Episode 249 · 13 November 2025 · 50:31
Why LinkedIn feels fake, with Nick Power
Featuring Nick Power
Why LinkedIn feels fake, with Nick Power
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Intro: The 'weird LinkedIn' movement and Nick Power
Why Nick's content resonates
What it actually means to be professional
Digital visibility and executive brand
interview#personal-brand#executive-presence#digital-visibility
The problem with the word 'authenticity'
Who coined 'weird LinkedIn'
interview#linkedin#social-media#trends
How to show up online without burning bridges
Short-form content and 'fortune-cookie insights'
The positive impact of being this LinkedIn voice
interview#linkedin#influence#personal-brand
Trolls, backlash, and LinkedIn Lunatics
interview#trolls#backlash#online-harassment
How the experience has changed Nick
Show notes
Why LinkedIn Feels Fake — with Nick Power
Guest: Nick Power — senior marketing leader at The Noun Project, one of the most talked-about voices on LinkedIn with more than 30,000 followers and millions of views.
LinkedIn was supposed to be where professionals connect. So why does it so often feel like a highlight reel of humble-brags, buzzwords, and polished-to-death personas?
Nick joins Al and Leanne to unpack the rise of "weird LinkedIn" — the corner of the platform where people call out corporate nonsense, talk openly about burnout, and prove that being human is not unprofessional. From viral one-liners and fortune-cookie insights to the Reddit trolls who screenshot his posts for mockery, Nick gets real about the good, the bad, and the ugly of showing up honestly online.
They dig into what professionalism actually means (spoiler: it's not perfection), how to find your own line between authentic and performative, and why the goal of posting shouldn't be likes — it's conversation, dwell time, and trust.
Top 3 Takeaways
Honesty beats polish. Professionalism isn't about perfection — it's about skill, integrity, and being easy to work with. Nick's whole brand is proof that the "safe" route is often the most forgettable one.
Short form wins. Think fortune-cookie insights, not essays. Nick's rule: write something people can finish before they scroll. The goal isn't likes; it's dwell time, dialogue, and trust.
Authenticity ≠ oversharing. Show humanity, not your diary. Find your own line between personal and performative — and be ready for the trolls. Bullying under the guise of humour says more about insecurity than content quality.
More From Nick Power
- Follow Nick on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nickcpower
- Shop Nick's merch: nickpower.co
- Learn more about The Noun Project: thenounproject.com
Connect With Us
Get in touch, book a call, or find Al and Leanne on LinkedIn — all in one place: truthliesandwork.com/connect
Mental health support: findahelpline.com — UK: Samaritans 116 123 · Mind 0300 123 3393 — US: 988 — Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14
Truth, Lies & Work is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network.
Full transcript
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Nick PowerGoing into LinkedIn and thinking that you can lead with your brand and then follow with your personality is a losing strategy, in my opinion. I don't care what you sell if I don't know who you are. I don't care what you sell if I don't know that I can trust you. I don't care what you sell if you are just trying to sell to me, like just leave me alone kind of thing. You know, people think so much about the algorithm, they forget that there are other people on the side of the screen that are actually reading their content. Sometimes I'll, I'll see people write this long think piece and they've left no room for anybody to say anything else. You just talked at us. You just gave us a lecture. You didn't start a conversation. I've found that the shorter your content, the better tends to be the case in terms of like more people reading it. If you hand someone a book or a newspaper, they'll be like, oh cool, I'll read this later. If you hand them a fortune cookie, they're going to read that fortune cookie right then and there every single time. And so, you know, when you are writing something that is more inviting a conversation, Then people spend a ton of time in your comments. They spend a ton of time reading your comments, and then that dwell time tends to make the algorithm pick your stuff up and move it further.
Al ElliottThat's Nick Power. He's a senior marketing leader at The Noun Project and one of the most talked about voices on LinkedIn.
Leanne ElliottNick has more than 30,000 followers and millions of views by doing something most professionals never dare to. He calls out corporate nonsense, talks openly about burnout and leadership, and somehow manages to be called amazing, and unprofessional, often in the same comment thread.
Al ElliottHis posts attract thousands of likes, but just as many critics because he's breaking the unspoken rule of LinkedIn: tell the truth.
Leanne ElliottHello and welcome to Truth, Lies and Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioural science meets workplace culture, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. My name is Leanne. I'm a chartered occupational psychologist.
Al ElliottMy name is Al and I'm a business owner. And together we help you Simplify the science of work. Okay, today's guest, Nick Power, probably needs no introduction because statistically it's very likely you've seen at least one of his posts on LinkedIn. But today he's giving us a masterclass on going viral on social media, but not in the normal guru, braggy, broccoli-haired way. Instead, you're gonna hear him share the good, the bad, and the ugly of being human on LinkedIn.
Leanne ElliottYou are about to hear one of the most honest conversations we've had About authenticity, vulnerability, and what happens when you stop performing online and start showing up as yourself.
Al ElliottSo stay with us. We'll be back after this very short break. The dirty little secret is that most businesses think they know their customers. They have the data, the records, the history, but it's scattered across 3 teams and 4 systems. And in our case, it's about 216,000 spreadsheets, which means nobody can actually use it.
Leanne ElliottWhat you should be doing is using HubSpot. Because why? HubSpot connects it all— every interaction, every support ticket, every conversation— into one platform every team can work from. So when sales talks to a customer, marketing already knows the full story. And when you know more, you grow more.
Al ElliottNice. Check out hubspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses.
Nick PowerMy name is Nick Power. I am a 37-year-old marketer living in Maine in the United States. And I work at Noun Project, which is the world's most diverse and extensive collection of icons and photos. So working on building out the marketing function there. I guess people know me from LinkedIn. I started writing, you know, funny little, basically one-liners on LinkedIn earlier this year and just kind of changed the way that I think people look at the platform and use it. But I feel like I didn't necessarily own or, um, sort of create that as much as just jump on that wave and, and ride it as I saw it coming. So, uh, I think it was gonna happen either way, but I was one of the first to see it and just start kind of doing it more. So yeah, I think that's how people know me.
Leanne ElliottThe reason I was drawn to your, your content was I was engaging LinkedIn as a self-employed content creator, having a podcast. LinkedIn was a platform where I felt my, my people were, my clients, my listeners, and it was just the most awful place of humblebrags and just, ugh, nonsense to the point where I quite welcomed an AI-written post because at least it was something coherent and not just something a bit ick.
Nick PowerHmm.
Leanne ElliottYour stuff, it's funny, it's self-aware, it's so honest about what is going on in the workplace. It resonated with me. I'm curious why you think it's resonating with so many people right now.
Nick PowerIn a lot of ways, society is fractured, right? And I'm speaking in generalizations, which is tough to get any value out of, but especially in America, I think that there's this huge sense of polarity happening, right? But at the same time, there's also this very growing very quickly growing sense of unity and self-awareness just in general. And again, I think it's coming from everybody being online, everybody looking at all this content all the time. And so you start to get a better sense of like, hey, this is sort of not just what I think, but it's what everybody sort of is feeling right now. And I can see that because the last 10 things I saw on LinkedIn or on TikTok or on Instagram showed me that. Like when you start to pay attention to it more on a cultural sense like that, you start to form a compass around not just what you're feeling, but how that aligns with the rest of like the society or your social class or whatever it is that, you know, your target audience. And for me it's marketers, right? Like that's generally who I'm thinking about when I'm writing a piece of content. But you can see now that it's sort of spread beyond that because a lot of people feel like that personally.
Al ElliottYeah.
Nick PowerWhen I started to pay attention to or think about LinkedIn as not a job website and not a specific social media platform that had this specific content style that I had to follow, like, and just think about it as like a place where millions of people gather to read content and like to, to, you know, it's like a watering hole or whatever. That's when I, it kind of clicked for me and I was like, oh, maybe I should, you know, maybe I can just say the thing that I, think is in my mind and is on everybody else's mind. And when I started to do that, immediately people responded and were like, oh my gosh, like you said the thing that was in my mind.
Leanne ElliottI wonder if people just got tired of the performative nature of LinkedIn and we saw this swing to, as you say, being much more, much more authentic, much more personality-driven. Do you think there is something to that? Do you think people were just tired of the performance of it all?
Nick PowerYeah, I really do. And it's hard for me to speak on this without getting too meta or heady, honestly, because the way I look at it You know, especially here, I'm in America and things aren't that great here, like right now. And, you know, when you look at sort of zooming out, we've got, you know, a president and an administration that's using offensive memes as a marketing tactic, and we've got AI mass replacing jobs and, you know, or mass layoffs happening that are just evaporating jobs overnight. And so then when you get When you come into a place like a space like LinkedIn where people just feel this pressure to like present as performative, you know, performative professionalism, I think people are done with that. Like, I think they're getting really, really exhausted by it. And I think they're kind of at a breaking point almost where it's like, okay, like, are we really going to pretend that things are not on fire and we're just going to talk about B2B marketing still kind of thing? So.
Leanne ElliottYeah.
Nick PowerThat's how I look at it. I think, you know, anytime change happens, it's uncomfortable for people who aren't ready for that change. So I get that. But like I said earlier, I think this was going to happen regardless of whether I did it or not. So I think me being pushed to the front was kind of just a circumstance of me being one of the first people to do it and get known for it.
Leanne ElliottI've heard people call call into question the professionalism of creating content in that way on what is meant to be a professional social platform. So with that in mind, what do you think being professional means in 2025? And as we move into 2026?
Nick PowerThis is going to be different for every person. To me, you know, when I think about what it means to be professional, it means, are you good at your job? Are you good at your craft? A lot of people have gotten by for a long time being good at politicking and being good at, you know, presenting as a professional, but I think with technology and all that stuff happening more and more, we've got AI, we've got lots of different things happening to sort of change how people do work in general. I think it means, do you understand what you're trying to do at a really core level? And so I think being good at your job is an obvious one. I think, are you honest and can people trust you is another one that comes to mind for me. I think, again, going back to people getting by through politicking or through, you know, sort of pure networking or introductions and stuff like that. I think that more and more we're starting to see, and we're getting a more inside look at people's lives too, right? Like we want to see behind the curtain more. So do you show respect? Are you a person that people can be around, right? Are you self-aware or are you trying to be self-aware? I think that's a big one. Um, that comes to mind for me. And, you know, it's become much more important recently. Like, we all know, you know, what we look like and how we, how we measure up to, to other people. And so I think being self-aware is something I'm trying to work on a lot too, as a professional. And I think the last one, you know, this is tough for me to word right. So I'll, I'll say it as best I can. Are you easy to work with? I think, um, you know, a lot of people will will sort of stand on the soapbox of saying like, oh, you shouldn't be a pushover and you shouldn't, you know, um, let people walk all over you. And I totally agree with that. I'm not saying that you should be a pushover or that you should let people walk all over you, but I find that being easy to work with as a professional is super important. And, you know, when that comes into like how I present on LinkedIn and stuff like that, I think it's like, do you have a sense of humor? Do people like to be around you? Do you have a personality? That's something that, like I said, I think a lot of people will say, you know, don't, don't be a pushover. Don't let people walk all over you. But I find that if you are constantly having drama or problems with your career or in the workplace or whatever it is, it either means you need to find a new place to be or you're part of the problem. So that's Something that I've learned the hard way in my career. So I keep it with me still.
Leanne ElliottThis whole argument around digital visibility in terms of your professional or executive brand, and actually by being so authentic and personality-driven and real and calling out the BS, you are potentially putting yourself at a disadvantage in your career. Where do you stand on that argument and the pressure of the digital visibility, whether it be on LinkedIn or any other social platform?
Nick PowerI think it depends on how you define that too. I mean, personally, I don't want to work in an environment where I strongly disagree in a political sense or in an ethical sense with the people I work for. I just don't. And I've left jobs over that, frankly. So I, yeah, I mean, you may be limiting your career options and it's unlikely that I'm going to get hired at a bank after writing some of the jokes I've Written, you know, because people aren't going to take me as seriously. But at the same time, if I'm a marketer, which I am, you know, and my job is to show that I can do marketing really well, I think if you look at what I've been able to achieve in terms of visibility and being known as a personal brand and a person, like just a human on LinkedIn, I think it speaks for like, the work speaks for itself. Like people know me and the marketing is working. So. And that's not to say that it's like a, you know, an elaborate marketing strategy I cooked up in a lab. Like, it's me, but, you know, I'd also be lying if I said I didn't think about it as a marketer sometimes and like, okay, like, are people going to respond to this? Is it going to be something that, you know, they can relate to? Is it relevant? Like those types of things. So the answer, the short answer is yes, probably. You might be limiting yourself, but I think you may also be pushing yourself towards opportunities you really do want, right? Like clients that you align with better, a job that really, that you really feel like you can be yourself versus this avatar, like this corporate avatar. I think there are trade-offs there and I don't think it's for everyone. Like, I think if you're desperate for a job and you need anything that you can get paid to do, sure, maybe then that's a situation where you want to be a little bit more reserved, but And I realize that there's privilege in me saying that too, like as an employed, you know, as an employed white male, like I recognize that privilege. So my intent is not to abuse it. It's to try and open up that space for more people and try and make it more normal for other people to feel like it's okay to do that.
Leanne ElliottI think it felt a bit rebellious to me initially because, you know, I've been involved with LinkedIn as a millennial, probably my entire career. it's been there in some form. It just felt, it felt a bit naughty to be able to talk this so openly and, and in a way that is, is really getting to the point of what is broken in our workplaces. And you talk a lot about that as well in terms of, of, of kind of burnout and mental health and the job crisis we're seeing. How, why is that important to you to raise these very important Issues in terms of social issues and also organizational life.
Nick PowerThese are issues that have existed since we've worked together. And so I think what really feels naughty or like sort of rebellious about it is we've sort of been shamed or conditioned to not speak on them. And especially in leadership roles, like I think, you know, when you talk about people managers or CEOs or, you know, people who are supposed to be sort of the spokesperson of a company or whatever, like it's been the case, I think, for a long time that we're supposed to be these sort of indestructible, almost too resilient type of people where every challenge has to have a, you know, a nice packaged LinkedIn post that says, and then I started my business and solved every problem after I quit drinking. And I think that's not the case in real life. And I think, you know, for me, it's illuminating that, um, we, you know, everybody struggles with that stuff. And so I think normalizing that and also kind of calling attention to the fact that you are not your job, right? You're not your career, you're not your title. And it sounds trite and cliché, but I think we still struggle with that.
Al ElliottYeah.
Nick PowerToday, like, I think we still, when we go on LinkedIn, we think about, oh, well, how's this going to reflect on me? Is, you know, my career, is my boss going to see it? Is my, you know, my report, my direct report going to see it? And I hope they see it. Like, I hope, I hope that they see it and I hope they understand it because there is a ton of value in being honest with the struggles that we face as humans, right? Like whether it's you're a parent that's been up all night with your kid and that's where you're coming into work from today, or your friend just died, or, you know, you struggled with substance abuse and then you're connecting with someone. Like, I think that there's a lot of value in being an honest person. And don't get me wrong, I think there's a threat or a risk of oversharing. Like, I'm not saying You know, this is your diary, this is your LiveJournal, go ahead and trauma dump every single day in there. But I think that there's, you know, and you have to find that line for yourself. And so to read it, um, you know, where does that, where is that line for me and the people that I want to connect with, but to sweep it under the rug constantly and to kind of, you know, shave all the edges off the puzzle piece, so to speak. I think that, that Just so that you fit in kind of thing. I think that that is more harmful than it is helpful. And I think that, you know, we're all here to get some work done, but at the end of the day, it's a job. Like it just, it's a thing that we do to pay the bills. And I want to be a human first. I don't want to be a corporate soldier first, regardless of whether I'm on LinkedIn or I'm at, you know, my parent-teacher conference or wherever, like I want to be a human. So.
Al ElliottYeah.
Nick PowerI think that it sounds so weird to say I wanna be human, but it really, like, we have robots now. Like, it's important to be a human. Like, so I don't know, that's how I see it. And I think that, um, that is how a lot of people have been feeling and why it sort of resonates so strongly on this platform in particular right now.
Leanne ElliottIf this is where professionalism is heading, or maybe professionalism is being replaced maybe with more authenticity. What do you think that's gonna mean for the more traditional rules of the workplace, the more traditional ideas of what it means to be professional? Is this just the evolution of the workplace that is needed? What do you think the future looks like there?
Nick PowerI kind of struggle with the word authenticity. I think it's a word that gets abused a lot. Like, I respect what people mean when they say it, but I prefer just like honesty. Like, are you being honest or not? Right? Like, is it the truth or is it really you there? And I think, you know, the whole approach that people had where they were sort of just delivering value or like writing sort of mini case studies all the time, it's like, do we talk like that in real life? No. You know, why are we doing that online? So I think the pendulum, you know, once all that stuff came to a head and it was just saturated. Like everyone was everywhere. Then it started to swing back and people were like, oh my gosh, I just want to see something real. Like just put one original thought out there kind of thing. So yeah, I think it was the natural evolution of it and I think we'll continue to see it happen that way. Like I think, you know, CEOs and executives and stuff like that are probably the last to to come to that space of like, here's just an original thought or something. And you've got some folks who do it that are, maybe they should do it less frankly, like Elon and stuff like that. But yeah, I think that we'll see it happen more and that's just sort of the natural evolution of how things are lining up.
Leanne ElliottWhat I'm wondering is, 'cause we're around the same age, I'm a bit older than you, but is this a millennial thing? Were we just kind of craving something that felt real and felt ours in terms of not that over-professionalized nonsense, not the people dancing on TikTok that didn't seem to have any community for, for us? Is this a millennial-driven thing as we're starting to age into a point where we are in, in kind of that, that mid part of our career where we're starting to become more, more senior?
Nick PowerAt the end of the day, like people have to decide what's for them or not. But I'll say this, I've seen a ton of Gen Z people share the same feeling that they're like, oh my gosh, like I thought LinkedIn had to be X, Y, and Z, but it's not. And so, you know, I don't think of it as a generational thing. I would say when I write content, I do typically think of myself talking to another millennial. So I think that's, you know, I'm a millennial. I'm not going to try and pretend that I'm not. And I think a lot of the stuff I write comes out as millennial-coded. You know, there's a lot of nostalgia and a lot of sort of, I guess, critiques about being too online, which I think millennials have kind of become really self-aware about of themselves recently. I've personally seen a lot of younger folks and older folks, frankly, in my comments and, you know, in Writing things that seem to embody, you know, hey, I'm not going to pretend to be a corporate avatar. I'm going to write from the heart. And I think, you know, there's probably, I'm not well-versed enough to speak on this, but I think if you were to look back at writing over time, there's generations and generations of that happening where Jack Kerouac and stuff like that, where it's like, people are just like, I'm going to write the way I want to write. And it might be different than what's happening right now, but, you know, That's how it's gonna be. So I don't think it's just millennials. I think it probably started and resonated the most with millennials, but I think it's gonna evolve, you know, now that Gen Z's coming into it and generations underneath that into whatever they wanna see it become too.
Leanne ElliottYou have been, um, called part of this, this weird LinkedIn. I'm sure there's people listening going, what, what is that? Can you tell us what it is? How it started, how would you define it?
Nick PowerThe first time I saw somebody refer to it as weird LinkedIn was Gillian Richardson. Um, so I would credit her as kind of like the godmother of it actually. And if you don't follow Gillian, check her out. She's awesome. She's one of my favorite people on LinkedIn. But, and that's not to say that people weren't being weird on LinkedIn before that either. Like, I think it was just, you know, again, people get pushed to the front or whatever. When you think about where things have been sort of just In general with like culture and society, like, okay, all these other social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and TikTok sort of have been becoming increasingly unusable. Like, let's be honest, people don't want to be on Facebook. Twitter is a dumpster fire. Instagram is fine, I guess. Like, I don't know, people consume content on Instagram and TikTok, but I don't see a ton of community happening there. It's really more of just like almost like a TV network at this point where you consume information. And so I think people became, and I think people were starting to leave those channels, like they were just becoming disillusioned or disinterested in them. And so from a social media perspective, there was sort of this like longing for, like, I think you referred to it as the Twitterfication, you know, like kind of what those platforms used to be where they were fun and witty and People connected and they're interesting. And so you got all these people leaving these social media platforms and then you've got all this political chaos happening. You know, people are feeling like they're not sure about the future and whatnot. Like in general, I think, you know, when you think about the workplace and sort of jobs, like those were in a bad spot, especially here and COVID happening. And so everybody's online. And so I think there was just sort of this like, All the elements came together to be like, okay, people need this, right? They need to be weird online again. And so for me, I tend to think of, I really don't love the whole concept of weird LinkedIn as like a group of people or a hashtag or like even a movement. To me, it's about Everybody is weird. Like every— everybody is weird. I'm weird. You're weird. The people who are listening to this podcast are weird, whether they want to admit it or not. And so I think it, it was sort of this, okay, everybody has permission to do that here. And we're not going to treat this place like a monitored space anymore where mom and dad are watching everything we say and we're trying to sell shit to people all the time. And You know, we are sort of burying our personality and not saying things that we care about. Like, I think there was a lot of people who were ready for this to happen and dying for it to happen, frankly. So when you say, you know, LinkedIn was kind of this unusable platform before, I think a lot of people felt like that. And, you know, taking the mask off was very easy for a lot of people. And just it, all it took was a handful of people to be like, yeah, I'm taking mine off first kind of thing. So.
Al ElliottSo what have we learned so far? Nick destroyed this myth that professionalism means polishing yourself into something robotic. This idea that if you're honest online, you are weak. If you swear, you are reckless. If you talk about burnout, you're oversharing. Of course, the irony is that this so-called unprofessional behavior is exactly why people trust him. So after the break, Nick is getting practical. You're going to learn exactly how you can write posts that go viral, what type of posts do well, and how to walk that fine line between ignoring trolls and also encouraging engagement. Don't go anywhere.
Leanne ElliottDid you know that the UK's number one management podcast— that's us, by the way— and the UK's number one marketing podcast are both on the same podcast network?
Al ElliottWe actually have a lot in common. We both use behavioural science to help people do better at work.
Leanne ElliottAnd we both had to wrangle Rory Sutherland on an episode.
Al ElliottAnd 2 out of 3 of us are devilishly good-looking. And you're not going to say which. Fel, host of Nudge, UK's number 1 marketing podcast. It's brought to you— we need to do this in 3s—
Leanne Elliottthe HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.
Nick PowerSeamless, seamless. Tell us about your latest We've just done an episode on fake fandom and how New York indie bands are paying agencies to create fake TikTok videos about how much they like their work. And we talk about the behavioural science behind fandom and how that encourages people to enjoy the music and all of that good stuff, and do some big things about how this affects the world of politics, business, and brands as well.
Leanne ElliottIt is, it's such, it's such a good show. Of course, you'll hear all the stuff you want to hear about how to grow your business by using behavioural science in your marketing. But there's also just some really interesting episodes that will be right up your street. Personally, I enjoyed Can Balsamic Vinegar Make Beer Taste Better?
Nick PowerIt can.
Leanne ElliottAnd Are We All Just Status-Seeking Monkeys?
Al ElliottI am. Go and listen to Nudge wherever you get your podcasts.
Leanne ElliottBut come back.
Al ElliottYeah, come back.
Nick PowerDefinitely come back because Nudge isn't as good as this.
Leanne ElliottSo come back.
Al ElliottI'll cut that out. Keep that in.
Leanne ElliottAnd I know there'll be business owners, leaders listening. that are thinking, I would love to show up online in this way that feels more human. I would love to present my organization in a way that really resonates with people. As a marketer, what advice would you give them in terms of approaching this way of creating content, um, specifically on LinkedIn? Because I think that is where a lot of you say the B2B marketing happens.
Nick PowerFor me, at least, it comes down to your values and sort of your moral compass. And it sounds cheesy, but You know, if you are sharing things about yourself to get eyeballs on your company, if you are, you know, using your personal trauma or whatever to get, you know, likes and impressions and stuff like that, I think that's when we cross into the like, oh, this is icky performative, you know, stuff like that. It's important for me to speak on the things that I speak on because they're important to me, right? Like, those are things I care about. Whether I had a job or not, I'd care about those things. For me, the things I tend to write about are like mental health, parenting, big tech, writing, like finding a voice, dealing with, you know, being a quiet person, which I've really worked on a lot on myself recently and tried to kind of get out of that by writing more. Like, these are things that I care about genuinely. And so it's important for me to be Like, I want to hear what other people think about them. I want to know if other people are struggling with those things or if they've thought about them. And so I think that when you look at the entire concept of LinkedIn, but also just networking, like, or just connecting with other people, people want to work with people they know, like, and trust. They want to— and again, another cliché there, but I think that The only way to do that is to reveal the things you really care about and start to speak on those things. And so when we talk about, you know, a business owner or a founder or whatever, showing that part of themselves online, to me, it's about starting with, okay, what are the things I really care about? Like, what are the things that I value and what are my opinions on those things that you know, I feel comfortable speaking on, um, because those are the things that people will then become comfortable with about around me to, you know, to speak on it and know me as a real person, not just like this corporate shill or this like, you know, empty facade of a business owner.
Leanne ElliottThere are some formats, some topics, some ways of writing that, you know, are more than likely gonna perform really well. Can you give us any little insider secrets?
Nick PowerSure.
Al ElliottYeah.
Nick PowerSo one thing is, I obviously, I, I write short, you know, very, very, uh, short-form content. And so I've found that the shorter your content, the better tends to be the case, um, in terms of like more people reading it. And the way I think about that is, you know, if you hand someone a book or a newspaper, they'll be like, oh cool, I'll read this later. Like, I'll save this for later, or they might skim it. Maybe if you're lucky, if you hand them a fortune cookie, they're going to read that fortune cookie right then and there every single time. And so, you know, you can dig your heels in and say, I have too much to say, or it's too big of a title, whatever. That's fine. But I'm just telling you, short content will be read more. And I think there's a sense of empathy too, in just realizing that You're one of 1,000 other posts on a feed in a very busy day for someone. And so you have this chance to kind of be like, hey, I see you and I'm going to make this short for you. I have seen that if you include a surprise element in that short-form content, so like, let's say you start with something sort of generic and vanilla, and then you end with something that's like, whoa, where did that come from? Or you can flip that. You can start with something really crazy and then end with something very vanilla. Like for example, like Hey, I know the world is on fire, but can you adjust the font size on slide 6 or something like that? Like, people are like, oh, like it kind of illuminates that chaotic, you know, dealing with what's out there versus what we're expected to just treat as important in the workplace. So an element of surprise is something that I tend to use. And then I think in terms of topics, like anything LinkedIn related. Like if you're talking about LinkedIn, it tends to perform really well. If, you know, just saying the word LinkedIn, um, because people are there and they're thinking a lot about how do I write for LinkedIn? How do I be on LinkedIn? What do I do in this place? And then I think the last thing I'd say is, and this is more of like a strategic lens, I guess, but like people talk about the algorithm way too much and Yeah, the algorithm is a thing. Like, I'm not going to say it's not. And I think that there's a lot of inherent walls or mountains that people have to climb with that. But at the same time, I think that people think so much about the algorithm, they forget that there are other people on the side of the screen that are actually reading their content. And so they start writing this thing that, well, Nick said to write short, or I have to write this particular time every day, because I've had 2 posts get over 100 likes at that time or whatever it is. I think that you just have to think about like, when are people online? What are they thinking about? How do I, you know, how do I say a thing in a way that is going to interest them? Right. And that is, they're going to want to share or talk about, like the biggest thing that I've seen actually make content go viral is not likes, it's comments. And so I think When you write a thing that's like, you know, sometimes I'll see people write this long think piece and they've left no room for anybody to say anything else. It's just, here's what I think, and here's all my thoughts. And it's like, okay, you just talked at us. You just gave us a lecture. You didn't start a conversation. And so, you know, when you are writing something that is more inviting a conversation, Then people spend a ton of time in your comments. They spend a ton of time reading your comments, and then that dwell time tends to make the algorithm pick your stuff up and move it further. So I would say try to think less about the algorithm and like what time or what topics or whatever, and think more about like, what are people thinking about and what are people, you know, What are, what, what's a, what's a way to be sort of relevant right now and speak to that? And I think a lot of folks would say, oh, well then I'm never getting my business objective in front of people. Right. Like, but I don't think that's the case. And I think people also conflate their business objectives. Like people have all kinds of different goals when they're on LinkedIn. And so if your goal is to sell stuff, yeah, I think you need to talk about your product and you need to talk about What your service, you know, who you've helped and all that stuff. And I think you need to make it engaging and I think you need to make it relatable so that people actually wanna read it and it's not just a sales pitch. But if your goal is to be seen and, you know, go viral and stuff like that, then you have to just write stuff people give a shit about. Like, it's just that simple. I could tell you pretty, with a pretty high amount of certainty, a post that's gonna go viral. Sometimes I'm surprised when they don't, but like particular topics or particular styles of writing will go viral almost every time. And so it's more to me like, oh, I'm surprised that didn't get a reaction sometimes. And again, I'm not like writing to go viral, but the way that I think about it is if I'm gonna speak on, you know, a social issue that I care about, I don't, I'd like a lot of people to be involved in that. Like, I'd like a lot of people to be exposed to it. And so I will pick a format that I think a lot of people will respond to. And, you know, I think a lot of people could say, oh, that's attention-seeking, that's performative, whatever, da da da da da. But at the end of the day, that's what social media is. You know what I mean? So I think that If you're sitting in a corner arguing about different shades of authenticity or whatever, that's a losing battle to me. I think you just need to go out there, be yourself, and pick the format that you think people are going to respond to. So I don't know that I have an answer. I've made a lot of silly jokes that I wasn't sure people would respond to well. Somebody sent me feet pictures in my DM one time, and it was so odd and weird that I was like, I have to make a post about this and a lot of people thought that was funny. I think the post that I said was like, I've only received feet pictures from one person since I became famous and that seems low. So obviously, like I had to make a joke out of it and it's clearly like not serious, but I think that's about as close to the line as I came. You know, I was like, oh, this feels like I might regret posting this one, but it was too funny not to share. So. Yeah, I think that's a, that's an example of one that I was surprised that people allowed on LinkedIn. So, you know, talking about your very niche B2B solution is never gonna go viral and that's fine. But if you are talking about mental health and you're sharing a personal story that people can relate to and people are gonna say, wow, I found this, you know, not just interesting but valuable, or, you know, it started a conversation that I really have been wanting to have. That's when you start to get a ton of views and people start to say, oh, like, I don't just, I'm not just interested in this person. I like them and I trust them.
Leanne ElliottWhat positive impact has it had being this LinkedIn voice?
Nick PowerWell, so I ran a poll a while back about that and I've done a few other ways of measuring it. And again, like I would be lying if I said my purpose with writing things on LinkedIn is to be a corporate spokesperson for my brand. Like, it's not my number one priority. So I'll be honest about that. It, my sort of goal is just to connect with people and speak on social issues that I care about and learn and, you know, can like, and I struggle with that sometimes as a creator, frankly, like, because it's, it's the internet. It's hard to, it's hard to connect and I'm an introvert too. So, but, um, to answer your question, I ran a poll a while back on this that was like, did you find about Did you find out about Noun Project through me? And I think like almost 1,000 people answered it and 60% of the people who answered it said they did. Now, I think, you know, there's a very important thing that we need to address. That's like, if you sell a thing that people don't need, or it's out of their price range, or it's, you know, like you can't solve that problem with content. That's not a, you can't, viral marketing your way into fixing that problem. So, you know, I acknowledge that this isn't going to work for somebody selling a super niche B2B thing, and I wouldn't advise that as a goal for them. But for me, you know, it's a pretty ubiquitous need. We do icons and stock photos and things like that. And so if you are a marketer, if you're a designer, you know, if you are interested in creating anything, like this is a product you could know about and be interested in at some point. So, and I've had a good amount of DMs too. I, you know, it's not like hundreds, but it's definitely a few dozen that have been like, hey, I bought a subscription to Noun Project through you. And that's just the people who told me about it. So we also, I've looked at traffic and there's been definitely a bump in traffic from like LinkedIn referral traffic. And I have a UTM link in my profile that people click, Pretty often. So, you know, I'm not gonna say that like I single-handedly changed the course of the business or anything like that. I'm just saying people found out about the brand through me. And I think that that's, I'm happy with that, especially if it's in a way that they're like, hey, I like Nick and I'm curious what brand, you know, what brand does he work for? So I think there's that. And I think too, like just To kind of cap this off, going into LinkedIn and thinking that you can lead with your brand and then follow with your personality is a losing strategy, in my opinion, moving forward. Like, I don't care what you sell if I don't know who you are. I don't care what you sell if I don't know that I can trust you. I don't care what you sell if you're just trying to sell to me, like, just leave me alone kind of thing. You know, when I need a ghostwriter, I'm going to hire Jillian because I've known her for a long time. I trust her. I've seen her content a lot, you know, or if I want to learn how to do storytelling, I'm going to hire Renee. Like those are the types of things I think about where not everybody's ready to buy your thing right then and there. And not everybody will ever, but if your goal is to be seen, then that's, you know, that's how to do it.
Leanne ElliottHas there been any negative backlash you've experienced?
Nick PowerAny person who goes online and writes a thing is going to get at some point negative feedback. And some of it is fair. And I try to take that and learn from it. And I've made mistakes for sure. Like, I think that the reality is if you are being your honest self, you're gonna make mistakes and you're gonna get feedback that not everybody likes you. Like just yesterday I was like dealing with this. There's a person who leaves Very tepid burns on my content all the time, like comments. And it, you know, I don't really linger on my comments anymore, but it's one of those things that I'm just like, why? Why do you do that? So I, you know, I wonder like, why do people spend time doing that? Like, don't they have anything else to do? So I try to draw that line for myself where I'm like, okay, this is valid feedback. Like they're saying a thing that like maybe I should be more self-aware of who I am and what I'm saying to these people. Like my, the internet being these people. Um, or, um, is this just BS? Like, are they just picking on me because they're jealous? Or are they, you know, do they feel insecure by me being vulnerable kind of thing? So yeah, I've gotten a good amount of negative feedback, but more overwhelmingly it's been positive. And a lot of people have been really supportive and I've spoken about it a lot too. Like, that's a thing that I'll talk about because Yeah, it impacts my mental health. Like if I'm spending time writing a thing that I care about and then people take it and post it on LinkedIn Lunatics, like that sucks. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. So.
Leanne ElliottFor those who don't know, can you explain what LinkedIn Lunatics is?
Nick PowerYeah, it's a Reddit sub, a Reddit thread that people will screenshot LinkedIn content. Typically stuff that, in fairness, a lot of it is cringe, but with the express intent of cyberbullying people who wrote it anonymously on Reddit. On LinkedIn, I've noticed that people try to make light of it and say like, oh, you aren't, you made it, you're on LinkedIn, you're on LinkedIn Lunatics. Personally, I think it sucks. Like, I think it's such a Middle school thing to do. I think it's super pathetic, frankly, to, to do that. Like if you have that big of a problem with someone's content, just write the, put your name next to it on the LinkedIn platform. So my opinion on that is kind of, I don't know, I, I think it's very childish and frankly, like the burns are always weak too. I'm like, okay, like this is lame. So I don't know. That's my take on it. And also I think that it sort of pisses me off that people lurk through LinkedIn just to like do that. Like, okay, we get it. You don't like LinkedIn, but just make better content then. You know what I mean? Like make the place better. Don't, don't like childishly burn people. That's my opinion. I know some people like it and think it's funny and they get a laugh out of it or whatever, but I've seen some really mean stuff and some really, a lot of it is targeted at women too, which I don't like. Like I think it's really harsh towards women. And so yeah, that's very ick to me. I don't like that at all. Also, I think if you are going to be visible, you're gonna be a target at some point, like just end of story. So I think people become jealous, people become insecure, whatever it is, you know, they're threatened, they disagree with you fundamentally on your values, whatever it is, they're going to create a reactionary piece about you at some point. And so, I don't know, my advice is don't engage with it, frankly, like after kind of having been through that for a while. And like to this day, every single day I open LinkedIn, I see a subtweet about myself or a piece like that's like, you know, basically mocking short-form humorous content on LinkedIn. Like, So, and I know that it's not all about me. Like, I'm not that egotistical, but I think that the spirit of it is like, hey, this is dumb. It's not Facebook. You're wasting people's time, whatever. And they're entitled to their opinion. I don't care. That's fine. But, you know, I'm not gonna say that it feels great to see that, that people took the time to shit talk me. So yeah, that's where I land on it.
Leanne ElliottHow has this whole experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly, as you say, how has that changed you in terms of how you present yourself online, how you show up as a professional, or even how you even think about, about work and your identity within that?
Nick PowerI think that I have tried to be more and more and more aware of who I am as a person and who I need to be, um, to be a good person. And, and I think that sounds kind of cliché again, but like at the end of the day, again, I'm not like, this is not an elaborate marketing strategy for me. It's like, I could shut this down tomorrow and there would not be like, it wouldn't like my business wouldn't fold. You know what I mean? I would still have a job and everything. So for me, it's like very much about Am I putting things out there that make me a better person, that make people feel seen, that make the world better? And I know that sounds silly because I don't think that social— I think that we have to be careful about like seeing social media posts as activism or as like a solution to problems. Like, yeah, I think that it's important to raise awareness about issues and talk about them online, but then you have to go do things like you have to go vote. You have to go and support a food pantry. You have to go and And if you see a fundraiser on LinkedIn and somebody's struggling and you've got $20 in your bank account that you can give them, a total stranger, do it. Like, so those are things that I've tried to like pay attention to in myself and sort of increasingly balance like, okay, am I just talking about this thing or am I doing it? You know, what are the ways that I can be involved in it? And just constantly trying to figure out where that line is for myself. And then I think more recently, to be completely honest, like it's been hard. I would say that I admit to kind of putting my mask on a little bit more now that I have a bigger following. And that's, I think there's trade-offs there. Like part of it is for me to sort of like kind of be like, okay, like maybe, you know, protect myself a little bit too versus like just giving my entire self away in my content all the time. But also in the sense of like, I don't want to say a thing that harms other people just to make a joke. There's a way that you can speak on things that's extremely polarizing. And right now I think that you're not wrong to be on one side of that polarity and say like, what's happening here is wrong. Like we should not be rounding up immigrants and putting them in, like, that's horrible. It's awful what's happening in, you know, Our foreign policy, stuff like that. Like, it's all bad, but we're not going to solve the issue by further polarizing everything. Like, we're just going to make it worse. And so for me to get out on a stage in front of 30,000 people and put my foot down and be like, I'm on the right side of history and you're terrible if you're not, does not solve a single thing. Like, it's just easing my own conscience about where I stand. And I think That's an important thing that people need to realize when they write things online is like, you're either making people question their stances or think about where they could do better or think harder about something, or you're pushing them to a further extreme of where they already stand and saying like, I'm offended. I'm not even going to listen, immediately shut down. And so I think that's something I've started to see to the point where I almost don't want to be online as much anymore because it's not reflective enough for me. And like, as a person and say like, you know, if I don't have a constructive way to speak on this, I shouldn't speak on it. Like there are certain issues I won't speak on because I just, I don't know enough about. There's, you know, hundreds of years of history behind that issue. I'm not going to try and flatten it into a piece of social media content and then call that activism. So I don't know, that's my view on it. I think there's people that feel differently and I encourage them to again, find that line for themselves. But as I've done this more and more and sort of been exposed to more people and heard more viewpoints and just thought more about like, okay, what do we need to do to fix this as a community? It's trying to avoid tipping into that, you know, okay, I'm going to polarize people with this piece of content versus like, I think humor does leave the door open for people to be like, huh, that's kind of funny. Like, why is that funny to me? Like, you know, I don't agree with that, but why is he saying that? And why do I think it's funny? Like that kind of thing. So that's, that's how I approach it. I don't know that it's the right way or the only way, but that's, that's been a thing that I've started to gather more after doing all this and kind of growing my audience.
Al ElliottThat was Nick Power, someone I recommend you immediately go and follow. All the links are in the show notes.
Leanne ElliottI really enjoyed my chat with Nick, and I loved that he's not telling people to burn down professionalism. He's reminding us what it was supposed to be in the first place. It's integrity, it's not image.
Al ElliottAnd of course, as any great marketer would do, myself included, Nick has created his own range of branded merchandise that you can buy today. The link is in the show notes. Leanne, you love some of that stuff.
Leanne ElliottI do. There's one with a daisy doing jazz hands going, we're all doomed. I just need it in my life. So go and have a look at his shirts, his hoodies. They're just so good. You can find Nick on LinkedIn, of course. Just search for Nick C. Power. Uh, though, fair warning, you'll either end up following him or arguing with him in the comments, possibly both.
Al ElliottThis is Truth, Lies and Work. We'll see you next week.