You probably won't like this. 😬

No music. No intro. This is the Morgan Snyder Show.

Over the last 30 days, I have written 7 posts on LinkedIn.

For me, that’s serious restraint.

In the past, I’ve posted every day, for weeks on end. I’ve had the mentality that, “all visibility is good visibility.”

The more people see me in their feed, the better. After all, I’m a writer that helps leaders, athletes, and celebs with social.

I should practically live on LinkedIn, lawnchair out with a raspberry lemonade in hand, commenting on every post.

Well, I was wrong. I’m not afraid to admit it.

My “passing bar” so to speak for posts wasn’t high enough. My perspectives weren’t sharp enough.

Meaning, I would just create posts and get them out there because if they didn’t work, hardly anyone would see them. “Oh well! I have tomorrow to get out another post.”

What was my engagement like? Decent.

But was I getting the volume of messages, the website views, the exploratory calls that I wanted and needed? No.

I think for a long time, my audience had Morgan fatigue.

So, what has happened over the last 30 days? What has made me pull back?

Without spending too much time on it, it’s really because of the work I’m doing alongside Napa.

Their content does so well on LinkedIn. The strategy is to be funny, to make fun of startups, to basically laugh at where social media, sales, and technology mix together.

I’ll include their profiles in the show notes so you can see for yourself.

I watched them for a couple of months absolutely crush it, and wanted to see if I could crack the code..

..or at least try.

So I tried. What happened?

Over the course of 30 days, my 7 posts were seen by 250 k people.

More than any other time writing online, it’s generated more conversations than ever before.

And that has translated into calls and new client work.

I’m so surprised. Never would have imagined this would happen.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Good for you, Morgan. Gold star.”

(I love gold stars and I’ll take any I can get.)

I share this because something extraordinary is happening with business leaders and their content.

The whole idea of thought leadership and professionalism is changing in significant ways.

Like normal, great things happen when executives and their teams start talking on the internet, and saying interesting things. That hasn’t changed.

And like we’ve talked about here on the podcast recently, my goal (and anyone who is on social media platforms) is to win the internet. Every day.

The thing that I’m seeing changing is the use of parody, satire, memes, and jokes as a crucial part of social media strategy and how you draw people into your story.

Brands have been doing this forever - Surreal, Old Spice, Progressive, Wendy’s, Duolingo, and so on.

But it hasn’t been until fairly recently that I’ve seen this transition into the world of executives at a larger scale.

Sure, there’s always been humor. Not at this level.

My friend Kevin Baker, who I work with to create content for a few founders, posted a funny bit about coworking out of a Costco. In a few hours it had a million views and real estate people were reaching out to him to talk about office space. Major brands like Zapier dropped comments. It has over 10 k reactions. It could end up being one of the most viewed posts of the entire year on LinkedIn.

There’s a chance you’ve seen it already.

That single post got him 10 + new appointments to talk shop on content. Who knows what else is going to happen on Day 2.

For a site that many would say is, “just for professional conversations and job hunting” this is a major shift that few people are aware of.

They don’t realize how to harness humor. They don’t feel comfortable injecting their personality into much of anything because of outside perception and not living up to their title in the c-suite or upper management. They might be afraid of what investors and partners might think. I don’t know, it could be anything.

The point is, weird is winning. Funny is winning. Being boring never was winning.

My content is…not great. What do I do about it?

You might wince when I say this, but I’ll just say it. Because love and friendship is about honesty.

Better to be told by a friend you have a piece of spinach wedged between your front teeth at the networking event then for you to go around looking like a goober.

Here’s the truth:

Chances are, your content is no bueno.

It doesn’t do anything to convince the masses that you’re the right company or person for the job. It doesn’t warm anyone up to how you see the world. It’s not doing you any favors or making you any friends.

It doesn’t entertain. It doesn’t educate.

It’s not working.

The good news (if you can call it that) is most people are in the same boat.

Between the company announcements and the latest marketing trend being parroted, there are very, very few people putting out original content, and original thought.

Or saying anything of value, for that matter.

Social media feeds from leaders are full of the most trite and overdone ideas known to mankind.

It’s a cesspool of cliches, to put it lightly.

So it stands to argue that the VERY BEST THING YOU CAN DO for your personal social accounts is to stand out.

I don’t care what it looks like. The bar is really low.

You can funny, you can stir the pot. You can call someone out, you can be mysterious.

Just don’t do what 99% of everyone else is doing.

Now, I got a comment yesterday from a copywriter over in the UK who gets huge engagement on her content. She’s spunky, she’s fun, and I’ve followed her for a couple years.

Haven’t ever talked to her, but I was really grateful she left a note for me on my post yesterday, because it speaks to what I’m covering here.

Let me read it to you:

A final note:

If you can lay down your pride, your ego, and some of your past experiences with writing online, you get to a place where you can meaningfully connect with people.

Who knows what magical moments will transpire if you can do that.

..

If you enjoyed the show today, give it five stars and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It shows people that this is worth listening to.

Want to talk shop on all things writing online? You can find time with me at thoughtleadertoday.com or send me a DM on LinkedIn.

My friends: keep writing, keep publishing, and I’ll see you next time.