Quieter? Perhaps. Still a little weird?

Hey y’all it’s us again! (John and Alec). With the 4th falling last Friday in the US, LinkedIn felt a little quieter last week, but it didn’t suddenly get easier to figure out! We still managed to find a few great posts and interesting insights despite the muted volume due to the USA’s birthday. 🎂 

But before we begin, John’s (hi 👋) turn for a quick launch announcement!: The I Hate Sales Cohort, launching July 23rd.

If you’re a founder you’re also a salesperson, like it or not (and a lot of us don’t like it!) That’s where I come in. Some amazing founders are already signed up, but I’ve got a few spots left for readers of this newsletter- including a special offer for anyone who signs up via The Break Room 👀.

Tired of hating sales and want to fall in love? Throw in an application here!

MVP (Most Vulnerable Poster)

MVP (Most Vulnerable Poster) of the week goes to this post from Matthew Mitten, Co-Founder of Foundation Media. Matthew is doing an amazing job documenting his unique journey from hotshot banking VP to scrappy startup founder and this post is a great example of things he’s doing well day in day out: 

• Get to the point: Matt gets past the buzzwords and the jargon and makes it clear what matters to him- his clients making money, and lots of it. In a space where a lot of agencies hide behind fancy metrics and punt the blame low ROI ad campaigns, he says not on my watch! 👈🏻

• Have some fun: This is of course a pretty silly picture of young Matt and his cash phone, but this is what people need to see occasionally! He does a great job of being very business-focused for the most part, but as is often discussed in this newsletter, LinkedIn can get pretty dreary so throwing your audience a little morsel of fun every so often is a brilliant part of his strategy. 🥳

• Call out the competition: Too often businesses shy away from their competition and that can send a message to your customers that you’re worried you don’t stack up. By saying “Most agencies will talk in circles about…” he’s coming right at the competition and position Foundation Media as the better alternative. This sends a great message to prospects that they aren’t scared to go head-to-head!😱 

Least Robotic Sounding Company

Least Robotic Sounding Company of the week goes to FinOptimal. It can be hard for a brand to create an identity and have a little fun on LinkedIn, but not for FinOptimal. They post silly memes like this one that manage to still be somehow relevant to their offering- really impressive. So how do they do it? Well, a quick trip over to Director of Product & Growth Tom Zehentner’s LinkedIn provides a great hint. Tom is great at having some fun on his own account and that shines through deftly when he flips over to the FinOptimal brand page! 🤖 🚫.

Oddest thing we saw this week (Time travel!)

Two shoutouts for Tom in one newsletter, maybe a bit lazy? Sorry, it’s not our fault the guy is giving the people what they want! Jokes aside, Tom points out something really interesting that a lot of you may have been noticing- LinkedIn seems to be really loving showing posts from 2+ weeks ago in a lot of our feeds. Is it clear why they’re doing this? Not at the moment! Is there anything that can be done about it? Not really! The only thing that we all can control is showing up, engaging, and delivering value to the rest of the community (even if they won’t see that value for a few weeks!).

Parting thoughts: Keep going. It feels like most folks are perpetually convinced that LinkedIn is “being weird” and the “algo is broken” but the only strategy guaranteed to fail is NOT posting on LinkedIn at all. Keep at it! (and hey, if you’re part of Alec’s hunger games there might just be 2,000 reasons to help you stay motivated 🤑)

Have an amazing week y’all!

Alec and John