August 19, 2022

The LinkedIn Cringe Factor

3rd + Lamar

Welcome to the first edition of our new, weekly marketing news roundup.

First up, LinkedIn is getting way too dramatic these days. Probably the best example is this CEO who decided to announce layoffs at his company and make it about himself

That post went viral, but the ends don’t justify the means. We prefer this type of viral LinkedIn post.

Viral LinkedIn Post Generator

Better yet, try this LinkedIn Viral Post Generator.

Marketer Tom Orbach created it.

It’s obviously funny—especially the cringe meter—but it also says something real about what sort of LinkedIn posts go viral.

They are out-of-touch, long, and melodramatic. Their format is so formulaic that we all recognize it now: the excessive paragraphs, inspirational quotes, controversial opinions (or positioning non-controversial opinions as “hot takes”), and self-obsession.

We tested the viral post generator out with three different levels of cringe to see what it would come up with. For inspirational advice, we used, “you have to be bad at something before you can be great at it.”

The results were even cringier than expected. (ie. “Because now I’m a BILLIONAIRE.”)

We’re going to stick with writing our own posts (“I did my we started a weekly marketing news roundup like a maniac” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue) and avoid discussing toilet paper, but we had a laugh.

Metrics Mania

It’s a common mantra in business that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Seems intuitive, but like anything, you can take it too far.

Tiktok benchmark data

This week, our TikTok ad rep shared some benchmark data for advertisers in the U.S. We thought we’d share the knowledge.

Ceo Transparency

For better or worse, we’re living in the era of CEO transparency.

Consider Chris Meade, founder and CEO of CrossNet, a hybrid volleyball game that he invented. Recently, he shared how his startup is aiming for profitability in 2022 by reducing marketing spend by 54% YoY and CAC by 58% YoY.

With the U.S. experiencing two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, CrossNet is not alone in its belt-tightening. Remember how Peloton peaked during the pandemic? The company has announced layoffs of more than 4,000 employees in 2022.

Per a memo from Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy: “Cash is oxygen. Oxygen is life.”

That’s all for this week‘s Marketing Roundup. Check back next week for more news. And subscribe to our newsletter below for additional updates.