Richard van der Blom

You’ve been posting. But LinkedIn™ hasn’t been listening the same way. Its new AI — 360Brew — is now deciding who sees you, when, and why.

This isn’t “the algorithm changed.”

This is:
🧠 AI rewrote the rules.
🎯 Relevance got redefined.
📉 And most of your content… isn’t built for it.

Tomorrow, I’m releasing our Algorithm InSights 2025 – October Update.
We reverse-engineered 360Brew across 600,000 posts to answer ONE question:
What gets seen now?

Here’s what we found:
• Posts are classified by topic fingerprints, not hashtags
• AI can spot synthetic content instantly
• Saves > Comments. Diverse engagement > High engagement.
• Visibility no longer depends on the post — it depends on you

This is your new playbook for 2026.
320+ pages. 2.4M posts. Zero fluff. Drops tomorrow.

Want to stay visible? Start by unlearning what used to work.
👀 Swipe the carousel.

Last day to get your copy at a discounted price: https://lnkd.in/eeqtV2_N

Buy now.
Tomorrow in your email inbox!

And January Update included.

LAUNCH DAY: Updated Algorithm Report is now available. This Carousel will give you access to 10 free pages. But they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

What you’re seeing is a preview.
What we’ve built is the entire blueprint for LinkedIn™ in 2026.

The Algorithm InSights Report 2025 + October Update is now live.
And it’s not just a PDF — it’s your complete roadmap.

Built from 2.4M posts.
Backed by 5 years of patterns.
Now 320+ pages of strategies, tactics, and decoded signals.

We didn’t just study 360Brew — we mapped what it means for:
• Your visibility
• Your post formats
• Your engagement mix
• Your AI usage
• Your Company Page reach
• Your personal brand in a machine-ranked feed

You get both the full 2025 report and the new October update.
Buy once → lifetime updates included.
Yes, January update 2026 for free in your inbox as well.

No fluff.
All strategy.
For marketers, creators, sellers, and brands who don’t chase trends — they shape them.

Read the free preview in the carousel.
Then unlock everything here → https://lnkd.in/eZMq8w_F

Join +3,000 professionals who subscribed to the new reports and updates and be amongst the first to know about new changes, developments and how you can use this to leverage LinkedIn.

PS: Don't worry, starting tomorrow no more sales posts (!) from my side

We are witnessing the biggest shift on the LinkedIn platform since the release in 2003!

So many things happening now, introduction of 360Brew, Pods exploding all over, complete business models being copied and shared, AI taking over content creation for 40% of all posts?

I’m about to release a few updates to make you understand and prepare, but not here as this could harm my profile here.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I’ll show you how and where

Suddenly, everyone’s an expert on LinkedIn’s SSI score again. On Wednesday, my feed exploded. 🚀 “Top 1% on LinkedIn!”

🧠 “Did you know about LinkedIn's secret score!”
📊 “Here’s how I increased my score by 12 points overnight!”

But after reading dozens of these posts — and commenting on far too many — I realized something:

Most people had no idea what they were talking about.

Same phrasing.
Same graphics.
Same templated takes.
Like someone had handed out a “LinkedIn Viral Kit for Beginners.”

Are we buying the same content libraries now?
Using the same ghostwriters?
Or are we all stuck in the same engagement pods, chewing up and spitting out the same bubblegum content?

Whatever it is, it’s hilarious in so many ways.

Back in 2015, I loved the SSI score.
I was an early adopter of Sales Navigator. I ranked 2nd out of 500 sellers at LinkedIn's Sales event in London with a score of 95.2.

I trained teams on how to leverage it for real pipeline and social selling impact.
Back then, it meant something.

✅ Transparency
✅ Correlation with results
✅ Gamified motivation that worked

But fast forward to 2025?
My score is on 77, while I am getting far more business than in 2015

The SSI is a participation trophy for chasing behavior.
And pretending otherwise is doing your credibility no favors.

Spam 200 people with InMails? Score goes up.
Post generic, AI-flavored fluff every day? Score goes up.
Get Sales Navigator? 5-point bonus.

Meanwhile:
Build genuine relationships?
Spark conversations with your ICP?
Generate revenue from content?

Your score doesn’t budge.

I’ll say what others won’t:
Your SSI score is now completely detached from social selling success.

It’s no longer a roadmap.
It’s noise.

If you're still measuring your LinkedIn strategy by it, you're playing the wrong game.

Here’s what to track instead (👇 full breakdown in the carousel):

📈 DM-to-Meeting Ratio
💬 ICP Engagement Rate
⏩ Pipeline Velocity from LinkedIn
🤝 Relationship Depth Score

Your client doesn’t care about your SSI score. And neither should you.
Want to win on LinkedIn in 2025?

Stop chasing vanity metrics.
Start tracking what actually drives business.

Let me know your SSI score in the comments (just kidding, please don't)

Instead...
What's you number 1 success metric

I ignored 3 red flags in one single client call. And I paid the price.

❌ “There’s no budget right now, but prove yourself and maybe…”
❌ Several phone calls during our video meeting.
❌ A vague briefing with even vaguer expectations.

I stayed polite.
I hoped for the best.
Result? Nada.

In another tender we gave away our complete social selling program and step-by-step implementation process. And paid the price

❌ It was given to their preferred supplier
❌ We were never told based on what decisions were made
❌ Our contact person removed the connection on LinkedIn with us.

Thanks for the free stuff.
We passed it on to someone we already knew.
Their mistake. Inappropriate?
Sure, but above all my own mistake.

And I’m not alone.
Here are 4 other classic traps I know many entrepreneurs will recognize:

1.
Do they say “We’re talking to a few other providers.”
You need to hear “We’re fishing for free ideas.”
Please ask: “What will help you decide who to work with?”
If they can’t give a clear answer, it’s not a process — it’s a shopping spree.

2.
Do they say “Can you just do this small thing first?”
They are really telling you “We need some free work with no commitment.”
Please respond: “Happy to do that — here’s a paid starter package.”
If they ghost you after this? You just saved yourself 10 hours of unpaid labour.

3.
Do they say “We want to collaborate, not hire.”
Your BS radar should say: “You’ll be doing unpaid work while they ‘test synergies.’” Please ask “What does each of us commit to in this collaboration — in time and money?”
If the commitment is one-sided, the door’s over there.

Or a classic one
They say  “We’ll pay after we see the results.”
It means “All risks for you, your provide leads, we don’t convert, you still don’t get paid”
Please respond: “Results come after partnership — not before payment.”
If they don’t trust you enough to invest, they won’t trust you to deliver either.

✅ Follow your intuition.
✅ Act on it.

Saying “Thanks, but I don’t think we’re a match” is more productive than wasting an hour hoping the red flags disappear.

Save yourself:
⏳ Time
💭 False expectations
🤯 Frustration

What’s a red flag YOU ignored that still haunts you a bit?
Let’s help others dodge the same bullet in the comments

The LinkedIn Algorithm has shifted again — and this time, it’s not subtle.
This time we’ve analyzed 600,000+ posts and compared them with LinkedIn’s own 360Brew engineering blog, revealing what truly drives reach in 2025.

Reach isn’t gone — it’s just smarter.
Visibility now depends on diversity of engagement, human interaction, and consistency, not just how often you post.

A few early findings from the October Update Report:

1. Posts live up to 6 days (if you maintain comment velocity).
2. Comments from new connections boost reach by 40%+.
3. AI-generated comments quietly reduce visibility.

Inside this week’s newsletter:
The full breakdown of the Reach Reset, AI Detection Patterns, and Content Trends for 2025, plus an invite to a free AI event and early access to my TRIBE masterclass on October 27.

Read it here before the update drops on October 28.
And of course support me with your genuine thoughts (no AI-written comments allowed) in the comments.

The new Algorithm Report just landed — and it’s already shaking things up.
Within 8 hours of release, I got messages like:

“This is pure gold, the best subscription I've ever had on LinkedIn”
“The most accurate analysis of LinkedIn I’ve ever read.”

Even a LinkedIn engineer called it “one of the most precise external studies on the current algorithm.”

In my latest newsletter, I break down three game-changing insights from the October Update:
1️⃣ How 360Brew is quietly rewriting visibility.
2️⃣ Why follower size no longer guarantees reach.
3️⃣ The post formats driving Company Page growth.

Plus, a look behind the scenes of Stanley, the AI partner that tripled my content output — and a new stat you’ll want to screenshot.

🕐 5 minutes of your time.
💡 Massive insights for months to come.

Read the full edition below

Are we on a dead end street? Or a highway to improved communication?

On LinkedIn AI-generated content is booming.
Engagement on automated outreach is down.
Cold calling and human-first messaging are creeping back in

Yes — while LinkedIn is going all-in on AI, your audience is quietly tuning out.

They don’t want funnels.
They don’t want bots.
They want connection.

My take?
AI is becoming better at sounding human — ...but we’re becoming worse at showing up as humans.

We keep asking:
Can AI write like us?

While the real question is...
Will people still think, read, and care like they used to?

AI has already rewired how your audience consumes.
It’s not the future. It’s now.

And it’s not just content — it’s relationships that will change.

So before you automate your next cold DM...
Ask yourself, is blib blob blib the way you wanna go?

Your employer brand is probably boring. And it's killing your recruitment and sales pipeline.

I analyzed 400+ company pages last month.
87% are posting the same dead content:
Team lunches. Work anniversaries. Even stock photos of people pretending to collaborate.

If your own employees don't engage with it...
Why would future talent care?

Here's my take:

Nobody connects with your mission statement.
They connect with the humans living it.

United Airlines figured this out.
When they stopped posting corporate fluff and started amplifying real voices — pilots sharing cockpit views, flight attendants with personality, raw passenger moments — their engagement exploded by 400%.

Not because it was polished.
Because it was human.

THE SHIFT YOU NEED TO MAKE:

Stop treating employees like props.
Start treating them like publishers.

Here's exactly how:

1. Kill the corporate tone
Let employees write how they actually talk. That raw authenticity is what converts viewers into applicants.

2. Share the person, not the position
I don't care about their KPIs. Show me their passion project. Their side hustle. Their weird coffee ritual.

3. Train them to tell stories, not just to publish on LinkedIn
Run monthly storytelling workshops. Teach them to write posts they'd actually share with friends.

4. Capture real moments
The messy ones. The celebration that went wrong. The project that almost failed. That's where trust lives.

5. Make visibility part of performance
Track it. Reward it. Celebrate your internal ambassadors like you celebrate sales wins.

And now what most companies miss:

Employee advocacy isn't about getting your team to share company updates.

It's about empowering them to build their own professional brands — while they happen to work for you.

When they win, you win.
When they grow, you attract growth.
When they shine, talent notices.

My prediction?
Companies still posting "Happy Work Anniversary!" in 2025 will lose their best people to companies that turned employees into influencers.

Which side of that equation do you want to be on?

I cooked my heart out this weekend. My dad and aunt flew in to visit me here in Spain. So I put on my chef’s hat (literally) and...

....whipped up the best Thai dish I know.

Very few people know, but for me cooking is medicine.
I relax, I meditate, I create and above all I'm in the zone
At 500 likes I will share a picture of me in my cooking outfit (just joking)

Back to my dish!

Seafood.
Soba noodles.
Stir-fried veggies.
Spice.
Fresh herbs.
All the flavor.

It wasn’t just dinner. It was an experience.
Because when people travel to see you, you don’t serve “whatever’s in the fridge.”

You plan.
You prep.
You make sure it’s worth the trip.

And that’s exactly how most people don’t approach LinkedIn.

They throw in random content.
They pitch without seasoning.
They wonder why no one takes a bite… let alone converts.

A great LinkedIn strategy?

It’s just like a killer recipe.
It takes ingredients, timing, and a bit of heat.

So today, I’m sharing 7 key ingredients to make your LinkedIn presence not just look good—but actually convert.

From identifying your ICP to driving DMs without sounding desperate.
But be warned: this isn’t fast food. It’s strategic cooking.
Scroll through the carousel and tell me which ingredient you’ve been forgetting to add lately.

PS: Leave me a comment with either your favourite dish or what you do outside your work to relax and meditate.

Imagine having an assistant that cuts your content creation time by 70% — and boosts your performance by 250%.

That’s not hype.
That’s what happened when I stopped doing everything manually.

For years, I analyzed my own content by hand.
Every week, I opened spreadsheets, tracked metrics, and reverse-engineered posts from successful creators.
I wanted to understand what worked — the structure, the hook, the tone, the rhythm.

My weekly process looked like this:
• 4 hours analyzing data
• 1 hour creating content plans
• 4 hours writing and optimizing posts

The results were decent:
700,000 impressions/month
250 average engagements per post
2 product conversions per day

Then Justin Welsh introduced me to John Hu, one of the founders of Stanley (Your Content Coach) — and my entire system evolved.

Today, Stanley is my content thought partner.

It does everything I used to do manually, but 10× faster and smarter:
• Analyses my content and pinpoints 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 what to improve.
• Studies top-performing creators and asks: “𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵?”
• Learns my tone, my frameworks, my expertise — and writes like me.
• Suggests new content ideas aligned with my goals — one click and I have a draft.

Meet my new workflow:
• 0.5 hours analysis
• 0.5 hours decision-making
• 2 hours creation

And the results?
🚀 1.8M monthly impressions
🔥 650 average engagements per post
💰 6 product conversions per day

See the difference?
Stanley saves me 66% of my time — while tripling my output.

It learns fast — not only from me but from thousands of successful creators — constantly aligning my expertise and goals to the next post.

Writing has never been this easy.
Growth has never been this predictable.

If you want to grow faster on LinkedIn without losing your authentic voice, meet your new AI thought partner: https://lnkd.in/eBmnB8Fu

and get ready for the first content drafts, analyses and suggestions in no time...

Most companies say their sales & marketing are “aligned.”
But when I put my clients under the lens of social selling… the cracks start to show.

I built this questionnaire as a quick test:
👉 If you answer “YES” to most, you’re ready to win.
👉 If you answer “NO,” you know exactly where the leaks are.


1. Do sales propose content ideas — and does marketing develop them?
✅ Yes → Sales brings real customer pain points. Marketing turns them into impactful posts.
❌ No → Sales doesn't want to share "generic marketing stuff" and marketing is frustrated with the lack of "social engagement" from sales

2. Have you built buyer personas together?
✅ Yes → Sales brings the voice. Marketing brings the data. Together = spot-on messaging.
❌ No → Your outreach feels cold, and your content lacks relevance and direction

3. Do sales and marketing share the same goals and metrics?
✅ Yes → Both aim for conversations that turn into pipeline.
❌ No → You're chasing vanity likes, not leads.

4. Do you agree on clear definitions for MQL & SQL?
✅ Yes → Everyone knows when a LinkedIn connection becomes a real lead.
❌ No → Leads slip through the cracks because the handover is messy.

5. Does marketing help sales look strong on LinkedIn?
✅ Yes → Optimized profiles and tailored content build credibility in every DM.
❌ No → Reps look like random sellers, not trusted advisors.

6. Do you review lost deals together?
✅ Yes → You'll uncover why LinkedIn conversations didn’t convert.
❌ No → You’ll keep repeating the same outreach mistakes and think of "automation" being the solution

7. Do you analyze won deals together?
✅ Yes → You'll know which posts, messages, and touchpoints built trust.
❌ No → Wins stay lucky instead of becoming repeatable.

Unfortunately, social selling isn’t just about showing up on LinkedIn.
It’s about sales and marketing showing up together.

So question number 8 for you
8. How many “YES” did you score?

Leave me a comment with your score or drop me a DM

Most company content on LinkedIn is completely forgettable. Not because it’s bad. But because it’s generic.

Logos, job ads, and branded posts don’t move the needle anymore — people do.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve trained thousands of professionals on how to succeed on
LinkedIn.

Sales teams. 
Executives. 
Communication departments. 
even tried HR leaders.

And still — there’s one mistake I see more than any other:

Companies confuse presence with impact.

They think:
✔ A branded post from the company page = visibility
✔ Posting a job ad = employer branding
✔ Getting likes = engagement

I challenge that!
Presence without purpose is just noise.
It doesn’t move people. 
It doesn’t build trust. 
It doesn’t drive results.

Impact happens when people tell stories.
When they show up with honesty. 
When they add insight instead of slogans. 
When they connect, not just broadcast.

That’s why I’ve shifted how I teach content strategy.
From metrics → to meaning
From campaigns → to conversations

If you want to build a brand that people trust and remember, it doesn’t start with more posts.

It starts with more people.
Your employees are the brand.
Your culture is the content.
Your conversations are the strategy.

Want to win on LinkedIn?
Turn down the volume, and turn up the voices.

PS: As co-founder and ambassador of Narify I challenge you to try our tool with your team. I might even onboard you myself!

Cold calling is making a comeback. Because automation killed authenticity — and people crave real conversations again.

In 2025...
Inboxes are spammed by bots.
All LinkedIn DMs sound the same.
And email automation fatigue is real.

That’s why smart sales teams are rediscovering 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦.
A call still cuts through noise. It builds trust in seconds — not clicks.

Unfortunately the challenge remains: traditional outbound calling is slow, inefficient, and full of dead air.

THE SHIFT: AI IS FIXING THAT

With Voiso 's AI Predictive Dialer + Answering Machine Detection, outbound teams can now scale 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 human conversations at machine speed:

• AI Predictive Dialer — Adjusts dialing speed automatically based on agent availability and live connection rates. → Up to 400% more calls per hour.
  
• Answering Machine Detection (AMD) — Identifies voicemail vs. human in milliseconds. → Agents spend 350% more time in real conversations.
  
• Number Validation — Filters invalid or low-quality numbers before calling. → Higher connect rates, less wasted time.
  
WHY IT MATTERS
Because efficiency doesn’t mean less human — it means more time for what actually converts: 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦.

In a world full of automation noise, a real voice is your unfair advantage.
AI just makes sure it reaches the right ears, faster.
Want to try VOISO for yourself? https://lnkd.in/dese2vz5

Do you believe the future of sales is more automation—or more 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 connection powered by AI?

When I started adding AI tools to my sales stack, we all got busier, not better. Then I realized: we don’t need more tools. We need one brain that makes them all work together.

Sales teams today don’t lose deals because they can’t sell.
They lose them to friction.

Endless CRM updates.
Data scattered across Slack, HubSpot, Apollo, Gong.
Too much clicking, not enough closing.

The irony? We brought in “AI tools” to make sales faster — and somehow made it slower. Too many dashboards. Too many logins. Too much noise.

Then I was introduced to Zams - and it freaking blew my mind.
It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Think of Zams as an AI command center that unifies Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Apollo, Gong and more — into simple plain English commands.

I’d say things like:
• “Every morning give me a Slack update with deal summaries from HubSpot and which need my attention today. Create tasks for those accounts and update the CRM.”
• “Show me insights from all our meeting notes, Google Drive docs, and CRM — I want a clear view of the entire pipeline.”
• “After every demo, send follow-up emails and handle the agreement paperwork automatically”

And watch the busywork 
Zams doesn’t add another layer of work.

It removes 𝘢𝘭𝘭 the layers.
If you’re serious about building a bullet fast sales team, you seriously need to talk to them.

In fact I got the founder, Nirman Dave, to do a 1:1 call himself.

Check it out: https://lnkd.in/eeHgdnKp

PS: On a scale from 1 - 10 how happy would you be saving 4 hours a week.