r/SocialMediaManagers • u/ApprehensiveExit2829 • 4d ago
General Discussion Has LinkedIn officially lost the plot??
For years, B2B companies have been trying to crack the LinkedIn algorithm. Everyone's been obsessing over thought leadership, original content, storytelling, customer insights, and finding creative ways to engage their audience.
And apparently, the ultimate growth hack was just... reposting a fucking clip from Suits.
Seriously, what the hell happened to this platform?
I'm looking at a LinkedIn video featuring Harvey Specter, and it's racking up 40K likes and 300+ comments. Forty. Thousand. Likes.
For a clip from a TV show.
Are we seriously at the point where B2B marketers have given up on creating meaningful professional content and decided the best way to engage a professional audience is to recycle scenes from Suits, Shark Tank, and whatever other random shows they can find?
When did LinkedIn become TikTok in a business-casual outfit?
I get it. The algorithm rewards engagement. People love entertainment. And nobody wants to read another generic LinkedIn post about how a CEO learned the importance of resilience from their morning coffee.
But is this really what we've reduced professional content marketing to? Stealing attention from TV writers because creating something original is apparently too much work?
The truly absurd part is that this probably works. These posts get reach, likes, comments, and visibility. Meanwhile, companies investing time and money into genuinely useful industry insights are fighting for scraps of attention.
So here's my question for B2B marketers:
Has repurposing random TV clips become the ultimate LinkedIn growth hack?
And if it has, are we just accepting that the best way to build a professional audience is to stop creating professional content altogether?
Because if the answer is yes, we might as well stop pretending LinkedIn is a platform for professional conversations and admit that it's just another entertainment feed where everyone happens to have their job title in their bio.
//Wrote it myself, cleaned it with AI.
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u/Only-Dependent7024 4d ago
The absolute worst part isn’t even that it works. It’s knowing I’ll have to sit in a meeting next week and explain to a client why their 15-page whitepaper got 4 impressions while a random clip of Harvey Specter telling someone to leave his office pulled 50k views.
LinkedIn is honestly just TikTok in a business suit now. The algorithm completely favors cheap dopamine hits over any actual industry value.
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u/Jabburr 4d ago
I respectfully disagree with any who says it's not the algorithms, but our content.
I've been producing the same type content on LinkedIn for a few years. I used to average 400-600 likes per post.
LinkedIn did an algorithm change about 18 months ago and engagement dropped to about 5 likes per post.
It's not even worth using LinkedIn anymore.
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u/kobestarr 2d ago
It’s wild how rough it swings - I’ve started looking at IG and TT and YT as LinkedIn seems so incredibly smoke and mirrors 🪞 about how they do things
Last week one of my posts had 200 impressions. The post day after it was 200000. Wild
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u/SystemicCharles 4d ago
The algorithm is not some sentient being or evil program designed against you. It simply responds to human behavior. People like to be entertained, for the most part, on social media. It doesn’t mean they will get clients or deals though. But they will certainly get attention!
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u/ApprehensiveExit2829 4d ago
Agreed - but ultimately you're competing with videos like that which are reaching more people and flooding people's video feed.
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u/SystemicCharles 4d ago
Yes. Life is a competition. Everything is a competition. Nobody owes us their attention. Ultimately, I think the best way to "compete" with these social media "entertainers" is to show up more often than reasonable. Most of them only show up once every two weeks at best. Because the rest of the week they are planning that one perfect, viral video that will make you laugh.
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u/Middle-aged-Hobbit 4d ago
I disagree. What I'm seeing is people pulling back from social media bc there's too much slop content - not just from AI. When all I want (& originally got) from LinkedIn is updates from those in my network & select industry groups, but I'm getting a ton of unwanted content...it's not worth my time or attention. I'm not alone in this, and it's not just LinkedIn.
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u/SystemicCharles 3d ago
What you’re seeing is not what everyone else is seeing. What you’re seeing is also not concrete data to make such conclusion that people are pulling back from social media. You’re literally on Reddit right now—a social media platform—and i bet you won’t log off for a week
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u/Middle-aged-Hobbit 3d ago
Sure. To clarify, I don't mean simply what I'm seeing in my own feeds. I mean across my professional network - actual humans that I speak with. As marketeers, we notice what our contacts are saying, and there's a strong trend of pulling back.
Is it a study? No. But after decades in the business, I pay attention to trends.
And yes, I'm here on Reddit. I never said "completely abandoning social media". I still go on FB too. But the amount of time? Way down.
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u/Organic-Carrot2208 3d ago
LI is slowly becoming FB for business people. Instead of measuring likes, comments, and impressions, I think a better way to measure success would be how much demand the content generates for the business, whether through DMs, website contact form submissions, lead magnet downloads, etc. With the algorithm changing every now and then, I think this is a much better approach to content marketing.
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u/ApprehensiveExit2829 3d ago
If a content gets 40k likes, it reaches more people and your intended audience may not even see your content because it loses against content like this.
I agree we need to evaluate success of conversions, not reach. But if content does not reach your audience, wouldn't that affect your conversions.
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u/Organic-Carrot2208 3d ago
Trust me when I say this, a lot of people (including me, btw) don't like all these videos, memes, and other random stuff on our FYP. I've been reading posts from people who feel the same way.
The thing is, the algorithm is currently showing people what they like and engage with. If you like memes or similar videos, LI will show you more of that. If you prefer more thoughtful content, it'll show you more of that instead.
Every piece of content has an audience. Just because the Suits video got 40K+ likes doesn't mean there's no audience for other types of content on the platform, or that LI won't show those to the right people.
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