Nate Guggia’s Post

Got some news… Before You Apply was acquired by Job Mobz. Building BYA was a ride. Unforgettable in all the ways. And reaching this milestone brings out feelings of gratitude for everyone who’s supported us along the way. You’ve all been part of this ride with us—and that means the world. I’ll be stepping away from my founder role and staying on as an advisor to help with the transition. Onward… https://lnkd.in/eQSFWMWv

Hey, all! My team is hiring... We're looking for a seasoned Account Director to join our corporate brand team. Aka, work directly with our corporate clients as their lead strategist and main point of contact. (I'll save the nauseating client name drops. We have lots of fancy ones.) Bonus: You'll get to work a lot with Alex, our CEO, and yours truly. And report to Michelle who's pretty cool too :) DM me if you're interested or apply directly via the job post.

The internal ROI of regularly posting on LinkedIn. - 30 minutes to 1 hour coming up with and creating the post. - 30 minutes replying to comments, checking engagement numbers, and refreshing notifications throughout the day. - 2 hours (consciously or subconsciously) thinking about today’s post throughout the day. - 1 hour thinking about tomorrow's post. - 2 hours scrolling the feed and commenting on other people’s posts throughout the day. (Posting regularly keeps you addicted to the entire app, in general. You feel compelled to visit the feed more frequently and for longer periods of time.) And if your post bombs or someone drops a negative comment on you, well there goes the day. That’s a whole lot of lost productivity for anyone trying to do a job... and do it well. Note: The external ROI is however you measure the progress of a single post and the cumulative impact of posting over time. Examples of external ROI include follower count, engagement metrics, impressions, and attributable revenue. ——— Why internal ROI matters more than external ROI: It’s the only way to measure the time and personal resources—the mental, emotional, and psychological energy—required from an individual to execute this type of marketing strategy. And within the context of work, time and energy are either moving you closer to or further away from your desired outcome. The thing about the external ROI of posting on LinkedIn is that it can feel high when in reality it might be a mental, emotional, and psychological distraction from doing work that actually matters. It’s sneaky and deceptive. You can feel incredibly productive when really all you’re doing is becoming more and more addicted to an app—and the attention of strangers that the app funnels towards you. As a result, you unwittingly begin to believe that because strangers think your thoughts and ideas are cool they want to give you their money. Then one day you look up and realize that real life and real business don't actually exist inside a blue box with white letters on your phone. Something to pay attention to if you're going down this road. Eyes wide open is a good way to be. The trade-offs are real. (I’m well aware of the irony. And with that, I say ✌️out.) #foodforthought #marketing #linkedin

It's perplexing to read posts from B2B marketers talking about “building pipeline”. Aren’t salespeople the ones building the pipeline? After all, they’re talking to, qualifying, and guiding the people that marketing brings in through a process. Whether it’s called a lead or demand or whatever spin on the term “initial conversation” next-gen marketers want to use to make this all sound fancier than it is, it’s still top-of-funnel activity that salespeople then turn into pipeline and eventually revenue. P.S. If this observation makes you pull back and think “How dare you!?”, I ask that you step away from your marketing guru bubble for a moment and think pragmatically. You (B2B marketer) do something out there that makes a person ask for a conversation with one of your salespeople. Your salesperson takes it from there. It all feels pretty straightforward. (FTR, I cover both sales and marketing in my role. This isn’t a side thing. It’s an objective observation of the marketing thought leadership flooding my feed. It’s quite a treat 🙄.) #sales #marketing #GTM

Welcome to the latest edition of agreeable ideas you see posted on LinkedIn that have zero real-world application. The idea: Job descriptions should run through the marketing department before they go live. The rationale behind this shortsighted lightbulb that recently showed up in my feed is that the marketing team would be able to take a poorly written job description from a hiring manager or recruiter and turn it into a clearly written piece of content that candidates will fall head over heels in love with. Some of the reasons why this doesn’t make sense… First, this isn't marketing, this is wordsmithing. But let’s set that aside. Job descriptions, in general, are a big lift. (understatement) The idea that JDs will now also run through the marketing department—which is likely already under-resourced (at best)—is unrealistic for most orgs and does not take into consideration the implications this could (likely) bring to the internal dynamics between hiring managers and the marketing team. (Aka, GFY hiring managers, we have more important things to do like make the company money.) For those of you in the hiring space –– Marketing's job is to generate revenue. Don't lose sight of that just because your worldview revolves around hiring. The simple fix for poorly written job descriptions is to have a copywriter do a quick wordsmithing session as part of the editorial process. This is an editorial issue, not a marketing or job description issue. *Copywriters don't have to be human if the outcome is the same. At least worth testing. ––––– Personal opinion: The hiring industry puts far too much emphasis on the importance of job descriptions. In my experience, candidates don’t read them. They skim them to see: - If comp aligns with their financial needs. - If they (the candidate) meet at least one (not all) of the requirements for the role. - If the role meets their location needs: remote, in-person, hybrid. If those boxes are checked, they apply. Sorry recruiters, this is the behavior and the reason you get so many bad inbound applicants. Wish I had a solution for you. But changing rapid-fire application behavior is a tricky one—especially in this kind of market. #recruiting #marketing #jobdescriptions

Authentic content does not exist. It’s time to move past the illusion that it does. Everything that sees the light of day is a filtered version of reality—from slightly modified for optics or narrative to being entirely untrue. If content is being created—regardless of channel and type—it’s filtered through language, angle, positioning, intention, motive, design, bias, agenda, insecurity, ignorance, technology… Even the most raw shit we see is done so with the motivation to garner attention. It’s postured. It’s positioned. It’s created with an outcome in mind. This is all ok. Acceptance of the fact will allow you to make things with more transparency and humanness instead of working so damn hard to create a false version of reality that’s nothing but a poor attempt at hiding what you’re really trying to do. So stop manufacturing authenticity and start saying what you mean and asking for what you want. Whomever you’re attempting to reach will thank you for it. (I’m well aware that I’ve used authentic and content in the same sentence many times in the past. I was certainly enamored with this idea at one point. Add this to my list of my evolving opinions.) #marketing #content #acceptance

Hook vs. reality. Hook: “Unpopular opinion.” Reality: Nope, it’s not. In fact, it’s a pretty popular opinion. Especially to the minions who follow you. And those who don’t, don’t care. Hook: “This post might anger some folks.” Reality: No, it won’t. Your idea isn’t even mildly controversial. It’s simply a modern spin on the status quo. Stop with the hooks. They make you look silly. LinkedIn is the most PC, nerfed-up social media environment that exists. Nothing you post will stir up any kind of controversy—even when you really lean in. There’s too much professional karma at risk here. So calm the hell down. Your ideas aren’t pushing any boundaries. And that’s OK. Just go back to doing your job and stop feeling like you need to post every “good idea” that pops into your head. Time is better spent being really good at your job than dreaming up unpopular popular opinions. #LinkedIn #dorealwork #whatmatters

Companies have become successful without the idea of “personal brand” ever being a strategic thought. As in, quite literally never on their radar. Who knew? The idea of personal brand building in a professional context is really just a LinkedIn phenomenon. A few people have done it well and as a result, built businesses off the back of their personally owned content. They are the rarest of all the birdies. Beyond the hyperbole that is personal-brand-building-leads-to-buckets-of-cash-for-your-business is the misguided advice that CEOs should be vocal “thought leaders” who post to the masses (or niches) on LinkedIn. That somehow this is good for the business. Here’s the reality that isn’t being talked about… A CEO with a personal brand is a distraction to a business—whether they post themselves or have a puppetmaster behind the scenes doing it for them. When a personal brand takes off, so does ego. This can lead the individual down the path of buying into the external BS and ultimately becoming consumed by it. As the volume of applause and positive reinforcement turns up, they begin to truly believe that they are the smartest person in the virtual room. Their personal brand becomes their persona. They can’t disconnect or differentiate between who they are online and who they are as a business operator. As time goes by, posturing for engagement becomes the norm. It’s inevitable. They’re caught in the vicious cycle of strangers telling them how smart they are → ego boost → more engagement → truths become blurry → hyperbole becomes the default content strategy → even more engagement → ego boost. None of which has anything to do with running a successful business or being good at their job. But they can sure as hell act like it online. This can be especially damaging to the organization's culture. I've seen the behind-the-scenes play out and the increasing frustration that employees feel when their CEO says things publically that are in stark contrast to the internal dynamics at the company. If I were looking for a new job, a CEO with a personal brand would be a red flag. Personally, I want an operator who flies under the public radar and gets shit done without needing to tell a bunch of random strangers how smart they think they are. Proceed with caution.   #jobsearch #CEO #personalbrand

I cringe thinking back to some of the stuff I’ve posted on here. The ideas I supported. The hills I died on. The out-of-touch strategies I helped to propagate.  So it goes. That shouldn't stop as long as I continue to evolve the way I look at the world's I work and play in.  If you’re not palm-facing the stuff you once thought mattered you’re stagnant. Within the context of posting-on-LinkedIn-so-people-like-you-and-want-to-pay-you-money-for-your-thing, I’d argue that stagnation = fraudster. It’s at least a red flag.  Because things change. We all know this. Not evolving your perspective can only mean a couple of things: you're ignorant of what’s changing around you, or those changes mean that your schtick is no longer relevant—and digging into the same tired narrative is your attempt to save what’s left.  That can’t be good for business or self. It must be exhausting.  It’s helpful to call bullshit on your own ideas on a regular basis. Try it. Better yet, tell others when you do. It displays objectiveness, curiosity, and humility. To put a bow on it, detaching from being right helps others trust that you’ll always keep it real with them.  And keeping it real is the least we can do.  #keepingitreal #cringegame #evolve

Note to self: If/then’s make you sound knowledgeable, competent, and pragmatic. Many’s, a lot’s, and most’s make you sound narrow minded, naive, and potentially ignorant. Stop with the generalizations. #notetoself #writing #words