Nick Bennett Got ROASTED on LinkedIn - Here's Why | The Echo Chamber

WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:12.880 Conversations from the front lines of marketing. This is B two B growth. 2 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:21.519 Welcome back. We are doing a little series here on bdob growth that we're 3 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.920 playing around with called the Echo Chamber, where we are going to be talking 4 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:29.440 about topics that B two B marketers are talking about on the Internet and we're 5 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.679 gonna throw in our two cents. So my name is James Carberry, I'm 6 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:36.759 the founder of Sweet Fish Media and I'm joined today with our director of audience 7 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:40.640 growth, Dan Sanchez, our head of community Benji Block, and today we're 8 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:44.439 gonna be talking about something that we saw on Linkedin. I guess it was 9 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.960 about a week and a half ago, maybe. We saw Nick Bennett get 10 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:54.920 roasted on Linkedin for doing something that some say is brilliant and some say is 11 00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:59.159 unethical. So Dan, give us a little bit of the skinny on what 12 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.640 Nick Bennett from Alice did, uh, and we're going to riff on it 13 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:06.560 for a few minutes. Man, I remember this linkedin post because all marketers 14 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.400 were like freaking genius when they saw it, but at the same time it 15 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:12.400 made a lot of people wonder. So essentially what happened is he posted. 16 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:17.400 He posts every day. He's very popular on Linkedin. He's probably got thirty, 17 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:21.799 probably north of Thirty Five K followers. If it's done very well, 18 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:26.200 and he's he's much loved. I don't think I've seen nick get roasted or 19 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:30.840 argued with at all. But he posts about a campaign he did to boost 20 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.280 the amount of reviews, positive reviews, going onto g two, which is 21 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:38.159 a very popular review site for SAS. It's very critical that people have high 22 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.040 reviews on G twos. People check it. G Two ranks and a lot 23 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:46.079 of search terms when comparing different SASS or service could be two B service companies, 24 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:49.519 especially SAS products, and he wanted to get more reviews. So he 25 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:55.640 was very clever. His Post outlined his plan to essentially segment his email list 26 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.480 by everyone who had given him a high net promoter score, which is a 27 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:04.560 how likely would you believe to refer the product to a friend, score out 28 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.519 of ten, and everybody knows, who knows about the NPS score, that 29 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.039 eight nines and tens of promoters, six and sevens are neutral and five and 30 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:15.439 downs or detractors. So he took everybody that gave it eight, nine and 31 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:19.639 ten and sent them a email. It's probably two hundred somewhere between two hundred 32 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:25.360 and two hundred fifty people he's contacting. That scored him high and three. 33 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:32.080 So it's a good amount. Seventy three reviews. So conversion. Yeah, 34 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:38.120 absolutely insane. Yeah, it worked really well. It worked really well. 35 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.800 WAS IT UNETHICAL? I guess, is the question that I want to jam 36 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:45.240 on for a little bit here. Benji, what are your thoughts here? 37 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:47.120 Well, first got to say I'm a fan of Nick Bennett because he has 38 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.840 been on B two B growth in the last month. So the time of 39 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:55.599 this was also interesting because I was like more aware following him and then watching 40 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.319 this blow up. And Yeah, like you said, Dan, he posts 41 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:00.840 every day. So like the next couple posts. Also, he's like, 42 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.000 I'm overwhelmed by responses. There's so many people are in my inbox getting so 43 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:08.039 many leads from this. But also, man, people can be mean. 44 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:13.840 So it's like all over the map. To me, the comments are just 45 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:16.520 gold here, like I would just be reading through these because it just gives 46 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.400 so many different perspectives. But yeah, for Linkedin, some of these were 47 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:23.840 heavy handed. There's a guy who comment. He just said so buying reviews 48 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:29.680 got it where it's like just so simple and flat and like. To me, 49 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:34.240 the ethical side of it is like he didn't pay them to go use 50 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:38.719 Alice and then write a g two review about it. He did target those 51 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:44.800 that already were essentially raving fans, but I don't know, it doesn't seem 52 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.319 unethical to me. It just leaves me in a place where I'm going. 53 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.360 I don't know that I would trust review sites, as you're going to see 54 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.639 this burst in a ton of people reviewing because g two does these quarterly reviews 55 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:00.520 and then it falls off again because the pressure is not there to get new 56 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:04.120 reviews, and most of them are good in this case. So I don't 57 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:08.639 know. That's that's my initial thoughts. Like it's not wrong, it's just 58 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.360 how much weight do you put on g two when you know that other companies 59 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:15.399 are also doing this? Yeah, Dan, what's your hot take here? 60 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:19.319 No genius move. It's such a good result because I don't know if you've 61 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.160 left a g two review, but they're really hard to give. Their very 62 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.160 thorough. They take at least ten to fifteen minutes to leave a review. 63 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.800 You've got to take snapshots to the APP on the inside to prove that you 64 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:31.639 actually have used it. So, as a marketer, I'm just like, 65 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:36.720 Dang, that was a big lift for what people it's huge. Is it 66 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.600 unethical? As a consumer? I don't like it. As a marketer, 67 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.759 I think it's great. As a consumer. You see it happen on Amazon 68 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:47.519 a light. People will like literally run facebook ad campaigns being like hey, 69 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.879 by my thing, I'll reimburse you for it, just leave me, leave 70 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:55.959 me a review, and they boost their commodity product to the top of the 71 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.279 thing, which I don't trust Amazon reviews nearly as much as I used to 72 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:01.519 because of that very thing. You think? It's slightly different, though, 73 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:05.839 Dan, than Amazon, because these weren't people that he paid to go get 74 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:11.680 Alice and then reimburse them. I think it's different in that I'm still looking 75 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.120 at it knowing that things like that are going on. So as a marketer, 76 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.160 I'm always kind of like taking everything with a grain of salt. I'm 77 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:23.199 always hesitant to trust any review testimonial. I just things like that happen all 78 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:27.560 the time, knowing also that usually it's rarely people in the middle. So 79 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.360 usually your biggest fans and you're the people that hate you the most that leave 80 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:34.079 reviews. So hopefully you read a little bit of both and try to figure 81 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:38.639 it out. Is it unethical to the point where I wouldn't do it? 82 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:41.879 No, I would still do it. I still think it's fair. I 83 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.120 don't think it's over the line. I think the Amazon thing probably is over 84 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.199 the line, James. What were your thoughts when you saw it? Yeah, 85 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:54.439 I think for me the fact that he did this with people that already 86 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:58.360 love Alice. To your point, Benji, he didn't go and pay people 87 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:02.600 to try Alice and and then have them leave a review as part of the 88 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:09.199 compensation. He emailed people that had already given Alice in eight, nine or 89 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:13.279 ten on the MPs. So they were already raving fans. He just figured 90 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.439 out a really clever way using his product. That's what Alice does, is 91 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:23.040 like personalized gifts, and so it was a brilliant way to leverage the value 92 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:28.160 of his own product to activate a group of people that had already raised their 93 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:31.120 hand and said I'm a raving fan of Alice and I would tell my friends 94 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:35.720 to use this product. He just pointed them to a specific place where they 95 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:42.879 can use that product. You had mentioned, Benji, a comment that Gitano 96 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.959 left on here. What was that comment? I thought it was hilarious. 97 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.920 Whenever you said it felt exactly like Gitano. Yeah, another another fan boy 98 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:54.920 moment, because we love Gitano here at B two B growth. But he 99 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:59.519 said, extremely valuable marketing exercise right here. This is one of the top 100 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.240 things I marketer can be doing to create R O I for any business. 101 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.519 In fact, this is so good that I would not have shared it publicly. 102 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:10.319 At least thirty companies are going to steal this exact template. Keep this 103 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:14.000 one in the secret swipe file next time. And Nick said, yeah, 104 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:15.360 man, I didn't expect this to blow up as much as it did. 105 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:18.319 Lesson learned for sure, and they kind of went back and forth on that. 106 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:20.680 But it is one of those things where, like, I mean, 107 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:25.240 Gitano knows, knows his stuff, and when he's saying that, I'm like 108 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.120 this, this was so big. I mean, do you guys know how 109 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:32.399 many it was at? Hundred likes, loves, celebrates, whatever on linkedin 110 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:38.160 four comments so that everybody was just in on it. Yeah, this was 111 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:42.800 probably around based on that engagement, I'm guessing it was around views of this 112 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:46.920 post. So so to say that thirty company that's probably under selling it. 113 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:50.879 I mean there's probably gonna be more than thirty companies that that used this for 114 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:55.399 a post that blows up like that, which, hey, I mean I 115 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.199 don't know that it's gonna work as well because it's so the giving one something 116 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:07.759 personalized is ingrained into the Alice product. It's literally what it does. So 117 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.560 I don't know that there's going to be as as much natural synergy if other 118 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.519 people start doing it, but you're sure going to see companies trying to do 119 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.040 this. It would be worth it. So it's not just just not that 120 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.600 hard to do. It's just not that hard. Yeah, Dan, you 121 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:24.639 had mentioned that. You had mentioned something hilarious too in the pre call about 122 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.680 if we had seen nick do this on twitter. Like we we say he 123 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:35.120 got roasted on Linkedin, and you know, Benji, you're you're looking through 124 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.679 the comments. You're like, yeah, he got roasted, but people were 125 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:39.399 still like, I don't know if it's ethical. Don't get me wrong, 126 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:45.559 like I would do it too. People were relatively linked in right when's the 127 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:48.200 nice social media platform. People are on their best behavior because it's a business 128 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:52.879 context. Their coworkers and bossy every reply. If it were twitter, be 129 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:58.279 hell fire to be totally roasted and would have been called a Nazi or something 130 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.480 like. He would have just had a label. I do them. That 131 00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:03.639 was just way over the top. It would have been I thought it was 132 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:07.960 hilarious. Yeah, there's direct comments where they're like they're kind of calling them 133 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.320 out, like so buying reviews or this is unethical. But that's as like 134 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.000 mean spirit as it gets on Linkedin. It's just pretty different ballgame on twitter. 135 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.360 Totally different ballgame on twitter. All right, y'all. Well, I'm 136 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:24.879 really excited for this series, the Echo Chamber. We're gonna be talking about 137 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.840 what's being talked about in the land of B Two B marketing world on the 138 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:31.600 Internet, and so stay tuned. We're gonna do these once a week for 139 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:35.000 the next few weeks. It may pop, it may not. If you 140 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:39.240 love this series, hit up Dan Bingji or myself on Linkedin. Let us 141 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:41.720 know that that you're like in this series and and that will really be the 142 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.559 fuel that keeps us going on, whether we whether we keep doing this or 143 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.840 not. It was Super Fun, so hopefully we can. We can keep 144 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:52.720 it going for a while. But anyway, if you have not already followed 145 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:56.120 B two B growth on your favorite listening platform, going ahead and do that 146 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.279 and leave us a rating. You don't even have to leave a review, 147 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.000 just tap the number of stars you think the show deserves. We'll see you 148 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:05.039 back next time on G TWOP GROWTH