The Authenticity Engine: How Founder-Led Content on LinkedIn Drives Growth | Jared Gibson | S5 E2

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Here are the core areas we discuss in today's episode:

1: The Shift to Personal Brands: Why Buyers Trust People, Not Logos

Jared explains that the biggest change in marketing is the move away from faceless corporate collateral. Buyers now want to see the real people behind a company. This is where trust is built.

"You started to see more founders and executives step out from behind the company brand and really start to put themselves out there... and that trust that they're building personally just transfers back to the company in the long run."

2: The Mindset Shift: Content is a Lifestyle, Not a Short-Term Campaign

To succeed, Jared argues that you must treat content as a long-term commitment, not a temporary project. It's about planting seeds consistently over time, not looking for immediate results.

"This is going to sound Corny, and when I say it, it sounds Corny, but it is a lifestyle. You have to shift the mindset to understand that you can't test this out for 2, 3 months and hope that you get a bunch of clients from it. That's not how it works. It's a long term. Play."

3. The Content Strategy: Blending Expertise with Authentic Storytelling

A common mistake is defaulting to "buy my stuff" content. Jared breaks down the right content mix, which is not just about business but about humanizing the executive. It's a blend of domain expertise, thought leadership, and personal stories.

"It's a heavy dose of, I would say, probably 40%. What your business does. Probably 20 to 30% of thought leadership. And then the rest of that is your story. It is passions that you're doing. It's that type of stuff that's just supposed to throw personality on top of, like you already, being really good at what you do."

4. The "Dark Social" Effect: Influencing the 95% Who Aren't Ready to Buy

Jared emphasizes that the real power of content lies in "dark social", the conversations happening in private channels. Your content equips your champions to share your message inside a target account long before you're ever in the room.

"If you're visible when they don't need you, you'll be remembered when they do."

5. Overcoming "No Time" and Imposter Syndrome: A Practical Guide to Starting

Jared addresses the two biggest hurdles for executives: the feeling of "I don't have time" and the fear of putting themselves out there. He provides a simple, actionable process to get started.

"The authority is in there, though, like these people that we work with are sharp. They know a lot about a lot of things, and once we kind of find that button you start to see them shift their their tone and their personality go from like guarded to. I'm having a good time. Let's keep this party going."

Final Thoughts:

Jared leaves us with a powerful prediction about the future of B2B marketing: the rise of the B2B influencer. As the social media generation becomes the dominant buyer, companies will make it mandatory for their teams to build personal brands.

"That is the social media generation. These are the people that are on social media. They grew up on social media, and it will be the most important thing from the b 2 b. Space... companies will make it mandatory for their teams to create content and be active."

His final piece of advice is a simple but urgent call to action for anyone who knows they should be doing this but feels stuck. The most important step is the first one.

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