.240
those little words referring back to your main topic

272
00:16:39.502 --> 00:16:42.060
already classify your content as on topic.

273
00:16:42.603 --> 00:16:43.439
It's that easy.

274
00:16:44.380 --> 00:16:44.480
Okay.

275
00:16:45.081 --> 00:16:46.880
So if I, for example, my example,

276
00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:48.739
if I write a post on sales,

277
00:16:49.021 --> 00:16:49.920
how to increase your business,

278
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:50.878
how to generate leads,

279
00:16:51.161 --> 00:16:52.385
but my main topic is LinkedIn.

280
00:16:53.087 --> 00:16:56.760
I just need to have the phrasing like, if you want to use LinkedIn

281
00:16:57.603 --> 00:17:01.495
to generate leads for acquisition, then the connection is already made.

282
00:17:01.535 --> 00:17:03.200
So it's that easy.

283
00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:04.103
It's that easy.

284
00:17:04.565 --> 00:17:08.140
That's also why we need to have the most important keywords on our profile,

285
00:17:08.260 --> 00:17:13.640
because then if we use the same words in our content, it really connects the dots.

286
00:17:15.041 --> 00:17:15.362
Okay.

287
00:17:15.503 --> 00:17:16.706
I feel reassured by that.

288
00:17:16.727 --> 00:17:17.489
Then that's good.

289
00:17:17.509 --> 00:17:20.639
Because it doesn't necessarily limit,

290
00:17:20.961 --> 00:17:23.800
It doesn't say you can never post about these other topics, right?

291
00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:24.955
No, no, no, no, no.

292
00:17:25.461 --> 00:17:26.434
You have to connect it.

293
00:17:27.660 --> 00:17:34.680
Yeah, but also every now and then, you know, if something comes up, obviously you can respond to a topic that is not directly related.

294
00:17:34.903 --> 00:17:36.039
Or you can have a post.

295
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:45.740
For example, if we do a post about some personal experience, personal storytelling, it's almost never related to who we are as a professional.

296
00:17:46.262 --> 00:17:47.400
Still, it works very well.

297
00:17:47.500 --> 00:17:52.579
So LinkedIn gives you the room, obviously, to don't be too rigid and too strict about it.

298
00:17:53.201 --> 00:17:57.340
But you can no longer have five, six different topics.

299
00:17:57.600 --> 00:18:12.000
And what I saw like a year ago, even more two years ago, is that people would have a content strategy where they would have two or three weekly posts on that topic.

300
00:18:12.821 --> 00:18:21.080
And they would literally copy paste viral posts that were not on topic the other days because probably they didn't have their own content.

301
00:18:21.621 --> 00:18:24.840
And then they look like what is successful in my feed?

302
00:18:24.941 --> 00:18:25.779
What gets a lot of engagement?

303
00:18:26.023 --> 00:18:27.140
I copy that infographic.

304
00:18:27.322 --> 00:18:29.300
I copied that quote and I published it myself.

305
00:18:30.085 --> 00:18:30.960
That's not working anymore.

306
00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:33.020
And I'm very happy that that's not working anymore.

307
00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:36.100
So if you are not in leadership, as an example,

308
00:18:36.741 --> 00:18:40.540
and you see a viral infographic on the 10 best tips for leaders,

309
00:18:41.584 --> 00:18:43.280
it doesn't make sense anymore to publish it

310
00:18:43.340 --> 00:18:45.300
because you will get suppressed by the algorithm.

311
00:18:46.465 --> 00:18:47.160
That's interesting.

312
00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:48.220
Okay, fantastic.

313
00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:53.460
So you've already started segwaying into the next thing I wanted to talk about.

314
00:18:53.601 --> 00:18:55.554
So from what I understand in the 2026 algorithm,

315
00:18:57.182 --> 00:19:05.180
you've got four main sort of buckets you've got teach connect prove and convert and so could you

316
00:19:05.340 --> 00:19:13.560
first explain what each of these uh categories means and then how much like what percentage of

317
00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:20.520
our posts in general should be related to each of those four kind of objectives sure it's it's

318
00:19:20.681 --> 00:19:24.920
it's very important like you mentioned the beginning that it's not my content strategy

319
00:19:25.661 --> 00:19:30.840
It's based on the analysis of high-performing posts and successful creators.

320
00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:37.560
And we analyzed and we saw that 95% of all these posts can be categorized in four pillars.

321
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:38.900
And last year we had fives.

322
00:19:39.040 --> 00:19:44.080
I'm actually very happy that we went back to four because it's more easy to understand.

323
00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:45.260
It's also more easy to implement.

324
00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:53.320
So the first pillar, which should be the most dominant, I'm talking about 40% to 50% of your posts should come from that pillar,

325
00:19:54.283 --> 00:20:00.240
is authority content, which has the goal to teach your audience something.

326
00:20:00.620 --> 00:20:04.720
Okay, so this is where you position yourself as an authority, as an expert.

327
00:20:05.422 --> 00:20:09.860
It includes posts like frameworks, educational, how-to.

328
00:20:10.481 --> 00:20:13.680
People often use infographics here, often use document posts

329
00:20:13.821 --> 00:20:15.520
because that explains a process.

330
00:20:16.162 --> 00:20:21.100
And the goal is to position yourself as an authority to follow online data.

331
00:20:22.586 --> 00:20:26.060
Then the second pillar, and those work very closely, is affinity content.

332
00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:30.100
Because people buy from people.

333
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:37.900
People hire people they trust and find knowledgeable to do the job.

334
00:20:38.341 --> 00:20:41.460
So we also need to resonate on what I said, like a human level.

335
00:20:41.700 --> 00:20:49.800
So affinity content is something where you have personal storytelling, personal experience, personal learnings.

336
00:20:50.341 --> 00:20:57.120
But the goal is to connect with your audience from a human perspective, not from a professional, from a human perspective.

337
00:20:57.640 --> 00:20:57.700
Yeah.

338
00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:00.800
Then the third one is proof content.

339
00:21:01.984 --> 00:21:02.140
Okay.

340
00:21:02.381 --> 00:21:05.080
So now we dive into, okay, you're an authority.

341
00:21:06.023 --> 00:21:08.720
I actually like you because I have some things in common.

342
00:21:09.503 --> 00:21:10.940
But do you understand our business?

343
00:21:11.021 --> 00:21:11.880
That's proof content.

344
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:21.760
So now we're talking best practices, case studies, before and afters, client testimonials, collaborations with peers in your industry.

345
00:21:22.020 --> 00:21:23.720
That's like ultimate proof.

346
00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:29.840
If you collaborate with influencers, peers, people who have a high authority.

347
00:21:31.141 --> 00:21:36.400
And that's basically to prove that you understand the business and that you could be seen as a partner.

348
00:21:37.743 --> 00:21:39.475
And that should be 10 to 15%.

349
00:21:40.361 --> 00:21:47.180
And then the last pillar, which is the one that should be used very carefully, is what we call demand content.

350
00:21:48.021 --> 00:21:52.280
And the goal is to help your audience to convert on LinkedIn.

351
00:21:53.782 --> 00:22:12.160
One of the biggest myths that a lot of LinkedIn experts are trying to make their audience believe is that if you optimize your profile, if you are consistent in sharing content, leads will flow in, will come from itself.

352
00:22:12.301 --> 00:22:12.859
And that's a myth.

353
00:22:13.062 --> 00:22:13.560
It's not true.

354
00:22:14.623 --> 00:22:19.700
you need to have what we say like a proactive converting strategy.

355
00:22:20.561 --> 00:22:25.200
And inside that proactive converting strategy is the demand content.

356
00:22:25.320 --> 00:22:31.360
And this is basically every 1 to 15, 1 to 20 posts explaining to people

357
00:22:32.003 --> 00:22:35.700
what are your services and how can they become a client.

358
00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:40.620
So this is, for example, me sharing a post of a free webinar

359
00:22:40.823 --> 00:22:41.919
where people can sign up.

360
00:22:42.183 --> 00:22:43.099
That's demand content.

361
00:22:43.300 --> 00:22:52.780
This is me sharing that I still have in July four slots for consultancy with a link to my Calendly if people want to optimize a LinkedIn strategy.

362
00:22:53.560 --> 00:22:55.680
It's sales type of content.

363
00:22:55.820 --> 00:22:57.700
That's why you should use it very limited.

364
00:22:58.500 --> 00:23:04.620
But the first three pillars, they tackle top and medium funnel.

365
00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:06.800
Okay, so you get a wider audience.

366
00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:07.920
People start to believe you.

367
00:23:08.061 --> 00:23:09.039
People start to trust you.

368
00:23:09.582 --> 00:23:10.800
But some are still doubting.

369
00:23:11.061 --> 00:23:15.220
And this post, this demand post, will make them feel more comfortable.

370
00:23:15.481 --> 00:23:17.420
Ah, this is what I can do with Redshirt.

371
00:23:17.862 --> 00:23:19.040
It's that easy to book.

372
00:23:19.804 --> 00:23:20.117
Let's go.

373
00:23:21.481 --> 00:23:25.600
And this is what a lot of people are forgetting, or some people even say you can never sell on LinkedIn.

374
00:23:25.741 --> 00:23:26.359
It's another myth.

375
00:23:26.981 --> 00:23:30.880
If people say LinkedIn is not for selling, it's not true.

376
00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:35.720
But LinkedIn is not for pitching and selling without offering value.

377
00:23:36.403 --> 00:23:37.780
That's the nuance that is very important.

378
00:23:38.241 --> 00:23:39.180
So those are the four pillars.

379
00:23:39.903 --> 00:23:44.220
authority content, affinity content, proof content, and the last one, demand content.

380
00:23:44.820 --> 00:23:52.220
I think it's useful thinking about it like the funnel, sort of top of funnel, mid funnel,

381
00:23:52.421 --> 00:23:53.545
and bottom of funnel, right?

382
00:23:53.585 --> 00:23:56.737
Because it helps you to manage your expectations.

383
00:23:56.797 --> 00:23:57.480
Now, if I post

384
00:23:57.761 --> 00:24:02.797
a personal, like an affinity post, it's probably going to get the most impressions, right?

385
00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:03.560
Because

386
00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:06.931
people can connect, they relate to that type of content.

387
00:24:06.992 --> 00:24:09.500
And so it tends to be popular, but it's

388
00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:13.491
not going to directly generate leads most likely, right?

389
00:24:13.932 --> 00:24:16.540
Whereas the proof or, and especially the

390
00:24:16.981 --> 00:24:19.831
demand content, it might not get as many views.

391
00:24:20.092 --> 00:24:22.200
It might not get as much reach, especially if

392
00:24:22.280 --> 00:24:28.320
there's a link in the post or, you know, it's more of a direct, you know, talking about your services.

393
00:24:29.224 --> 00:24:32.880
but even though it gets less impressions,

394
00:24:33.843 --> 00:24:38.919
it will probably generate more direct like messages or more inquiries than the

395
00:24:39.201 --> 00:24:39.728
connect posts.

396
00:24:39.748 --> 00:24:40.760
Am I thinking about this right?

397
00:24:42.261 --> 00:24:42.401
Yeah.

398
00:24:42.422 --> 00:24:45.139
There's one thing that has changed because like, like,

399
00:24:45.541 --> 00:24:48.500
like in the past it was definitely true that personal storytelling would

400
00:24:48.661 --> 00:24:52.760
outperform any other pillar because you know, it's your network.

401
00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:53.557
They dive in.

402
00:24:54.804 --> 00:24:59.800
now if you do the the affinity post personal and you can try it for yourself try to write a

403
00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:07.860
completely personal story that is not related to your topic authority so now linkedin is going to

404
00:25:07.860 --> 00:25:12.520
say hey this is not related to your topic authority so we're going to limit the visibility

405
00:25:12.681 --> 00:25:16.440
to your connections and your most loyal followers which is a smaller bubble

406
00:25:17.584 --> 00:25:21.540
so you do get more engagement because those are the people who know you so they will engage you

407
00:25:21.580 --> 00:25:25.153
will like, they will leave comments, but their reach is now more limited.

408
00:25:26.056 --> 00:25:27.040
In terms of reach,

409
00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:30.931
impressions, it's the first pillar, the authority content.

410
00:25:31.734 --> 00:25:33.900
If done correctly, if it's really

411
00:25:34.020 --> 00:25:40.278
valuable, that gets the most impressions because authority content on your topic is now sent to 50%

412
00:25:41.322 --> 00:25:42.226
outside of your network.

413
00:25:42.246 --> 00:25:45.680
So LinkedIn is going to show that to second and third degree people who

414
00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:46.765
have never heard of you.

415
00:25:47.327 --> 00:25:49.617
And if it's interesting, they will start to follow you.

416
00:25:49.637 --> 00:25:50.180
They will start to

417
00:25:50.300 --> 00:25:52.307
like to comment because they like what they see.

418
00:25:53.350 --> 00:25:56.300
And then another thing you said, and that's

419
00:25:56.621 --> 00:25:57.523
completely correct.

420
00:25:58.206 --> 00:26:00.934
So people hesitate when it comes to demand content.

421
00:26:01.797 --> 00:26:02.800
So they go like, nah,

422
00:26:03.141 --> 00:26:04.689
I don't know because I need to have a link.

423
00:26:04.749 --> 00:26:06.760
It gets suppressed by the algorithm, which is true.

424
00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:13.518
But demand content, the only goal of demand content is conversion.

425
00:26:13.618 --> 00:26:14.240
It's not reach.

426
00:26:14.800 --> 00:26:14.920
Right.

427
00:26:15.120 --> 00:26:15.925
It's not reach.

428
00:26:16.649 --> 00:26:18.720
So if people say, I don't want to put the link, why not?

429
00:26:19.547 --> 00:26:20.880
I recently had this last week.

430
00:26:21.060 --> 00:26:23.120
I had a client that said, like, I have a webinar.

431
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:27.680
It's free, but I use it as a funnel to make them an offer at the end.

432
00:26:27.780 --> 00:26:29.720
And I know that what I offer is very good.

433
00:26:30.201 --> 00:26:34.900
If I get 100 people in the webinar, probably 30, 40% is going to buy.

434
00:26:35.501 --> 00:26:36.777
So imagine if I get 1,000.

435
00:26:37.301 --> 00:26:42.720
So the goal was to get, like, maximum people signing up for the webinar.

436
00:26:44.243 --> 00:26:45.640
And I said, I created a post.

437
00:26:45.861 --> 00:26:49.358
I put the link in the comments and it flunked.

438
00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:51.520
And I said, why did you put the link in the comments?

439
00:26:51.921 --> 00:26:52.700
Because somebody told.

440
00:26:52.840 --> 00:26:53.852
I said, that's a 2024 strategy.

441
00:26:54.882 --> 00:26:55.380
Excuse me.

442
00:26:55.981 --> 00:26:58.940
It worked back then because the algorithm doesn't pick up the link.

443
00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:03.360
Back then, LinkedIn would feature your own comment as the first below your post.

444
00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:05.640
So even people don't need to scroll.

445
00:27:05.741 --> 00:27:06.440
They just saw the link.

446
00:27:06.561 --> 00:27:06.860
They click.

447
00:27:07.080 --> 00:27:12.700
Now, LinkedIn is actively hiding comments that contain links.

448
00:27:14.410 --> 00:27:15.160
I did not know that.

449
00:27:15.221 --> 00:27:16.300
That's useful to know.

450
00:27:16.820 --> 00:27:16.940
Okay.

451
00:27:17.141 --> 00:27:18.220
Because I was still doing that.

452
00:27:18.380 --> 00:27:18.839
I was posting.

453
00:27:19.222 --> 00:27:20.560
I was putting the link in the comments.

454
00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:27.360
No, because I can show you a print screen of a client's post that had this like white

455
00:27:27.401 --> 00:27:28.140
paper, blah, blah, blah.

456
00:27:28.722 --> 00:27:31.080
See the link to download in the first comment.

457
00:27:32.502 --> 00:27:35.520
And below the post, there were no comments visible.

458
00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:37.440
There was only one comment on the whole post.

459
00:27:37.846 --> 00:27:38.399
It was their own.

460
00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:43.500
And they didn't show it because they said, we show only the most relevant ones.

461
00:27:44.035 --> 00:27:44.140
Yeah.

462
00:27:44.402 --> 00:27:46.680
And they decided to not even show the one with the link.

463
00:27:46.860 --> 00:27:51.600
Only if I toggle the button and said, I want to show the most recent, it appeared.

464
00:27:52.281 --> 00:27:55.260
But people are not going to look for a link that contains a comment.

465
00:27:55.260 --> 00:27:56.520
They're not going to search for it, are they?

466
00:27:56.600 --> 00:27:57.116
If it's not obvious.

467
00:27:57.461 --> 00:28:01.240
If you get eight comments, which is not very much.

468
00:28:01.320 --> 00:28:06.120
If you get eight comments, people need to do four additional clicks to find the link to sign up.

469
00:28:06.280 --> 00:28:08.439
And a lot of them will just stop looking for it.

470
00:28:09.001 --> 00:28:15.248
So again, if the goal is conversion, the link needs to be in the original post.

471
00:28:15.648 --> 00:28:17.750
People need to instantly click on the link.

472
00:28:17.830 --> 00:28:18.571
It's in the post.

473
00:28:18.611 --> 00:28:19.292
It's that easy.

474
00:28:19.572 --> 00:28:21.515
Sign up because your goal is conversion.

475
00:28:21.595 --> 00:28:22.195
It's not reach.

476
00:28:22.275 --> 00:28:26.320
And people mess up those two KPIs of those two metrics.

477
00:28:26.860 --> 00:28:27.201
Okay.

478
00:28:27.261 --> 00:28:27.941
No, that's great.

479
00:28:27.981 --> 00:28:28.722
That's great to know.

480
00:28:28.762 --> 00:28:30.964
I'm learning a lot from this conversation myself.

481
00:28:31.044 --> 00:28:37.910
So, Richard, so we've got the topic, topic relevance.

482
00:28:38.150 --> 00:28:40.492
We've got then the four pillars.

483
00:28:41.133 --> 00:28:47.598
And then the other thing, of course, people are always interested in is what about the format?

484
00:28:47.638 --> 00:28:50.000
Which formats perform best?

485
00:28:50.260 --> 00:28:52.362
And because it should I do text only?

486
00:28:52.382 --> 00:28:53.163
Should I do an image?

487
00:28:53.183 --> 00:28:55.065
Should I do a document or carousel?

488
00:28:55.465 --> 00:28:56.266
What about a video?

489
00:28:56.286 --> 00:28:57.267
What about a poll?

490
00:28:57.747 --> 00:29:00.650
You know, there's different things I could be doing on LinkedIn.

491
00:29:00.970 --> 00:29:11.260
What has your data shown as the most effective and or higher performing formats?

492
00:29:11.921 --> 00:29:14.084
Yeah, it is a very popular question.

493
00:29:15.726 --> 00:29:25.540
And I see also a lot of people trying to follow the format that is hot in the algorithm, which from my experience is maybe not the best strategy.

494
00:29:27.041 --> 00:29:28.563
I think the best example is video.

495
00:29:28.823 --> 00:29:32.626
It was heavily boosted back in 2024 until mid 2025.

496
00:29:32.786 --> 00:29:37.210
It was like all over the place because of LinkedIn's mobile feed they were testing.

497
00:29:38.071 --> 00:29:45.397
And when LinkedIn is testing a new product, they adjust the algorithm in favor of that new product.

498
00:29:45.417 --> 00:29:49.160
So when they were testing the mobile feed, obviously they needed to boost video.

499
00:29:50.503 --> 00:29:57.180
and what I saw Mark and you've probably seen it as well is people jumping on video because of the

500
00:29:57.320 --> 00:30:03.640
algorithm but they didn't feel comfortable on video they're not born speakers it it actually

501
00:30:05.123 --> 00:30:14.500
for me um video is a format that can either build trust or can ruin trust because if you put

502
00:30:15.487 --> 00:30:17.380
a supposedly thought leader in front of a camera

503
00:30:17.521 --> 00:30:19.460
and it doesn't look natural, he feels uncomfortable,

504
00:30:19.620 --> 00:30:21.160
but somebody told him you need to do video

505
00:30:21.241 --> 00:30:23.340
because it's hot on LinkedIn, it doesn't work.

506
00:30:24.360 --> 00:30:27.080
And video has gone back to normal proportions

507
00:30:27.422 --> 00:30:31.080
at the time that we released our report in April.

508
00:30:31.761 --> 00:30:35.760
However, last month, LinkedIn announced

509
00:30:35.800 --> 00:30:38.040
that they're going to bring back the mobile feed.

510
00:30:38.822 --> 00:30:41.138
It's already now and it's coming out of beta.

511
00:30:41.644 --> 00:30:42.579
So they have tested it.

512
00:30:43.003 --> 00:30:44.940
It's coming back to all users.

513
00:30:45.481 --> 00:30:51.160
So I wouldn't be surprised if video, again, starting from now, gets an uptick in the algorithm.

514
00:30:51.760 --> 00:31:02.640
It's a great format if you want to build trust, because if people see you talk, if they hear you, it builds much faster trust, if you do it in the right way, than written words that create a distance.

515
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:07.100
I don't know if it's available for everyone on my mobile LinkedIn app.

516
00:31:08.303 --> 00:31:10.540
Just last week, I saw it change.

517
00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:16.200
the other the navigation changed and whereas it used to have like notifications and so on

518
00:31:16.802 --> 00:31:22.600
now it has video as one of the four options at the bottom of the app and you click it and it's

519
00:31:22.700 --> 00:31:28.580
more like uh facebook reels or youtube shorts they're yeah they're just serving like you can

520
00:31:28.580 --> 00:31:33.680
just scroll through the videos so yes that seems like a change where they're pushing video again

521
00:31:34.663 --> 00:31:40.760
but that's what i meant that's the the video tap the mobile tap being rolled out it's out of beta

522
00:31:41.141 --> 00:31:46.320
because it was when they boosted video in 2024 it was because they were testing it now they have

523
00:31:46.340 --> 00:31:52.480
decided to bring it back to all members but obviously it's being rolled out u.s based audience

524
00:31:52.761 --> 00:31:57.540
always get those things first then english natives second layer and then the rest of the world third

525
00:31:57.600 --> 00:32:03.400
layer but within two to three months everyone on LinkedIn should have that option to change

526
00:32:03.580 --> 00:32:10.040
the normal feed into a video feed and scroll through videos so for me it would only make sense

527
00:32:11.003 --> 00:32:15.220
if they follow the same tactics what they have been doing in the last like six seven years

528
00:32:15.461 --> 00:32:22.440
that they will boost video again yeah it seems like that's the direction but look I'm going to

529
00:32:22.560 --> 00:32:27.297
respectfully disagree with something you said about video as well, which is you should only

530
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.235
post video if you're comfortable on camera or you're a good, like a great speaker.

531
00:32:32.255 --> 00:32:33.319
I don't,

532
00:32:33.700 --> 00:32:35.004
I don't necessarily agree with that.

533
00:32:35.084 --> 00:32:40.140
I think the value of video now I've seen with my own content

534
00:32:40.381 --> 00:32:47.020
that video does not necessarily get the reach or the number of impressions as let's say an image or

535
00:32:47.381 --> 00:32:48.183
something like that.

536
00:32:48.805 --> 00:32:54.040
But I feel it is very valuable for building trust because, you know,

537
00:32:55.204 --> 00:32:56.510
what's the best way of building trust?

538
00:32:56.550 --> 00:32:58.720
It's sitting down with someone right in front of them,

539
00:32:59.020 --> 00:32:59.965
ideally in person.

540
00:32:59.985 --> 00:33:02.980
But if you can't do it in person, then what we're doing today,

541
00:33:03.100 --> 00:33:08.240
where we're having a conversation and we can see each other, we can hear, and this is the

542
00:33:08.340 --> 00:33:11.149
most important, someone can hear your voice, right?

543
00:33:11.390 --> 00:33:14.740
And they can see how you come across,

544
00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:16.464
they get a flavor of your personality.

545
00:33:18.289 --> 00:33:22.560
You are going to connect with that person more strongly

546
00:33:23.423 --> 00:33:25.850
if you can see their body language, right?

547
00:33:25.951 --> 00:33:28.920
And so I don't think you need to be a professional

548
00:33:29.100 --> 00:33:35.797
speaker or just that kind of 2% of people that is naturally great on camera.

549
00:33:36.298 --> 00:33:37.080
I think it's something

550
00:33:37.221 --> 00:33:40.619
that with practice, everybody can improve.

551
00:33:42.460 --> 00:33:45.480
And that the, like, in fact, we,

552
00:33:45.740 --> 00:33:49.480
I would encourage people to put themselves out there more

553
00:33:49.661 --> 00:33:51.980
because of the opportunity to build trust

554
00:33:52.484 --> 00:33:54.180
and rapport with their audience.

555
00:33:55.040 --> 00:33:57.220
You know, obviously if someone is absolutely terrible,

556
00:33:57.400 --> 00:33:59.680
then, you know, for sure,

557
00:33:59.800 --> 00:34:04.160
like that maybe is going to do more harm than good.

558
00:34:04.962 --> 00:34:11.180
but my my my my fear richard with putting out the message that unless you're great on camera don't

559
00:34:11.300 --> 00:34:18.540
do it is most people believe they're not most people are uncomfortable right on camera but

560
00:34:19.162 --> 00:34:24.420
that doesn't mean they shouldn't do it or that they um their audience still like their content

561
00:34:24.581 --> 00:34:30.600
i agree on that yeah so if i if i send out the wrong message but if you don't like to do a video

562
00:34:30.924 --> 00:34:32.140
and somebody comes to you and say,

563
00:34:32.220 --> 00:34:33.680
you need to do a video because of the algorithm,

564
00:34:34.622 --> 00:34:35.320
I would say no,

565
00:34:35.621 --> 00:34:37.140
because it's not something I like to do.

566
00:34:37.902 --> 00:34:40.200
I build trust by writing long form content.

567
00:34:40.441 --> 00:34:41.500
I have a weekly newsletter.

568
00:34:42.100 --> 00:34:42.840
It's packed.

569
00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.140
It's loaded with insights, unique.

570
00:34:45.742 --> 00:34:47.600
And that establishes trust also.

571
00:34:48.462 --> 00:34:50.440
If, however, you open to do a video,

572
00:34:50.642 --> 00:34:51.599
if you want to learn it,

573
00:34:52.183 --> 00:34:52.940
I totally agree.

574
00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:53.960
And I even mentioned that,

575
00:34:54.060 --> 00:34:56.940
that it builds trust much faster than written words.

576
00:34:57.641 --> 00:35:00.120
So that's the nuance that we need to have.

577
00:35:00.720 --> 00:35:06.420
But in, so we do thought leadership programs for corporate clients.

578
00:35:06.622 --> 00:35:08.120
They come to us and say, we have a group.

579
00:35:08.380 --> 00:35:10.500
We want to like boost them as thought leaders on LinkedIn.

580
00:35:10.861 --> 00:35:13.440
And a lot of those said, we want them to do video.

581
00:35:14.586 --> 00:35:15.339
And I said, that's great.

582
00:35:15.700 --> 00:35:20.360
We can, we can help them to do video, but do they want to do the video themselves?

583
00:35:20.501 --> 00:35:24.320
And then they always go like, yeah, a few of them, you know, are willing to do a few

584
00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:25.400
of them don't like video.

585
00:35:25.520 --> 00:35:30.200
And we have serious chats because if somebody doesn't want to do video, it shows.

586
00:35:30.841 --> 00:35:34.160
And that's where trust can become bust on video

587
00:35:34.401 --> 00:35:36.539
because it's also a very vulnerable format

588
00:35:37.123 --> 00:35:39.620
because people see you, your body language,

589
00:35:40.260 --> 00:35:42.179
how your charisma, they see it.

590
00:35:42.461 --> 00:35:45.540
Where if I write a newsletter or a post or a carousel,

591
00:35:45.821 --> 00:35:46.518
they don't see it.

592
00:35:46.620 --> 00:35:49.720
So if the content is good, I build authority as well.

593
00:35:50.040 --> 00:35:51.860
So that's the nuance that I wanted to make.

594
00:35:52.100 --> 00:35:54.460
There's another interesting stat

595
00:35:54.763 --> 00:35:56.440
that's actually mentioned in the algorithm report

596
00:35:56.501 --> 00:35:58.560
and that's about using video and outreach to people.

597
00:35:59.343 --> 00:36:04.160
so you can send a text message to people no you just write like hey mark i'm glad we connected

598
00:36:04.160 --> 00:36:11.940
on linkedin i wonder how the recruitment business going um it's what 96 of all people do it's very

599
00:36:11.960 --> 00:36:17.480
it's very safe and people can respond in our own time then we have the voice messages they're very

600
00:36:17.761 --> 00:36:23.420
underused on linkedin and then we have video messages where you can record a video message to

601
00:36:24.382 --> 00:36:24.883
somebody.

602
00:36:25.605 --> 00:36:31.840
And what I see is if you use video message to do outreach, it has a very poor

603
00:36:32.101 --> 00:36:32.804
response rate.

604
00:36:33.285 --> 00:36:37.000
I personally don't like to get a video message because it feels that I'm forced

605
00:36:37.040 --> 00:36:42.100
to respond because somebody made this amazing effort to create a personalized video, but I never

606
00:36:42.401 --> 00:36:44.329
asked the person to reach out to me.

607
00:36:45.032 --> 00:36:46.880
And especially if that's a pitch or something

608
00:36:46.980 --> 00:36:50.513
selling to me with a video, I feel like, wow, no thank you.

609
00:36:51.135 --> 00:36:52.480
And you see that it's very low

610
00:36:52.560 --> 00:36:58.840
response rate where if you already connected with someone, you had a chat and then you record a

611
00:36:58.920 --> 00:37:01.492
video, it works much better because there is trust.

612
00:37:01.573 --> 00:37:03.080
And that could be the additional trust

613
00:37:03.502 --> 00:37:04.708
by saying, hey, this is me.

614
00:37:05.170 --> 00:37:06.336
Thank you for connecting, Mark.

615
00:37:06.356 --> 00:37:07.060
We have been connected.

616
00:37:07.140 --> 00:37:08.607
We have some interesting chats.

617
00:37:08.627 --> 00:37:11.540
I just wanted to record this personal video because then it's the

618
00:37:11.640 --> 00:37:13.730
additional layer that you bring to the conversation.

619
00:37:14.313 --> 00:37:15.760
Going back to format then,

620
00:37:16.763 --> 00:37:22.580
like should people just be using a variety or you know because some people i see only do text and

621
00:37:22.580 --> 00:37:27.700
that's their and they and it works for them and they just stick to that whereas i like to try and

622
00:37:27.740 --> 00:37:34.700
mix it up and do you know image i in fact i usually in fact since the last year's uh algorithm of the

623
00:37:34.740 --> 00:37:45.060
port i think it was in 2025 1.2 for a text plus an image like in terms of it got 20 percent more

624
00:37:46.263 --> 00:37:47.827
visibility than just text.

625
00:37:47.988 --> 00:37:52.600
And so typically that's my go-to format is I will usually have

626
00:37:52.640 --> 00:37:56.054
an image with the post, but what are you seeing based on the data?

627
00:37:56.315 --> 00:37:57.380
So a few things when we talk

628
00:37:57.460 --> 00:37:58.885
about formats.

629
00:37:59.126 --> 00:38:03.660
So the default post, meaning that 60% of all posts being shared on LinkedIn

630
00:38:03.660 --> 00:38:05.084
is text with an image.

631
00:38:05.405 --> 00:38:06.849
It's what we are used to do.

632
00:38:07.070 --> 00:38:07.351
Okay.

633
00:38:08.655 --> 00:38:10.480
Could be because we put a link and it

634
00:38:10.560 --> 00:38:14.496
gets the image from the website, or we have an image that we want to attach.

635
00:38:14.517 --> 00:38:15.360
A lot of people

636
00:38:15.521 --> 00:38:17.189
use selfies if they have a personal story.

637
00:38:17.229 --> 00:38:17.993
It's very easy to do.

638
00:38:18.013 --> 00:38:19.340
We are trained to do text with

639
00:38:19.420 --> 00:38:19.661
image.

640
00:38:22.427 --> 00:38:23.529
There are some interesting things.

641
00:38:23.570 --> 00:38:28.220
So for example, text only is performing much better than

642
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:28.801
last year.

643
00:38:29.042 --> 00:38:30.485
So no image, just text.

644
00:38:31.347 --> 00:38:35.557
But again, it's a very risky format because 99.9% of all users

645
00:38:36.801 --> 00:38:37.724
are not copywriters.

646
00:38:38.526 --> 00:38:42.540
And if you only have text, the only way to not only grab the attention of

647
00:38:42.580 --> 00:38:45.632
your audience, but also keep them engaged is how you write.

648
00:38:46.897 --> 00:38:47.660
And then a lot of people go,

649
00:38:47.740 --> 00:38:51.072
ah, that's not a problem because now I have clout or perplexity or...

650
00:38:51.092 --> 00:38:51.574
Okay.

651
00:38:52.036 --> 00:38:52.979
LinkedIn has

652
00:38:53.803 --> 00:38:57.256
AI detection patterns and they are becoming stricter and stricter.

653
00:38:57.618 --> 00:38:58.200
So if you think,

654
00:38:58.341 --> 00:39:01.735
I'm not a born copywriter, but hey, text only is being boosted.

655
00:39:01.775 --> 00:39:02.739
I'm going to use AI.

656
00:39:03.441 --> 00:39:03.980
forget about it.

657
00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:04.800
It's not going to work.

658
00:39:04.920 --> 00:39:07.980
So text only is something you need to use

659
00:39:08.141 --> 00:39:12.220
if you're very comfortable in writing your own content.

660
00:39:13.328 --> 00:39:13.840
It works good.

661
00:39:14.561 --> 00:39:16.420
It's also easy because you don't need to find an image.

662
00:39:16.560 --> 00:39:17.479
You don't need to attach anything.

663
00:39:17.660 --> 00:39:18.239
It's just your copy.

664
00:39:19.421 --> 00:39:22.280
Document posts are still performing very well,

665
00:39:22.921 --> 00:39:24.154
way above average, 1.4 something.

666
00:39:27.744 --> 00:39:28.920
They're not being used that much.

667
00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:31.040
And I think the reason why is because a lot of people

668
00:39:31.361 --> 00:39:36.380
don't have the design skills or the time to create those documents because they need to

669
00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:37.479
be optimized for LinkedIn.

670
00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:43.120
So if you have a PDF from your company, it's not that easy to just throw it on LinkedIn

671
00:39:43.281 --> 00:39:48.440
because it doesn't perform the same as carousels that are actually created for mobile screen

672
00:39:48.482 --> 00:39:48.800
on LinkedIn.

673
00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:50.200
So less copy, more visual.

674
00:39:51.481 --> 00:39:58.220
And what, especially at this moment, I would advise everyone to consider, if you haven't

675
00:39:58.340 --> 00:40:02.380
already is to start a LinkedIn newsletter and write long form articles within the newsletter.

676
00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:03.403
Why is that?

677
00:40:03.905 --> 00:40:05.574
First of all, it's boosted by the algorithm.

678
00:40:05.835 --> 00:40:06.800
So within LinkedIn,

679
00:40:07.621 --> 00:40:10.008
those newsletter articles get a lot of visibility.

680
00:40:11.071 --> 00:40:14.160
Second, links in newsletter articles are not being

681
00:40:14.240 --> 00:40:14.622
punished.

682
00:40:14.883 --> 00:40:19.420
So if you want conversion, you can have multiple links in a newsletter article without

683
00:40:19.641 --> 00:40:20.203
being punished.

684
00:40:20.906 --> 00:40:24.220
And then probably the most important reason at the moment, they were already

685
00:40:24.521 --> 00:40:28.633
very good, very helpful for SEO, search engine optimization.

686
00:40:29.215 --> 00:40:30.720
And now they're also very good for

687
00:40:31.021 --> 00:40:37.916
geo optimization, indexation by the AI tools like Claude, Perplexity.

688
00:40:38.397 --> 00:40:39.640
They get so many data

689
00:40:39.821 --> 00:40:42.911
from LinkedIn long form articles that you could be referred.

690
00:40:43.613 --> 00:40:45.460
And I've already received multiple

691
00:40:45.620 --> 00:40:50.798
messages from people that said, Claude just referred your algorithm report to me.

692
00:40:51.019 --> 00:40:51.320
Claude

693
00:40:51.420 --> 00:40:54.851
just show me an article that was written by you on LinkedIn.

694
00:40:55.373 --> 00:40:57.078
So like, that's my point.

695
00:40:57.218 --> 00:40:57.680
That's where

696
00:40:57.921 --> 00:41:02.520
you need to consider having a LinkedIn newsletter slash articles within the newsletter.

697
00:41:03.161 --> 00:41:09.880
We've had a newsletter for a couple of years and where there's lots of subscribers, but I was

698
00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:15.860
finding it, at least in terms of the metrics of impressions, it wasn't performing as well as,

699
00:41:16.421 --> 00:41:17.866
you know, some of our other content.

700
00:41:17.906 --> 00:41:22.380
So I was considering like whether to double down on it

701
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:26.760
and try and improve it or whether just to, you know, move on to something else.

702
00:41:27.460 --> 00:41:31.960
So what I promised myself at the start of this year, because I was very inconsistent with my

703
00:41:32.040 --> 00:41:32.783
LinkedIn newsletter.

704
00:41:33.084 --> 00:41:37.480
Like I think I had something like bi-monthly, but I was very inconsistent.

705
00:41:38.201 --> 00:41:44.660
And what I did since January, every Sunday, mind you the day, every Sunday, I now launch a LinkedIn

706
00:41:44.660 --> 00:41:49.460
an article inside my newsletter, which is called RVDB Insights, Richard Vanderbilt Insights.

707
00:41:51.481 --> 00:41:57.218
And my average number of impressions for a newsletter article are around 30,000,

708
00:41:57.960 --> 00:42:01.991
where my average post, and mind you, I have 120,000 subscribers, 120, and I get 30,000.

709
00:42:05.660 --> 00:42:06.523
So it's around 25%.

710
00:42:06.663 --> 00:42:08.309
That's excellent.

711
00:42:09.192 --> 00:42:11.480
If you look at the average impressions of my content,

712
00:42:11.701 --> 00:42:15.054
I get around 15,000 on 260,000 followers.

713
00:42:17.620 --> 00:42:18.399
So that's not even 6%.

714
00:42:19.483 --> 00:42:22.320
So for me, and also in terms of conversion,

715
00:42:23.181 --> 00:42:26.540
if I use my LinkedIn newsletter to boost a paid mastermind,

716
00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:31.120
to boost the report, to boost the membership of my community,

717
00:42:31.421 --> 00:42:34.916
I see much more conversion there than from my normal LinkedIn post,

718
00:42:35.820 --> 00:42:36.699
my regular LinkedIn post.

719
00:42:38.082 --> 00:42:41.340
So it's really something that we should consider

720
00:42:41.681 --> 00:42:48.440
also because LinkedIn is really stepping up the game when it comes to analytics and insights you

721
00:42:48.560 --> 00:42:49.504
get on the newsletter.

722
00:42:49.805 --> 00:42:52.535
So now I can see how many emails have been sent.

723
00:42:52.776 --> 00:42:53.920
What is the opening rate

724
00:42:53.960 --> 00:42:55.705
of the emails?

725
00:42:56.167 --> 00:43:00.540
What is the number of clicks that each links gets in my email newsletter?

726
00:43:00.821 --> 00:43:01.639
Oh, I've not looked at that.

727
00:43:02.280 --> 00:43:03.265
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

728
00:43:03.305 --> 00:43:06.420
So they're really stepping up the game when it comes to LinkedIn newsletter.

729
00:43:07.081 --> 00:43:25.358
So there was a new idea that I noticed in the 2026 report that I hadn't seen previously, which was the idea of a connected series of posts and how that could be valuable rather than just an individual post, but have a series of related posts.

730
00:43:25.378 --> 00:43:27.140
Could you share a little bit about that?

731
00:43:27.541 --> 00:43:34.080
Yeah, so that's an excellent question, Mark, because what I see is a lot of creators, they don't have an integrated content strategy.

732
00:43:34.200 --> 00:43:37.000
They publish whatever comes to mind or they look every week.

733
00:43:37.560 --> 00:43:47.740
But what we have seen is that if you have a circle, a LinkedIn loop circle of posts, so for example, you start with an open post.

734
00:43:47.780 --> 00:43:57.080
It could be, for example, a poll to have the opinion of your network about a specific topic that you want to address.

735
00:43:57.321 --> 00:43:59.780
Okay, obviously it needs to be related to your own expertise.

736
00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:04.160
Polls, back to the formats, still get high visibility.

737
00:44:05.281 --> 00:44:06.980
And people start to vote.

738
00:44:07.120 --> 00:44:12.300
And when they vote, it's more or less that they subscribe to your post because they engage with your post.

739
00:44:12.360 --> 00:44:15.120
So that means that your next post will also be seen by those people.

740
00:44:15.681 --> 00:44:18.840
So you start with a poll and then you go in-depth.

741
00:44:19.180 --> 00:44:30.500
And that means now I'm going to share a post where I, an authority post, where I as an authority explain something about this topic, a unique insight based on my authority and expertise.

742
00:44:31.341 --> 00:44:35.980
So first, I address the topic and I ask people, is this interesting?

743
00:44:36.821 --> 00:44:38.196
Then vote on the poll.

744
00:44:39.100 --> 00:44:42.500
Second, I give you some added value, some insights.

745
00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:44.218
Okay, so people start to engage.

746
00:44:44.901 --> 00:44:47.220
Then the third post, I have a bridge post,

747
00:44:47.541 --> 00:44:50.980
which means that I'm going to offer them something

748
00:44:51.523 --> 00:44:54.300
as an additional resource to what we have discussed.

749
00:44:54.822 --> 00:44:55.880
So how can this look?

750
00:44:56.861 --> 00:45:01.300
I create a poll about the LinkedIn algorithm.

751
00:45:02.024 --> 00:45:03.140
Do you think it's important?

752
00:45:03.802 --> 00:45:06.960
Or maybe you don't care about the LinkedIn algorithm.

753
00:45:07.263 --> 00:45:07.839
What do you choose?

754
00:45:07.940 --> 00:45:08.920
So people are going to vote.

755
00:45:09.101 --> 00:45:10.020
I don't care about the algorithm.

756
00:45:10.182 --> 00:45:11.319
Or yes, I need to know what.

757
00:45:11.541 --> 00:45:15.040
Then I'm giving them a unique insight, an infographic.

758
00:45:15.220 --> 00:45:19.060
Oh, these are the six lessons of the algorithm each creator should know.

759
00:45:20.261 --> 00:45:26.860
The bridge post could be, I have an upcoming webinar on the LinkedIn algorithm.

760
00:45:27.160 --> 00:45:28.140
You can join free.

761
00:45:28.500 --> 00:45:29.117
Here is the link.

762
00:45:30.060 --> 00:45:30.177
Okay.

763
00:45:30.821 --> 00:45:36.520
And then after the webinar, I can do a closing post where I say like, I just did this webinar.

764
00:45:37.141 --> 00:45:38.359
These were some lessons.

765
00:45:38.985 --> 00:45:40.880
if you want to buy the algorithm report

766
00:45:40.961 --> 00:45:42.840
or if you want to have a consultancy with me,

767
00:45:43.140 --> 00:45:43.859
here are the links.

768
00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:47.059
And that's what I mean with the LinkedIn loop cycle

769
00:45:47.344 --> 00:45:47.918
that you have.

770
00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:51.420
Top of funnel to draw as much attention as possible.

771
00:45:52.280 --> 00:45:54.800
Conversation starter where I boost my authority.

772
00:45:55.620 --> 00:45:57.900
Converting element where I invite people

773
00:45:58.244 --> 00:45:59.460
to have some more insights

774
00:45:59.684 --> 00:46:00.619
and then I make them an offer

775
00:46:00.781 --> 00:46:04.100
to like convert the circle of LinkedIn post.

776
00:46:04.461 --> 00:46:06.660
That's what I meant with the LinkedIn loop cycle.

777
00:46:06.961 --> 00:46:14.640
And it's very fun to create because instead of writing different chapters that are not

778
00:46:14.700 --> 00:46:19.440
belonging to the same book, now you're writing a book and you're thinking about what kind

779
00:46:19.460 --> 00:46:20.239
of four chapters.

780
00:46:20.440 --> 00:46:23.260
And it's much more fun to write a book and then sell the book at the end.

781
00:46:23.563 --> 00:46:24.380
It's so much more fun.

782
00:46:24.900 --> 00:46:27.480
It's easier too, because you're already thinking about that topic.

783
00:46:27.640 --> 00:46:30.940
It's easier to come up with, you know, subsequent posts.

784
00:46:31.100 --> 00:46:31.960
And it's trainable.

785
00:46:32.282 --> 00:46:32.900
It's trainable.

786
00:46:33.202 --> 00:46:35.740
Once you start to get the hang of it, you have your first loop.

787
00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:41.560
The second one already comes to mind because it's very easy to train yourself to create more of those loops.

788
00:46:42.380 --> 00:46:42.700
I love it.

789
00:46:42.760 --> 00:46:43.180
That's cool.

790
00:46:43.700 --> 00:46:52.400
So, look, just finishing on AI, you said something interesting earlier, which is that LinkedIn is able to detect AI-generated content.

791
00:46:52.980 --> 00:46:53.720
But it's strange.

792
00:46:54.021 --> 00:46:56.999
I don't know if they still do this because I started ignoring it.

793
00:46:57.341 --> 00:47:02.120
was LinkedIn will offer to write your post using its own AI,

794
00:47:02.901 --> 00:47:04.440
which I found terrible.

795
00:47:04.800 --> 00:47:07.500
Like it wasn't nearly as good as Claude.

796
00:47:07.660 --> 00:47:13.878
But I think I'd say 90% of people are now using Claude or ChatGPT

797
00:47:14.621 --> 00:47:17.051
to generate content.

798
00:47:20.040 --> 00:47:22.060
So are you saying we shouldn't be doing that?

799
00:47:22.260 --> 00:47:25.620
Or like what's your thought process?

800
00:47:26.282 --> 00:47:27.849
I have a very strong opinion about this.

801
00:47:27.869 --> 00:47:30.520
And we could talk for an hour about AI and LinkedIn,

802
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:34.011
because I feel that they're playing like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

803
00:47:35.677 --> 00:47:36.520
I even call them a bit

804
00:47:36.620 --> 00:47:43.240
schizophrenic, because on the one hand, if I leave a comment on a post, directly, I get a pop up

805
00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:47.575
saying, hey, do you want to create this comment into a post using AI?

806
00:47:47.715 --> 00:47:49.020
If I rewrite my about

807
00:47:49.161 --> 00:47:53.075
section as a premium member, I get rewrite or enhanced with AI.

808
00:47:53.115 --> 00:47:54.340
So they're boosting their own

809
00:47:55.443 --> 00:47:56.185
AI solutions.

810
00:47:56.807 --> 00:48:01.640
And on the same hand, they are penalizing people for using external AI solutions.

811
00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:03.873
So for me, that's a bit strange.

812
00:48:03.913 --> 00:48:05.060
It's a contradiction, isn't it?

813
00:48:05.100 --> 00:48:06.985
It's a contradiction, exactly.

814
00:48:07.726 --> 00:48:13.279
If your post is, for the largest part, written by AI,

815
00:48:14.441 --> 00:48:19.020
it will probably have some patterns and the most simple ones on the em dashes or the

816
00:48:19.482 --> 00:48:23.200
here is the reason why, or it's not this, it's that.

817
00:48:23.861 --> 00:48:28.260
All these phrases we already recognize that is clearly AI written.

818
00:48:28.560 --> 00:48:34.780
So LinkedIn has an AI detection mechanism that is much smarter than what we have now.

819
00:48:35.101 --> 00:48:40.639
And they can really classify your post as largely written by AI.

820
00:48:43.104 --> 00:48:45.877
And they will penalize for reach around 30 to 40%.

821
00:48:46.961 --> 00:48:54.860
That's also one of the reasons why a lot of people are complaining that they're getting less reach because they are now using more and more AI to optimize their post.

822
00:48:55.460 --> 00:48:55.580
Right.

823
00:48:57.121 --> 00:49:02.420
Never outsource your writing to AI, but also don't outsource your thinking.

824
00:49:02.640 --> 00:49:03.558
So what do I mean with that?

825
00:49:04.205 --> 00:49:04.959
Your draft.

826
00:49:06.383 --> 00:49:09.980
I write my own draft from A to Z, from start to end.

827
00:49:10.782 --> 00:49:14.720
But I use AI to, for example, brainstorm on different hooks.

828
00:49:14.923 --> 00:49:16.220
Like, okay, this is my post.

829
00:49:16.703 --> 00:49:17.660
I'm not happy with the hook.

830
00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:18.959
Come up with three alternatives.

831
00:49:20.263 --> 00:49:22.060
Or I have a post written.

832
00:49:22.220 --> 00:49:24.238
I don't like the structure, and I just ask AI,

833
00:49:25.240 --> 00:49:28.600
format the post so it's more easy to scan for my readers.

834
00:49:28.901 --> 00:49:32.320
So it will not change the copy, but it will just make it more easy to read

835
00:49:32.481 --> 00:49:33.779
and more easy to get to the point.

836
00:49:35.144 --> 00:49:36.360
If you do that, that's no problem.

837
00:49:37.781 --> 00:49:42.040
But if you go to AI and say like, hey, write me an article

838
00:49:42.161 --> 00:49:44.300
about the three latest trends in the recruitment business,

839
00:49:44.881 --> 00:49:48.460
and you copy paste that to LinkedIn, it's not going to work.

840
00:49:49.281 --> 00:49:54.620
Fun fact, at this moment, I'm trying because I use AI.

841
00:49:55.021 --> 00:49:59.060
But now my latest two posts, I have used zero AI.

842
00:49:59.440 --> 00:50:02.480
So you might see some grammar mistakes because I'm not native English,

843
00:50:03.120 --> 00:50:04.720
but zero AI.

844
00:50:05.020 --> 00:50:07.800
I just started to write on LinkedIn, didn't go to AI, I published it.

845
00:50:08.742 --> 00:50:13.280
The first post that I can already analyze is performing way better

846
00:50:13.463 --> 00:50:14.559
than all my previous posts.

847
00:50:15.025 --> 00:50:16.020
Okay, that's interesting.

848
00:50:16.440 --> 00:50:18.279
And today I posted an infographic.

849
00:50:18.881 --> 00:50:22.159
Again, all the copy written by myself, no AI.

850
00:50:22.520 --> 00:50:25.420
It's too early to tell it that also has better performance.

851
00:50:25.980 --> 00:50:30.100
But I have some people within our research population

852
00:50:30.583 --> 00:50:33.300
that already mentioned that if we leave AI completely off,

853
00:50:33.580 --> 00:50:36.540
like outside, and I just write it myself,

854
00:50:36.661 --> 00:50:37.680
I get better performance.

855
00:50:37.901 --> 00:50:40.740
So that might be a very interesting trend at the moment.

856
00:50:41.860 --> 00:50:43.120
That is very interesting, Richard.

857
00:50:43.381 --> 00:50:51.840
So I'm still following the process that you and I talked about last year, which is sort of AI plus humans.

858
00:50:51.940 --> 00:50:57.540
So basically, I come up with the idea and kind of like the rough sketch of what I want to talk about.

859
00:50:57.980 --> 00:51:06.518
I then use AI to do the draft, but then I go back and edit it myself so that I make sure that it sounds like me and it's not too AI sounding.

860
00:51:07.800 --> 00:51:12.420
Do you think that is still a valid strategy or you're moving completely away from AI at this point?

861
00:51:12.420 --> 00:51:12.946
No, no, no, no.

862
00:51:13.007 --> 00:51:14.140
That's my strategy also.

863
00:51:14.420 --> 00:51:18.400
I just want to see now, like you said, more and more people are turning to AI.

864
00:51:18.660 --> 00:51:21.660
More and more people are complaining about AI slop on LinkedIn.

865
00:51:22.722 --> 00:51:25.900
So it would make sense for LinkedIn to control even more

866
00:51:26.762 --> 00:51:32.299
and try to lure people into create more authentic content using less AI.

867
00:51:32.942 --> 00:51:34.860
So I can imagine that the penalty becomes worse

868
00:51:35.222 --> 00:51:38.118
or the penalty is being given more earlier.

869
00:51:38.580 --> 00:51:40.875
so I'm now just testing

870
00:51:41.600 --> 00:51:43.779
okay what if I don't use AI at all

871
00:51:44.448 --> 00:51:45.198
is it worth it

872
00:51:46.590 --> 00:51:47.760
but I think again

873
00:51:47.901 --> 00:51:50.160
if you use it for formatting for brainstorming

874
00:51:50.281 --> 00:51:51.459
for alternatives

875
00:51:51.561 --> 00:51:53.499
I think there won't be a problem

876
00:51:54.877 --> 00:51:55.140
Richard

877
00:51:55.624 --> 00:51:57.740
unfortunately we don't have time because we could talk for another

878
00:51:57.801 --> 00:51:59.220
hour this is a fascinating topic

879
00:51:59.604 --> 00:52:01.139
and you're the

880
00:52:02.007 --> 00:52:03.399
world's number one authority on it

881
00:52:03.581 --> 00:52:05.140
so I appreciate you being here Richard

882
00:52:05.665 --> 00:52:07.058
and I look forward to

883
00:52:07.782 --> 00:52:08.325
next year?

884
00:52:08.606 --> 00:52:09.290
Let's do it again.

885
00:52:09.310 --> 00:52:10.757
It could be an annual thing.

886
00:52:12.040 --> 00:52:13.165
We have an October update.

887
00:52:13.246 --> 00:52:15.658
So we went from annual to biannual.

888
00:52:15.678 --> 00:52:16.160
So in October,

889
00:52:16.280 --> 00:52:17.284
we have a new update.

890
00:52:17.364 --> 00:52:21.760
And interesting enough, we do have the intention to have a specific

891
00:52:22.061 --> 00:52:26.997
chapter on sales and a specific chapter for job seeker slash recruitment.

892
00:52:27.057 --> 00:52:28.060
So that might be a right

893
00:52:28.120 --> 00:52:31.273
angle to jump on another podcast in November or December.

894
00:52:31.795 --> 00:52:32.477
That sounds great.

895
00:52:32.718 --> 00:52:33.140
Let's do it,

896
00:52:33.240 --> 00:52:33.583
Richard.

897
00:52:33.804 --> 00:52:34.066
Yeah.

898
00:52:34.106 --> 00:52:34.630
Thanks a lot.

899
00:52:34.651 --> 00:52:35.315
Have an awesome day.

900
00:52:35.336 --> 00:52:35.920
I'll see you soon.

901
00:52:36.422 --> 00:52:36.911
Thanks, Mark.

902
00:52:37.115 --> 00:52:37.360
Bye-bye.

903
00:52:38.322 --> 00:52:39.108
That was awesome.

904
00:52:39.148 --> 00:52:40.739
Hope you enjoyed that conversation with Richard.

905
00:52:41.226 --> 00:52:42.260
My two biggest takeaways.

906
00:52:42.500 --> 00:52:45.260
Number one, what Richard did with his own LinkedIn profile.

907
00:52:45.540 --> 00:52:51.820
He deleted half the content on it, everything that wasn't relevant to who he is today and who he serves.

908
00:52:52.400 --> 00:52:56.060
He rewrote his headline, his about section, the work description,

909
00:52:56.520 --> 00:53:00.240
entirely around his target audience and the keywords he wants to be known for.

910
00:53:00.640 --> 00:53:03.413
Within three weeks, he saw 20 to 30% more reach from his content.

911
00:53:05.583 --> 00:53:08.080
In his view, the profile isn't just a CV anymore.

912
00:53:08.260 --> 00:53:11.280
It's how LinkedIn decides who sees your posts.

913
00:53:11.940 --> 00:53:14.320
Second, Richard's data on link placement.

914
00:53:15.060 --> 00:53:19.800
LinkedIn no longer shows all the comments, only the ones it deems most relevant.

915
00:53:20.340 --> 00:53:24.600
That means the old strategy of putting a link in the first comment is no longer reliable.

916
00:53:25.040 --> 00:53:30.380
So Richard's point was for conversion posts, the link belongs in the post itself.

917
00:53:30.765 --> 00:53:31.880
What stood out most for you?

918
00:53:32.001 --> 00:53:36.380
Drop your biggest takeaway in the YouTube comments or send me a message on LinkedIn.

919
00:53:36.960 --> 00:53:40.800
And finally, what's one thing that you're going to put into practice this week?

920
00:53:41.181 --> 00:53:44.320
If you're not already subscribed to The Resilient Recruiter, now is a great time.

921
00:53:44.581 --> 00:53:45.879
I sincerely appreciate it.

922
00:53:46.482 --> 00:53:48.440
Make it a great day and I'll see you next time.