Curating Content for Specific User Segments

A hidden shift is transforming LinkedIn. 83% of users haven't noticed it THE END OF BROADCAST CONTENT For years, LinkedIn success meant one thing: broadcasting content to as many people as possible. Grow your network. Maximize reach. Chase viral posts That era is ending THE DATA SIGNALS Over the past 6 months, I've tracked metrics across 50+ LinkedIn accounts (combined following: 1.2M+) The pattern is clear • Broadcast content: Declining engagement (-32% YoY) • Narrowcast content: Rising engagement (+47% YoY) This shift reveals a fundamental evolution in how the platform works WHAT IS NARROWCASTING? Narrowcasting means creating content for a specific, well-defined segment of your audience rather than trying to appeal to everyone The broadcast approach says: "How can I reach the most people?" The narrowcast approach asks: "How can I reach exactly the right people?" WHY THIS MATTERS NOW Three forces are accelerating this shift: (1) Algorithm Evolution - LinkedIn now prioritizes "meaningful interactions" over pure engagement volume. Content that generates deep engagement from a relevant audience outperforms content with shallow engagement from a broad audience (2) Content Saturation - Users see 5,300+ monthly posts (up 41% since 2023). Generic content gets lost in this flood (3) Attention Fragmentation - Decision-makers have developed better filters. General business advice no longer breaks through THE NARROWCASTING FRAMEWORK To implement narrowcasting on LinkedIn: (1) Audience Segmentation - Divide your audience into specific sub-groups based on industry, role, challenges, or business model (2) Segment Selection - Choose ONE segment to address in each piece of content (3) Specificity Optimization - Use language, examples, and data points that only resonate with your chosen segment (4) Intentional Exclusion - Deliberately exclude other segments through your framing. Ex. For SaaS founders only: A retention strategy that doesn't work for ecommerce (5) Depth Over Breadth - Explore one specific challenge/solution deeply rather than covering multiple topics superficially REAL-WORLD RESULTS Clients implementing this approach are seeing: • 3.2× higher comment-to-view ratio • 4.7× increase in relevant inbound messages • 68% higher conversion rate from connection to conversation All with SMALLER reach numbers THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLE When someone feels content was created specifically for them, they're more likely to engage. Narrowcasting triggers the "this is for me" response in your ideal audience PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION In your next LinkedIn post: • Name your specific audience in the first line • Address one specific challenge they face • Use industry terms only they would understand • Include metrics/examples relevant only to their context • Ask questions only they can answer The future LinkedIn winners will have smaller, more engaged audiences They'll trade vanity metrics for meaningful connections What do you think?

If your content feels generic, the problem isn’t creativity - it’s targeting. Specific targeting leads to specific content. And specific content gets attention. So how do you get to specific content? Let’s take a look at an example. Two AI tools: Lovable and V0. Both help you build apps by chatting with AI. But they’re built for different people in different situations: Lovable for non-technical founders who want to turn an idea into something tangible. They’re pre-product, often pre-validation. They just want to bring their idea to life quick and dirty. V0 for developers who already know what they want to build. They’re ready to ship fast, with clean, production-grade code. Speed matters - but not at the cost of control or technical debt. If you don’t respect those differences, you will default to beige content that revolves around: “How to build an app with AI” But if you think about the specific context your target segment is in, different content ideas start popping into your mind: For Lovable it could be: → Turning Raw Ideas Into Product Concepts → Testing your idea on Twitter, Product Hunt, or in DMs → What investors want to see before there's a proper product → What to do before you code For v0 it could be: → Building a working admin dashboard in 4 minutes using real React code. → Moving fast without compromising on code quality. → Avoiding brittle integrations in your MVP → Designing your frontend to scale from day one That’s the shift. When you stop thinking “What content should we make?” And start thinking: “Who is this for, what moment are they in, and what job are they trying to do right now?” That’s when your content stops being generic. Content that works is content that targets. Not by demographics but by context.

Why most B2B content fails: + Dull, overly technical white papers that fail to connect with their intended readers + Analyst reports that highlight your weaknesses + "Thought leadership" that ignores the specific pain points of your audience The leading B2B digital marketers are creating hyper-specific content for distinct segments of their ICP (cohorts): + Industry-specific customer stories with examples from companies similar to targeted cohort and metrics the cohort actually cares about + Role-based content addressing the unique challenges of decision-makers ( VPs and CXOs) vs Directors and Managers + Segmentation that matches how companies actually make buying decisions based on their size and stage of growth (maturity) I'm seeing clients who invest in cohorts (micro-segments) spending less per opportunity than competitors still playing the general targeting game. The recipe: content that’s tailored to cohorts, enjoyable to read, and genuinely helpful.

"Post consistently" is atrocious advice. (If you don't do this first…) Most content people make is content they ‘think’ their audience wants. With no research to back their claim. A better way without much guesswork is this: - -- 1. Define your Target audience (broadly) Start simple. Write down your overarching audience. → Marketing consultant = Small businesses → Leadership coach = Corporate leaders → Agency owner = Founders → Bunny = Carrots (ok, maybe not this one) Got it? Now… - -- 2. Segment your target audience. A broad audience is too vague. Narrow it down. If you’re a leadership coach and just say "leaders," What do you really know about them? Not much. But if you focus on “Team Managers”? Now you can dive into specifics: → Their daily routines. → Their challenges. → Their traits. Here’s what a leadership coach's sub-segments might look: → Founders of startups → Founders of scale-ups → Department heads → Senior executives → Team managers → C-suite leaders (Pro-tip: Ask ChatGPT to refine your audience list further.) - -- 3. Find each segment’s specific pain points. Different roles, different problems. A team manager’s struggles won’t match a CEO’s. But within a segment, pain is consistent. Research these problems: → What’s keeping them up at night? → What’s frustrating them every day? → What problems can they just never overcome? Search forums, Reddit, Quora & YouTube comments. Once you have a list, plug it into perplexity and ask it to enrich the data with more detail - -- 4. Solve it in public Give away solutions like: → “3 templates I use to calm client chaos” → “How to cut 4 hours of Zoom meetings a week” → “A 10-min ritual to stop procrastinating as a manager” Not “value.” Specific help. That’s how you earn trust before a single call.

Personalizing user journeys at scale is sh*t hard and you can't do it if you don't have the right data. Notion brilliantly nails this with targeted segmentation and data-driven campaigns. I got these emails when I signed up. Their approach isn’t flashy. It's simple, human and it works! A few things that caught my attention: 1️⃣ They actually know their users. They've learnt about their users by leveraging data—when someone signed up, what they’ve done in the app, and even company details. Just clear smart segmentation helps, if you have all your data about your users across sources like CRMs, Product DBs and more. 2️⃣ Messaging feels real. Look at their "First Week in Notion" email. It feels like a thoughtful check-in. Also, celebrates small wins (“You created a workspace!”) and gently nudges you to try more. 3️⃣ The Upsell CTA is high intent. If they see you adding teammates, they don’t send a generic “Upgrade Now” email. They frame it as, “Here’s why having your team makes collaboration better.” It’s timely, helpful, and makes sense. 4️⃣ They keep it simple. They’ve probably automated the messy stuff—segmenting users, activating campaigns, measuring results. No over-engineering, no reinventing the wheel. Personalization doesn’t need to be perfect—it needs to be useful. It’s about showing up with the right message, at the right time, for the right person. We launched a new offering in beta where you can send out growth campaigns straight from your dashboards. Since then, we've been using Airbook to do this for ourselves. Here’s how: 1️⃣ Pull data from everywhere. HubSpot for user details. Salesforce for account context. PostHog for product usage/events. 2️⃣ Create segments. We join this data and create specific customer segments. Example: “Tech startup users in Ops roles who know SQL and connected HubSpot, Salesforce & Stripe in the last 30 days.” 3️⃣ Activate campaigns instantly. Send targeted nudges through Customer.io Example: “Explore the SaaS full-funnel overview template to get more out of Airbook" 4️⃣ Measure and Iterate Did users click on the email, try the template, usage increased? You can go back to tracking it and shifting your efforts based on the results. Anyone who'd like to set this up? Send me a note and I'll be happy to help!