The Truth About AI on LinkedIn

Following up from the last episode of the INs on LinkedIn for 2025, Ben and Kristina are breaking down what’s outdated and what you need to leave behind on LinkedIn so you can build real connections and drive engagement.

They discuss the truth about using AI on LinkedIn, how to get out of your own way and where to start!

If you’re looking to reignite some purpose into your LinkedIn strategy for maximum impact in 2025, this episode is for you! 

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Transcript

Kristina Bartold (00:02.19)
everyone and welcome to my podcast Community. I'm Christina and I'm a passionate community builder, business owner, investor and lover of all things sales and marketing. On this show, I bring you top sales and social media tips, plus bring you experts who are going to rock your world when it comes to learning how to grow your community. Community has been my secret sauce in scaling our business and I know it'll be yours too. Enjoy.

Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of community I've got Ben back this week and we just hopefully you just finished listening to our episode of the ins on LinkedIn for 2025 I know we blew your mind if you had to wait for it. We're so sorry and now we're gonna talk about the outs So welcome back Ben Excited to talk about what's not cool on LinkedIn anymore. That is the authority on what's not cool everywhere So we'll take his advice on what's not cool on LinkedIn, but

Maybe if you want to just quickly do you want to quickly go through just kind of like what some of those ends were? And just so high level just so if anyone missed the first episode they aren't coming in totally blind Yeah, we talked about a couple like tactical things to start off. We talked about like verifying your profile We talked about like how relevant video content is yeah We talked about using hashtags But like I think the real kind of like crux of like what we were talking about in our first little in section is like how important it is to like show up

authentically put your face behind your marketing plan on LinkedIn and and really like not really get too stuck in like the rut of like What's linkedin content and what's Instagram content and what can't I do on this platform? What can't do this platform? We talked about like how important is to show up as you feel comfortable showing up in attracting the people who have like kind of like aligned energy and you know similar hopes and dreams and like

And like they're gonna come into your world based off of what you're posting and how you're showing up And that's like that's basically the best LinkedIn strategy you could have in 2025 totally yeah, yeah, I love it Yeah, and so I think what really I would really encourage you to listen to it if you are like brand-new to LinkedIn you got to listen to the first episode Ben and I did together about it because it's kind like the most basic like here's what's going on on LinkedIn, but this is kind of our updated version and so we're gonna go through kind of like what are some of the outs on LinkedIn what are things that like

Kristina Bartold (02:16.528)
You know we've stopped doing we talked a little bit about about one which was we talked about automated outreach and that was like Really for us like really kind of an unaligned kind of biz move anymore. We were kind of done with it We didn't feel like it brought in like the most quality to our LinkedIn, which is really important Especially on LinkedIn where there isn't a ton of volume in terms of content creators But there are people on there right and so I'm making sure you're bringing in kind of the right people so Maybe we'll start there. I know we kind of talked a lot about it in the last episode, but

One of the things we didn't talk about was that it's kind of some of the cons of it Which were like one your account can get flagged Yeah It's pretty tough It's tough Yeah, so like truthfully like using like especially At the level that at one point we were using mm-hmm LinkedIn we're not doing that anymore so LinkedIn if you are listening to this don't come after us where you got the wrong people

If you're on the level that we were it's not allowed actually at the root of it like LinkedIn does kind of you know they kind of they kind of walk the talk I would say to some extent in terms of like we've been talking about how they've been prioritizing like authentic video content and showing up personally and like they want people to be having person to person like connections like I think the reason why LinkedIn was started was to make business conversations and business connections more accessible and like they still want that so they don't really want you using

Automated softwares to make it easier for you They would actually ideally want you spending you guessed it a lot of hours on their platform time with people Which I know it sounds like kind of tough But like that is I think how you're gonna get the deepest and most fruitful relationships anyways So yeah watch out your account can get flagged and our account was flagged actually at one point We had a good run with it before I got fired We you know we we but it was briefly flagged and that was a that was a was tough morning

Yeah, it was a tough morning. Especially because I woke up and it was like, LinkedIn's been deleted. I was like, no. I don't know if you guys know this. you don't know this about me, you need to know, me and Maria have a very healthy fear of Ben. Like, we just like, do not want to disappoint him in any way. And so I was scared to tell him about this because you've been working so hard on this. But I will tell you, so I'm reflecting on this in real time. So we actually used an Instagram automation tool when we started the social snippet, and the same thing happened.

Kristina Bartold (04:41.584)
the social step Instagram account got deleted and I Had to bring it back from the dead and it felt pretty bad about it And so I think the rule here is that they have these rules They're there for a reason and authentic connection is like probably the way to go Yeah, are we didn't tell you that you should never ever use them like not necessarily but again I think this is basically you've been warned like it It can do a lot of good. Yeah, and it could also ruin everything

Yeah. Take your chances. think if you want to your chances, best wishes. But I think that if you're in a position where you feel like your posts are getting seen and you are able to kind of organically get a funnel of people that you're able to connect with, I think that you should really consider the fact that you might not even need it. You just might need to prioritize and be strategic about the time you spend and how to get really fruitful relationships. So automated outreach is kind of on the outs.

It's maybe not dead, but it's limping. It's not doing so hot. Yeah, not doing hot. And I'll say too, it's interesting because one of the other things that you had prepped when we talked about this was this idea of people getting mad about automated outreach. That was something I was not ready for. Yeah. I think there's something to be learned there too. mean, some of those people that I think get frustrated with. So some people, when you reach out to them, they get kind of like, oh, this seems like...

It was automated or like and I'm and then you're kind of like no, it's me But like You know and some of those people that are really like up in arms with that I was just kind like okay, you know like let's be real like this person like wasn't really an ideal client anyways We don't really care what they're gonna say but at the same time like I think there's a reason why like why they get like a little bit you know like upset about that is because like I think that that person is taking is clearly

They're they're checking their DMS that they're taking it seriously Yeah, and they feel for whatever reason because of your maybe it's slightly colder or less personalized message They're kind of like that You're not actually giving them the equal amount of energy back that they were hoping for and I think that it's maybe partly that's a damn thing because they've placed expectations on LinkedIn that you just weren't ever gonna meet but also like I think that shows you an appetite there that people are actually wanting and they're frustrated by automated because they're looking for authentic connection because I think that

Kristina Bartold (07:03.758)
Again, if you commit the time and the energy to it, like you'll find people are willing to talk with you on LinkedIn if you're willing to kind of, you know, make the first move. Totally. Well, I find it interesting too because I often get LinkedIn outreach and people will be like, Christine, are you dead? And I'm like, no, I just didn't respond to you because I don't respond to like automated messages. And then we were sending automated messages and I was like, kind of get it. Yeah. But the other thing too is that people are getting more crafty with the way that they connect with people, which is like, you know, we've had it before too where

You know people send us videos yeah, and they'll be like hey Ben like you know this is the section the one the one with the Lady that had like the Christina like bright LED sign above her head I took that lady on my podcast cuz I was like she like cared like and she had this like she had written it like Christina like an LED thing and it was a very obviously not automated I was like this is kind of impressive like I'm you got my attention. You know I was like

A little bit odd, but you know what like we're talking about her right now So yeah, and I think that you know that extra mile that LED sign if you got to go get that to Differentiate yourself do it get the LED sign get it why not yeah? love it That's the first one that we kind of wanted to reiterate was automated outreaches is is is kind of out And it's it's a little bit risky And I think that if you want to really differentiate yourself and show up as that person like oh I have to connect with that person You're probably not gonna get there necessarily by doing automated outreach

The second thing that is kind of out for 2025 on LinkedIn, I think is overusing AI content. This is again a bit of a one where we're kind of like, are they taking back what they previously said? I think that like you should use AI to repurpose your content to make sure that you're not spending six hours a day on content like that's outrageous like reuse things like maximize your long-term content, your podcast, your blog, your social captains like

That can be used on LinkedIn and it should be and if you need to use AI to like fine-tune that that's great. Yeah, but you don't want to show up as the person who's like Embracing the world of you know like that those like kind of cautioned Cliche like chat like GPT like yeah, yeah, you don't want those lines And I think that like it's people are now identifying now that we're kind of you know

Kristina Bartold (09:21.37)
Two years into AI three years into AI like people were like I actually I know what an AI Post looks like and they're gonna be like that's not even like that's even like heartfall It's not even from that person's like learning and I'm not engaged with it again. It's not authentic Yeah, we see that like I can spot an AI caption like it's like out there like immediately and it does something to you like I'm like I this is now This is now stale. Let me just return that

Yeah, totally. It's like you and you get a bad Coke at a restaurant or a bad Pepsi. It's like yeah, that's not up to par. Let me just put that back. know what's so funny is yesterday we went out and the woman was like, we were making jokes about like returning things like people returning food. I like, I am like a diet Pepsi returner. She's like, me too. She's like, if the diet Pepsi is flat, if there's not enough ice. And I was like, okay, I'm not that far, but I like love this for you that you're embracing it. Yeah, totally. Like you want to make sure that you have that authentic relationship because ultimately like

What people are looking for is connection. Yeah, so they feel like you're automating the process Like I think people were less wise to automation before like totally you know and now like the average person is using chat GPT like yeah That's different than it was obviously chat GPT wasn't here But like that's different than it was five years ago when like you being able to post on Instagram was not the norm Right like yeah, well there was no like you what do you mean? You didn't write that?

Instagram post who else wrote at your mom like it's like like that wasn't a thing and people were like any any post is a post and now it's like I thought there's almost two tiers of content where there's like the authentic content and then there's sometimes there there's basically the I wanted to post on Instagram so I came up with this yeah, and it kind of shows yeah Yeah, and it's not a I think the same thing with LinkedIn as I do with all social media platforms Really is that like it is not quantity over quality

It's like you are better to post three times on LinkedIn and it be like you post an article you you do to like thought leader pieces or whatever Then it is free to be posting AI like quips every single day And we use AI for our content right we'll take a podcast episode We'll take the content from it like you know there's no problem with that, but it's that original Start is where I think the problem is and so using AI for you to be like hey like what are ten ideas for somebody in my niche I use that sometimes for podcast episodes when I'm like

Kristina Bartold (11:42.82)
I'm inspired to speak, but I don't know what I want to talk about. I'll look at what people want to talk about. But I don't script it from AI. So I think it's about finding that balance. Totally. Yeah, I think that point of origin, I think, is crucial. One thing that definitely differentiates repurposing content versus just posting mediocre or bad AI content is where are you getting the source from? Are you pulling?

this from the abyss of AI or are you actually giving it the content and you're asking it to format it for you and I think that's the difference so I love that. So yeah, don't overuse AI in content. That's kind of number two. The number three out is kind of again, these themes, hopefully they're kind of hitting home for you because again, all these ins and outs are kind of similar but it's taking it too serious. Again, I think even like Buddy who's being like,

This is an automated response like on LinkedIn. It's like okay like yes He's click. He's craving off into connection that is awesome, but I think that we take ourselves too seriously on LinkedIn I think that is a bit of like a historical thing for this platform is it's kind of like you have to have like ex-corporate job to be on LinkedIn like you LinkedIn's only really about getting jobs and posting like Employment updates and so like that like no like LinkedIn is a social media platform. Yeah, there are there are

all kinds of content there, professional content, personal content, creative content, thought leader pieces, and we shouldn't be taking it too seriously. We need to have fun on LinkedIn and we need to show up with our personality, with our face, and show up with energy just like we would on any other platform in order to have success. Yeah, 100%. I think that's actually where people go really wrong with it, is that they think it's like a job-seeking tool.

You know or like a hiring tool which it is like if you we've hired off of LinkedIn We've got some great social media managers. do it again. That is one of the main uses, but it's not the only use. No and like especially if you're a business There's other business owners on there So if you're selling B2B like it's such a great spot But if you're like sitting there being like like this is like it needs to be really tight And it needs to look like this and it needs to look like that then you miss out on some of the magic that happens there And I actually think my prediction for LinkedIn 2025

Kristina Bartold (13:57.1)
Apart from like more video and like you know thought leadership and all that is that people are gonna be using it to be more personal Yeah, like and even like when we were we were chatting about my pregnancy announcement And I was like do I post these photos on LinkedIn as like no I'm gonna wait until I'm like I don't have us like you know but I like have the intention of posting something about it and but I Five years ago someone probably wouldn't you know and now it's becoming so normal for people to be like hey like this is what I'm up to here's what I'm doing like I'm taking a leave like women are posting about

You know like feminism in the workplace like things that are so important. Yeah So I think there's gonna be more of a personal turn towards it Yeah, I mean I think you've talked about with Maria the topic of is business personal Yeah, it's like yeah like yeah I think like you can try to make it not personal and I think boundaries are awesome like yeah, they put the boundaries in place that you need but in general like I think that like you You show up to it to work you show up to your business as yourself and like that

is every part of you. think, even think about, like, LinkedIn, we do want professional content, but, like, how can your personal moments become professional content? Because I think, like, that can be the same thing. It's, like, not, I had a baby and here's a cute baby photo. You can do that, but also you could be, like, I had a baby and here's actually how I have been, struggling to transition away from my business with, like, with my first child. Like, that's significant. People want to hear about that. Like, that is relevant to business. It's, like,

When you go through, you lose somebody, when you go through, when you have an exciting, when you get married, when you have an exciting new update in your life, you move. Like that affects you the way you show up in business. And like that is relevant. Like there's nothing really not relevant to business. Like, cause business is personal and we, especially in like, you know, a lot of our community are entrepreneurs and small business owners. Like, you are your business, maybe even to a fault. Like we talk about that all the time. And social snippet is like, like we want to be.

the social snippet, we don't always wanna just be Marie and Christina, the reality is so much of the great people that we have and the great community we have is because you show up to your business as yourself. And that's a beautiful thing. So, yeah. I totally agree with that. And honestly, think it's such a, people get so like, it's business, and then it's personal, and they're separate things, and whatever. But at the core of business is people love doing business with people they like.

Kristina Bartold (16:19.172)
like people that they trust, right? And the way you have to build that know, like, and trust, we have this opportunity that has never been here before in business to scale businesses, to do online business, to be in front of new people in a way that's never been possible, to be in front of all of these people, and to build know, like, and trust without people knowing us. So I think about some of the investments I've made in last four years, right? Like, Maria and I have invested, like, with no exaggeration.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars like literally like I told my mom we were like trying to do some math on stuff And I'm almost like stop doing this and I was like I can't because I know it grows our business I've seen it like I've seen the return on things whether it be immediate or whether it be five years out and But what I can tell you from that is that I've made investments in people online that I've never met I've given people 10k. I've given you know like recently. We just made an investment I went to a two-hour dinner. I was like well seems reasonable like yeah

We paid $7,000 later that day like you know and it's like that that is the power of relationship And so I think we have this like opportunity that we've never had before to go once many To really stand out and be able to build like relationships And I think LinkedIn is no exception to that and I actually think it's even gonna get stronger and better and the people who are there right now Posting who are or who start today are gonna be able to see like really the ripple effect of building relationship building content and all of that Yeah, I guess that's it because we're saying just don't miss it

Don't miss it. You don't want to miss the LinkedIn both. what I'm gonna ask you one. It's not too late though, too It has not left. So yeah, this is uh, I think we've got a problem and not not to delay your start Because someone's gonna listen to this and be like she gave me a later start I think you've probably got another year Before it's like you're gonna start to feel the sound like more of the saturation. Yeah, right. can see that right now It's like I know other social media managers are on there. I can't see them

Like it's not they don't come up on my feed. Yeah, right So this is my shit. This is my cat right like to get out there And so my last question for you someone's listening to this. They're like okay Wow Ben so smart so cool so wise What would you say would be that the first thing that they should start on LinkedIn like what would be the like they're overwhelmed? They're do I write an article do I start newsletter do I post like what would be the first thing you would say for them to get focused on?

Kristina Bartold (18:37.456)
I'm thinking I'm gonna. I'm not gonna count the verify your profile thing I just think that again if you missed our first episode That's a quick win that you can take today to get more eyes on your profile, but the second thing I would just be like Get out of your own way like I don't know like I just don't know how to tell you that like we started on LinkedIn by starting like that's basically There's no there's no magic to it obviously

We refine some things and I don't think I wouldn't necessarily suggest you immediately go to the LinkedIn newsletter or you need to immediately go to the articles I think those are things that you should look into you should refer to the ones that were were putting out Look for your favorite like creators on LinkedIn. I'm sure they're doing something really cool in those spaces, but I would just post something I think like Take like some of your top performing Posts from Instagram or from Facebook wherever you are else on social media. I think about even like

Some of the first videos we posted for you on LinkedIn were like some really like high quality like reels on Instagram that we had already posted like ages ago but weren't in this space and we posted them again and like great engagement on them. I think that like you're you're already sitting on content that you haven't tapped in so I think identify like what are my pinned posts on Instagram? Like are those on LinkedIn? Could I reuse those? And I think just start posting. I think and start to narrow down like what are people

Liking to hear from you on LinkedIn and I think that you'll probably see some success right away Yeah, honestly I've been surprised by the amount of people who like our social media content gets good engagement our podcast content It's great engagement. Yeah, you know which is funny like like when we add resources about you know content or about podcasting like it's been interesting to see like how many people kind of come out of the woodwork on that because I don't think there's as many people talking about podcasting as there are about social right and so Which is interesting for us. I think

And I totally agree. think just getting started and and if you're like in a season where you're like I don't really know what to post like that's something that I hear from people a lot They're like, you know, I love the Instagram pin post. That's a great idea I think if you're not even there yet would be like what are questions people ask you all the time Just think about it. Like what are people asking you? What are people coming to you with all the time? Like what are people like, you know, what are stories that you can tell like what are things that you know people want to know from you and You'll see that that's the stuff that's gonna resonate with people because if someone's asking you about it

Kristina Bartold (20:54.032)
There's other people wanting to know about it too. Ben, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I have no doubt it will be not the last time. We'll have to bring you back for LinkedIn part three or something else. Maybe we can talk about other things too. Like podcasting. yeah, go give Ben a follow on LinkedIn. He reposts a lot of my content that he has created. But yeah, go check us out on LinkedIn and check out some of the stuff that we're doing.

And yeah, in the Social Business Club, we're hopefully going to be adding some more LinkedIn content soon. if you're interested in learning more about LinkedIn, you can join Social Business Club using the code podcast to get your first month for a dollar. Thanks, Ben. So fun. Yeah. Best years to come. Isn't that so exciting? Amazing. Thanks so much for listening to Community with me, Christina Bartold, and I'm just so excited to continue the conversations. If you're looking to grow your community and learn more about social, join us at thesocialbusinessclub.ca.

and use the code podcast to get your first month for a dollar. Share this episode with your friends and on social or leave a review. It means the world.