Intermittent, random and typically trivial internet videos inundate my LinkedIn weekly and are an annoyance all of us inevitably face. That’s why Archon Media has decided to dive head-first into vlogs with a few colleagues, friends and trusted advisors a few weeks ago. Some days it feels like more like a solicitous stream of talking heads than a networking platform. It will become this decade’s version of the old-fashioned cold due to gaugeable and significant engagement. Periodic frustrations aside, I believe short videos will add absolute and quantifiable value to any organization that markets business-to-business (B2B). Archon has undertaken our first produced vlog below with trusted advisor and legal ninja, Tara Tedrow, a few weeks ago (19:30)
Concise and incisive comment from my executive coach:
“Feed LinkedIn and it will feed you.”
-Dwight Bain (Lifeworks Group)
LinkedIn is indisputably the most powerful social network for B2B marketing, and the recent acquisition by Microsoft only supplanted their horsepower and upward growth trajectory.
LinkedIn currently has 260 million active users. Any company that markets B2B without a LinkedIn content strategy or presence is at a fundamental disadvantage against their competition.
It won’t be a sudden loss; it’s a time-intensive battle of attrition, and the theater of war is your smartphone. The digitally sluggish will shrink, lumber in comfort and lament vague excuses while the competition is learning, growing, improving and becoming more nimble. If small business’s and individual’s personal brand doesn’t adapt, their path to success will be much more arduous or failure will be expedited. Attrition is similar to siege warfare and is a slow grind where relationships retire, change positions or decide to upgrade technologically—people and computers.
The chosen weapon of the LinkedIn content strategy poliorcetic is a barrage of digital arrows that touch their competitor’s relationships while the short-sighted are wallowing in self-imposed digital isolation. In today’s business climate, technological isolation is tantamount to starving in an enclosed fortress.
Definition from Wiki: A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from Latin: sedere, lit. ‘to sit’.[1] Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy.
Now that you’ve been militaristically forewarned, we can talk about how you can capitalize on this enormous cataclysmic event. I believe most people in LinkedIn B2B marketing and LinkedIn content strategy realize it’s a relevant platform where we can all improve.
Let’s begin with original content* and the three ways to deliver it to your audience:
- Videos/vlogs
- Posts
- Published articles
For the first time in the history of humanity, we have free, loud, and easily deployable marketing assets in our arsenal. I never thought my communications major** would ever matter in my life. I just hated macroeconomics and poly-sci. You can’t bullshit your way through those classes as easily 
.
Jokes aside, the mass communications playing field just got leveled and in the words of a famous hip-hop mogul:
“Money ain’t a thang,”
– Shawn “Corey” Carter, aka Jay-Z
It’s such an exciting time for anyone looking to grow a company or personal brand. Money isn’t the key determining factor to drive marketing success. Creativity, authenticity, vulnerability, advocacy and sharing expert advice will be rewarded.
The LinkedIn audience across all industries and specialties wants insight and doesn’t care that you have a private jet, wear nice watches, closed a big deal, win nepotistic industry awards, drive sports cars, travel to exotic places, have X amount of followers (click farms) and people to ghost-write for you. If a wannabe influencer promulgates grandiosity, boasts or shamelessly self-promotes, he or she will be punished. How, you ask?
With engagement crickets.
Final Thought and First Vlog
I’m excited that many of my friends and colleagues are starting to realize that LinkedIn is a powerful opportunity for business development and not a vanity forum to show off your success. I’m so intrigued to see how selflessness and creativity rewarded and narcissism castigated. Technology combined with humanity is the wave of the future. Direct human engagement, even if it’s video-to-viewer, will drive engagement! This series will include:
- In-depth dissection of the vlog/video pandemic
- Analysis of the meteoric rise of “video digital influencers” with no tangible skillset
- Give warning about the tactics digital charlatans utilize
- Predictions and tips to monetize Your LinkedIn presence
Tara Tedrow and I will discuss the impending Darwinistic theatre, the thespians that will survive, required stagehands, and the anticipated backdrop. Tara will give leadership advice and show a path to success through niche specialization. I am so excited to see how she transcends her finely-honed debate skills to vlogs containing copious amounts of dynamic information.
Part three will be co-authored by my longtime friend and real estate red-bearded Viking, Chris Quarles. I honestly don’t know the content yet, but a lot will happen over the next few weeks. So much fun embarking on this journey!
