Best of LinkedIn: Social Selling CW 17/ 18

Social selling over the past two weeks centered on one clear shift: LinkedIn success is no longer driven by posting volume, cold outreach, or algorithm shortcuts. The strongest signals point to relevance, trust, niche authority, expert engagement, and human credibility as the new growth baseline.

Date

May 6, 2026

Social Selling

Methodology: Every two weeks we collect most relevant posts on LinkedIn for selected topics and create an overall summary only based on these posts. If you´re interested in the single posts behind, you can find them here: https://linktr.ee/thomasallgeyer. Have a great read!

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Listen to our podcast

If you prefer listening, check out our podcast summarizing the most relevant insights from Social Selling CW 17/ 18:

AI And Algorithm Reset

LinkedIn’s AI driven ranking model now prioritizes relevance, authority, and thematic clarity
Volume posting is losing effectiveness, focused content pillars outperform activity alone
AI supports optimization, research, and workflow speed, but personal perspective remains decisive
Generic AI flavored content is increasingly treated as low value and actively filtered by users
Complete profiles, focused content, and expert engagement are positioned as key distribution drivers

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Social Selling Fundamentals

Social selling is increasingly positioned as trust building before outreach, not pitching after connection
Buyer relevance is becoming more important than superficial personalization or generic prospect research
Cold outreach without context is framed as outdated, intrusive, and commercially weak
Strong sellers build familiarity, credibility, and recognition before asking for a meeting
Organic presence creates the commercial baseline, paid reach only amplifies what already works

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Commenting And Engagement

Strategic commenting is emerging as a core pipeline lever for visibility and relationship building
Commenting on prospect posts helps create familiarity before direct outreach or sales conversations
Strong comments add perspective, practical context, useful questions, or relevant expertise
Low value reactions and copy paste comments are increasingly seen as ineffective engagement
Active interaction is positioned as more commercially relevant than passive reach alone

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Profile And Positioning

LinkedIn profiles are treated as conversion assets and landing pages, not digital resumes
Headlines need to communicate clear value, personality, and target audience relevance
About sections must support positioning and avoid generic opening lines or vague claims
Profile strength directly influences trust, reply rates, and perceived commercial credibility
Reputation is shaped by every visible interaction, not only by published posts

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Outreach And Pipeline

Warm outreach linked to buyer signals is preferred over broad cold pitching
Profile viewers, post engagers, new connections, and recent conversations are key pipeline sources
Direct messages work best when they continue an existing signal or visible interaction
Sales reps can warm prospects through posting and engagement before outbound activity starts
Weekend messaging is highlighted as a practical tactic for reaching busy buyers

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Content Strategy

Evergreen content is gaining importance as LinkedIn posts now have a longer shelf life
Original stories, clear opinions, and concrete proof outperform generic thought leadership
Personal content still works when it connects clearly to a business objective
Strong content is niche, relevant, useful, and written for a clearly defined audience
Content ideas should come from markets, communities, and outside perspectives, not only the feed

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Tools And Product Signals

Claude is highlighted beyond chat, especially for Projects, Cowork, Connectors, Skills, and workflow support
Outreach stacks increasingly combine LinkedIn automation, AI research, CRM, and workflow tools
Tools support research, enrichment, sequencing, execution, content refinement, and process consistency
Tool value depends on workflow fit, not on adding more software to the stack
AI is positioned as a teammate for context and refinement, not as a replacement for voice

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Partnerships And Ecosystem Signals

LinkedIn and podcasting are presented as a strong B2B relationship building combination
Podcasts extend trust building by turning expertise into repeatable authority and audience familiarity
Corporate advocacy is gaining relevance as company pages lose credibility against expert voices
Aviva Investors is highlighted as a regulated industry example for compliant employee advocacy
No major new commercial partnership was clearly evidenced in the provided content

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Corporate Advocacy And Leadership

Corporate influencing is framed as a strategic communication capability, not a short term trend
Employee advocacy requires training, safeguards, legal guidance, and clear thematic positioning
Leaders who ignore LinkedIn risk losing visibility to more active competitors and peers
Gen Z style storytelling is challenging traditional corporate communication and executive tone
Leadership visibility works best when it combines credibility, clarity, and real conversation

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