The Content Crib Podcast

Paris Hilton Meets Basement Ninjas, And The Algorithm Laughs #16

• Eric Anderson and Chris Grosse • Season 1 • Episode 16

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We trade celebrity clout for real credibility, unpack why LinkedIn rewards value over fame, and map a zero-budget 90-day plan to build authority with positioning, series content, comments, and personalized video. We also dig into AI hype, adoption, and the next trust trigger: raw, human footage.

• LinkedIn as a value-first platform
• Feed curation, notification bell, and impression shifts
• 90-day authority plan for healthcare founders
• High-signal engagement and personalized video DMs
• Weekly anchor series and story-led posts
• Video as a moat against AI noise
• AI adoption realities and skill stacking
• Inequality risks and global upside for talent


SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Content Crib Podcast number 16. I can't believe it, Chris. How are you today?

SPEAKER_01:

Doing fantastic. Just coming off a wedding weekend. My buddy from college just had a lovely uh nuptial event in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_00:

We had a fantastic time. How about yourself? Well, I didn't have that much fun. Uh, we had a nice weekend of weather, but I didn't uh A get to go to a wedding and B go to New Jersey. I'm saying that with a little bit of sarcasm. I used to live in New Jersey, so I can say that. I l I lived in New Jersey. Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't even know that. Where in New Jersey?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh uh South Jersey, exit 88, so down south, near the Toms River area.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we were in Morristown.

SPEAKER_00:

Morristown, okay, so North Jersey.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Gotcha. So well, fortunately, only about three and a half hours from me. Straight shot, central Massachusetts, right down. So nice. Not bad, but it was a good time. Which is even crazier because it's now it's only a few days until uh our one-year wedding anniversary. So that's exciting too. But one year this isn't a relationship advice podcast, so we don't you know we don't want to go deep down the rabbit hole.

SPEAKER_00:

But everybody, if you want any of that kind of advice. No, I'm just kidding. Um, so yeah, you uh you sent me over some funny stuff this weekend that uh apparently Paris Hilton is not as impressed as I thought she should be with our LinkedIn prowess. What do you think? Oh, there she is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I you know, I thought this was super interesting when it came across my my feed, and I just want to read what she said. Apparently, Paris Hilton is quite the LinkedIn fan, and I just love hearing about celebrities that are LinkedIn fans because so few are. Uh but what she said was quote The most ridiculous thing about LinkedIn is I have 27 million followers on Instagram, have a net worth of 250 million, and a chain of hotels named after me. But here in LinkedIn, people living in their own their mom's basements have more followers than me.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, I first want to make the point that the hotels are not named after her, have literally nothing to do with her. But anyway, yes, that's uh that's right, Paris. I thought it was her family. I thought it was her dad. Yeah, but it she says me. She specifically says me. Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with her at all. Um, sorry, I know my gonna get my Paris Hilton hate comments that come through. But um yeah, that's the one that's the beautiful thing about LinkedIn is people are actually here for substantive uh information that they can utilize and actually tune in and want to know what people are thinking on LinkedIn, not just watching somebody walk their dog down the street.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, yeah, I think there's a strange truth to it in it on uh about LinkedIn, and that attention doesn't follow fame or wealth or legacy, and you can be a billionaire, millionaire or whatever with a global brand and still lose to the algorithm to someone posting from their bedroom in their parents' house.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and as I told you this weekend, my mom has a pretty nice basement, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um yeah, I mean, I think it's a double-edged sword because it's the plat platform lends itself to you being, you know, anyone being able to create a brand with and build trust by creating that personal brand and then ultimately building more of a business pipeline and you know being being known for what you want to talk about. Um and the ability to start having that ability to start conversations can outshine celebrity status. So I think that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, I I totally agree. And I know I'm poking fun at Paris, but if she actually shared some wisdom and some knowledge that actually helped others, she might find a very different result from LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01:

But I somehow Well, you know, I'm not sharing this because of Paris. I think it's more of a a little lesson behind.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I thought I I thought I was talking you off the ledge of your your your love for Paris Hilton. So Well, I can tell you this much. I mean, it's it's funny, but LinkedIn, I mean, and everybody listening right now is is enduring this. Everybody's impressions are going down. I mean, it is what it is. It's because the algorithm is refining who's gonna see your content. I was talking to a buddy of mine who I used to read all his stuff every day, and then all of a sudden I realized I haven't seen any of his stuff in like months. And he's like, Oh, I'm still posting every day, but I realized we're kind of not in the same space. I do enjoy what he has to say, so I did I went back out and kind of commented and um catered my feed to what I want to hear, and what I wrote about that in the newsletter this week, just that there's so many people who are listening, you know, get just caught up in their social media feeds of watching people fight and cat videos. There's nothing wrong with cat videos if that's what you like, but um you know, things of that nature. And if you search for things or you know, marketing ideas, you know, MBA class marketing ideas, things of that nature, your feed changes dramatically.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the you know, I've I've seen it here and there with uh impressions being down from like certain posts that I've made. And yeah, it is interesting seeing different, you know, the people I don't normally see in my feed, but I do, and this is a little small tip, I do always hit the bell for people that I want to make sure that I never miss a post by them. And and for those that don't know what that means, you just go up, go to the profile of someone that you want to you know learn from or make sure you don't miss a post, and there's a little bell there, and you can hit that, and then you'll get you know notification every time they post. So that's helped me stay in touch with people and try to beat the algorithm.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's a great idea. I didn't even think to do that. That makes makes a lot of sense. And um, there are some that I've done that with, so thank you. See, I've learned something on the 16th edition of the Content Crib Podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you're gonna teach us something because I have a question for you. How about that?

SPEAKER_00:

All right.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, so let's say theoretically, zero budget, right? Content playbook. If you had 90 days and you're sitting there and you're a healthcare founder, a doctor, a CEO, or an individual, high-level forming individual looking to grow their brand and become more hirable. If you had 90 days and no budget, how would you grow a healthcare founder or whoever we were talking about authority from scratch? What would you do in 90 days?

SPEAKER_00:

I know because we've done it. So let's do it again right now. So you obviously know what you want to share, who you want to target, you know, those type people. I would immediately kind of frame your 90-day journey, and that starts with who you are, what you do, and who you help. Answer those three questions, and then start. And I would I would post three times a week, and then I would go out and talk, I would comment on those that are also sharing or are sharing and that you see as your ideal customer, whoever that may be. Now, here's a little bonus tip. I would specifically go out and target those that get major, major um engagement. Oh my gosh, I couldn't remember the word. Engagement, yeah, major engagement on on every time they they post. Um, because that's where the traffic's gonna be. And if you can find your ideal customer out in that base, in that in that pool of people, you know, that's what you want. So when you're in engagement, engagement, engagement, and then also the personalized video DM, that's what I would do. And if you're still, you know, some that are you know, somebody that's out there that you want to connect with, send a personalized video, introducing yourself, give them some great value in that video. Don't ask them for anything. And please, please, right now, everybody listening to this, the millions that are listening to this right now, do not pitch slap somebody with the first video. It's a horrible idea. Don't not don't don't do not do that. Um, and now you're like, what's a pitch slap? It's like because the first time that you have any engagements with somebody, don't go to the video of hey, this is what I do, and for$19.99, you can don't do that. Please don't do that. Um, anyway, I'm on a roll. What would you do, Chris?

SPEAKER_01:

I think that's fantastic. Uh, very similar, I think, to just put it in a quick, like, this is what I would do. I would start with cleaning up my profile. So the basic stuff. Figure out what we always talk about in content crib at content crib is talking logo. So not just like CEO or founder at company, right? Figure out who you help, how you do it, and what happens when you help these people. Um, strategic engagement, network building. So, like you said, exactly, identify you know, those 50 to 100 leaders, investors, fellow people that are similar to what you're trying to do, and then your ideal clients. And then I think this one is huge. And we talked about this in the content crib rx cohort with um, we talked about it with Tony Summer, and what he does with his Friday you know, wrap-up, something like a weekly content series, maybe Healthcare Founder Fridays or Building in Healthcare Mondays or something that starts to attract some interest. So that's your content asset that starts to build your authority and your trust for who you're trying to educate and ultimately do business with. And anyway, that could be business with a patient if you're operating medical practice, or that could be business with investors you're looking to help launch a product. So I would do that, and then some high impact tactics. You know, you don't love hashtags. I think that they still help a little bit, you know. Health hashtag healthcare innovation. Right in the middle of that experiment.

SPEAKER_00:

Just I'm just I'm experimenting. Yeah. So I'll let you know how it goes. But anyway, sorry I interrupted you. Yes, I'm experimenting with it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, not the biggest impact tool, but I think more impactful is sharing the stories based on how you help people or stories of uh experiences with the expertise that you want to share because stories are the best. People read them, they want to engage in them, they relate to them immediately when they start reading them. And then you highlighted the best, right? Commenting, commenting on posts from people thoughtfully, right? Yep. So um commenting is so slept on, and we talk about it all the time, but it's how I've made some of my strongest relationships and friends on LinkedIn is commenting and not just to do you know business with per se. So that's what I would do. And uh, you know, you could also do some other things like commenting on posts from like publications or different blogs or article shares on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And the word that I want you to all remember whenever you're commenting or you're reading or you're putting out your own posts is value. Value, value, value. Don't comment on somebody saying, Hey, that's great. Thanks for doing that. Really good idea. Like, really give some value. Like, hey, I wanted to let you know this and this that you've taught me is have you ever considered this? You know, something of that nature. You want to provide value every time you're communicating with somebody, which it's pretty easy to do, just think about it that way.

SPEAKER_01:

100%. And then so controversial turn on this topic was my question to you was if all this content is being created, right? And some people are concerned, well, where this is going, if impressions are down, if AI ghostwriting makes long form content and thought leadership abundant, will the real moat for someone be curation in live unpolished in an unpolished voice? Maybe that's video, maybe that's shorter posts, maybe that's more edgy posts, or do you think it's maybe something else or a combination of all of it?

SPEAKER_00:

I absolutely think it's gonna be a hybrid approach. I think it's gonna be you you're going to have to have your own curated voice. And you know what? It's it's it's already happening. Where, you know, we've talked about this before. Just YouTube is really starting the cascade of if you're doing AI-based stuff, you they're not gonna monetize you. The other platforms are gonna follow suit, they're gonna have the ability to figure out if it's AI. They're going, and it's already happening. They're they're gonna know if it's AI being posted. So you want to have your own voice that really resonates with your audience. And then video. I mean, I know a lot of people don't like to do video. I get it. I uh I didn't like to do it. I'm I can finish Chris's sentence, like I'm sure he didn't like to do it. Um he's shaking his head no for those who are listening. So, but that's the way to get through the AI noise. It's kind of like I had this conversation with somebody this weekend, and it's it's kind of like if we're in like the infantile steps of what television used to be, if we could all think about that. And then they only used to have a few commercials on, and people would watch the commercials and they would be very intent, and now we can't wait to make commercials go away from everything we watch. They're just it's it's just too much, and we have to watch in live sports, and that's why Budweiser puts on 612 of them during a game, and you know, that's but this is the same thing with AI noise. So, anyway, I took way too long to answer that question, but it's really all about your own unique perspective and voice. Yep, 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

And I want to talk about personalized video because I still think it's underutilized. Yep. Uh, and I did some deep digging and throwing it through some AI models on like the life span of personalized video. It actually got brought up at the wedding I was at, my college buddy, who I didn't even know I was, I mean, I figured I was connected with him on LinkedIn, but I didn't know like he followed my stuff that closely. Uh he was out to lunch or dinner with a colleague or a friend, and they they brought up to him how they've been starting to use personalized video outreach, and he said to him, he goes, Oh, my buddy from college, like that he preaches about it, talks about it all the time, how effective it is. And he told me about this conversation. I thought that was cool, really funny, which yeah, which I thought that was cool. And I ran it through some AI models about like the life cycle of personalized video and outbound sales or outbound connection requests, you know, because it's not just for sales and marketing, it's for you know, founders and doctors to reach ideal clients or educate clients, education's you know, the prospecting is the sexy way to talk about outbound video, but there's so many other ways to use it. Sure. Um, and it and it ran it through these models and all these different scenarios. And if AI gets better at video to look more human, and it still said three to five years minimum that personalized video will still be effective because of imposter syndrome, because of people can tell it's still a human behind the camera sending a video with the messaging. Um, I thought about it. I'm like, okay, let's still dive into personalized video, let's still focus on it. I'm gonna still work on it and spread the good word. But what is the next trust trigger? And that is something I just got completely stumped on, and I just still can't really wrap my head around it. And I didn't know if you had any thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_00:

I think the next trust trigger is going to be very raw video footage of you doing what you do in daily life, and that's going to be your message. It's it's gonna be uh it's it's it's gonna be lack of a lack of a term that probably makes no sense, but like a camera just sits up on your wall and just watches you all day and doing Truman Show. We're entering the Truman Show. And people are gonna tune in to see what the heck you're doing, and you're gonna be able to send out content right from there, you know, that people are gonna be, you know, there's gonna be the ability, you know. I'm gonna get real crazy and deep that that feed is gonna be AI is gonna be able to take that feed, cut up videos automatically whenever it wants to, and send them to your ideal customer. That's what I think the next step's coming. But it's gonna be you doing it. It's as far as you doing your daily routine. And I could be totally wrong, but that's what I think.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think that there's a high chance that you could be right, and I'll tell you why. It's because you know, the reason why we do this podcast is we're just recording ourselves talking about topics we talk about all the time, and and people log in because they want to learn about the topic or they want to see what Chris and Eric are talking about. Yeah. So I think that it's the same way when you scroll through TikTok or Instagram and people doing weird stuff on video and interesting stuff or animals. Uh yeah, so I think that that will be a form of marketing or outbound or business development for sure, more so than now. Obviously, a lot of people are already doing that entrepreneurially on different platforms. Some platforms I don't want to mention, you know what they are. But I think from a business point of view, a more traditional brand, uh, I think that that's the way to go. And and you're seeing we're seeing successful brands skyrocket their awareness and their pipeline by doing it that way. And that's companies, that's surgeons, that's uh different med, you know, medical products we know. You know, that's just what the the world that we live in, but it exists everywhere.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, 100%. Yeah. And and I there's just, you know, as we know, it it's gonna become entertainment on some level, and you know, when somebody wants to know about a certain product years in advance, AI is going to give them the exact information they want right when they want it by hitting a button. I don't know if it's gonna be on their phone necessarily, because I have this crazy theory that in 20 years the phone and usage of a phone is gonna be equated to smoking. I know, and everybody, whenever I say it, everybody goes, Oh, you're full of it. Just wait and see. We'll see what happens with that. But anyway, that's what I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the addiction is is definitely real. And you got me thinking a few minutes ago when you're talking about ads, and I and it's I feel like I'm just on like ad commercial overload. Like every corner of media is finding some way to like drive more ads in. We are, by the way, we are brought to you by uh BitScale uh AI uh platform, which is the better clay model. No, I didn't really do that on purpose, that actually just came. Yeah, but it is true. Um you know, I listened to different uh uh like 985 the sports hub has you know re-listen to their radio podcast and they're finding ways to put ads in their podcast they never did before, or you know, new subscription has more commercials now. I didn't realize. Um I forget where I was really going with that, but essentially you should take that opportunity to craft your voice and craft your brand in a less ad way. That's hey, drink my Bud Light, or maybe it's hey, this is how I solve your potential problem. Let's work together and partner together.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, I I agree. We we literally now will this is hilarious if you think about it. You'll spend more money to not get ads on your streaming services. Now we are paying people who are giving us information which ads used to pay for. We're paying them now to take the ads away and they still get to put the ads out there anyway. It's because every time I guess I sit down, I'm watching something, and I'm like, oh, there's an ad on this. I'm like, well, this can't be Hulu Premium, or this can't be the you know, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, where would a content crib podcast be without talking about AI? So read some interesting statistics about AI job loss versus job creation, and there's some news out there and you know a lot of fear going on and a lot of opportunity we talk about a lot as well. That you know, I I think it's AI is coming on so fast and it's here and it's ripping through businesses. I do think that it is a little bit overblown how much adoption is happening, because I talk to different people in different sectors, especially in like B2B outbound or go to market, and it's the adoption rates are a little a lot lower than what people are like lend leading on to on you know LinkedIn and social media and whatnot. But I think it's the combination of being kind of like a iffy economy that's making it seem like a lot scarier than it is. But this stat was interesting. Uh 64% of Americans think AI will kill jobs, but only 39% of AI experts agree. Obviously, probably loaded statistic AI experts want to keep their jobs, so they don't want to push the narrative. But what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I I don't so I'm not part of the whole doom and gloom that this that AI is going to take everything away. It's kind of when they told us all that the you know internet was gonna make accountants and real estate brokers go away. It's the same, it's the same thing. I think what AI does is it gives you back your time. I I I do something simple now. I need to find something within you know 20 different spreadsheets instead of opening them all up and trying to locate this, whatever else, I just run them through AI and say, hey, find this, this, and this, and then tabulate it, and it does it, and it takes 30 seconds. That used to take me a long time, or somebody else, and you know, an assistant that would have to comb through all that information. Um, I think it's just an adjunct to help you save a whole heck of a lot of time. Now, on a one level, I definitely wouldn't want to be a graphic artist that just was on Fiverr starting out. I think you're gonna have to, if you're in that world, you're gonna have to learn real quick how AI can help you because you can be replaced pretty easily.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree, but there's also opportunity too, because I think that small business is gonna be so slow to adopt some of the stuff. And oh yeah, small business, medium business makes up so much of our economy that's the people are gonna need it. So you can learn how to do AI graphic design, but learn other things too, yeah, right? So it can be part of your suite of offerings. It's similar to what you're saying. I think when you talk about wanting to accomplish different tasks, you're doing a lot more than maybe you were before because you're using it the right way. Yeah, which I think is the way to think about it. Um and in terms of you know, stacking on those skills, you know, I I found that I used a prompt the other day, and it's like, you know, I'm using AI for this, this, and this. You know, what else can I learn and make me like a two-week plan of other things that I can learn that will make me even better or more efficient at these projects that I'm working on? So that was a prompt I put in to Claude that gave me back some ideas to execute the next couple weeks on the projects I'm working on, as well as you know, gaps in my AI knowledge. And I'm not gonna do all of it, but it at least gave me a couple things that I I'm like, okay, this is what I'll do, and this is what I'll do, instead of you know, just kind of hanging in this you know high school level of AI experience, AI knowledge. So I think long way of saying you gotta grab the bull by the horns these days. I think it's uh just the way it's going. Yeah, it's no more sitting around waiting for things to happen, you gotta go make it happen, which is good for some people and good not so good for others.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, it's it's a wonderful tool to help you in so many different ways. It really is, and you you need to embrace it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And uh and I read this other statistic. Uh what was it? I'm pulling it up right here. Wealthier nations and skilled workers are adopting AI far faster, poor regions lag. So that made me think, is AI widening the global inequality? Thought this was an interesting talking point.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I would say yes, but I think as soon as uh other nations, if they've got an internet connection, they could dramatically accelerate where their position is in the world quickly. You know, if they want to harness that power and capability, I mean wow, like that could you you could you could watch you know a population of people change dramatically and quickly. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I think that it's creating so many different avenues for a solopreneur or a small business to become more efficient, a lot of what we were just talking about a second ago. Getting better in your marketplace. The same thing with like you're saying, with you know, poor regions or whatnot. I mean, this there's opportunity there, right, to uh you know grow grow a business or start a project or ask it what I should do in my current situation to get myself out of this current situation, right? Obviously, it's easier said than done, and some people are up against some some tough odds depending on what their situation is and what nation they're in. But I think that it's true though, when the computer and internet came around, it grew and grew and grew, and you never thought that you'd see a computer in certain parts of the world that you do now.

SPEAKER_00:

And people are no I we use on our team, we use contractors from all over the world to do stuff, and you never know where it may be coming from, which is great.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think that wraps up this episode. I mean, we went from uh Paris Hilton to the robot lords taking over. Yep. Um, I think we should probably end it there.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, anytime you can include Paris Hilton in New Jersey all in one episode, I think we've done good work here. So uh that's a wrap. Number 16. That's a wrap. It's in the books.

SPEAKER_01:

We'll see you.

SPEAKER_00:

See ya. Thanks, Eric.