How to maintain authenticity in your social media strategy — even with AI

One of the biggest reasons I’m a late(r) convert to AI is that AI-generated content usually has some tells. And while I’m a little closer to it than most, when I spot social media content that’s a direct copy-paste from GPT, it feels canned and inauthentic, and I lose trust in the person or brand.

While I firmly believe that authenticity is important everywhere you market your business, it’s especially important when it comes to making connections and growing relationships on social media.

In fact, while I’m 100% on board with using AI to brainstorm or flesh out ideas, I will never advocate blindly publishing AI-generated social, blog, or email content. With that in mind, I want to share my approach to using AI in social media strategies in a way that allows you to be more effective in how you spend your time while still sounding like you.

Table of Contents

• How AI Can Level Up Your Social Media

• How to Maintain Authenticity When Using AI
• When You Should Avoid AI
• Being Transparent About How You Use AI

How AI Can Level Up Your Social Media

AI isn’t going anywhere. ChatGPT alone is responsible for millions of conversations every day. And the vast majority of marketers responding to our 2025 Marketing Trends Survey say that AI is making a significant impact on their work, to the tune of nearly 80%.

With that in mind, you’re probably already using AI and doing so feeling pretty good about job security. Just 18% of marketers expressed concern that AI would take over most marketers’ job duties.

The rest feel confident that it will either take away menial aspects of marketing or act as a partner, making marketing more efficient. The key phrase here? “More efficient.” Notice, I didn’t say “as a total replacement.”

That’s because generative AI has some specific telltale signs. Some of them?

• Parallel construction sentence structure — “not only…but also.”
• Abundance of emojis — 🎉 💥 ♥️ ✅
• Generic hooks — “In today’s fast-paced world…”

There are more, and I’m not using this as an example of why not to use generative AI. People do use those tells, too — and that’s precisely why ChatGPT does. Instead, I want to point out that if all of your social content looks like AI or is obviously AI-generated, it can feel inauthentic and may erode your audience’s trust.

M. Shannon Hernandez, founder and CEO of Joyful Business Revolution, agrees. “I have seen nothing that AI has leveled up on social media. The world of social media is swimming with AI, and now is the time to embrace your very humanness and actually stand out in a sea of mediocrity.”

While generative AI is the most popular use for social media, some great options include:

• Brainstorming. I love plugging basic ideas into ChatGPT and asking it to flesh them out further or point out questions people may have.

• Maintaining a consistent voice. Teach your favorite AI tool how you write. Then, it can help you make sense of random musings.
• Polishing your content. Whenever I have something that’s close to the sentiment but doesn’t quite flow right, I often go to GPT to help me make it sound better.
• Getting more mileage out of long-form content. Most people I know publish a blog and drop a few posts on social media. Instead, you can use AI to help you pull out some important ideas and make your content go further without repeating yourself.
• Showing up more consistently. Hit-and-run (also known as post-and-ghost) social media isn’t a strategy. AI can help you come up with more ideas at scale and give you writing prompts for social posts so you can write and schedule a ton of content at once.
• Creating images. Whether you’re using DALL-E to come up with images or using Canva to mass-create quote images to go with captions you’ve written, I think this is one of the best ways to work smarter, not harder.

Over 32% of marketers say product demonstrations or tutorials perform best on social media, with user-generated (22.5%) and behind-the-scenes (22%) content right on its heels.

So, what’s falling behind in terms of social media performance? Educational content ranks lowest. And just 18% of marketers say influencer marketing is their top-performing content.

But here’s what really caught my eye — 84% of marketers expect AI-generated influencers or avatars to start replacing real humans this year.

That’s a red flag, because AI can’t replace real connection. And if you’re using AI in your content strategy, how you use it matters. Here are a few tips for maintaining authenticity in your social media strategy.

1. Use descriptive AI prompts.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” The same applies to AI. It isn’t a mind reader — at least not yet. That means it can only go off of the information you feed it about what you’re creating, which makes it important to spend time developing your prompts.

“As you’re building the prompt, make sure that you put enough effort into the description. I like to tell it who I am, who the client is, the voice to use, and an overview of what you’re looking for. Where possible, it’s helpful to give an example. Once you’ve done that, you’ve given AI enough to go on and give you a draft for the first version you can edit,” says Alyssa Burkus, a ghostwriter who offers thought leadership consulting.

Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to kick it back with feedback until it gets you closer to what you want.

2. Ask for multiple versions.

In my experience, AI rarely nails my sentiment the first time. So I like to ask for 3-4 versions of whatever I’m using it to create, especially when it comes to emails and social media copy. I find that the slight variations help me get really close to what I want. Plus, it gives me some phrasing I can pick and choose from.

3. Create rules or custom GPTs for different types of copy.

I am low-key obsessed with creating different custom GPTs. I’ve got a few types set up — true custom GPTs and what I call “GPT memories.”

If you find you’re going to create a lot of a specific type of content, which comes with complex instructions, it’s probably worth your while to train a custom GPT.

Just choose “My GPTs” in the dropdown menu and follow the instructions to train your own. The possibilities are endless, so I’m not going to go into more detail here. I’ve got these for emails, social posts, and even landing pages to streamline the drafting process.

The other thing I like to use is ChatGPT’s memories. For example, I’ve taught mine a handful of LinkedIn prompts, hooks, and rules I like to use. Then, all I have to do is ask ChatGPT if it remembers my LinkedIn rules and what they are. Once it responds, I can ask it to take whatever we’ve been discussing and use those rules to give me some social post ideas.

4. Share your experiences.

Your stories and your perspective are what make you come alive. There’s nothing more authentic than sharing what’s actually happening in your business right now. Use AI to shape your stories or repurpose your content — but ground it in something real. Even coupling an AI-generated social media caption with a candid photo can make it feel more personal.

5. Take it one prompt at a time.

One of my favorite takeaways from a recent AI + SEO webinar with Neil Patel was not to do it all in one go. Instead of asking AI to write a full social caption, carousel, and CTA in one prompt, break it up.

Ask it to do A. Then ask it to take A and do B. Then add C. You’ll get better results — and more control.

Anecdotally, I’ve found this true as well, so it was quite validating to hear it. By dripping out information piece by piece, AI can build a foundation for what I’m using it to do and be far more effective than cramming it all into one prompt.

6. Feed AI a transcript of you talking.

Want to make sure your social media content feels authentic? Tell your AI chatbot exactly what you want to say or be known for.

Use a tool like Loom, Otter.ai, or even the voice feature in Google Docs to talk out your two cents on whatever topic is at hand, and then feed that transcript into the generative AI tool with a prompt to use your thoughts and ideas to map out some social posts.

I’ve found it helpful to ask for ideas first and then flesh those out into posts with a dedicated structure.

7. Use AI for social listening.

AI isn’t just about generating new content. It’s also helpful to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your space.

Nikita Morell, copywriter and messaging strategist for architects, shares, “One of my favorite ways to use AI for social media is using tools like Gumloop to ‘listen in’ on discussions and help me identify topics to share on social media. From there, it can either come up with post drafts for me to edit or just send me a list of ideas.”

8. Add a human touch and oversight to every post.

“AI can’t sound human. That’s why it gets tone so wrong. Tone is fundamentally the communication of emotion. And emotion is (for now) a purely human concept,” says Gill Hill, editor, brand voice specialist, and founder of Interrobang!?

While this relates in part to the telltale signs of AI mentioned above, it goes further. If you think of AI as the average of all things said on the Internet, it makes sense that AI-generated content extracts personality and everything that makes content interesting.

Hill agrees. “As brands realize that AI is just a hollow shell of emojis that attempt to replicate tone, they are reaching out for human help. Companies who have never thought about brand voice before (or heaven forbid, discounted it as unnecessary) now look at AI copy and know that the tone is wrong.”

The solution, then, is to go ahead and use AI to your heart’s content. Just don’t post it blindly.

When You Should Avoid AI

My friend Monique Swansen has a rule: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” While she usually uses it in an accounting context because that’s her zone of genius, I’ve found it applies in so many other places… including AI.

Even if AI can do something, it doesn’t always mean you should use it that way. Here are a few situations where it’s best to leave AI on the sidelines.

The Comments Section or DMs

It’s tempting to click on LinkedIn’s AI prompts when it generates a comment — I get it. However, in my experience, AI comments seem to do one of two things:

• Summarize the post.
• Choose one aspect of the post to elevate.

What do the two have in common? Neither adds anything of value. And they both feel inauthentic. The best comments — the ones people actually notice — add to the discussion and share personal experiences. Just like you’d see in any real-life situation.

Same goes for DMs. Some people I know have started putting a period in their LinkedIn profile names to make it easier to spot the bots.

Original Thought Leadership

Thought leadership, at its core, is your thoughts and perspectives, informed by your lived experiences. By definition, AI doesn’t have that — it’s artificial. It can pull from patterns, mimic tone, and organize ideas. But it doesn’t know what you know.

Sure, use AI to flesh out an outline or smooth out a few talking points — after you’ve plugged in your two cents.

Copy and Paste Situations

Don’t plug a post into GPT, copy it word-for-word, and hit publish. It usually feels generic and removes all the energy from your voice.

Fiona O’Carroll, director of digital marketing at Xenon Arc, shares, “I use ChatGPT to come up with a draft before plugging it into another tool — Hemingway — to help make it sound less like AI.”

From there, she can analyze the text, find areas where it should be stronger or simpler, and then make sure it has her personal touch.

I also like using tools like Originality.AI to find specific passages that may need another pass to sound less like AI and more like you. That said, I think it’s important to take these outputs with a grain of salt. Because sometimes AI sounds human and vice versa, especially with drier, more technical language.

When You’re Telling Personal Stories

Hernandez says, “AI is a machine that has all the knowledge in the world and none of the wisdom that makes a human, well, human. AI doesn’t have the capacity to feel. It doesn’t have the capacity to create or hold or evoke emotions, and it certainly doesn’t have the capacity to have empathy.”

Sure, you can use AI to polish these up or structure them in a way that makes more sense. But, it doesn’t pay to remove all of what made the story yours from the post. Your voice — with all its quirks, edges, and energy — is what cuts through.

When You Have to Be Spot-on in Your Messaging

There are some areas where AI just isn’t worth the risk. Don’t rely on it for:

• Crisis communications.
• Brand messaging that’s been client-approved or legally sensitive.
• Anything requiring cultural nuance.
• Legal, financial, or health claims.

Use human judgment here. Always.

Being Transparent About How You Use AI

If you’re using AI in your content creation process — say so. Do you need to do it for every social post you do? Not really. But if you’re creating content for other people, it’s a must.

Sure, it’s about ethics and doing the right thing. It’s also about trust.

If you’re a personal brand, the bar isn’t quite as high, but if questioned, always respond honestly.

On the other hand, if you’re an agency or creating content on behalf of clients, it’s probably a good idea to include in your contract if and when you use AI, the kind of human oversight and editing that’s involved, and what tools are in play.

Note: This isn’t legal advice, so absolutely consult an attorney about best practices here.

Whatever you do, don’t fake it. At this point, most clients expect and/or encourage the use of AI, so the real issue lies in telling the truth about it.

You Are the Secret Sauce

If you’ve ever attended one of my workshops, you’ve probably heard me say, “Your secret sauce isn’t your methodology or mechanics. It’s YOU.”

The truth is, whatever the step-by-step process is, you can probably learn about it on YouTube or by asking AI. But as much as you or I can break down how to do something, we can’t teach people how to think or how our neurons are wired.

So what I really mean here is that your secret sauce is all of your lived experience that informs your approach. And that’s the part that AI tools can’t do.

As I mentioned earlier, ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper — whatever AI tool you love most — doesn’t know what makes you tick. It doesn’t know your voice, your story, or the way you see the world. That’s what makes your content worth reading.

So, by all means, use the heck out of AI. Brainstorm with it. Build with it. Speed things up with it.

Just don’t forget that you’re the ingredient that makes it matter.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-authenticity

One of the biggest reasons I’m a late(r) convert to AI is that AI-generated content usually has some tells. And while I’m a little closer to it than most, when I spot social media content that’s a direct copy-paste from GPT, it feels canned and inauthentic, and I lose trust in the person or brand.

While I firmly believe that authenticity is important everywhere you market your business, it’s especially important when it comes to making connections and growing relationships on social media.

In fact, while I’m 100% on board with using AI to brainstorm or flesh out ideas, I will never advocate blindly publishing AI-generated social, blog, or email content. With that in mind, I want to share my approach to using AI in social media strategies in a way that allows you to be more effective in how you spend your time while still sounding like you.

Table of Contents

• How AI Can Level Up Your Social Media

• How to Maintain Authenticity When Using AI
• When You Should Avoid AI
• Being Transparent About How You Use AI

How AI Can Level Up Your Social Media

AI isn’t going anywhere. ChatGPT alone is responsible for millions of conversations every day. And the vast majority of marketers responding to our 2025 Marketing Trends Survey say that AI is making a significant impact on their work, to the tune of nearly 80%.

With that in mind, you’re probably already using AI and doing so feeling pretty good about job security. Just 18% of marketers expressed concern that AI would take over most marketers’ job duties.

The rest feel confident that it will either take away menial aspects of marketing or act as a partner, making marketing more efficient. The key phrase here? “More efficient.” Notice, I didn’t say “as a total replacement.”

That’s because generative AI has some specific telltale signs. Some of them?

• Parallel construction sentence structure — “not only…but also.”
• Abundance of emojis — 🎉 💥 ♥️ ✅
• Generic hooks — “In today’s fast-paced world…”

There are more, and I’m not using this as an example of why not to use generative AI. People do use those tells, too — and that’s precisely why ChatGPT does. Instead, I want to point out that if all of your social content looks like AI or is obviously AI-generated, it can feel inauthentic and may erode your audience’s trust.

M. Shannon Hernandez, founder and CEO of Joyful Business Revolution, agrees. “I have seen nothing that AI has leveled up on social media. The world of social media is swimming with AI, and now is the time to embrace your very humanness and actually stand out in a sea of mediocrity.”

While generative AI is the most popular use for social media, some great options include:

• Brainstorming. I love plugging basic ideas into ChatGPT and asking it to flesh them out further or point out questions people may have.

• Maintaining a consistent voice. Teach your favorite AI tool how you write. Then, it can help you make sense of random musings.
• Polishing your content. Whenever I have something that’s close to the sentiment but doesn’t quite flow right, I often go to GPT to help me make it sound better.
• Getting more mileage out of long-form content. Most people I know publish a blog and drop a few posts on social media. Instead, you can use AI to help you pull out some important ideas and make your content go further without repeating yourself.
• Showing up more consistently. Hit-and-run (also known as post-and-ghost) social media isn’t a strategy. AI can help you come up with more ideas at scale and give you writing prompts for social posts so you can write and schedule a ton of content at once.
• Creating images. Whether you’re using DALL-E to come up with images or using Canva to mass-create quote images to go with captions you’ve written, I think this is one of the best ways to work smarter, not harder.

Over 32% of marketers say product demonstrations or tutorials perform best on social media, with user-generated (22.5%) and behind-the-scenes (22%) content right on its heels.

So, what’s falling behind in terms of social media performance? Educational content ranks lowest. And just 18% of marketers say influencer marketing is their top-performing content.

But here’s what really caught my eye — 84% of marketers expect AI-generated influencers or avatars to start replacing real humans this year.

That’s a red flag, because AI can’t replace real connection. And if you’re using AI in your content strategy, how you use it matters. Here are a few tips for maintaining authenticity in your social media strategy.

1. Use descriptive AI prompts.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” The same applies to AI. It isn’t a mind reader — at least not yet. That means it can only go off of the information you feed it about what you’re creating, which makes it important to spend time developing your prompts.

“As you’re building the prompt, make sure that you put enough effort into the description. I like to tell it who I am, who the client is, the voice to use, and an overview of what you’re looking for. Where possible, it’s helpful to give an example. Once you’ve done that, you’ve given AI enough to go on and give you a draft for the first version you can edit,” says Alyssa Burkus, a ghostwriter who offers thought leadership consulting.

Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to kick it back with feedback until it gets you closer to what you want.

2. Ask for multiple versions.

In my experience, AI rarely nails my sentiment the first time. So I like to ask for 3-4 versions of whatever I’m using it to create, especially when it comes to emails and social media copy. I find that the slight variations help me get really close to what I want. Plus, it gives me some phrasing I can pick and choose from.

3. Create rules or custom GPTs for different types of copy.

I am low-key obsessed with creating different custom GPTs. I’ve got a few types set up — true custom GPTs and what I call “GPT memories.”

If you find you’re going to create a lot of a specific type of content, which comes with complex instructions, it’s probably worth your while to train a custom GPT.

Just choose “My GPTs” in the dropdown menu and follow the instructions to train your own. The possibilities are endless, so I’m not going to go into more detail here. I’ve got these for emails, social posts, and even landing pages to streamline the drafting process.

The other thing I like to use is ChatGPT’s memories. For example, I’ve taught mine a handful of LinkedIn prompts, hooks, and rules I like to use. Then, all I have to do is ask ChatGPT if it remembers my LinkedIn rules and what they are. Once it responds, I can ask it to take whatever we’ve been discussing and use those rules to give me some social post ideas.

4. Share your experiences.

Your stories and your perspective are what make you come alive. There’s nothing more authentic than sharing what’s actually happening in your business right now. Use AI to shape your stories or repurpose your content — but ground it in something real. Even coupling an AI-generated social media caption with a candid photo can make it feel more personal.

5. Take it one prompt at a time.

One of my favorite takeaways from a recent AI + SEO webinar with Neil Patel was not to do it all in one go. Instead of asking AI to write a full social caption, carousel, and CTA in one prompt, break it up.

Ask it to do A. Then ask it to take A and do B. Then add C. You’ll get better results — and more control.

Anecdotally, I’ve found this true as well, so it was quite validating to hear it. By dripping out information piece by piece, AI can build a foundation for what I’m using it to do and be far more effective than cramming it all into one prompt.

6. Feed AI a transcript of you talking.

Want to make sure your social media content feels authentic? Tell your AI chatbot exactly what you want to say or be known for.

Use a tool like Loom, Otter.ai, or even the voice feature in Google Docs to talk out your two cents on whatever topic is at hand, and then feed that transcript into the generative AI tool with a prompt to use your thoughts and ideas to map out some social posts.

I’ve found it helpful to ask for ideas first and then flesh those out into posts with a dedicated structure.

7. Use AI for social listening.

AI isn’t just about generating new content. It’s also helpful to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your space.

Nikita Morell, copywriter and messaging strategist for architects, shares, “One of my favorite ways to use AI for social media is using tools like Gumloop to ‘listen in’ on discussions and help me identify topics to share on social media. From there, it can either come up with post drafts for me to edit or just send me a list of ideas.”

8. Add a human touch and oversight to every post.

“AI can’t sound human. That’s why it gets tone so wrong. Tone is fundamentally the communication of emotion. And emotion is (for now) a purely human concept,” says Gill Hill, editor, brand voice specialist, and founder of Interrobang!?

While this relates in part to the telltale signs of AI mentioned above, it goes further. If you think of AI as the average of all things said on the Internet, it makes sense that AI-generated content extracts personality and everything that makes content interesting.

Hill agrees. “As brands realize that AI is just a hollow shell of emojis that attempt to replicate tone, they are reaching out for human help. Companies who have never thought about brand voice before (or heaven forbid, discounted it as unnecessary) now look at AI copy and know that the tone is wrong.”

The solution, then, is to go ahead and use AI to your heart’s content. Just don’t post it blindly.

When You Should Avoid AI

My friend Monique Swansen has a rule: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” While she usually uses it in an accounting context because that’s her zone of genius, I’ve found it applies in so many other places… including AI.

Even if AI can do something, it doesn’t always mean you should use it that way. Here are a few situations where it’s best to leave AI on the sidelines.

The Comments Section or DMs

It’s tempting to click on LinkedIn’s AI prompts when it generates a comment — I get it. However, in my experience, AI comments seem to do one of two things:

• Summarize the post.
• Choose one aspect of the post to elevate.

What do the two have in common? Neither adds anything of value. And they both feel inauthentic. The best comments — the ones people actually notice — add to the discussion and share personal experiences. Just like you’d see in any real-life situation.

Same goes for DMs. Some people I know have started putting a period in their LinkedIn profile names to make it easier to spot the bots.

Original Thought Leadership

Thought leadership, at its core, is your thoughts and perspectives, informed by your lived experiences. By definition, AI doesn’t have that — it’s artificial. It can pull from patterns, mimic tone, and organize ideas. But it doesn’t know what you know.

Sure, use AI to flesh out an outline or smooth out a few talking points — after you’ve plugged in your two cents.

Copy and Paste Situations

Don’t plug a post into GPT, copy it word-for-word, and hit publish. It usually feels generic and removes all the energy from your voice.

Fiona O’Carroll, director of digital marketing at Xenon Arc, shares, “I use ChatGPT to come up with a draft before plugging it into another tool — Hemingway — to help make it sound less like AI.”

From there, she can analyze the text, find areas where it should be stronger or simpler, and then make sure it has her personal touch.

I also like using tools like Originality.AI to find specific passages that may need another pass to sound less like AI and more like you. That said, I think it’s important to take these outputs with a grain of salt. Because sometimes AI sounds human and vice versa, especially with drier, more technical language.

When You’re Telling Personal Stories

Hernandez says, “AI is a machine that has all the knowledge in the world and none of the wisdom that makes a human, well, human. AI doesn’t have the capacity to feel. It doesn’t have the capacity to create or hold or evoke emotions, and it certainly doesn’t have the capacity to have empathy.”

Sure, you can use AI to polish these up or structure them in a way that makes more sense. But, it doesn’t pay to remove all of what made the story yours from the post. Your voice — with all its quirks, edges, and energy — is what cuts through.

When You Have to Be Spot-on in Your Messaging

There are some areas where AI just isn’t worth the risk. Don’t rely on it for:

• Crisis communications.
• Brand messaging that’s been client-approved or legally sensitive.
• Anything requiring cultural nuance.
• Legal, financial, or health claims.

Use human judgment here. Always.

Being Transparent About How You Use AI

If you’re using AI in your content creation process — say so. Do you need to do it for every social post you do? Not really. But if you’re creating content for other people, it’s a must.

Sure, it’s about ethics and doing the right thing. It’s also about trust.

If you’re a personal brand, the bar isn’t quite as high, but if questioned, always respond honestly.

On the other hand, if you’re an agency or creating content on behalf of clients, it’s probably a good idea to include in your contract if and when you use AI, the kind of human oversight and editing that’s involved, and what tools are in play.

Note: This isn’t legal advice, so absolutely consult an attorney about best practices here.

Whatever you do, don’t fake it. At this point, most clients expect and/or encourage the use of AI, so the real issue lies in telling the truth about it.

You Are the Secret Sauce

If you’ve ever attended one of my workshops, you’ve probably heard me say, “Your secret sauce isn’t your methodology or mechanics. It’s YOU.”

The truth is, whatever the step-by-step process is, you can probably learn about it on YouTube or by asking AI. But as much as you or I can break down how to do something, we can’t teach people how to think or how our neurons are wired.

So what I really mean here is that your secret sauce is all of your lived experience that informs your approach. And that’s the part that AI tools can’t do.

As I mentioned earlier, ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper — whatever AI tool you love most — doesn’t know what makes you tick. It doesn’t know your voice, your story, or the way you see the world. That’s what makes your content worth reading.

So, by all means, use the heck out of AI. Brainstorm with it. Build with it. Speed things up with it.

Just don’t forget that you’re the ingredient that makes it matter.

via Perfecte news Non connection

Get advice from billionaires with an AI-crafted board of directors, tips from HubSpot’s CMO

Do you ever look at CEOs and wonder, “What makes them so successful?” I‘ll tell you their secret: It’s not what they know, it's who they know. Every great leader has a board of directors — smart people who challenge their thinking.

But, what if you don’t have a board of directors? Well, with AI, you can build your own, entirely for free.

Your AI board of directors can help you transform your decision-making processes and get unstuck in minutes. The time you save can help you level up your work and focus on what you love in your personal life. Below, I’ll share the 10-minute process I used to build a personal board of directors.

How to Build Your Board of Directors

Before you start prompting, choose your favorite AI chatbot. For this example, I’ll be working with ChatGPT o3-mini-high. However, if you have a free account, ChatGPT 4o will get the job done. Now, let’s begin.

1. Choose your board of directors.

The beauty of an AI board of directors is that you can pick anyone you want. That might be:

• Your role models in business.
• Consultants with full client rosters.
• Experts with direct experience on the problem you’re trying to solve.
• Or a combination of the three.

For my example, I want my board to include amazing entrepreneurs and leaders with diverse experiences. These different perspectives give me a better chance at finding solutions for challenging problems.

Remember, there are no limitations when dreaming up your board. Ask yourself: Who would I go to for advice if I could choose anyone, living or dead? Who has already done what I’m trying to do?

Those people are your ideal board of directors.

2. Have AI write and refine the prompt for you.

My favorite way to write an AI prompt is actually to have AI write the prompt for me. Once I have my list of people, I ask ChatGPT to help me write a prompt that can unlock insights from my ideal board. Here’s what I wrote.

Initially, ChatGPT gave me a list of each entrepreneur’s key attributes and why they are iconic. While that’s a good start, I want more information. So, I switch on OpenAI’s deep research feature, which allows the LLM to better understand each board member’s qualifications.

I ask for summaries that focus on the unique experiences and qualities that make each person on my list great. In other words, I want to know what makes each of these founders uniquely them? ChatGPT then generates a deep dive on each person, complete with citations.

From there, I ask ChatGPT to combine this information with my initial request. The result is a thorough prompt that can power my AI board.

3. Give the group a scenario.

Now, I’m ready to consult my board of directors. I take the prompt I’ve enriched with detailed summaries of my board members and add it to a new ChatGPT window. Then, I plug in the specific question I want to ask those people. For my example, I’ll focus on growing my podcast Marketing Against the Grain.

With all of this information, ChatGPT gives me advice from each board member in their own voice. I love this approach because it helps me move more quickly. By treating my AI board like collaborators, I can refine my strategy faster with new perspectives that challenge my thinking.

Of course, just like talking to people in real life, you will always have more context on your problem than anyone else. This exercise is great for tackling your biggest problem of the day, but not every piece of advice it tells you is going to be perfect or immediately actionable. That means you’ll need to evaluate each response and decide what advice is worth taking.

Making the Most of Your AI Board

Your digital board of directors can help you think in new and different ways. Once you’ve created and refined your prompt, you can use it again and again. Just plug in a new problem, swap out a board member here and there if you think someone else would have a more valuable perspective, and you’re good to go!

You can also use your prompt to create a custom GPT that allows you to simply plug in your question. No need to copy and paste the entire prompt every time.

Most importantly, build a habit of consulting your personal board of directors every time you have a problem. This will get you accustomed to embracing feedback from people with unique experiences and train your mind to think differently. That alone will make you more successful than 95% of the people out there.

To learn more about leveraging AI to fast-track your problem-solving skills, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ai-billionaire-advice

Do you ever look at CEOs and wonder, “What makes them so successful?” I‘ll tell you their secret: It’s not what they know, it's who they know. Every great leader has a board of directors — smart people who challenge their thinking.

But, what if you don’t have a board of directors? Well, with AI, you can build your own, entirely for free.

Your AI board of directors can help you transform your decision-making processes and get unstuck in minutes. The time you save can help you level up your work and focus on what you love in your personal life. Below, I’ll share the 10-minute process I used to build a personal board of directors.

How to Build Your Board of Directors

Before you start prompting, choose your favorite AI chatbot. For this example, I’ll be working with ChatGPT o3-mini-high. However, if you have a free account, ChatGPT 4o will get the job done. Now, let’s begin.

1. Choose your board of directors.

The beauty of an AI board of directors is that you can pick anyone you want. That might be:

• Your role models in business.
• Consultants with full client rosters.
• Experts with direct experience on the problem you’re trying to solve.
• Or a combination of the three.

For my example, I want my board to include amazing entrepreneurs and leaders with diverse experiences. These different perspectives give me a better chance at finding solutions for challenging problems.

Remember, there are no limitations when dreaming up your board. Ask yourself: Who would I go to for advice if I could choose anyone, living or dead? Who has already done what I’m trying to do?

Those people are your ideal board of directors.

2. Have AI write and refine the prompt for you.

My favorite way to write an AI prompt is actually to have AI write the prompt for me. Once I have my list of people, I ask ChatGPT to help me write a prompt that can unlock insights from my ideal board. Here’s what I wrote.

Initially, ChatGPT gave me a list of each entrepreneur’s key attributes and why they are iconic. While that’s a good start, I want more information. So, I switch on OpenAI’s deep research feature, which allows the LLM to better understand each board member’s qualifications.

I ask for summaries that focus on the unique experiences and qualities that make each person on my list great. In other words, I want to know what makes each of these founders uniquely them? ChatGPT then generates a deep dive on each person, complete with citations.

From there, I ask ChatGPT to combine this information with my initial request. The result is a thorough prompt that can power my AI board.

3. Give the group a scenario.

Now, I’m ready to consult my board of directors. I take the prompt I’ve enriched with detailed summaries of my board members and add it to a new ChatGPT window. Then, I plug in the specific question I want to ask those people. For my example, I’ll focus on growing my podcast Marketing Against the Grain.

With all of this information, ChatGPT gives me advice from each board member in their own voice. I love this approach because it helps me move more quickly. By treating my AI board like collaborators, I can refine my strategy faster with new perspectives that challenge my thinking.

Of course, just like talking to people in real life, you will always have more context on your problem than anyone else. This exercise is great for tackling your biggest problem of the day, but not every piece of advice it tells you is going to be perfect or immediately actionable. That means you’ll need to evaluate each response and decide what advice is worth taking.

Making the Most of Your AI Board

Your digital board of directors can help you think in new and different ways. Once you’ve created and refined your prompt, you can use it again and again. Just plug in a new problem, swap out a board member here and there if you think someone else would have a more valuable perspective, and you’re good to go!

You can also use your prompt to create a custom GPT that allows you to simply plug in your question. No need to copy and paste the entire prompt every time.

Most importantly, build a habit of consulting your personal board of directors every time you have a problem. This will get you accustomed to embracing feedback from people with unique experiences and train your mind to think differently. That alone will make you more successful than 95% of the people out there.

To learn more about leveraging AI to fast-track your problem-solving skills, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:

via Perfecte news Non connection

The inclusive marketing strategies Zumba, Lysol, Wistia, and more are using to grow, straight from marketing leaders

Growth is the mandate for brands each year. One way to grow? Create offerings that appeal to a wider group of people. That’s where inclusive marketing comes in.

Inclusive marketing is all about acknowledging the many ways people are different. Brands that do inclusive marketing well authentically infuse the identities they’ve chosen to serve throughout all parts of their marketing mix to ensure those consumers feel like they belong and that the brand is for “people like them.”

With eight years of experience as a consultant, I know that each brand’s approach to inclusive marketing looks different, tailored to its audiences and its products. So, I wanted to share how role model companies have created strategies that win. Let’s dive in.

Inclusive Marketing Strategies from Top Brands

1. Zumba focuses on building a diverse team.

When brands struggle with inclusive marketing, I recommend that they look at the demographics of their teams. If everyone comes from the same background, you may be missing valuable insights. A diverse team will be more representative of the consumers you want to serve, helping you better understand their needs.

One of my favorite examples is Zumba. This popular dance fitness program trains instructors in 160 countries and has more than 15 million people who take their classes worldwide. With a global audience, Zumba needs instructors who can teach in different languages and understand different lifestyles.

“Now, what's important to know is that those instructors come from all walks of life. So, you have people taking their certification for a variety of reasons,” says Carolina Moraes, chief marketing officer of Zumba.

According to Moraes, the diversity of the brand’s instructors helps attract a wide range of customers.

She further explains, “So, as you can imagine, that brings in a blend of a very diverse community of instructors where you have lawyers, teachers, firefighters, hairdressers, chefs, all kinds … taking these trainings together. And, they bring in their students who very often are from the same universe. So when they start teaching, their class very often looks like them.”

While having a diverse team can help you expand your perspectives, your hiring practices alone don’t guarantee success. You can only benefit from your employees’ unique insights if they feel safe enough to share their experiences.

That’s why brands need to build an inclusive culture and focus on psychological safety. When employees feel like they belong, they can bring their lived experiences and what makes them unique to the work they do.

Zumba builds this environment by working with education specialists who train new Zumba instructors and get them steeped in the brand’s inclusive culture.

“Now, they are the most diverse group you will probably see. They are a direct reflection of the brand. And when they hold those sessions, not only is this diversity spoken about in the actual training, but it’s also brought into the product and how the product is delivered,” Moraes says.

Pro tip: Building and empowering a diverse team within an inclusive culture will help you attract a bigger and more diverse customer base.

2. Wistia features diverse talent in its communication.

Like Zumba, video marketing platform Wista focuses on amplifying diverse voices. The company features diverse talent in its promotional videos — both in the form of internal team members and external influencer partners.

Taylor Corrado is the senior director of brand marketing at Wistia. She explained the benefit of showcasing a diverse set of experts in the brand’s content.

“If you’re building a team that’s inclusive and diverse, you’re going to be able to infuse it more into your marketing… When you realize how much you can use your team to be in content and to be the voice of the brand, but also visually represent groups, it’s really impactful,” Corrado says.

The data backs this up. I ran a survey of 1,000 customers about inclusive marketing. Of respondents, 46% wanted the brands they engaged with and bought from to have internal staff and leadership representative of their customer base. I also found that 41% of consumers wanted brands to work with representative influencers and spokespeople.

Pro tip: Put your team front and center (without using tokenism), as a reflection of your brand’s commitment to inclusion. Consumers want to see that you walk the talk. They see the team you hire and feature as a reflection of your values.

3. Michael Graves Design builds accessibility into its product.

The most successful companies bake inclusion directly into their products. That’s why I love Michael Graves Design.

CEO Ben Wintner told me that the brand’s ethos around accessible homes centers on “the decisions you make within a home that are going to allow the widest group possible to live the way they want to live, and most importantly with independence and dignity.”

To achieve this mission, the brand works to build products for the people who have the most specific needs, including those who are disabled. Wintner says the brand builds its products with novel functional enhancements. Design teams are equally focused on “blending safety, style, and accessibility.”

Most companies I’ve seen design products for the masses. They later go back and figure out how to adapt offerings for underrepresented and underserved communities.

Michael Graves Design breaks that mold. By focusing on building a product that works for consumers with the most specialized needs, while considering the wider needs of its larger customer base, the brand delivers a product that actually works for the widest group possible.

I’ve seen this work outside of the design space. Take a restaurant I regularly visited while living in Buenos Aires. The menu was designed for people who followed a gluten-free and Paleo diet. However, the food was delicious and focused on popular dishes that people in Buenos Aires love to eat.

The result? The majority of people who ate at the restaurant were not gluten-free or Paleo; they just came for a delicious meal. The restaurant was also frequented by people who had those restricted diets, because there weren’t a lot of available restaurants for them. And, the restaurant could serve a wide range of diners. It’s a win-win-win.

Pro tip: Design for the consumers with the most specialized needs, so you have a product that works for the widest group possible.

Tune into my full conversation with Ben Wintner on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

4. Lysol prioritizes identity-based research to improve effectiveness.

Customer intimacy is at the heart of any effective inclusive marketing strategy. The team at Lysol prioritizes engaging in research to ensure they understand their consumers at a deep level, all while crafting communication that strikes the right tone.

Gary Osifchin is the chief marketing officer and general manager at Reckitt U.S. Hygiene. He told me that the brand had effectively engaged African-American and Hispanic consumers by authentically representing them in the brand’s marketing. The key here, according to Osifchin, is basing all promotional campaigns on consumer insight.

Osifchin shared they captured insights from “a lot of rich quals, a lot of in-home, a lot of upskilling, and ensuring that we actually are speaking to diverse consumers to gain insight.”

Osifchin explained that when the team evaluates their efforts, they know how consumers will receive their communications.

“Are we actually delivering a better fragrance experience with our Lysol brand new day products amongst the target consumers of African Americans and Hispanics? The answer is yes, we are, because we developed it based on insight, and then we tested it to ensure that we’re delivering against it,” Osifchin says.

Pro tip: Move beyond superficial content that doesn’t resonate with consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities. Invest in getting the insights you need and testing them to ensure that what you create resonates.

5. HubSpot acquires more customers through multilingual content marketing.

People in more than 135 countries use HubSpot. Not all those customers speak English. Even if they do, they may prefer to engage with educational content in a different language. So, as a means to reach more of its ideal consumers, HubSpot leans into multilingual marketing.

The brand creates localized original content and funnels different languages, such as Spanish and French.

Selim Damani is part of the French growth marketing team at HubSpot. Damani told me that the brand takes a very strategic approach to gaining consumers in different markets. The strategy goes beyond just translating existing content.

“We have to accept that the original market or the U.S. market is different from international markets. But they [other markets] are also all different and unique, and we cannot have just the one strategy we roll out for every other country,” Damani says.

According to Damani, American companies in France need to adapt their marketing campaigns so they resonate with French audiences. Without steeping campaigns in the local culture, potential customers will assume that the product won’t meet their unique needs.

“If all the examples that I’m shown are about an American delivery company, American fast foods, American train systems, booking systems that don’t exist, I’m like, ‘Okay, it works. But it won’t work for me,’” Damani explains.

The solution here, Damani continues, is to speak to the customers and show that “your market is not an afterthought of my strategy, but that you are the center of the regional strategy.”

Pro tip: Your inclusive marketing efforts will be more effective if you don’t try to force a one-size-fits-all strategy to work. Know your diverse customer identities, and find ideal ways to serve them.

Get Ready to Grow With Inclusive Marketing

Each company that I featured above took a different approach to inclusive marketing. However, each brand reaped the same reward: They could genuinely serve a wider range of customers by meeting their unique needs.

More brands are realizing that inclusive marketing is both the right thing to do and incredibly effective. By understanding diverse perspectives in your audience, you can create inclusive campaigns, design more accessible offerings, and expand your reach.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inclusive-marketing-strategies

Growth is the mandate for brands each year. One way to grow? Create offerings that appeal to a wider group of people. That’s where inclusive marketing comes in.

Inclusive marketing is all about acknowledging the many ways people are different. Brands that do inclusive marketing well authentically infuse the identities they’ve chosen to serve throughout all parts of their marketing mix to ensure those consumers feel like they belong and that the brand is for “people like them.”

With eight years of experience as a consultant, I know that each brand’s approach to inclusive marketing looks different, tailored to its audiences and its products. So, I wanted to share how role model companies have created strategies that win. Let’s dive in.

Inclusive Marketing Strategies from Top Brands

1. Zumba focuses on building a diverse team.

When brands struggle with inclusive marketing, I recommend that they look at the demographics of their teams. If everyone comes from the same background, you may be missing valuable insights. A diverse team will be more representative of the consumers you want to serve, helping you better understand their needs.

One of my favorite examples is Zumba. This popular dance fitness program trains instructors in 160 countries and has more than 15 million people who take their classes worldwide. With a global audience, Zumba needs instructors who can teach in different languages and understand different lifestyles.

“Now, what's important to know is that those instructors come from all walks of life. So, you have people taking their certification for a variety of reasons,” says Carolina Moraes, chief marketing officer of Zumba.

According to Moraes, the diversity of the brand’s instructors helps attract a wide range of customers.

She further explains, “So, as you can imagine, that brings in a blend of a very diverse community of instructors where you have lawyers, teachers, firefighters, hairdressers, chefs, all kinds … taking these trainings together. And, they bring in their students who very often are from the same universe. So when they start teaching, their class very often looks like them.”

While having a diverse team can help you expand your perspectives, your hiring practices alone don’t guarantee success. You can only benefit from your employees’ unique insights if they feel safe enough to share their experiences.

That’s why brands need to build an inclusive culture and focus on psychological safety. When employees feel like they belong, they can bring their lived experiences and what makes them unique to the work they do.

Zumba builds this environment by working with education specialists who train new Zumba instructors and get them steeped in the brand’s inclusive culture.

“Now, they are the most diverse group you will probably see. They are a direct reflection of the brand. And when they hold those sessions, not only is this diversity spoken about in the actual training, but it’s also brought into the product and how the product is delivered,” Moraes says.

Pro tip: Building and empowering a diverse team within an inclusive culture will help you attract a bigger and more diverse customer base.

2. Wistia features diverse talent in its communication.

Like Zumba, video marketing platform Wista focuses on amplifying diverse voices. The company features diverse talent in its promotional videos — both in the form of internal team members and external influencer partners.

Taylor Corrado is the senior director of brand marketing at Wistia. She explained the benefit of showcasing a diverse set of experts in the brand’s content.

“If you’re building a team that’s inclusive and diverse, you’re going to be able to infuse it more into your marketing… When you realize how much you can use your team to be in content and to be the voice of the brand, but also visually represent groups, it’s really impactful,” Corrado says.

The data backs this up. I ran a survey of 1,000 customers about inclusive marketing. Of respondents, 46% wanted the brands they engaged with and bought from to have internal staff and leadership representative of their customer base. I also found that 41% of consumers wanted brands to work with representative influencers and spokespeople.

Pro tip: Put your team front and center (without using tokenism), as a reflection of your brand’s commitment to inclusion. Consumers want to see that you walk the talk. They see the team you hire and feature as a reflection of your values.

3. Michael Graves Design builds accessibility into its product.

The most successful companies bake inclusion directly into their products. That’s why I love Michael Graves Design.

CEO Ben Wintner told me that the brand’s ethos around accessible homes centers on “the decisions you make within a home that are going to allow the widest group possible to live the way they want to live, and most importantly with independence and dignity.”

To achieve this mission, the brand works to build products for the people who have the most specific needs, including those who are disabled. Wintner says the brand builds its products with novel functional enhancements. Design teams are equally focused on “blending safety, style, and accessibility.”

Most companies I’ve seen design products for the masses. They later go back and figure out how to adapt offerings for underrepresented and underserved communities.

Michael Graves Design breaks that mold. By focusing on building a product that works for consumers with the most specialized needs, while considering the wider needs of its larger customer base, the brand delivers a product that actually works for the widest group possible.

I’ve seen this work outside of the design space. Take a restaurant I regularly visited while living in Buenos Aires. The menu was designed for people who followed a gluten-free and Paleo diet. However, the food was delicious and focused on popular dishes that people in Buenos Aires love to eat.

The result? The majority of people who ate at the restaurant were not gluten-free or Paleo; they just came for a delicious meal. The restaurant was also frequented by people who had those restricted diets, because there weren’t a lot of available restaurants for them. And, the restaurant could serve a wide range of diners. It’s a win-win-win.

Pro tip: Design for the consumers with the most specialized needs, so you have a product that works for the widest group possible.

Tune into my full conversation with Ben Wintner on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

4. Lysol prioritizes identity-based research to improve effectiveness.

Customer intimacy is at the heart of any effective inclusive marketing strategy. The team at Lysol prioritizes engaging in research to ensure they understand their consumers at a deep level, all while crafting communication that strikes the right tone.

Gary Osifchin is the chief marketing officer and general manager at Reckitt U.S. Hygiene. He told me that the brand had effectively engaged African-American and Hispanic consumers by authentically representing them in the brand’s marketing. The key here, according to Osifchin, is basing all promotional campaigns on consumer insight.

Osifchin shared they captured insights from “a lot of rich quals, a lot of in-home, a lot of upskilling, and ensuring that we actually are speaking to diverse consumers to gain insight.”

Osifchin explained that when the team evaluates their efforts, they know how consumers will receive their communications.

“Are we actually delivering a better fragrance experience with our Lysol brand new day products amongst the target consumers of African Americans and Hispanics? The answer is yes, we are, because we developed it based on insight, and then we tested it to ensure that we’re delivering against it,” Osifchin says.

Pro tip: Move beyond superficial content that doesn’t resonate with consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities. Invest in getting the insights you need and testing them to ensure that what you create resonates.

5. HubSpot acquires more customers through multilingual content marketing.

People in more than 135 countries use HubSpot. Not all those customers speak English. Even if they do, they may prefer to engage with educational content in a different language. So, as a means to reach more of its ideal consumers, HubSpot leans into multilingual marketing.

The brand creates localized original content and funnels different languages, such as Spanish and French.

Selim Damani is part of the French growth marketing team at HubSpot. Damani told me that the brand takes a very strategic approach to gaining consumers in different markets. The strategy goes beyond just translating existing content.

“We have to accept that the original market or the U.S. market is different from international markets. But they [other markets] are also all different and unique, and we cannot have just the one strategy we roll out for every other country,” Damani says.

According to Damani, American companies in France need to adapt their marketing campaigns so they resonate with French audiences. Without steeping campaigns in the local culture, potential customers will assume that the product won’t meet their unique needs.

“If all the examples that I’m shown are about an American delivery company, American fast foods, American train systems, booking systems that don’t exist, I’m like, ‘Okay, it works. But it won’t work for me,’” Damani explains.

The solution here, Damani continues, is to speak to the customers and show that “your market is not an afterthought of my strategy, but that you are the center of the regional strategy.”

Pro tip: Your inclusive marketing efforts will be more effective if you don’t try to force a one-size-fits-all strategy to work. Know your diverse customer identities, and find ideal ways to serve them.

Get Ready to Grow With Inclusive Marketing

Each company that I featured above took a different approach to inclusive marketing. However, each brand reaped the same reward: They could genuinely serve a wider range of customers by meeting their unique needs.

More brands are realizing that inclusive marketing is both the right thing to do and incredibly effective. By understanding diverse perspectives in your audience, you can create inclusive campaigns, design more accessible offerings, and expand your reach.

via Perfecte news Non connection

How HubSpot's social team grew their LinkedIn presence by 84% in six months, according to HubSpot's Director of Social

Welcome to HubSpot's Expert Edge Series, where we interview top execs at major brands to explore their perspectives on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the industry.

Over the past few months, you might‘ve noticed a shift in HubSpot’s social strategy.

The more traditional B2B posts have given way to a social media presence that is funnier, more casual, and definitely more meme-ified, which got me thinking: What's the reason behind the shift?

As HubSpot's Global Director of Social Media, Bryna Corcoran, told me: “... We started to speak to the next generation of marketing or sales reps … we started to use the Gen Z and millennial tone-of-voice. We started to dabble in internet culture; we started to post memes, which, you know, definitely got us some questionable faces. We started to make it more of a conversational community. And it's working.”

Turns out that it‘s more than just working. In only six months, HubSpot’s social team saw 84% year-over-year growth on LinkedIn, according to internal benchmarks.

Here, Corcoran shares with me her tips for growing a LinkedIn community and her broader insights on how to succeed across social platforms in 2025.

HubSpot's Director of Social On Creating A Strong LinkedIn Strategy, Becoming Relevant to Gen Z, and Experimenting Constantly

LinkedIn's audience has changed, so your content should, too.

When I sat down with Corcoran, the first question I asked her was simple: Why LinkedIn?

She told me there were several reasons. Some users have found it harder to thrive on X (previously known as Twitter), so they've gradually migrated to LinkedIn for that similar “open-forum town square” feel.

Additionally, more Gen Zs and younger millennials are now turning to LinkedIn for career development and job searching.

So the social team saw an opportunity: Why not test their Twitter tone-of-voice — short, text-only, casual posts, or what she calls “shower musings” — on LinkedIn?

And it blew up.

Corcoran says, “In the beginning, we were unsure how our new strategy would perform, so we treaded lightly by posting only a few times a week. But I'm happy to report that we're gaining followers faster than ever, and that's because we're taking a personal approach.”

She adds, “It's almost like we're turning HubSpot into a person, rather than a brand, by discussing the musings of how our customers are thinking or feeling on a daily basis as they try to grow their companies.”

LinkedIn‘s users expect to interact with businesses on the platform, so it’s a good platform to lean into.

There's another benefit to LinkedIn, too — while Instagram and Facebook are mainly for personal connections, users expect to interact with businesses on LinkedIn — that‘s the channel’s purpose.

In other words, businesses face fewer barriers on LinkedIn when engaging authentically with users.

As Corcoran told me, “Don't sleep on LinkedIn — It is one of the most credible platforms. To be on the platform, you need to put your real first and last name, and your work history is accurate. You're a reflection of the school you went to or the company you work for … so you're much more likely to contribute thoughtfully on LinkedIn compared to other platforms.”

She continues, “So what we've found on LinkedIn is a vibrant community of people who just like being on the platform and like sharing their thoughts. Of course, there are debates, but they're healthy debates. And so we've found people who are inspired to engage with us, talk to us, talk to each other, have civil discourse, laugh with us, and thumbs-up each other's comments.”

According to HubSpot's 2025 Global Social Media Trends Report, 84% of marketers agree that consumers are actively searching for brands on social media. LinkedIn remains a top B2B platform for engagement and brand discovery, and 23% of B2B marketers plan to increase their investments this year.

One other big plus and differentiation for LinkedIn? It can amplify your content to new audiences simply by engaging with the content. If Corcoran and I are connected as colleagues, but I don't follow HubSpot, and she comments on or likes a HubSpot post, LinkedIn will auto-publish that interaction and post it to my feed. LinkedIn provides incredible opportunities to broadcast your content to reach new prospects and leads simply through lightweight engagement.

Take an audience-first approach with any social strategy, while also leaning into cultural relevancy.

Roughly six months ago, Corcoran and her team decided to develop new, fresh personas for their social channels to enable them to take an audience-first approach. Now, when crafting a piece of social content, they can keep that person top of mind.

For instance, one persona they‘ve developed is the sales rep trying to get their cold calls answered. From there, it’s easier to brainstorm clever, relatable, text-based thoughts that could resonate with that persona and make them feel like HubSpot understands their challenges.

Corcoran told me she also looks at cultural moments. “We look at things that people are talking about outside of the HubSpot universe. What's top of mind for them? If we can connect to what's going on in culture, it's even stickier and more relatable.”

And that’s a smart move in 2025.

According to HubSpot’s Marketing Trends Report, marketers are doubling down on content that reflects brand values and taps into culturally relevant moments, especially with younger audiences in mind. Gen Z and Millennials are now the top target demographics for marketers, while attempts to reach Gen X and Boomers have dropped sharply.

Brands are also prioritizing content that feels real. Funny, relatable posts continue to drive the highest ROI — and 76% of marketers say authentic content consistently outperforms polished, highly produced assets.

In other words, aligning with culture and being yourself is a powerful, strategic move.

Corcoran adds, “In the beginning, there was a little bit of the 'let's try everything' method because it was uncharted. So we decided to test a lot: Does our audience gravitate to a Barbie meme? Are we rubbing people the wrong way if we lean into grammatical errors because that's how Gen Z types?”

Now, before Corcoran's team posts anything, they ask themselves three questions:

• Who is this for?
• What's the HubSpot way in?
• How can we connect it to culture?

If they can strike those three things well, they typically find success. But, as Corcoran points out, they don‘t crush it every time — and they’re still learning.

You might be surprised by what types of content perform best with your audience, so testing is key.

When HubSpot recently won a G2 award, Corcoran’s team tested two approaches. They started by posting a traditional, official asset to highlight the win, and it quickly gained traction through shares.

Later that afternoon, they followed it up with a meme.

“That blew up,” Corcoran told me. “People were really energized by the fact that we had a little bit of swag with our G2 announcement. And the more fun, personality-driven approach accomplishes the same goal for us as the more corporate-looking post: Driving awareness."

She adds, “If a post is too polished or clean on social, it gets misunderstood as an ad. So if we're doing a video, we take a TikTok or Reels approach where it's just 30 seconds shot on an iPhone and we put it out.”

That approach matches industry-wide data: In 2025, short-form videos and images will be the top content types driving ROI.

And instead of posting constantly, marketers are scaling back their cadence — nearly two-thirds say they don’t post daily, choosing to prioritize quality, timing, and tone over sheer volume.

If you work for a B2B company, it can be tempting to pigeonhole your brand on social media as polished, professional, and formal. But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case — the more you can personify your business, the easier it will be for decision-makers to connect with your brand.

Of course, what works best for one business will flop for another. So it‘s equally important to continue to test and iterate over time. For instance, at the end of each month, Corcoran and her team look at every post and say, ’Okay, how did this one perform? Was it short and easy to read? Was the graphic too corporate-y?'

As Corcoran told me, over time, you begin to notice themes. And those themes can help you better predict what performs well with your audience — and what doesn't.

I’ve learned from Corcoran that not every post will land perfectly, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s consistent learning and iteration.

Pro tip: Corcoran recommends posting on LinkedIn three to four times weekly and avoiding weekends. As she put it: “We‘ve seen the most success posting first thing in the morning, around lunchtime, or around 5-6 PM — basically, when people are waking up, when they’re taking a lunch break, or when they're winding down after work.”

Shares mean your content connected emotionally with your audience.

Finally, I asked Corcoran how she measures success on social media. How does she know her team's social posts are driving business impact?

“We know a Miley Cyrus meme won't get you to purchase software, but we want you to be aware of HubSpot — that we‘re present, that we’re culturally relevant — so that we're top-of-mind when you are in the buying motion," Corcoran told me.

She continues, “Our master goal is brand awareness and product consideration, and the way we measure brand awareness is through engagement: Whether that's liking, commenting, or sharing.”

She told me she gets especially excited when someone shares a post because it shows the content struck an emotional chord. It means the user paused, saw themselves in it, and felt moved to pass it along.

“Oftentimes, that person will share with someone who hasn't heard of HubSpot, and suddenly they're curious about us,” Corcoran said.

With social, be willing to test the boundaries.

Ultimately, if there‘s one thing I learned from Corcoran, it’s this: B2B businesses have historically played it safe when creating engaging content on social media.

But expectations are changing fast.

In 2025, the brands that win on social aren‘t just the loudest — they’re the most authentic, strategic, and audience-centered. As Corcoran‘s team continues to test and learn, they’re showing us what it looks like to grow a community by being brave, a little weird, and very real.

Talking to Corcoran reminded me that social success doesn’t come from having all the answers — it comes from showing up, testing, and not being afraid to sound human. That’s what makes people stop scrolling.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-hubspots-social-team-grew-linkedin

Welcome to HubSpot's Expert Edge Series, where we interview top execs at major brands to explore their perspectives on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the industry.

Over the past few months, you might‘ve noticed a shift in HubSpot’s social strategy.

The more traditional B2B posts have given way to a social media presence that is funnier, more casual, and definitely more meme-ified, which got me thinking: What's the reason behind the shift?

As HubSpot's Global Director of Social Media, Bryna Corcoran, told me: “... We started to speak to the next generation of marketing or sales reps … we started to use the Gen Z and millennial tone-of-voice. We started to dabble in internet culture; we started to post memes, which, you know, definitely got us some questionable faces. We started to make it more of a conversational community. And it's working.”

Turns out that it‘s more than just working. In only six months, HubSpot’s social team saw 84% year-over-year growth on LinkedIn, according to internal benchmarks.

Here, Corcoran shares with me her tips for growing a LinkedIn community and her broader insights on how to succeed across social platforms in 2025.

HubSpot's Director of Social On Creating A Strong LinkedIn Strategy, Becoming Relevant to Gen Z, and Experimenting Constantly

LinkedIn's audience has changed, so your content should, too.

When I sat down with Corcoran, the first question I asked her was simple: Why LinkedIn?

She told me there were several reasons. Some users have found it harder to thrive on X (previously known as Twitter), so they've gradually migrated to LinkedIn for that similar “open-forum town square” feel.

Additionally, more Gen Zs and younger millennials are now turning to LinkedIn for career development and job searching.

So the social team saw an opportunity: Why not test their Twitter tone-of-voice — short, text-only, casual posts, or what she calls “shower musings” — on LinkedIn?

And it blew up.

Corcoran says, “In the beginning, we were unsure how our new strategy would perform, so we treaded lightly by posting only a few times a week. But I'm happy to report that we're gaining followers faster than ever, and that's because we're taking a personal approach.”

She adds, “It's almost like we're turning HubSpot into a person, rather than a brand, by discussing the musings of how our customers are thinking or feeling on a daily basis as they try to grow their companies.”

LinkedIn‘s users expect to interact with businesses on the platform, so it’s a good platform to lean into.

There's another benefit to LinkedIn, too — while Instagram and Facebook are mainly for personal connections, users expect to interact with businesses on LinkedIn — that‘s the channel’s purpose.

In other words, businesses face fewer barriers on LinkedIn when engaging authentically with users.

As Corcoran told me, “Don't sleep on LinkedIn — It is one of the most credible platforms. To be on the platform, you need to put your real first and last name, and your work history is accurate. You're a reflection of the school you went to or the company you work for … so you're much more likely to contribute thoughtfully on LinkedIn compared to other platforms.”

She continues, “So what we've found on LinkedIn is a vibrant community of people who just like being on the platform and like sharing their thoughts. Of course, there are debates, but they're healthy debates. And so we've found people who are inspired to engage with us, talk to us, talk to each other, have civil discourse, laugh with us, and thumbs-up each other's comments.”

According to HubSpot's 2025 Global Social Media Trends Report, 84% of marketers agree that consumers are actively searching for brands on social media. LinkedIn remains a top B2B platform for engagement and brand discovery, and 23% of B2B marketers plan to increase their investments this year.

One other big plus and differentiation for LinkedIn? It can amplify your content to new audiences simply by engaging with the content. If Corcoran and I are connected as colleagues, but I don't follow HubSpot, and she comments on or likes a HubSpot post, LinkedIn will auto-publish that interaction and post it to my feed. LinkedIn provides incredible opportunities to broadcast your content to reach new prospects and leads simply through lightweight engagement.

Take an audience-first approach with any social strategy, while also leaning into cultural relevancy.

Roughly six months ago, Corcoran and her team decided to develop new, fresh personas for their social channels to enable them to take an audience-first approach. Now, when crafting a piece of social content, they can keep that person top of mind.

For instance, one persona they‘ve developed is the sales rep trying to get their cold calls answered. From there, it’s easier to brainstorm clever, relatable, text-based thoughts that could resonate with that persona and make them feel like HubSpot understands their challenges.

Corcoran told me she also looks at cultural moments. “We look at things that people are talking about outside of the HubSpot universe. What's top of mind for them? If we can connect to what's going on in culture, it's even stickier and more relatable.”

And that’s a smart move in 2025.

According to HubSpot’s Marketing Trends Report, marketers are doubling down on content that reflects brand values and taps into culturally relevant moments, especially with younger audiences in mind. Gen Z and Millennials are now the top target demographics for marketers, while attempts to reach Gen X and Boomers have dropped sharply.

Brands are also prioritizing content that feels real. Funny, relatable posts continue to drive the highest ROI — and 76% of marketers say authentic content consistently outperforms polished, highly produced assets.

In other words, aligning with culture and being yourself is a powerful, strategic move.

Corcoran adds, “In the beginning, there was a little bit of the 'let's try everything' method because it was uncharted. So we decided to test a lot: Does our audience gravitate to a Barbie meme? Are we rubbing people the wrong way if we lean into grammatical errors because that's how Gen Z types?”

Now, before Corcoran's team posts anything, they ask themselves three questions:

• Who is this for?
• What's the HubSpot way in?
• How can we connect it to culture?

If they can strike those three things well, they typically find success. But, as Corcoran points out, they don‘t crush it every time — and they’re still learning.

You might be surprised by what types of content perform best with your audience, so testing is key.

When HubSpot recently won a G2 award, Corcoran’s team tested two approaches. They started by posting a traditional, official asset to highlight the win, and it quickly gained traction through shares.

Later that afternoon, they followed it up with a meme.

“That blew up,” Corcoran told me. “People were really energized by the fact that we had a little bit of swag with our G2 announcement. And the more fun, personality-driven approach accomplishes the same goal for us as the more corporate-looking post: Driving awareness."

She adds, “If a post is too polished or clean on social, it gets misunderstood as an ad. So if we're doing a video, we take a TikTok or Reels approach where it's just 30 seconds shot on an iPhone and we put it out.”

That approach matches industry-wide data: In 2025, short-form videos and images will be the top content types driving ROI.

And instead of posting constantly, marketers are scaling back their cadence — nearly two-thirds say they don’t post daily, choosing to prioritize quality, timing, and tone over sheer volume.

If you work for a B2B company, it can be tempting to pigeonhole your brand on social media as polished, professional, and formal. But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case — the more you can personify your business, the easier it will be for decision-makers to connect with your brand.

Of course, what works best for one business will flop for another. So it‘s equally important to continue to test and iterate over time. For instance, at the end of each month, Corcoran and her team look at every post and say, ’Okay, how did this one perform? Was it short and easy to read? Was the graphic too corporate-y?'

As Corcoran told me, over time, you begin to notice themes. And those themes can help you better predict what performs well with your audience — and what doesn't.

I’ve learned from Corcoran that not every post will land perfectly, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s consistent learning and iteration.

Pro tip: Corcoran recommends posting on LinkedIn three to four times weekly and avoiding weekends. As she put it: “We‘ve seen the most success posting first thing in the morning, around lunchtime, or around 5-6 PM — basically, when people are waking up, when they’re taking a lunch break, or when they're winding down after work.”

Shares mean your content connected emotionally with your audience.

Finally, I asked Corcoran how she measures success on social media. How does she know her team's social posts are driving business impact?

“We know a Miley Cyrus meme won't get you to purchase software, but we want you to be aware of HubSpot — that we‘re present, that we’re culturally relevant — so that we're top-of-mind when you are in the buying motion," Corcoran told me.

She continues, “Our master goal is brand awareness and product consideration, and the way we measure brand awareness is through engagement: Whether that's liking, commenting, or sharing.”

She told me she gets especially excited when someone shares a post because it shows the content struck an emotional chord. It means the user paused, saw themselves in it, and felt moved to pass it along.

“Oftentimes, that person will share with someone who hasn't heard of HubSpot, and suddenly they're curious about us,” Corcoran said.

With social, be willing to test the boundaries.

Ultimately, if there‘s one thing I learned from Corcoran, it’s this: B2B businesses have historically played it safe when creating engaging content on social media.

But expectations are changing fast.

In 2025, the brands that win on social aren‘t just the loudest — they’re the most authentic, strategic, and audience-centered. As Corcoran‘s team continues to test and learn, they’re showing us what it looks like to grow a community by being brave, a little weird, and very real.

Talking to Corcoran reminded me that social success doesn’t come from having all the answers — it comes from showing up, testing, and not being afraid to sound human. That’s what makes people stop scrolling.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

via Perfecte news Non connection