Matt Swain

LinkedIn for Founders & Execs

I’ve built my career as a creator, thought-leader, author and entrepreneur who helps executives and founders evolve their online presence into genuine influence. I’ve had the privilege of working with global icons such as Wim Hof, Steven Bartlett and Arthur Brooks, and collaborated directly with LinkedIn to shape the conversation around digital content, executive-led brands and how social influence can drive commercial growth.

At the start of 2024, I founded Triangle Branding, an exclusive B2B thought leadership agency built for category-leading founders and CEOs who want to turn their ideas into influence. We help them build human-led digital reputations by using their own personal voice to drive commercial impact through LinkedIn-first content, strategic storytelling and demand-generation systems. 

Over the last 18 months, we’ve helped clients raise over $100M, land deals with companies such as Sony, Nvidia and Virgin, had 100 million eyeballs on clients’ content and generate meaningful inbound opportunities by building executive-led brands that people trust.

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We've generated 1,000,000+ views in the first 6 months with four C-Suite Execs at a 150M ARR leading B2B SaaS platform. 

We've generated 5,000,000 impressions and 40,000 engagements on a leading Harvard professor - with them becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice.

We've helped an energy leader book qualified conversations with SVP's at Walgreens, Starbucks, Mars, GSK and Lidl. 

We've helped agency owners generate organic engagement & MQLs from leaders at THG, Uber, Heineken, Estée Lauder, Samsung, Lavazza, L'Oréal, Tony's Chocolonely and more. 


www.triangle-branding.com

Founder of SOCIAL CLUB

Founder and Manager of SOCIAL CLUB - an exclusive social media community where members manage over 328 million followers. 

If you're an influencer or brand who wants to connect please get in touch. 
If you're interested in investing/sponsoring/collaborating please email on matt@mattswain.co.uk

I was invited by LinkedIn to attend B2Believe, and the message was clear:

B2B is shifting faster than most teams realise. Creativity, buyer confidence, and human connection are becoming the new growth levers.

Here are my 7 core takeaways (share & save this!) 

1. Creativity is becoming the language of B2B

Creative that grabs and holds attention multiplies leads by 3x. But while 92% say consistent creative matters – only 12% deliver it. 

49% B2B decision-makers say they’re more likely to explore a company if its advertising is creative

40% B2B decision-makers say they’d be more likely to consider a purchase if the ad is seen as “creative”


2. Millennials + Gen Z now make up 71% of B2B buyers 

You need to engage them differently – they respond to: Cultural references; human stories; faces, not logos. 

87% of B2B buyers now prefer content from trusted industry influencers over brand-authored content.


3. Buyability: the new model for growth

B2B buying is slow because buyers don’t feel safe with 64% of marketers saying decisions now take longer. 

The top job-to-be-done is: “Can I defend this decision if it goes wrong?”

Buyers don’t need more information — they need more confidence.


4. Your network is a marketing asset — not a distribution channel

When employees from your target accounts follow your company, you generate 2.4x more leads.

And when senior decision-makers at those target accounts are connected to your employees, that jumps to 2.2x more leads.

You are more than 20x more likely to be bought when everyone in the Buyer Group knows you on Day One. Build brand, trust & authority with the right people. 


5. Video is non-negotiable

Jonathon Palmer said it well: Sound, movement, and visual cues trigger far stronger memory formation than static content ever can.

It generates 1.4x more engagement, meaning more people stop, watch, and interact.

And most importantly: viewers retain 95% of the message when it’s delivered via video.

+20% more leads are driven with video

Attention is scarce and recall is even scarcer. Video gives you the highest chance of being remembered — and being acted on.


6. Employee content > corporate content

B2B is shifting from logos to faces; from corporate statements to human voices.

Even when only 3% of employees post regularly, companies drive 20% more leads.

So bring your team to the forefront. 


7. Brand and demand are no longer separate

Everything now all comes down to trust, Tunji Akintokun put it: “In B2B, trust is the ultimate growth metric that closes deals.”

The era of “brand OR performance” is finished. Full-funnel integration is now a growth multiplier with always-on brand activity showing +10% conversion lift. 


In summary: 

The brands that win in 2025 won’t be the ones who look good in reports — they’ll be the ones who move buyer groups to act.

In partnership with LinkedIn for Marketing #Ad

Simon Cowell and the “Netflix-izing” of TV: 

Simon’s cultural dominance was built on linear television, yet The X Factor format was clearly losing momentum. Viewership had fallen, slipping to around 6 million by its final run (from 20 million at its peak), and the show ultimately wasn’t recommissioned after 2018. 

So he went to the streaming platforms. 

His new show, The Next Act – a behind-the-scenes talent series following the formation, development, and launch of a pop boy band – came out on Netflix last month. A younger, Gen-Z audience showed up, and the series debuted in Netflix’s top three.

While it’s been reported that the show is a “rehashing of The X Factor for the billionth time” it misses the point that more & more linear TV shows will attempt to ‘Netflix-ize.’  Simon is a divisive, well-known figure with a pre-built brand. The show concept has worked for several decades across both sides of the Atlantic. All this gets leveraged & transferred, with some new packaging alongside being formatted in a bespoke way for how audiences today consume content. It makes perfect sense. 

We’re going to see more traditionally proven linear TV concepts, combined with some creative adaptation, become relevant again as they find their way onto streaming platforms. Sport, news, comedy panels, breakfast shows, live cooking, award ceremonies, and chat shows will all follow the same path.

The data shows it: The creator economy is becoming the new Hollywood. 

Individuals are becoming content power-houses commanding attention & cultural relevance that now rivals traditional media. What was once reserved for studios with large-scale productions and billion-dollar balance sheets is available for everyone. 

Media influence is moving from institutions to individuals who understand attention and audience trust – and the gap between “creator” and “studio” is disappearing.

For the last 50 years, TV shows were commissioned around an idea or existing IP. Then the right host or star was cast to fit the format.

That model is flipping.

Now, the individual comes first – and the idea is built around them.

Netflix has just announced one of its first podcast originals, built around Pete Davidson. 

Last month, it was announced that Claudia Winkleman is getting her own chat show on the BBC.

For the last decade, this has been the default in self-owned distribution – podcasts, YouTube channels, newsletters. The creator and individual were very much the IP.

But now traditional media is catching up. 

Individuals are becoming the centre point of mainstream shows.

In 2026 your content is about judgment, taste, lived experience, and the ability to articulate why you think the way you do. The bar has shifted from “can you create?” to “can you create something only you could create?” In a world of AI-generated content, context, specificity, depth, scars, perspective and belief are what cut through – and that’s where the next wave of real creators will win.

Are you focused on producing more content… or better ideas, clearer thinking, and standing for something? 

Image credit: Adam Mosseri

Over the weekend, I watched an interesting TikTok that explained how red carpets are now full of influencers instead of experienced reporters. These influencers' sole intention is to fish for viral moments – anything that might spike views on Instagram – with zero expectation that they’ve engaged in the film, researched or prepared compelling questions. What’s more, the people in charge are perfectly happy with this setup – as long as the short-form clips generate superficial numbers. 

We’re prioritizing attention over trust.  
We’re overly rewarding views. 

But why? 

Podcasts are the same – instead of being built around thoughtful, critical conversations – where you pressure-test ideas and interrogate evidence – shows are increasingly engineered backwards from viral moments on Instagram and TikTok. Resulting in soundbites that lack evidence, and contain deliberately polarizing takes to spark a reaction. 

I see leaders and well-known entrepreneurs on LinkedIn play the same game – optimizing for clicks, feel-good content and mass engagement. Taking their impressive multi-decade career and compressing it into recycled frameworks and carousel templates that “perform well.”  At Triangle, we do the opposite. Our focus is on turning leaders into subject matter experts with the intention to build long-term authority with the people who buy, hire, invest, or partner. Because, in a world of people high-jacking your attention and surface-level commentary – depth, context & detail are now the way to stand out. And our data shows this leads to significantly better commercial outcomes. 

We’ve lost sight of the point of content. We’ve blurred the lines between being visible and being credible. As a culture, we’ve become so blinded by attention that we’ve lost sight of our true goals. 

What's your take?

I sat down with Jae Oh, who leads LinkedIn’s ads measurement, formats, and experimentation teams. We talked about:

1. Why ROI is the right metric. But not CPMs, or clicks. Real ROI answers one question: how did marketing dollars translate into growth?

2. The easiest metrics are often the least useful: Cheap impressions look good on slides, but they collapse the moment you’re asked: “How much revenue did this drive?”

3. Marketers lose budget because they speak the wrong language: CFOs don’t think in campaigns and sales leaders don’t think in reach. They think in pipeline, accounts, and revenue – and marketing has to translate into that world.

4. Authority starts with trust – and trust starts with value: People give attention to brands that help them make better decisions. That attention compounds into influence.

5. ‘Brand vs demand’ is a false divide: Buyers don’t experience two journeys; they experience one continuous one. There should be one system. 

6. B2B buying journeys are long (≈211 days): Which means your first message has to remain true all the way to purchase. Consistency builds credibility. 

7. Vanity metrics create false confidence: Great reach, great CPMs, zero impact – if you’re talking to the wrong accounts.

8. The biggest performance unlock is alignment: Brand teams and demand teams chasing different account lists guarantees inefficiency. Focus on shared targets, shared narrative, and shared accountability.

9. Most “measurement problems” are actually organisational ones: When teams don’t sit in the same room, they optimise for different outcomes.

10. Incrementality is what secures budgets: Not activity or scale. Instead, proof that marketing moved the business forward.


If you’re a B2B marketer – this video is for you! 

(Save this and share it with your team)

New York is booked 🇺🇸

Feb 28 – March 4.

As Triangle continues to grow in the US – I’m spending more time out meeting clients, running mini content shoots, and lots of coffees with CEO’s who want to communicate their mission & story with the world in a way that generates demand! 

Here’s what’s on the agenda: 

– visiting LinkedIn HQ 

– in-person shoot with a healthtech client that's reshaping access to care in America 

– and in a series of conversations with teams selling into US enterprise buyers

Between those, I'm carving out time for a handful of informal conversations.

If you're in NYC and building something ambitious – founder, exec, creator, leader – reach out. I'll share what we're learning from working with 30+ clients: what's driving their pipeline and what's cutting through on LinkedIn right now.

If you're around, let’s meet! Drop me a message or email matt@mattswain.com

3 principles for CEO content we're taken into 2026: 

1. Originality 

When people are consuming content, they’re now rightly asking “could this have been generated by an LLM.” Most content still starts externally: GPT search, topics, trends, formats – and tries to bolt a perspective on top. At Triangle, we do the reverse. We start with raw thought: half-formed beliefs, internal tensions, difficult decisions, and patterns noticed over years of experience. That shifts the challenge from writing to ‘extraction’ – and then translating scattered ideas into language and compressing lived experience into a few hundred words. It’s hard work, which is exactly why most people default to the easy option.

2. Editorial writing > social copywriting 

Everyone focuses on proven hooks, algorithm tricks and ‘easy-to-read’ overly optimized formatting. We’re doing the opposite. Moving towards highly researched content pieces backed with data that are journalist-quality – meaning opinionated, genuinely interesting pieces on culturally relevant topics. Our goal is to create truly engaging content, as we know the distribution will take care of itself. High-quality writing preserves the depth and nuance of your ideas, and positions you as someone who’s credible and thinks deeply.

3. Specifics

Linked to both points above, we’re going deeper into specifics. That means naming real trade-offs, important commercial constraints, the options rejected, and the second-order consequences that weren’t obvious at the time. It means zooming into moments – the meeting where the call changed, the data point that broke the narrative, the uncomfortable tension, the reasoning. Specifics signal lived experience and raise the stakes of the insight. The more precise the content, the more uncopyable it becomes – and that’s where trust is built.


What are you focusing on with your content in 2026?

A thought about AI & talent:

The conversation around AI and automation often assumes a blanket condition that all people are the same. In reality, the top 10% performers in every industry operate in a different tier and should never worry about finding a role. 

The world will continue to automate away the average. But businesses will continue to pay a high premium to work with the very best talent. In an AI world, A-players will become increasingly in-demand and sought-after as they become highly leveraged by AI.

Meaning if you’re an A-player who deeply thinks about their work, uses “human compute,” and operates as a critical and strategic thinker, you’ll have greater opportunities in your working life over the next 10 years - not less. Because winners want to work with other winners and understand the energetic connection and momentum that comes from working alongside exceptional people.

Avatar is a perfect example of what content can be in 2026: 

The franchise is all about experience, immersion, bringing audiences into a universe that they’re invested in and want to keep returning to. 

We’re living in a TikTok-obsessed world, optimized for speed, novelty, and constant refresh. Attention is fragmented, patience supposedly gone. And yet Avatar sits at the opposite extreme: three films, the third running 3.5 hours, released years apart – and still drawing global audiences in the hundreds of millions. A timely reminder that when something is genuinely world-class, people will go to great lengths to engage with it.

In the marketing landscape today, everyone is concentrated on quick wins and cheap attention. But the winners know the real game is stickiness; world-building; defining your IP; building an ecosystem; universe expansion; repeatable engagement. 

It’s about building something people want to return to, invest in, and feel part of. Something that rewards attention rather than demands it. 

A reminder for all of us who work in social, content & marketing – focus on creating something amazing that people want to come back to, over & over again.

January has been a busy start to 2026 for Triangle: 

– Over the past month, our partnership content with LinkedIn reached 1,000,000 people – including my takeaways from B2Believe and a conversation with Jae Oh, Head of Ads at LinkedIn.

– We signed 4 new clients – from health-tech, digital printing, CTO advisor with 30+ years of experience in tech and procurement AI company – all with the same underlying goal: using LinkedIn to open senior-level buyer conversations.

– Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with Andrew Monu at LinkedIn HQ, sharing more about the work we’re doing to build thought leadership in complex industries. 

– We expanded the team – bringing on an incredible LinkedIn copyeditor, executive advisor with 30+ years of experience running marketing agencies, and have x2 Content Manager roles we’re interviewing for. 

– Finishing the month with record-breaking revenue – a sign we’re moving in the right direction! 

– Our New York presence continues to grow – with 2 new clients based there kicking off this month and an in-person trip planned to spend time with clients and partners.

– A few client wins worth calling out: One of our Harvard professor clients generated 723,280 views; I caught up with a client this week who said he had $500k in new pipeline from our work – testament to our LinkedIn ecosystem approach. 

None of this came easily.

January was long days, five-hour stretches of back-to-back calls, thousands of Slack messages, kick-offs, iterations, and decisions. But ending the first month of the year on a high!

For the first time, a bi-partisan bill is recognizing creators as workers, small business owners who are “building the culture and economy we rely on” – not just 'creating content.'

What Khanna’s doing isn’t just “protecting creators.” It’s the government publicly admitting that creators are no longer a side-hustle category – they’re a meaningful economic contributor and an increasingly important source of information. Especially given that more than 10 million Americans now identify as creators.

The creator economy is growing up — and institutions are starting to catch up!

Hannah Power

founder @amplify | empowering solopreneurs to create online success, through alignment not hustle | join my next free masterclass to learn how 💫

I believe personal brands can change the world.

I also believe that building a business around your personal brand is one of the most fulfilling and financially rewarding things you can do.

And with the digital landscape evolving faster than ever, fuelled by AI, there’s never been a more powerful moment to build one.

… but the reality is most people never manage to unlock the influence, income, or impact their personal brand could create.

My mission is to change that.

Hi, I’m Hannah,

Over the past 7 years I’ve:
→ Grown an audience of 100k+ followers across Instagram and LinkedIn
→ Written an Amazon best-seller, The Power of You
→ Spoken on stages at organisations including Unilever, HP and Oxford University, as well as delivering a TEDx talk
→ Been featured in Forbes and CEO Weekly
→ Ranked #1 on Google for my niche
→ Built my inbound coaching business to £20k/$30k per month

Now, I lead amplify, a platform designed to help you grow your personal brand in three powerful ways:

1 | 1:1 Coaching

Are you a CEO, founder, author, or coach ready for bespoke support?
Work directly with me to build and scale your personal brand with clarity, confidence, and consistency.

DM 'COACH' to book in a call.

2 | Speaking

Are you a small or large business looking for an inspiring keynote or practical workshop on personal branding, AI or team performance?

DM 'SPEAKING' to book in a call.

3 | Group Coaching

Ready to learn the exact system I used to build and scale a personal-brand-led business?

My newest group coaching programme helps you gain clarity on your message, build confidence, and show up consistently with content that connects.

Expert guidance, AI-powered support and accountability, plus 1:1 support from me.

DM 'GLOW' to book your clarity call.

At amplify, we believe alignment outperforms hustle, every time.

I’m passionate about redefining success.

Not the hustle-heavy, burnout blueprint we were all taught to follow…

…but a new kind of success.

Sustainable. Impactful. Creative. Scalable. Powered by AI and built on authenticity.

Your personal brand isn’t just about business growth, it’s the bridge to your dream life.

The clients, freedom, and opportunities you want are already available when you learn how to show up, share your story, and use AI to help scale your message further than ever before.

My mission:

To help you grow your personal brand with clarity, confidence, and content that truly connects, so you can create a life you love, by changing the lives of others.

Follow me for content on personal branding, AI, and performance.

Podcast Host

Flow, the podcast that unlocks the secrets to finding balance in the chaos so you can live your best life, in every area of your life.

Hi, I’m Hannah, personal growth junkie, ideator and lover of anything related to high performance working, living and loving.

Over the last 10 years I’ve been on a (very up and down) journey of self discovery with a goal of becoming the happiest, freest, most successful version of myself.

5 years ago I came across the concept of flow and it transformed my life. I now use the philosophy and teachings of flow to transform my clients lives and through this podcast, I hope flow can transform your life too.

The podcast will help you understand and free yourself from everything and anything which is holding you back from living the life you're meant to.

Lets get into flow, together.

Every January I notice the same pattern.

People reflect on how the past year went, dream of the future they know they’re meant to live, then set intentions for the new year (the “new year’s resolution”).

But after January passes… they slip back into the same habits, same pace, and the same way of doing everything alone.

It’s not because they’re lazy and don’t want to change (they most certainly do). 

What’s actually happening is that most people are trying to build a new life with the same nervous system, expectations, and support structure that kept them stuck this past year. And that rarely works (I know this because I lived it).

There was a time when I thought independence meant strength. I carried the mindset of “I can do everything myself” and “I need to do it myself if it’s going to be perfect” into each new year. I truly believed that if I could just read more, plan harder, think faster, I’d eventually figure it all out. 

And yes, I did make progress. But it was slow, exhausting, and often lonely (mixed in with burnout here and there)

So how did I get to where I am now? In flow, living my best life, and experiencing opportunities I had dreamed of, but wasn’t sure if they were possible? 

It wasn’t finding more motivation or discovering a ‘better’ strategy.

It came when I stopped trying to do everything by myself. When someone held the vision with me and gave me guidance, accountability, and a space where my ideas didn’t spiral, they sharpened.

That’s when things accelerated and I watched my life start to change in a way that felt almost effortless.

Most people don’t realise you don’t need a ‘new year resolution’. You need a new way of being supported. 

Because staying in “almost” is easy when you’re on your own. Almost ready, almost consistent, almost confident, almost there.

But growth happens faster when someone is walking beside you.

So before you set goals for 2026, ask yourself this: What version of me is trying to build this next chapter… and does she/he actually have the support they need?

If you’re reading this thinking, “I don’t want another year of almost”, I invite you to do things differently this time around.

Inside my newest programme, the Personal Brand Glow Up, we focus on exactly this. Clear direction, weekly live 1:1 support with me in a group setting, and a system that helps you build momentum without burning out.

If you want to explore whether it’s the right next step, you can book a free consultation with Angelina, my coaching specialist (link in the comments).

helping coaches become the obvious choice online | #1 personal brand coach @amplify | podcast host | author + speaker

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Most people quit right before the level changes.

If things feel harder than you expected, you’re probably doing it right.

This part of the journey catches so many people off guard. We’re sold the idea that once you ‘figure it out’, business gets easier. That confidence arrives, momentum stabilises, and the discomfort fades.

But in my experience, that’s not how it works.

Business doesn’t get easier, you just get better at dealing with the hard moments. You build resilience, develop self-trust, and learn how to regulate yourself when things wobble instead of spiralling or stopping.

And at the point when you're saying "I can't do this"... that usually means you're SO much closer than you think (you’re at the edge of a new level).

And every new level asks something different of you. New skills, new boundaries, a more-regulated nervous system, a stronger sense of identity…

The people who grow and continuously evolve are the ones who recognise doubt as part of the expansion, not a reason to quit.

So if things feel harder than you expected, take that as information (not judgement).

You might be much closer than you think.

Curious… when things get hard for you, do you tend to push, pause, or question everything? (let me know in the comments)

These are the moments the personal brand glow up was designed for… levelling up in a way that is real, tangible, and measured (not theoretical).

If you’re ready to be supported through your current phase, book a free consultation with Angelina, my coaching specialist (link in comments).

Starbucks went from just coffee to practically a lifestyle brand.

Starbucks didn’t wake up one day and decide to sell everything. They started with coffee, then food, seasonal cups, rituals, playlists, reusable mugs, gifting moments, etc.

They didn’t jump categories. They expanded the experience. And that’s the part most personal brands miss.

Starbucks isn’t successful because it sells more things. It’s successful because everything it adds reinforces the same feeling (familiar, comforting, consistent, elevated but accessible).

You don’t go there just for caffeine, you go for how it makes you feel while you’re there.

Here’s the personal branding lesson: you can add offers, you can evolve your work, you can grow your business beyond one thing, but only if what you’re adding extends your core promise (not distracts from it).

This is where so many coaches go wrong.

They don’t expand and pivot too fast. They develop a new offer, start targeting a new audience, go in a completely new direction… and suddenly the brand feels scattered, confusing, and harder to trust (I’ll be the first to admit, I’m guilty of this too!)

Strong brands don’t reinvent themselves every six months. They build depth first, then widen the circle.

So before you add something new, ask yourself this: “does this deepen the experience I’m already known for? Or does it pull attention away from it?”

Don’t pivot. Expand with alignment. That’s how brands scale without losing their power.

Now your turn. Tell me…if someone recommended you to a friend, what would they say you’re known for? (comment below)

The best mentors I’ve ever had created clarity (not dependency).

And they did it because they actually knew what they were talking about, and wanted me to evolve to a point where I wouldn’t need them anymore.

The best ones aren’t just ‘good communicators’.  They’ve lived the experiences they needed to live to be able to help others. They’ve both built and broken things along the way, and fixed what needed to be fixed. They’ve made mistakes that cost them time, money, energy, and confidence.

And instead of me needing to make all those same mistakes myself, I choose to learn from theirs instead. 

That’s the part most people miss when they decide mentorship isn’t “necessary”. What they fail to realise is that great mentorship is time compression. 

You’re not simply paying for an hour-long call. You’re instead learning from thousands of hours of experience (years of trial and error) distilled into a single conversation.

The best mentors will help you avoid the detours they already took. They see around corners you can’t see yet and spot patterns early because they’ve watched them play out before in their own lives.

And at the same time, they don’t take your power away or make you reliant on their opinion. They use their experience to sharpen your thinking, not replace it.

Instead of feeling dependent, you feel clearer. Instead of feeling smaller, you feel more capable. Instead of guessing, you move with conviction.

That’s when progress speeds up and you start to see the results you’ve been chasing. Because you’re working with better information (instead of just working harder).

And that’s the difference between mentorship that feels supportive in the moment…
and mentorship that actually changes your trajectory.

What’s one thing you wish someone had warned you about earlier on your journey? (share in the comments)

And if you’re craving this kind of mentorship, the Personal Brand Glow Up is where we support you to build clarity, confidence, and momentum without losing your autonomy or voice.

Book a free consultation with Angelina (my coaching specialist) to explore if it’s the right option or alternatively what kind of support would actually move you forward right now (link in comments).

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The Battle

Matt Swain

Hannah Power

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taplio

The Battle

Matt Swain

Hannah Power

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matt Swain's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreMatt Swain's LinkedIn Performance