LinkedIn started out as a platform for professionals to come together, share their work experience, and get jobs. We can all agree that it’s nothing like that anymore. The site has warped into a social media platform where people want to post personal stories, yet, still want to be taken seriously.
This has led to a bunch of personal stories forced to look like motivational business posts. One of the biggest examples was posted on the r/LinkedInLunatics subreddit, where a man used his engagement to share sales lessons.
Guy draws the attention and ire of the internet after posting his proposal on LinkedIn and using it as an analogy to share sales tips
Image credits: Bryan Shankman
Bryan Shankman decided to share a picture of his proposal on LinkedIn, but he didn’t stop there and wrote a whole post comparing it to a sales cycle
Image credits: Bryan Shankman
LinkedIn is no longer just a professional site, people also use it to share personal stories, life lessons, and memes
Bryan Shankman’s post received over 19k reactions and 3k comments with people shocked at his absurd analogy. He even drew the attention of the r/LinkedInLunatics subreddit, which pokes fun at the weirdest posts on the platform. That being said, he isn’t the first person on LinkedIn to try and merge a personal situation with a business idea, and he certainly won’t be the last.
LinkedIn has over 1 billion users spread across more than 200 countries. Around 40% of the members access the platform on a daily basis. From its large pool of users, it’s estimated that only 1% actually share posts. To understand more about Bryan Shankman’s hilarious LinkedIn post and to gain insight into why he wrote it, Bored Panda reached out to 2 LinkedIn strategists. Sue Ellson is a LinkedIn Specialist and author from Melbourne, Australia, and Nathanial Bibby is a LinkedIn Marketer and the Managing Director of Bibby Consulting Group.
When we asked Sue to share why LinkedIn professionals keep creating posts on personal topics and using them to draw business analogies, she mentioned, “as humans, we are all culturally programmed after thousands of years of history to relate to a story. Whilst I view LinkedIn as a professional platform for professional content, it is still a form of social media and other members who are more familiar with social style content are more likely to ‘test’ a social format with a professional twist.”
She also added that “LinkedIn has said that they like content that generates discussion and whilst I would never recommend this personal content as a strategy, the post has gone viral so the poster has been ‘rewarded’ for their behavior and will probably continue.” That’s extremely true because the platform has recently seen a flood of posts written in a one-line sentence format, packed with life lessons that nobody asked for, and they somehow receive a lot of traction.
Sue Ellson told us that “during the pandemic, the algorithm did swing towards more personal style content and broetry style writing. Sadly, some of this content still sneaks through, but for many LinkedIn users, it is annoying. A lot of people are tired of humble bragging. With around 60% of users aged between 25-34 I imagine what appeals to them is where most people will pitch their message.”
Image credits: Airam Dato-on (not the actual photo)
Research on the type of content that performs well on LinkedIn found that posts that position people as thought leaders tend to perform better. When people share industry-specific content, it receives six times more engagement than regular job posts. Adding a selfie can boost reach by 30% and personalized images by 45%. That’s probably why the guy’s personal-professional learning post received so much attention.
Nathanial Bibby says that “people often share personal topics on LinkedIn to create more relatable, authentic, and engaging content. Most of us can look at a picture of a proposal and have an emotional response. This is the ‘hook’; the part that draws people's attention into the post. To be able to then tie this attention into a business lesson and provide some value to their professional audience is a creative craft that can be difficult to master - but when done right, for better or worse, posts often go viral.”
When asked how he would have written the post if he was in Bryan Shankman’s shoes, Nathaniel said: “Firstly, if you're going to post something like this, I would definitely acknowledge [my] fiancee. Even if it's just a P.S. down the bottom ‘P.S. I'm the luckiest man in the world.’ Secondly, I would make it clear the post is designed to be funny. I would keep the content about B2B sales simpler, and add a couple of lines to get some humor across. With a post like this it's a very delicate art, between maintaining the virality without coming across as shameless clickbait.”
People on LinkedIn have been sharing their engagements, fertility journeys, health scares, and other life milestones. While some don’t find this content relevant, others say that it humanizes the people in their professional network. Nathaniel added, “We're seeing that LinkedIn creators who incorporate some personal stories and relatable anecdotes into their post stand out so much more on LinkedIn because most people's posts are ‘professional’ and as a result evoke less emotion. As long as these analogy and life/lesson posts perform well, we are going to see more and more of them.”
Image credits: LinkedIn Sales Navigator (not the actual photo)
A study that analyzed over 3k LinkedIn posts found that ‘how-to’ and list posts performed best on the platform. Even long-form content or posts with a minimum of 8 images received good traction. Professionals on the platform do care a lot about reach and want to create content that gets the best engagement. It’s possible that Bryan created his post fully aware that people would have a strong reaction to it.
Despite the fact that some posts on the professional networking site might be more about clickbait than anything else, Sue Ellson states that “Personally, I believe LinkedIn has many other more substantial benefits than creating a viral post. It gives me quality leads, referrals, and network connections. I can use it for research, publishing, and advice. I maintain relationships, build my brand, and am inspired by individuals and organizations.”
Although opinions may be strongly divided on how LinkedIn should be used and what posts should grace the platform, we can all agree that it does provide value. Bryan’s engagement-turned-sales post certainly added value by brightening the day for many people. It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving. What was the first thought that came into your mind when you read the LinkedIn post? Let us know in the comments.
Netizens couldn’t resist roasting the poster and created a whole list of hilarious post titles similar to the original
