Kieran Flanagan's AI-Marketing Playbook for Attention

Kieran Flanagan's AI-Marketing Playbook for Attention

I went down a small LinkedIn rabbit hole this week and found something I didn't expect: Kieran Flanagan has 101,708 followers, posts about 2.5 times per week, and still pulls a Hero Score of 41.00.

That combo matters. Big audience plus strong relative engagement is rare, because scale usually flattens interaction. But Kieran's content doesn't feel like "broadcast". It feels like an operator thinking out loud and pulling other operators into the conversation.

I wanted to understand what makes his content work, so I compared him with two other creators who also show a 41.00 Hero Score: Richard Tromans (AI and law) and Alexander Klopping (media and publishing). And a few patterns jumped out fast.

Here's what stood out:

• Kieran wins with opinionated frameworks, not just "tips". He gives you a mental model you can steal in 30 seconds.
• All three creators punch through because they're category anchors. They don't chase every topic. They stand for something.
• The real edge isn't frequency. It's packaging. Tight hooks, short paragraphs, and structured lists do a lot of heavy lifting.

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Kieran Flanagan's Performance Metrics

Here's what's interesting: Kieran is big enough to get lazy and still do fine. But the metrics suggest the opposite. 101,708 followers with a 41.00 Hero Score implies his posts keep earning comments and reactions relative to audience size, not just coasting on reach. And at 2.5 posts per week, he's not trying to out-post everyone. He's trying to out-think them.

Key Performance Indicators

And because we have two comparison creators with the same Hero Score, we can do a cleaner "style vs scale" comparison.

What surprised me: the same Hero Score across very different audience sizes suggests each creator has found a "format-market fit" for their niche. They might not post the same way, but they all know how to get their specific people to respond.

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What Makes Kieran Flanagan's Content Work

When you read Kieran's stuff back-to-back, you can feel the pattern.

He's not trying to be a motivational poster.

He's trying to ship useful thinking.

1. Opinionated frameworks that reduce confusion

So here's the first thing I noticed: Kieran doesn't just say "AI is changing marketing." He turns it into a frame that makes your current strategy feel outdated.

He'll contrast things like Customer vs. Clicks or "old dashboards" vs "new dashboards" and suddenly you can see the gap in your own team.

Key Insight: If your post doesn't give the reader a new lens, you're basically writing a nicer version of the news.

This works because busy marketers aren't looking for more information. They're looking for a way to decide what matters. A clean framework is a decision shortcut.

Strategy Breakdown:

2. Operator energy (peer-to-peer, not teacher-to-student)

Most LinkedIn creators either talk down or talk vague. Kieran mostly talks sideways, like you're both in the same Slack channel trying to fix pipeline.

He uses direct language, short paragraphs, and the occasional sarcastic jab at bad marketing habits. It lands because it's familiar. You've lived it.

And the tone is consistent with his headline: Marketing (CMO, SVP) | All things AI | Sequoia Scout | Advisor. He's positioned as someone who has to make the numbers work, not just comment on them.

Comparison with Industry Standards:

3. He writes for scanning, not "reading"

Kieran's posts are built for the reality of LinkedIn: you skim until something grabs you.

He uses isolated one-liners, short paragraphs, and lists that do the explaining. The layout is doing persuasion before the words even land.

And this is where timing matters too. The data says his best times for high-comment posts skew early afternoon (around 14:00 local time), especially 14:00 to 16:00 Europe/Dublin.

If your audience is in EU and US, that window is sneaky good: EU folks are still working, and US folks are waking up or mid-morning.

4. He makes AI practical (without making it "toy")

A lot of AI content is either hype or prompts. Kieran sits in a better lane: AI as operational advantage.

He talks about assistants, agents, metrics, dashboards, and what changes inside the team. Not "look what ChatGPT did". More like "here's how your marketing org will work next year".

And honestly, that is why he can post only a few times a week and still feel present. The posts have shelf life.

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Their Content Formula

Kieran's formula is simple enough to copy, but it's not easy to execute unless you actually have opinions.

Content Structure Breakdown

The Hook Pattern

What I kept seeing: he opens like someone who's already decided.

Template:

"AI broke your marketing because you've been optimising for clicks, not customers."

A couple hook variations you can borrow (and yes, they're a little spicy on purpose):

• "The metric you're reporting is the reason your strategy feels stuck."
• "If your team isn't prototyping weekly, you're already behind."
• "Traffic is getting harder. Your content system has to change."

Why it works: the hook isn't trying to be clever. It's trying to be clear. And it sets up a tension the reader wants resolved.

The Body Structure

His body sections tend to move fast: context, then structure.

Body Structure Analysis:

The CTA Approach

Kieran's CTAs tend to be low-pressure and context-driven. He'll either:

• End with a summary line that feels like a challenge.
• Add a quick P.S. inviting builders to DM.
• Point to longer-form content (Substack, YouTube) when there's more depth.

Psychologically, it's smart: if you're writing as a senior operator, a hard sell breaks the spell. A soft CTA keeps the tone consistent.

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Side-by-Side: What The Other Two Creators Reveal

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Richard Tromans and Alexander Klopping both show a 41.00 Hero Score too.

So if the engagement quality is similar, what's different?

Comparison Table 1: Scale vs Focus

Comparison Table 2: Credibility Signals

Comparison Table 3: What I'd copy from each

The shared thread: each creator has a clear "job" on the platform. People know why they follow.

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3 Actionable Strategies You Can Use Today

1. Write a one-line "enemy" - Pick the thing you're arguing against ("clicks over customers") so your point of view is obvious.

2. Turn one idea into a numbered system - Force yourself into "1, 2, 3" and add bullets under each. Your post instantly becomes skimmable.

3. Post when your best commenters are online - If your audience is EU-heavy, test 14:00-16:00 local time for comment depth, not just impressions.

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Key Takeaways

1. Kieran's edge is packaging plus conviction - frameworks, short paragraphs, and an operator voice.
2. Same Hero Score doesn't mean same strategy - Richard and Alexander likely win with different content "fuel" (signal vs story).
3. Consistency beats volume - 2.5 posts per week can be plenty if each post earns discussion.

Give it a try for a week: write one contrarian hook, one 3-part framework, and one short closing challenge. Then watch what people actually reply to. What do you think your audience would argue with?

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Meet the Creators

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This analysis was generated by ViralBrain's AI content intelligence platform.