Hootsuite’s CEO Irina Novoselsky has turned her personal LinkedIn feed into a bona-fide growth channel. Early experiments taught her that “leading with product is just propaganda” that repels readers, so she flipped to a give-first cadence Hootsuite calls “nine times before you take once”.

That mindset shift, paired with a ruthlessly consistent 20-to-30-minute daily routine of posting and high-value commenting—even from taxis between meetings—keeps her visible without swallowing her calendar. The results? In Q1 2025 alone she logged 10 million impressions and showed up on 37 percent of all Hootsuite deal calls tracked in Gong, while internal attribution shows about 40 percent of net-new pipeline now traces back to her LinkedIn presence. Those numbers have opened doors to multimillion-dollar RFPs and accelerated renewals.

Irina’s operator chops make the story even sharper. Before taking Hootsuite’s helm in 2023, she cut her teeth at Morgan Stanley and Apollo and executed a turnaround as CEO of CareerBuilder at just 32. Today she applies the same data-driven discipline to social: testing formats, doubling down on what lands, and empowering her 1,500-person team with the engagement insights her feed surfaces.

In short, this episode shows how a Fortune-level leader uses a lightweight, value-forward LinkedIn habit to create real pipeline, brand affinity, and even unexpected CEO-to-CEO friendships—proof that strategic generosity at scale still wins on the timeline.

Why Listen?

• 40 % of inbound pipeline now traces back to Irina’s LinkedIn posts
• 30-minute daily playbook that any founder can copy
• Follower count ≠ reach — 100 motivated followers can still drive million-view posts
• Gen Z’s silent buying journey (84 % decide before a sales call) and how to stay on their list
• DMs obliterate email with 90 %+ open rates
• Employee-led megaphone: people trust people; empowering staff ≫ brand page

Chapter Timestamps00:00:00 - Intro

00:08:37 - Kill the Propaganda
00:19:00 - Social → Revenue Loop
00:22:14 - Decoding Gen Z Buyers
00:25:40 - DMs vs Email
00:34:13 - Follower ≠ Reach
00:37:00 - Social Isn’t Junior Work
00:38:00 - Outro

Notable Quotes

1. “Give nine times before you take once.”
2. “This generation… will do anything not to use the phone to talk to you.”
3. “You don’t need a huge followership to get reach.”
4. “People that see social as a job for the 22-year-old intern are the brands that slowly die.”
5. “Posting in a bathing suit? Save it for Insta—LinkedIn is still a professional room.”
6. “I spend 20–30 minutes a day on LinkedIn; that tiny input fuels multi-million-dollar RFPs.”
7. “Five billion people spend three hours a day on social—your customers are there.”
8. “An email open rate of 30 % is ‘fantastic’; DMs hit 90 %+ without breaking a sweat.”

Actionable Takeaways

1. Adopt the 9 : 1 give/ask ratio to build trust fast.
2. Block 30 mins daily — half for posting, half for smart commenting.
3. Turn employees into creators; their voices convert better than logo posts.
4. Warm-prospect with DMs — automated value drops crush email open rates.
5. Speak to Gen Z’s research style: authentic stories > cold calls.
6. Track what matters: post mentions in Gong calls and CRM notes, not vanity likes.

Stay Connected.

Want to connect or share feedback? Brad welcomes connection requests from listeners—reach out on LinkedIn and share your thoughts!

• Brad Zomick’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bzomick
• Spectamur website: https://spectamur.com
• LinkedIn Famous LinkedIn Page:

Picture a CEO who treats LinkedIn less like a résumé warehouse and more like a personal blog feed—every post a mini-broadcast engineered from fresh customer data, punchy storytelling, and a dash of AI. That’s Peter Caputa IV. Armed with his marketing team and a “PeteGPT” content engine that mines interviews and survey insights, he shows up in the feed almost daily, rewrites most of the drafts himself to keep the voice human, and watches the metrics roll in: 330-plus posts, 3 million impressions, and roughly 100 free trials of Databox every single month.

Yet the real magic isn’t the numbers—it’s that followers still feel like they’re chatting with the guy they met at a conference, not a corporate logo in disguise. In this episode we unpack how Peter balances ruthless data discipline with founder-level authenticity, proving you can scale trust without turning into clickbait.

Why hit play?

• Hear the exact system Peter calls “PeteGPT”: customer interviews → GPT draft → Asana/Google Docs → his own 50 % rewrite → AuthoredUp scheduling.
  
  
  
• Learn why publishing daily is the keystone—prospecting and ads work only after your audience trusts you.
  
  
  
• See the numbers: 330+ posts, 3 M impressions, 40 k engagements and ±100 Databox trials/month in the last year alone.
  
  
  
• Get Peter’s playbook for turning “comment for the ebook” from gimmick to real demand validation.
  
  
  
• Reframe LinkedIn as a “stay-in-touch” channel that nurtures customers and partners between emails or events.
  
  
  

What we cover

• 00:02 – Peter’s back-story: from launching HubSpot’s agency program to leading Databox.
  
  
  
• 00:14 – Inside the “PeteGPT” content engine.
  
  
  
• 00:17 – Databox research: posting vs. prospecting vs. ads—what actually moves revenue.
  
  
  
• 00:25 – Measuring impact: self-reported attribution & the 24 % social-signup stat.
  
  
  
• 00:32 – Customer-driven content: interview 2-3 customers, write their story, repeat.
  
  
  
• 00:35 – Rant: “Give us RSS-level control of the feed!”
  
  
  
• 00:38 – Lightning round on algorithms, trends that should die, and time management.
  
  
  

Top takeaways

1. Founder-as-Broadcaster – “People want to talk to people, not logos.”
   
   
   
2. Consistency > Clever hacks – Daily posting makes every other LinkedIn play work harder.
   
   
   
3. Mine your customers for content gold – Real stories beat keyword rewrites every time.
   
   
   
4. Measure what matters – Track self-reported attribution and word-of-mouth, not just link clicks.
   
   
   
5. Time budget is real – Even a CEO spends 2–3 hours/day posting, commenting and DM-ing.
   
   
   

Memorable quotes

• “People want to talk to people, not logos.”
  
  
  
• “If you’re not posting, your prospecting and ads won’t work on LinkedIn.”
  
  
  
• “I still spend two to three hours a day on LinkedIn”
  
  
  
• “I hate the ‘comment for the ebook’ trick, but I still do it because it works.”
  
  
  
• “The thing I hate about LinkedIn is the algorithm deciding what I see—I want more control.”
  
  
  

Stay Connected.

Want to connect or share feedback? Brad welcomes connection requests from listeners—reach out on LinkedIn and share your thoughts!

• Brad Zomick’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bzomick
• Spectamur website: https://spectamur.com
• LinkedIn Famous LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/co

Two fractional CMOs and hosts of the podcast Blame it on Marketing—Emma Davies and Ruta Sudmantaite—explain how their meme-heavy side-podcast became an unlimited content engine for LinkedIn, keeping them top-of-feed even when inspiration runs dry. Then they fire shots: in its “current form,” LinkedIn is flat-out “overrated” and bloated with gimmicks like ebook-bait and engagement pods.

They argue the platform is sliding into pay-to-play territory—boost-posts inflate reach, videos need ad spend to breathe, and small brands without budget get squeezed out. Their antidote? Founder-led voices, ruthless posting systems, and humor as a moat that “turns existential dread into viral therapy.” Listen in for the real playbook on beating the algorithm before it beats you.

What You’ll Learn

1. Systems Beat Inspiration – Emma’s two-posts-a-day cadence rides on automations that tag new followers, queue content, and keep the train on the tracks.
2. Pay-to-Play Is Here – Boosting posts does juice reach, but it also proves LinkedIn is inching toward Facebook-style ads dependency.
3. Humor as a Moat – Their best posts start as Monday-morning “existential dread” riffs and evolve into viral therapy sessions for B2B marketers.
4. Starter Playbook – New creators should “make a little plan… then commit for at least a month” before judging results.

Episode Breakdown

00:00 – Origin story & intro
07:00 – Podcast as LinkedIn tent-pole
13:00 – Building evergreen growth systems
17:40 – Where the comedy comes from
22:20 – Posting frequency myths & the power of comments
30:20 – Boost-post experiments & video reach woes
42:52 – Lightning round: “Overrated,” engagement-pods & API dreams
46:14 – One-month test rule for newbies
48:10 – What’s next for Blame It on Marketing (pod-swap season & live events)

Memorable Quotes

• “LinkedIn in its current form? Overrated.”
• “ ‘Comment beneath this post to get my ebook.’ Kill me.”
• “Find a system, refine it, do it—then stack something else on top.”
• “Videos have been massively deprioritized… you kinda have to pay to get your videos into the timeline.”

Connect with the Crew

• Follow Emma Davies and Ruda Sudamantaite on LinkedIn
• Tune into Blame It on Marketing on your favorite podcast app
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Stay Connected:

Want to connect or share feedback? Brad welcomes connection requests from listeners—reach out on LinkedIn and share your thoughts!

• Brad Zomick’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bzomick
• Spectamur website: https://spectamur.com
• LinkedIn Famous LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedinfamous

Subscribe to LinkedIn Famous on Substack: https://linkedinfamous.substack.com