Hey!

Welcome to Social Files—your no-BS guide to generating demand for your B2B product using social & content.

Today I want to talk to you about over founder’s favorite topic: oversharing on LinkedIn.

Done wrong, this will land you on a toxic Reddit thread and make you into a viral internet meme that you’ll never be able to separate yourself from.

Done right, this will fast-track building trust with customers and give you a unique competitive advantage.

Shall we?

🔎 DEEP DIVE

A guide to oversharing on LinkedIn

How to use Strategic Personal Content on social to speedrun trust-building with customers

Customers buy from companies, and founders, they trust.

One way to build trust: post valuable content that speaks to your ICP (ideal customer profile) and establish yourself as the go-to resource for that group.

Example: I’m building a B2B content agency. I post about B2B content strategy. You trust me. You’ll buy from me when you need content support. Magic!

But you already knew that.

There’s another piece to this.

Customers also buy from companies, and founders, they like.

You’d be shocked how often buyers make decisions off of vibes.

To cool part - you can influence this through your content.

How?

Strategic Personal Content — SPC.

Yes. I just made up a new acronym. Yes. You're going to run with it.

SPC: using aspects of your personal life and preferences in your marketing content to build a deeper relationship with your target customer.

What hobbies do you enjoy outside of work (maybe you audibly laughed at yourself, because like me, you are too ‘locked in’ to have any real hobbies)?

What kinds of books do you like to read? Shows do you like to watch? Food do you like to eat?

All of this can be used.

But only if you want to. Remember, this type of content needs to be strategic.

I’m NOT asking you to go from B2B founder to Instagram lifestyle vlogger that adds zero value to society. Though many on the LinkedIn timeline seem to be adopting that approach.

You don’t have to record everything. You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to.

Just look at Gary Vee. The guy has tens of millions of followers on social. One of the most ‘public’ people on the planet. Yet he shares little-to-nothing about his family life. That side of him is still private.

But he does share how he wants to buy the New York Jets one day. He’s super into wine. He’s obsessed with blueberries. All of these items have nothing to do with ‘marketing.’ But they build a connection with people in his audience who are also into those things.

Ok. How do you implement SPC in a non-cringe way as a B2B software founder who doesn’t want to end up on r/LinkedInLunatics for oversharing?

3 quick tactics:

1: Pick what you share. Remember, you have total freedom to keep whatever you want off limits. I’d recommend picking 1-3 aspects of your personality you want to include in your content.

I’ll talk about my love for fitness, reading sci-fi (like Red Rising - the greatest sci-fi series of all time), and travel. You’ll also find a Liverpool scarf hanging in the background of my videos. YNWA.

You’d be shocked by how many Red Rising fans and Liverpool haters end up in my comments section. Some of those folks are prospects and potential recruits.

2: Use personal stuff as anecdotes, not the focus of the post. The cringe often comes in when the content feels forced. Remember that meme “I just got engaged - here’s what it taught me about B2B SaaS?”

That post turned into a viral meme because it felt like the intimate personal moment was being whored out for LinkedIn engagement.

Instead, use personal stories as supporting anecdotes to the larger point.

For example, if I was writing a post about how life as a founder requires endurance, I might use a 2-3 sentence anecdote about my time training for a marathon 2 years ago.

Personal stories are the seasoning, not the steak.

3: Let personal interests influence the analogies you use. I grew up playing basketball (washed up D3 athlete reporting for duty). So, I’ll often use sports—specifically basketball—analogies in my content to make certain points.

Again, they just support the main point of the post. The analogy isn’t the main thing.

Here’s an example. Notice how the ‘point’ of the post is dispelling the fear of repetition in social content. I just use the ‘playbook’ analogy to support the point.

Bonus rule: Never, ever post yourself crying on the internet. Why do people do this? I’ll never know. Next time you're going through a mental breakdown, no need to set up the tripod.

All this said, the sooner you can let go of that nagging fear of being ‘cringe,’ the sooner you’ll start to win on social.

Most B2B founders I talk to skew too far to the ‘I just want to share industry thought leadership’ end of the spectrum.

I’d encourage you to share more of your personal interests on social.

Sure. You can build an audience, and a business, off of providing cold, hard “value.”

But again: you’d be shocked by how often prospects will choose you just because they like your vibe better than a competitor.

Even if that competitor has a cheaper—or sometimes even better— product.

Don’t you want to be the one who holds that competitive advantage?

🗃 FILE CABINET

Here’s my favorite marketing and business content I bookmarked this week.

• How to get customers on LinkedIn (7 steps) by Tommy Clark 🎥

• 5 Hiring Strategies to Scale Your Company FASTER by Leila Hormozi 🎥

• Alex Hormozi Masterclass on Copywriting by David Perrell 🎥

Check these out.

BEFORE YOU GO…

As always, thanks for allowing me into your email inbox every week.

More from Social Files:

• Read the rest of my essays

• Work with my agency in 2025

• Try my LinkedIn content writing SaaS

• Steal my founder-led content templates

Talk soon,

Tommy Clark