It is rare that a B2B -Marketing is fun on LinkedIn.
And not “sent a meme that chatgpt is taking over my job” fun.
I mean really“I would see this content in my free time” kind of humor.
And she has 20,000 followers (and some viral videos with 4m+ views) to prove it.
Today’s expert asks us to stop occupying over high -performance content and why your buyer persona binger Seller sunsetalso.
Heike Young
Head of content, social and integrated marketing, Microsoft
Lesson 1: Your goal should not be high -performance content. Period.
When Young went into a conference room during his first day at Microsoft (this may have been virtual but for the sake of the story let’s imagine Food men office), she told her team that her goal Isn’t it To create high performance content.
Her goal is to change your mind.
Every time her team creates a piece of content, she asks herself: “What can we create that will actually change the hearts and minds of our audience? And that’s a tough task. “
Here is an example that hits home for us: At HubSpot we have hit millions of views every year on a post alone – “The best movie quotes of the time.”
(Jepp. Around as far from a product conversion as you can get.)
But this year we looked another look at this post and said, “Does it mean that it attracts millions of views if it has nothing to do with … yes, hubspot?”
So we (finally) withdrew. (I suggested a Viking -Burial, but we settled on a 301 Redirection.)
This is Young’s motto and driving motivation behind all its work. She says, “We hope it is doing well, but really is our goal to create influence and change how people think and act – and for our brand to grow when they do.”
There is a bonus for this lesson: creating content that changes mind means writing, recording and placing content that is provocative and unique. And that’s the only type of content that will cut through the noise anyway.
As Young puts it, “Fed POVs are pretty much the only content left that resonates.”
Lesson 2: Your B2B buyer is the same person binger who sells sunset.
A couple of years ago, Young came comedy courses in LA on vertical Citizens Brigade, which proclaims past students such as Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon and Nick Kroll.
And she now brings the comedy to her LinkedIn videos, some of which have collected millions of views.
Why?
Because her B2B audience still consists of people. And people like to laugh.
“There is this idea that is really important to me, which is content moving with the culture. The same person who approves PO for your SaaS -Company“
She adds, “In B2B we have come into this habit of acting as humans are so different. You know they come to work and take their job market, and suddenly their standards of content or entertainment are different.”
Her remark reminded me of Resignation: There is the buttoned, professional B2B audience, and then there are the people we have dinner with and watch movies with and call our friends.
This artificial separation does not only make our marketing feel stiff – it makes it ineffective.
Young says, “I personally want to create content that is informed by the culture as a whole and moves with the speed versus content that feels like it was sealed in a time capsule of 2001.”
Lesson 3: Employee -generated content now means more than ever.
Young all goes with the personality -headed content in 2025.
Why? Because, as she told me, the personality content can be the core differentiation of your brand: “Anyone can answer a lot of questions. No one can clone your people.”
(Take toAI!)
In her current role, she is really focused on employee -generated content and allows her team to create content on behalf of Microsoft.
And she goes the trip too. Therefore, about a year ago, she began posting her own videos on LinkedIn.
She told me as a leader, she had missed the opportunity to create content. For her, it was important to get some skin in the game. “And I would really bet on myself too.”
Of course, it may be hella awkward to send the first awkward edited iPhone video of yourself and get seven likes on it.
But you never know where it could lead.
When we get in full circle for our first lesson, Young adds: “It is important to change people’s minds around deeper topics, to have deeper conversations and just to resonate more deep. Surface level, basic, one-to-one-style answer question-it is not really the path forward.”
Lingering questions
This week’s question
How do you see as a marketing leader, how do you see AI influence on strategic thinking and the creative process of fire building? – Lise Lozelle, senior director of communication and commitment, best Buddies International
This week’s answer
Young: AI is effective as a thought partner. Ask it to put holes in your strategy and play Devil’s Advocate. Also ask to find additional research and data points you have not considered. These workflows can make your original ideas even stronger.
All of this said, I think human creativity is more critical than ever, and I love to see human fingerprints on the content I personally eat. For example I recently weakened all the little creative details of Resignation.
I think some AI-related changes in marketing will happen faster than we expect and others will happen slower. Only time shows what falls into which category. So I lean into AI where it is useful to me and does not force it where it does not seem useful.
Next week’s question
Young asking: What is a piece of Marketing Council you would have given earlier in your career, but you would no longer give, because of how marketing has changed?