LinkedIn Content Strategy for Fractional CMOs in HR Tech | Netwarm
LinkedIn playbook · Case study
LinkedIn content strategy for fractional CMOs in HR tech: how a Singapore marketer and satirist reached 110 founders and marketing leaders in one month
We read every reaction on 27 posts from a Singapore fractional CMO for HR tech. 974 people, 110 founders and marketing leaders. Here is what brings buyers, what brings peers, and the 5 posts we'd publish next.
Max Sawyer · Netwarm··12 min read
The creator in this case studyA Singapore fractional CMO for HR tech, author and satirist
Followers50,001
Posts~6 a week
These numbers are from 3 November. Your audience has already moved.
New founders and marketing leaders turn Hot every week and others go quiet. Run your free scan to see today’s version, with the names.
SellsFractional CMO work for HR tech companies, plus sponsored content and moderated panels
PeriodOct 1 – Oct 30
Ideal client: founders, CEOs and sales and marketing leaders at HR tech and B2B software companies selling into Asia.The challenge: The CMO has one of the biggest audiences in Singapore for satire about work and policy. The satire pulls hundreds of reactions. Does it pull the HR tech founders and marketing leaders who hire a fractional CMO?
Key takeaways
110 buyers in one month.Founders, CEOs and sales and marketing leaders made up 11.3% of the 974 people who reacted. HR professionals, coaches and recruiters made up most of the rest.
Marketing posts bring 1.7x the share of buyers.B2B marketing lessons: 17.4% buyers. Singapore satire: 10.4%. But each satire post still reached more buyers in total, 7.5 against 3.
11 buyers keep coming back.They reacted to 3 posts or more. One of them reacted to 11 of the 27.
01
Who actually reads you, and what the LinkedIn algorithm changed
The CMO posts about six times a week: satire on Singapore work and policy, stories from ten years running a recruitment firm, AI and future of work panels, and The Marketing Lab, a newsletter on B2B marketing for HR tech. 27 posts between 1 October and 30 October.
The LinkedIn algorithm shows a post to the people who reacted to the last ones, then to people like them. A satire post that reaches 659 people tells the algorithm that the CMO's audience is everyone in Singapore with a job. Reach can't tell a buyer from a fan. Who reacted can. We looked at every person who reacted and sorted them by role.
27posts in a month
974people reacted
110founders and marketing leaders
11came back 3+ times
Audience by roleThe 974 people who reacted, by roleFree
Buyers are 110 people, about 1 in 9. Peers are more than twice as many: 250 coaches, consultants, recruiters, career advisers and creators. They push reach, and they rarely hire a fractional CMO.
The largest group is everyone else: 614 people, many of them HR managers, HR directors and civil servants. HR leaders don't hire a CMO for HR tech, but they are the people the CMO's clients sell to. A post that reaches them is a post an HR tech founder wants to be part of.
SeniorityAll people who reactedFree
Founder, owner, C-level16%
Director, VP7.9%
Manager9.4%
Independent7.4%
Other59.2%
IndustriesFounders and marketing leaders onlyNetwarm
Software, SaaS, AI and tech40.9%
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Core audience11 founders and marketing leaders engaged 3+ times · 3 engaged 5+ timesNetwarm
11 founders and marketing leaders keep coming back. One of them reacted to 11 of the 27 posts.See your regulars
Engager company sizeEveryone who reacted, by company sizeNetwarm
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See which company sizes your founders and marketing leaders work at.See company sizes
02
What to post on LinkedIn to reach founders and marketing leaders
Most creators judge a post by its reactions. A fractional CMO who sells should judge it by who reacted.
We tagged each of the 27 posts by topic, then measured the share of founders and marketing leaders among the people who reacted.
Your topicsWhat your 27 posts were aboutFree
27posts
Singapore satire & policy12
Recruiting & career stories5
B2B marketing lessons4
AI & future of work panels3
Sponsored partner posts3
Topics that attract founders and marketing leadersShare of each topic’s reactions from founders and marketing leadersNetwarm
B2B marketing lessons17.4%
Sponsored partner posts15.0%
Recruiting & career stories14.7%
AI & future of work panels13.1%
Singapore satire & policy10.4%
One topic brings 1.7x the share of buyers of another. See which.See which topics
B2B marketing posts bring 1.7x the share of buyers that satire does (17.4% against 10.4%). Satire wins on volume: 7.5 buyers per post against 3, because it reaches far more people.
Posts that brought the most founders and marketing leadersShare of founders and marketing leaders in each post’s reactions1 of 5 open
#1The demo went great. The CHRO loved it. Then nothing.30.8%
#2Haze is the only recurring meeting that never gets cancelled30.8%
#3You polished your website. ChatGPT recommended your competitor.29.2%
#4Three rounds of approvals, seven likes: the customer video20%
#529 seconds versus 12: two sponsored videos compared20%
For comparison, the internship satire was the biggest post of the month (659 reactions) and brought 4% buyers among its first 100 reactors, the lowest share with the expense-claims post (4.2%).
6 rules for LinkedIn engagement from founders and marketing leaders
These rules come from what worked on the CMO's own profile, and from the best-performing posts by B2B SaaS marketers and fractional CMOs on LinkedIn over the last 3 months.
1
Open on the meeting where the deal died. HR tech founders know the stalled deal by heart: the demo went well, then the CFO, IT and procurement had questions nobody answered. Name that meeting in the first line, and they read the rest as their own story.On this profile: the stalled-demo post had the highest share of buyers of any post with 10+ reactions, 30.8%.
Point the satire at a work meeting, not only the news. Satire is the CMO's reach engine. When the joke sits inside a meeting every comms or marketing team has had, buyers laugh too, and they recognise the CMO behind it.On this profile: the comms team satire brought 18.8% buyers, almost twice the 10.4% of satire as a whole.
Tell the story only someone who sat in the seat can tell. Ten years as an MD, a business sold, a morning driving Uber. First-person stories from the founder's chair reach founders, because they've sat in the same chair.On this profile: the Uber story brought 15 buyers, the most of any post.
Make the product a character. HR software is hard to make interesting. Turn it into a person (the legacy system as the ex, the new tool as the one who listens) and the ad, or the post, gets watched.Across the niche: Shlomo Genchin's personified HiBob ad brought in more leads than any other ad he made for the client.
Answer the question CEOs ask about marketing. "Why do I need a CMO?", "Do we need marketing before Series A?". The question a founder asks out loud is the one that brings founders into the comments.Across the niche: Stephanie Buscemi's "Why do I need a CMO?" post drew 120 comments on 462 likes.
Lead with the one number the board asks for. Founders and CEOs are asked about pipeline, not clicks. One board-meeting scene and one number make a marketing post read like a business post.Across the niche: Alex Gluz's "14 metrics, the board asked about one" post drew 120 likes and 37 comments.
When founders and marketing leaders read: the best time to post on LinkedIn for fractional CMOs in HR tech
We compared the share of founders and marketing leaders by the day and the hour each post was published, in Singapore time. Monday is left out: only one post went out on a Monday, with 3 reactions.
Share of founders and marketing leaders by posting dayAmong the people who reacted to each postFree
13.5%
Tue
12.6%
Wed
12.4%
Thu
7.8%
Fri
17.7%
Sat
11.0%
Sun
Best time to post, by hourShare of founders and marketing leaders among people who reactedFree
12.2%
8:00
16.2%
10:00
12.5%
12:00
7.8%
14:00
Saturday brought the highest share of buyers, 17.7%, on 2 posts. Tuesday came next at 13.5%. Friday was the lowest at 7.8%: keep Friday for the lightest satire.
By hour, 10 a.m. brought the highest share, 16.2% over 8 posts, and 2 p.m. the lowest, 7.8%. Publish the posts that sell the work (the stalled deal, the founder story, the board number) at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday.
05
5 posts ready to publish to target founders and marketing leaders
Each post follows the rules above, in the CMO's voice. Swap in your own details before posting: the real client story is what makes it land.
1Ready to postClient story + lead magnet
The meeting your HR tech deal died inRule 1: open on the meeting where the deal died. Modelled on the stalled-demo post, the highest buyer share on the profile.
Hook
The CHRO said yes in the demo. The CFO said no in a meeting you never saw.I've watched this happen to HR tech vendors more times than I'd like.The demo is lovely. The champion is excited. Then the deal goes into a room with finance, IT and procurement, and your champion gets three questions."What does it cost per head after year one?"
"Where does our employee data sit?"
"What are we switching off if we buy this?"She doesn't know. You weren't there. The meeting ends with "let's revisit next quarter".Which, in HR tech, means never.Most vendors answer this with a better demo. More features. A nicer deck.The champion doesn't need a better demo. She needs the answers on one page, before the meeting.So I wrote the page.The HR Tech Deal Room Kit:
↳ The 12 questions finance, IT and procurement ask after a great demo
↳ A one-line answer template for each
↳ The cost-per-head table your buyer was going to build anywayNo email needed. Comment "KIT" and I'll send it.Your champion will thank you. The CFO probably won't, but that's normal.
Visual · Single imageA meeting room door with a sign: "CFO, IT, Procurement. Vendor not invited." Plain, a little deadpan.Check before postingBuild the kit from your free HR Software Evaluation Scorecard before posting, and put your Netwarm Reveal link in the reply so you can see which founders download it.
Minutes of the weekly marketing meetingRule 2: point the satire at a work meeting buyers have sat in. Modelled on the comms team satire, almost twice the satire average.
Hook
MINUTES: Weekly Marketing Sync, HR Tech Startup Pte LtdPresent: CEO, Head of Sales, Marketing (one person), an intern who has not been told why he's here.1. Pipeline
CEO asked why demos are down. Sales said leads are bad. Marketing said leads are fine, sales doesn't call them. Both agreed to "align". No one knows what that means. Action: none.2. Website
CEO saw a competitor's new homepage on Sunday. Requested ours "also look like that". Marketing asked what we want it to say. CEO said "the same, but nicer". Action: new homepage, Q1.3. LinkedIn
CEO's last post got 14 likes. 11 were employees. 2 were his mum's friends. Action: post more.4. AI
We need an AI feature. Product said we have one. CEO said we need it on the homepage. See item 2.5. Budget
Approved: new logo.
Not approved: talking to customers.Next meeting: same time, same agenda.(Satire. All characters fictional. Any resemblance to your Monday is not my fault.)
Visual · DocumentThe minutes as a plain office memo screenshot, company letterhead blurred.Check before postingKeep it clearly labelled as satire, like your Tengah kitchen post. Swap in the agenda items you really hear from clients.
If your HR software were a personRule 4: make the product a character. Modelled on Shlomo Genchin's HiBob ad.
Hook
If your HR software were a person, would you invite it to dinner?I ask HR tech founders this when the messaging feels flat. It works better than any positioning workshop.The old system is easy to describe.
Asks for the same form three times.
Needs three approvals to say hello.
Remembers everything about you, except the thing you told it yesterday.The new one should be easy too. If it isn't, the website won't be either.So describe it like a person:
↳ What does it do when an employee is confused?
↳ What does it never ask twice?
↳ What would the finance team say about it at lunch?Three answers. That's your homepage.Shlomo Genchin did this with a soap opera breakup for HiBob: legacy HR software as the ex. It brought in more leads than any other ad he made for them.Apple did it with a Mac and a PC.Most HR tech homepages do it with a list of 47 features.So, which would you invite to dinner?
Visual · Short video or skitA 30-second skit: you play the legacy HR system at a dinner table, asking the same question three times.Check before postingUse a real founder conversation if you have one. Keep the skit format: your video posts reach the most people.
I ran a company for ten years and didn't hire a CMORule 3: the story only someone who sat in the seat can tell. Modelled on the Uber story, the post that brought the most buyers.
Hook
I ran a recruitment firm for ten years and never hired a marketer.I thought I didn't need one. Clients came from referrals. Candidates came from job ads. The phone rang.Then it stopped ringing as often, and I had no idea why.No one could tell me which clients came from where. Which job ads worked. Why one quarter was great and the next was quiet. I was running a business on vibes and the occasional good lunch.I only found out what marketing was for after I sold the company.It isn't the logo. It isn't the posts.It's knowing why the phone rings, so you can make it ring again.That's what I do now for HR tech founders. Most of them are where I was: good product, good referrals, and no idea which of the two is about to run out.If you're there right now, three questions:
↳ Where did your last five customers first hear about you?
↳ Which of those can you do again on purpose?
↳ Who in the company owns that number?If the answer to the last one is "me, sort of", we should talk.
Visual · PhotoAn old photo from the recruitment firm days, office or name card. Real, not staged.Check before postingUse your real numbers and memories from the recruitment firm. Change any detail that isn't true.
Do HR tech startups need a CMO?Rule 5: answer the question CEOs ask about marketing. Modelled on Stephanie Buscemi's "Why do I need a CMO?".
Hook
"Do we need a CMO yet?"Every HR tech founder asks me this. The honest answer is usually no.You don't need a CMO if:
↳ You can't say who you sell to in one sentence
↳ The founder still closes every deal
↳ You have fewer than 10 customers who'd take a reference call
↳ The plan is "brand awareness"You need sharper positioning, and maybe a good freelancer.You need a CMO, full-time or fractional, when:
↳ Deals stall after the demo and nobody knows why
↳ Sales and marketing argue about lead quality every week
↳ The board asks how much pipeline marketing created, and the answer is a list of 14 metricsThat's when the job stops being "do marketing" and becomes "own a number".A CMO who can't name the number they own is just an expensive content calendar.And a founder who hires one too early pays for a logo refresh and a new website. I've seen both. Sometimes in the same quarter.Which list is your company on?
Visual · Text onlyNo image. The two lists carry the post.Check before postingAdjust the signs to what you really see with clients. If you mention a client, keep them anonymous.
Free forever: unlimited scheduling through LinkedIn’s official API, with images, video and PDF carousels.
06
LinkedIn lead generation: lead magnets that work to target founders and marketing leaders
Reactions show interest. A download shows intent. The fastest way to find out which founders are serious is to give them something useful and see who takes it.
In B2B SaaS and HR tech marketing, these formats get the most requests:
Format 1The copyable scorecardA spreadsheet the buyer was going to build anyway, ready to copy. No email needed, so it travels inside the buying committee.
Format 2The workflow playbookEvery prompt and step behind one job, written so someone else can pick it up on Monday.
Format 3The one-job toolkitTen workflows for one role, with a checklist and a 30-minute exercise to start.
Format 4The printable mapEverything that drives demand on one page, to keep on the desk and check against.
Our pick for you: “The HR Tech Deal Room Kit”Built from the free HR Software Evaluation Scorecard the CMO already gives away: the questions the CFO, IT and procurement ask after a great demo, with a one-line answer template for each, so the CHRO champion can defend the deal in the meeting the vendor isn't invited to. Offer it at the end of post 1.With a Reveal link, every person who downloads it is shown by name, with their role and how warm they are. Your first Reveal link is free.Create your free Reveal link
07
From reactions to clients
Content brings founders and marketing leaders to the profile. It doesn't say when to reach out. Most never comment, so they stay invisible among 974 people, and a founder reading every post in October may have hired another CMO by January.
On LinkedIn, the right moment to start a conversation is when someone keeps coming back. We call that Hot: 5 or more points over 90 days, where a reaction counts 1, a repost 2, a download or a reply 4.
Hot right now3 founders and marketing leaders · not contacted yetNetwarm
3 founders and marketing leaders are Hot. See who to message first.See who’s Hot
First messageAn opener for each Hot person, based on the posts they readNetwarm
Hi Jordan, you've been reading The Marketing Lab for a few weeks. Is the stalled-demo problem on your list for Q1?Hi Sam, I saw you reacted to the customer video post. Have you tried running one through a customer's own profile yet?
A first line for each of them, ready to send.See the openers
Netwarm sends nothing for you. It tells you who and when, and you write the message. It also works inside Claude and ChatGPT: ask “Who's Hot today?” and get the list.
08
FAQ
Keep the satire for reach, and give buyers their own posts: the meeting where an HR tech deal stalls, first-person founder stories, the question CEOs ask about marketing, and one number the board cares about. Here, B2B marketing posts brought 1.7x the share of buyers that satire did.
For this CMO, Saturday brought the highest share of founders and marketing leaders (17.7%), then Tuesday (13.5%). Friday was the lowest (7.8%). By hour, 10 a.m. Singapore time led with 16.2%.
This CMO posts about six times a week, and 11 buyers came back 3 times or more in a month. Volume works for reach. Make sure at least two posts a week are written for buyers, not for the whole feed.
Look at who reacts, not how many. Group reactions by role, measure the share of your ideal clients per post, and follow the people who keep coming back. A free Netwarm scan does this for you.
Yes. Netwarm only reads public reactions to your own posts. It never logs in as you, never asks for your password, and never messages anyone for you.
How we made this playbook
We read the public reactions on 27 posts published between 1 October and 30 October 2026, up to the first 100 people per post, and sorted the 974 people by role. Three duplicate or deleted posts were left out. Comments were not counted, so engagement figures are a floor.
Niche rules come from top posts by B2B SaaS marketers and fractional CMOs over the last 3 months. Role groups are approximate; a Netwarm scan matches people to your own ideal client.
