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Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

elliotcsmith.com

391–400 of 405 posts

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This reads like it was written by a developer 'who doesn't get marketing'. I'm a dev, and I'm interested in marketing. I'm currently working as a data analyst in a marketing team (and a secret software engineer - don't tell the marketers, haha). While I do learn a thing or two, mostly by automating some of their things, I would like to know how to go from 0 to 100K users. I work for a corporate and I really notice…

I don't have any info on your product, product category or skillset / interests to give you actionable advice. But I have put together a list of marketing communities, blogs, and people that have a high signal / noise ratio for my coworkers and friends, perhaps it could be useful for you. [0] [0] https://contentdistribution.slite.page/p/BFMS0Lg1Yz/Our-Favo...

Thanks! Handy that you put it all together.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#392
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I look at this is that the Adam Smith-ian free market makes the implicit assumption that market information (pricing, quality) disseminates via neutral, unbiased channels. However, the fact that influencing those channels is itself a commodity that is available on the market, paradoxically affects the operation of the market adversely. If supplier A has a product of quality Q at price P, and supplier B has a…

The problem is that even reviews from verified purchasers get gamed in the real world, and aggregated reviews can only cover simple information because people don't have the expertise for a proper review (e.g. try to find basic information like idle power consumption for computers. Or whether some part has working or broken pcie power management). So the problem is that you need morally unassailable competent reviewe…

I use and pay for the professional review site https://www.which.co.uk/

They are a charity funded by subscribing consumers. They don't get paid by the sellers so the incentive structure benefits the consumer. I trust what they write.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#393

This reads like it was written by a developer 'who doesn't get marketing'. > Nothing you post there is going to change your career. I can attribute millions of dollars in revenue to LinkedIn, as can a lot of my 'LinkedIn friends' > Doing work that matters might. This is a pre-requisite for winning on LinkedIn. The kind of content that performs best are strong opinions informed by actual expertise. > Go for depth over…

> This reads like it was written by a developer 'who doesn't get marketing'. That's spot on. And it will be a very common sentiment regarding marketing. Many devs don't like "bullshitting", it's the exact opposite of how we're supposed to do our job. And while it's understood marketing has a huge impact on sales, one can still take a healthy distance from it. I think this post is about linkedin moving from a generic…

Correction, developers that only work on software products, because those of us doing freelancing, consulting or working in non-software companies, really get it.

We have to, if we want to stay in business.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are the people with worthwhile products and services supposed to do then? Just not engage in marketing? Sincere question.

Yes, that's my take. I'm of the opinion we should outlaw advertising. If your product is good, word will spread via word-of-mouth. But then, I don't exist to do business. Acquiring profit isn't my goal. Acquiring status, rank, or advantage over my fellows isn't my goal. Its the goal of those we let run roughshod over the rest of us justified by phrases like "well its just human nature to be greedy; nothing to be done…

Lets say you're a freelancer, why is a company supposed to hire you then.

You are the product, how do you suggest to sell yourself?

Companies aren't going to waste time looking into Github, if that is your take.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, marketing isn’t bullshitting. Peddling non sense on LinkedIn mostly is bullshitting. It can be very lucrative bullshitting and I’m happy to fork the money to people devoid of any sort of ethics when I have to leverage it while sharing your overall opinions on LinkedIn influencers. But there is significantly more to marketing than that and some of it (pricing strategy, distribution, understanding your sal…

> pricing strategy, distribution, understanding your sales channels and building relationships with your key customers for example Pricing can definitely be marketing and is crucial to the company. The rest sounds more like operations and customer relations to me. Otherwise I agree bullshitting can be interesting and analytical, when looking at a full campaign promoting a life style or solely aimed at imprinting the…

> The rest sounds more like operations and customer relations to me.

Marketing is not advertisement.

It definitely has a significant overlap with operations. I mean it’s in the name really: it’s about how you go to the market.

Every time someone wonders if they would make more by going for a subscription or a lump sum payment and how they should structure their pricing tiers and what should be put in them, they are unknowingly doing marketing.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#396

LinkedIn is decent for jobs/searching/applying. That's all I really find it useful for. Things I don't find it useful for: Salespeople trying to sell me some enterprise product when I don't have anything to do with selection/purchasing those items. Everything from IP phones to enterprise storage to whatever SaSS is hot Low-effort recruiter spam. Jobs I'm not interested in, qualified for, over-qualified for, want me t…

that sounds a bit rough on graduates. we all start from the bottom and some people are not born with well connected parents or schools with wide networks. I actually think linkedin is a good way to pay it forward (although NOT for low effort graduates who send the same template spam message to everybody)

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#397
post #379
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The way I look at this is that the Adam Smith-ian free market makes the implicit assumption that market information (pricing, quality) disseminates via neutral, unbiased channels. This couldn’t be more incorrect. In Smith’s day your sources of information would be interpersonal, or one of your local newspapers. Newspapers in the 18th century wore their bias on their sleeves and had very particular world views, they…

Smith's book sits on my bedside stand as I write this. In the hypothetical society he uses in the book (the one with the butcher and the baker), the flow of market information is indeed interpersonal (though he never explicitly states this, to my recollection) and therefore not only carries some level of trust, but is generally peer-to-peer. The state of 18th century news papers and marketing actually supports my poi…

My point about the news environment is exactly the opposite of what you were saying. Commercial news was everywhere in Smith’s day and very much not neutral or lacking bias.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#398
Random bit of info:

I cannot log in to Linkedin any more on my default browser, which is Firefox with the built in privacy protections on and uBlock Origin (that one on the default settings). The front page redirects me to the cookie dialog which goes to the front page which goes to the cookie dialog again ad infinitum.

I suppose it would work if i accepted, but they shouldn't even ask me for the cookies absolutely required for the site to function so I'm viewing the rest as something optional that I should deny.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what are the people with worthwhile products and services supposed to do then? Just not engage in marketing? Sincere question.

Yes, that's my take. I'm of the opinion we should outlaw advertising. If your product is good, word will spread via word-of-mouth. But then, I don't exist to do business. Acquiring profit isn't my goal. Acquiring status, rank, or advantage over my fellows isn't my goal. Its the goal of those we let run roughshod over the rest of us justified by phrases like "well its just human nature to be greedy; nothing to be done…

The book SELLING THE WHEEL by Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens is quite good in explaining the lifecycle of every product (not sure about services). Must-read for every product owner/seller/developer.

Re: Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity

#400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if we strengthened fraud provision we eliminate many societal problems, including marketing. If marketers were required to be completely honest and transparent, a lot of this goes away.

you can lie (advertise) by omission... I see no way one can legislate all the things that marketing campaign must tell you about the product/service

This is part of fraud (from Wikipedia):

> While the precise definitions and requirements of proof vary among jurisdictions, the requisite elements of fraud as a tort generally are the intentional misrepresentation or concealment of an important fact upon which the victim is meant to rely, and in fact does rely, to the detriment of the victim.

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