Corporate cringe is AI training data now
The one thing you need to know in AI today | AI-Ready CMO
This post might upset some of you, but… let’s talk about LinkedIn for a bit. Also, sorry for the cringe opening, it works every time on LinkedIn. So, first, the news: according to many sources, LinkedIn became a top source of AI citations in B2B.
In other words, LinkedIn is a prime source for corporate talk, business speak, and B2B market information for LLMs. Just like Reddit is a source for “what humans think about XYZ.”
It is widely known that Reddit accounts for 40%+ of what LLMs cite when answering questions (compared to 25%+ from Wikipedia). So when you ask about products or topics, the LLM most likely packages information from Reddit & Wikipedia mostly. Now, it is confirmed that for B2B topics, it will be mostly LinkedIn.
There are two logical consequences to this.
Question everything
Look at AI-Ready CMO, which has a combined reach of 35K+ on social media, mainly on LinkedIn. We are active there with daily content. There were times when we were actually active, meaning answering comments, engaging in conversations, and participating in events via LinkedIn.
That’s not the case anymore. The corporate cringe talk is literally unbearable on LinkedIn. If the “confident redneck” style content (that is: X/Twitter) irritates you, we get you. But we also can’t stand the “my cat died, this is what I’ve learned about B2B sales” type of self-promo.
If AI is using this type of content as a source for B2B topics, well… We would argue that you should question the outcomes. This is not just B2B - it’s true for most outputs. Remember, almost half of the source material is coming from Reddit, which is the “public opinion of the internet.” And call us a cynic, but anyone with brains should always question the so-called ‘public opinion’.
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
Winston Churchill
The solution to this problem is simple. Pay for the pro-level access for most LLM tools you use. When the output source material really matters, ask for deep research with sources provided. Control your market research. We did a workshop on this - watch it here. Never accept the median output trained on the median of human knowledge.
Rethink your distribution
We don’t sell personal branding services. Never will. Oh god, no. But if you weren’t active on LinkedIn yet, this is the time. If you want to boost your brand credibility, LinkedIn is the place. It should not just be part of your distribution plan. Your distribution plan should start with it.
Our advice: treat it as a billboard. Don’t hunt for engagement. That train is done, LinkedIn is more crowded, cringe, and mediocre than ever. When the “I have many followers, I teach you can be popular on this platform” hyenas appear, selling courses and services, you know, that platform is done for engagement.
But it can still work as a billboard. Even if you don’t pay for it, AI will sweep it and use it in citations. If you have any budget, maybe consider paying - even though LinkedIn is outrageously expensive, borderline road robbery. It might still be worth it for your plan.
We are not 100% sure how this trend will affect citations. But the traditional copywriting teachings on social media content will change, for sure. The usual 3-step approach (write a compelling hook, explain the info, close with a CTA) won’t work much because it is optimized for human attention.
That human attention will fade from platforms where content will be the same, generic, or straight-up generated only for AI agents and crawling bots. Sure, for a while, the inherently personal stories will prevail and cut through the slop - but long-term, you have to be naive to think that you can fight back the volume. Especially if you know that not just AI, but most people simply prefer AI content.
We would be the last ones who judge you for preferring AI over human content. 100X more likely we read a nicely packaged, logically structured content piece by AI than Jimmy’s learnings on B2B sales from adopting his new dog from a shelter.
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