How to Optimize Your Startup's LinkedIn Presence
- leronkornreich
- Jun 9
- 2 min read
If you’re looking to truly connect with your target audience, you need to hit “reset” on your LinkedIn strategy. What worked in the past will now get you penalized.
Our team at Si14 Global Communications helps clients develop their thought leadership platforms and we're advocating a new approach to LinkedIn. I recently discussed the new reality on LinkedIn with marketing advisor, Tomer Zuker. He led marketing at GenAI pioneer D-ID, while we drove the company's PR. Here’s a short video excerpt and, below it, Q&A highlights from our conversation.
We dive into what’s currently working on LinkedIn, plus the new-ish concept of founder-led marketing…what it is and what executives need to understand right now.
Leron: What are the changes to LinkedIn's algorithm and how does that change how brands should be posting?
Tomer: If you don't understand how the algorithm works, you can cause damage to your brand and to your company page. For example, people asking all of their employees: now, go to this post and leave a comment, and everybody posting at the same time, the same copy, and the same image. This is really a disaster.
You need to be smart enough. You need to manage the waves of the publications so it will not look artificial.
Leron: AI content is flooding the feed. How should executives plan their thought leadership platforms?
Tomer: I'm not saying don't use AI. I use AI all the time. But my call-out is be smart when using AI. Don't try to outsource your voice to AI. Because in the end, people will get to know you, in person, on podcasts, at events and meetups, and you don't want to create a gap between your persona and your true identity, right?
LinkedIn does not penalize AI-generating content by default. It's okay to use AI. What it penalizes is low-quality, non-authentic, or manipulated behavior, regardless if it's AI or not. So, definitely, you can use AI. But try to train the model on your own voice.
Leron: Si14 Global Communications develops thought leadership platforms for executives, from opinion articles and speaking engagements to cultivating their presence on social media, including LinkedIn. Why do you think founder-led marketing has taken off recently?
Tomer: We have seen - and there’s been much research - that trust in corporate communications has dropped for five years in a row. People are less trusting of brand voices and trust more human voices.
First of all, from the technical point of view of the algorithm, executive author posts and thought leadership posts through the profile of the founders get 3 to 5 times higher engagement.But outside of the [algorithm], think about human beings. We as human beings are wired to interact with other human beings, right? You are the leader of the company so bring your own voice, your own perspective. Add value.
Conclusion
Our team’s work with 100+ founders and CEOs clearly indicates that unique insights and bold assessments are what’s interesting to their target audiences and to reporters. People don’t want to hear the sales pitch. They are seeking information that is useful, actionable, insightful, and surprising.
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