Why “Professional” Content Is Killing Your Engagement
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Most B2B brands are trying to look professional on social media. But in doing so, many are becoming invisible.
In this episode of Spotlight on B2B Marketing, host Karen Lloyd is joined by Xandrina Allday, social media strategist and founder of Allday Marketing, to explore why social media is one of the most underutilised commercial drivers in B2B - and what it actually takes to make it work.
From platform selection and the LinkedIn algorithm update, to cold DM strategy and employee-generated content, Xandrina shares a practical, no-nonsense playbook for B2B brands who are ready to stop playing it safe.
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KAREN & XANDRINA
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ Why corporate tone is costing B2B brands trust, engagement and pipeline
✔️ How to align your social media activity with real business goals - not vanity metrics
✔️ The process for choosing the right platforms based on your ICP
✔️ Why Instagram can be a powerful lead generation tool for B2B (and how to use it)
✔️ The ManyChat comment-to-DM tactic that converts social followers into email leads
✔️ What LinkedIn’s 360 Brew algorithm update means for your content and profile
✔️ How to build a cold DM strategy that actually gets responses
✔️ Why employee-generated content is one of the biggest opportunities in B2B right now
EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS
[01:44] Why B2B social media defaults to "boring to boring" - and how to break the pattern
[04:09] The human-to-human argument: why B2B brands need more personality, not less
[09:39] Platform selection: how to map your ICP to the right channels
[14:06] Instagram as an underrated B2B platform - and the ManyChat comment-to-DM tactic
[22:27] LinkedIn's 360 Brew algorithm update - what changed and what it means
[24:55] Personal vs. professional content on LinkedIn - the intro call test
[28:08] Why sales teams not posting on LinkedIn are leaving money on the table
[30:33] Comment strategy and why replying matters more than most brands realise
[35:08] Cold DM strategy: research, common ground, and giving value first
[38:17] Employee-generated content and employee advocacy in 2026
FROM “BORING TO BORING” TO HUMAN TO HUMAN
Xandrina’s central argument is that B2B brands have been getting social media backwards. The instinct to appear corporate, polished and “on brand” is understandable - but it’s producing content that no one engages with and no one remembers.
Her case for personality in B2B is a compelling one: unlike B2C, where a customer might never interact with another human being before making a purchase, B2B buying is fundamentally relational. People research, compare, and ultimately buy from people they trust. What a brand posts on social media is part of that trust-building process, whether leaders recognise it or not.
As Xandrina puts it: “Our USP as businesses is the people who are in them, their unique stories, how their kind of day-to-day in your business looks like. It really should be human to human rather than boring to boring.”
The practical implication: drop the corporate lingo, bring your missions and values into your content, and let the people inside the business become its most credible voice.
SOCIAL MEDIA AS A COMMERCIAL DRIVER: STARTING WITH BUSINESS GOALS
One of the sharpest observations in the episode is Xandrina’s challenge to the follower count obsession. “You can have a hundred thousand followers and make zero sales,” she notes, because social media without a clear commercial objective is just noise.
Her process always starts by working backwards from business goals: do you want leads, easier recruitment, more conversations, newsletter signups? The answer shapes everything; which platforms to prioritise, what content to create, how to measure success.
From there, platform selection is driven by ICP analysis, mapping the demographics, behaviours and habits of your ideal customer to where they actually spend their time online. LinkedIn is rarely the whole answer. Depending on your audience, Instagram, YouTube or other platforms may be equally or more valuable, particularly when organic and paid strategies are considered separately.
The key shift Xandrina advocates: stop thinking about social media as a broadcast channel and start thinking about it as the top of a commercial pipeline, one that, with the right multi-lever approach, can generate leads, build trust and shorten the sales cycle.
Key advice for marketing leaders
Start with the business goal, not the platform
Get specific about what you are trying to achieve — leads, pipeline, recruitment, or newsletter growth. The goal determines the platform, the content type, and how you measure success.
Choose platforms based on your ICP, not convention
LinkedIn is not automatically the right answer. Map your ideal customer personas to where they actually spend time and be willing to test platforms that might seem counterintuitive, including Instagram.
Audit before you act
Before creating new content or switching strategy, audit your current social presence — platforms, copywriting, and what competitors are doing. Looking backwards gives you the foundation to move forward.
Think in multi-lever, not single channel
Effective B2B social requires a comment strategy, a DM approach, personal profile activity alongside the company page, and — where relevant — paid amplification. Each lever works together.
Build employee advocacy intentionally
You cannot enforce employee content, but you can create the conditions for it. In 2026, the brands humanising their content through their people will stand apart.
Key advice for business leaders
Social media is a commercial asset, not a marketing expense
When approached correctly, social media generates leads, supports recruitment, builds pipeline and shortens the sales cycle. Treat it as a commercial driver, not a brand exercise.
Your buyers have already formed a view before speaking to sales
By the time a prospect contacts your sales team, significant research has already happened. Your social presence shapes that early impression — you are either building trust or losing ground.
Followers are a vanity metric — ask for the right numbers
Push beyond follower growth. Ask how social is contributing to lead volume, pipeline and recruitment. Hold social to the same commercial standards as other channels.
Your people are your most powerful differentiator online
The USP of your business is the people in it. As a leader, the most impactful thing you can do is model this yourself and create the conditions for your team to do the same.
Give social media the resource it needs to be effective
Social media done well is not free. It requires time, strategic thinking and consistent execution — whether in-house, an agency, or a specialist consultant.
TODAY’S GUEST
Xandrina Allday is the founder of Allday Marketing, a social-first consultancy that helps brands build social media strategy, content and capability that drives measurable results. With over ten years of experience across social media strategy, content creation, science communication and team leadership, she launched Allday Marketing to help organisations plan smarter, create with confidence and connect with the audiences that matter.
Before founding Allday Marketing, Xandrina spent nearly seven years at LabX Media Group, progressing to Head of Social Media, where she led the social media and paid ads team across the group's brands. She is also the author of Dear Social Media Manager, a Community Manager at SocialDay, and a Member of the Board of Advisors at the East Anglian Marketing Awards.
Connect with Xandrina on LinkedIn or visit her website alldaymarketing
OUR HOST
Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing head-hunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in B2B industries. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.
Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.
Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing and sales teams for some of the most exciting B2B brands - from small, agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.
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