Why Posting on LinkedIn Feels Cringe (And How to Fix It)

Transcription

Matt: Posting on social media really is mental warfare. Most people just don't want to go through that moat of low status almost. Maybe I'm just a one-hit wonder. It's so hard on you because you're dealing with rejection at scale. Virality, in my opinion, is a little bit of a double-edged sword because how do we recreate that same level of success and... Common theme that we've heard from a lot of our guests, and not just our guests, but like even when I talk to my friends, is LinkedIn is so cringe. I don't want to start posting on it. Daniel, obviously you know I have thoughts on it, but why don't you kick off? Like what do you think about this concept of climbing the cringe mountain? Is LinkedIn cringe to post on? How do you get over it? Daniel: I totally agree. All of our guests have said the same thing. Alison Chen called it biting the cringe bullet. We were just talking to Noah Greenberg about it and I think it's really hard. I mean, posting on social media really is mental warfare. It's so hard on you because you're dealing with rejection at scale. But I think Noah Greenberg said something that really resonated a lot with me, and that's that if your posts get no views, then no one can con you for it because no one saw it anyways. That was just an interesting thing for me to think about as we... I mean, even to this day, I'm still fighting the cringe mountain. It's something we deal with every day, don't you? Matt: 100%. I think people don't realize this, especially if they don't make content, but even after posting on my own personal YouTube channel over a hundred videos and obviously posting a ton on LinkedIn over the summer, I honestly don't think that the feeling of cringe ever fully goes away because I think if you're like a normal, socially adjusted human being, you are going to naturally feel a little bit self-conscious about posting and putting out, especially if you're putting authentic content that's true to your thoughts, out into the internet. I think there's going to be a side of you, a little part that feels a little bit cringe. Now, the best content creators, though, in my experience and the most experienced ones, they're just better at realizing that one, it's totally normal, and then two, not letting it dictate their actions, a.k.a. prevent them from posting. And something also interesting that I've noticed is sometimes when you feel the most uncomfortable about a piece of content, that actually might be a good sign that it's going to strike a chord with the audience. So like, for example, when I posted one of my most viral pieces, which was like, here are all the mistakes that you won't see on my resume. And then I listed a bunch of things that I didn't succeed at. I was actually so uncomfortable before posting that. I don't know if people realize this. I almost did not post it because I didn't want people out on the internet to know about all the failures that I've had over the years. Matt: But the thing that still made me post it was just thinking that, okay, there's someone out there that probably will get a ton of value from this. So let me just do it anyway. And like you said with Noah Greenberg, if it flops, the algorithms just aren't going to push it out. Nobody's going to see it. Daniel: Yeah, two things really stood out to me about that example and that. And one of it is the emotion factor because the reality is on social media, you're connecting with people and making sure your post has some sort of emotion is key. And the second part is that to have something like a mission or a goal of something bigger than yourself, and that will keep you motivated to climb the cringe mountain because when you're thinking about posting for someone that is probably going to make the same mistake you did, that motivates you to get over that cringe mountain. And it motivates you to keep posting and work towards those goals. And it's really inspiring to know that. And I think that's good for a lot of content creators to have as well. And it will keep them motivated and grounded as well. Matt: Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, look, if you're watching this video and you're someone who hasn't really posted much or is thinking about posting, or maybe you've posted a little bit in the past and then you stopped because of the cringe feeling, what I would say is, first of all, totally normal. Acknowledge those feelings. Recognize that it's par for the course. But then, like Daniel said, think really hard about what your why is and what's the thing that's greater than you that sort of is motivating you to post. Right. For me, a lot of the times it's, oh, I'm speaking to a past version of myself or I'm trying to help a past version of myself. And so as long as that piece of content achieves that goal, then I don't care if it feels super cringey because at the end of the day, when you're starting out with anything, it's always going to be a little bit cringe until it's not. And most people just don't want to go through that like moat of low status almost. I don't know if you've heard that analogy, Daniel. It's almost like climbing cringe mountain, but it's like, in the beginning, you kind of have to like take a status hit as you're starting out. And people are like, what the hell is he doing? Like, why is he trying to be a LinkedIn influencer? Oh my gosh. And then they're like sharing your stuff with friends and people in your network behind your back. But over time when you succeed, then you sort of get out of the moat, right? And now you're in the castle and people are like, wow, like how'd you do that? Um, and I think about that a ton because with my own personal journey of creating content on LinkedIn, on YouTube especially, it was really, really cringe in the beginning for me, for other people. Matt: And I, I just remember, I don't know if I've mentioned this story to you, Daniel, but when I had 200 subscribers on YouTube, I, I went out to dinner with a friend and this was very early days. I was still super embarrassed about the YouTube channel. Didn't want to tell people who were in my personal network about it. But this friend, for some reason, I was like, yo, I started a YouTube channel, pulled out the YouTube studio app. I showed him at 200 subscribers and he kind of like laughed and he was like, oh my gosh, like, dude, like you being a YouTuber. And I know he didn't mean anything that was like really malicious in that moment, but there was sort of this, I could feel that he honestly didn't believe that I could do it. And I kind of had a little bit of chip on my shoulder after that. I want to say also, I'm still good friends with him, so it's all good now. But obviously things have changed a lot since then. That was maybe a year or two ago. And I think about that a lot because now with the, with our connection accepted pod, right, we, we just hit a hundred subs. We've been hitting the ground running for the past couple of months at this point. And I think if I didn't have that experience with the YouTube channel, it would be a lot harder to continue pushing forward with the podcast as well, because let's be real, it's a grind, right? And there's so many moments where you're feeling like, oh, this is cringe. Oh, this quality isn't good. Oh, like what are people going to think? And I know I'm kind of rambling now, but hopefully that drives the point home that I'm trying to get across. Daniel: I think it totally does. And the reality is something that we've learned a lot with this podcast is everyone on LinkedIn and really all creators have, or having the same experiences. Like in high school, Matt, when I was working on viral IDs, I had the same experience as you when I was on Tik TOK. It was really cringe to be on Tik TOK at the time and even just on Tik TOK, not even posting. And, you know, people would make fun of me in high school for it. And then until we were making like hundreds of thousands of dollars and then everyone thought it was the greatest idea. And we're like, why don't I do this? And I think the same thing is going to happen with LinkedIn. So I think that's what motivates me to tell the story, have you tell that story. And hopefully to the audience watching can use this podcast as a way to try to motivate them to post more on LinkedIn and get over that cringe mountain, bite the cringe bullet, whatever you call it to try to achieve the goal that you've been waiting to achieve for so long and that LinkedIn is really going to help, help you get there. Matt: Yeah. I think it's also a little bit of like a muscle, right? It's kind of like exercise in the beginning. It's always going to be the hardest. I still remember when I hit post on one of my early posts, it was actually just beginning of the summer. Matt: I think I had posted on and off sporadically on my LinkedIn account, but mostly just like the classic job update. I'm happy to announce that I've started a new position at Google. But when I first actually started intentionally posting to build an audience, I remember exactly where I was. So I was coworking with a couple of friends, me and two other guys. One of them had already been posting on LinkedIn for a little bit. And I had been thinking about it because I was in the early stages of thinking about like the, the forge idea, which is basically my B2B marketing agency. Daniel: And I knew I needed to start building some kind of audience. I knew it was kind of a low, no regrets move to be Okay, I got to prove to myself that this wasn't just a fluke and that I just got lucky. How do we recreate that same level of success? And how do we recreate the impressions or the engagement that I got on that other post, right? And I've felt this a lot, actually. There's been so many times where I was like, shoot, maybe I'm just a one hit wonder, right? I got one viral video or one viral post and like the ones, the 10 posts that came after are no longer performing as well. But I'm curious from your perspective, like, how do you, what's your mental internal dialogue after you have a viral post? Matt: Like what motivates you and what do you tell yourself to keep posting even when posts aren't getting the level of engagement that you'd like to see? It's tough. posting on social media really is tough on you mentally. When you see a viral post, you're then trying to dissect every which way why this went viral. And then when it doesn't go viral, you're trying to dissect it. And if your impressions are down, you're sad. If your impressions are up, you're happy. I think the underlying theme that we've learned from all the successful LinkedIn creators and other general creators, like people who have over a million followers, is that if you can continue to post through all those times, that'll be what leads to success. Daniel: And if you can not ignore the virality, but use that as motivation to keep posting because you know, times are gonna, you know, have not as many impressions, then that'll be what leads to a successful journey and content. Couldn't agree more. Thank you for tuning into this short episode of Connection Accepted. Let us know how you like this new format. And if you have any more questions for a future episode, let us know below. Thanks for watching.