“I just spent three days at VidCon, the annual social media convention in Anaheim, hanging out with a few thousand current and future internet celebrities. And it’s increasingly obvious to me that the teenagers and 20-somethings who have mastered these platforms — and who are often dismissed as shallow, preening narcissists by adults who don’t know any better — are going to dominate not just internet culture or the entertainment industry but society as a whole.”
“But if you can look past the silliness and status-seeking, many people at VidCon are hard at work. Being an influencer can be an exhausting, burnout-inducing job, and the people who are good at it have typically spent years working their way up the ladder. Many social media influencers are essentially one-person start-ups, and the best ones can spot trends, experiment relentlessly with new formats and platforms, build an authentic connection with an audience, pay close attention to their channel analytics, and figure out how to distinguish themselves in a crowded media environment — all while churning out a constant stream of new content.”
– Kevin Roose, the New York Times, July 16, 2019
If you missed The Seven Secrets of Social Media Success last week, read Manley Miller below:
Seven Secrets of Social Media Success
There’s a difference between knowing how to use social media and knowing how to leverage social media.
Using social media won’t do anything for your business, cause, movement or sales.
Leveraging social media will.
You can’t leverage social media if you don’t know how to create share-worthy and follow-worthy content.
If you have to ask someone to follow you, then your content isn’t good enough.
You’re not building a following. You’re just a bum at a 7-11 begging for a solid. Sure, it might work, but you’ll never pay a mortgage that way.
Now before we get to the seven secrets of social media success I’m assuming you know the 3 rules of content creation.
- Make Fresh New Content
- At a Consistent Pace
- And a Predictable Schedule
The 6 o’clock news will be on today. At 6 o’clock. And I don’t know what the story will be, but it will be something different than yesterday.
If you can’t commit to those 3 rules then just close this book now. You can use it as a coaster.
Now you’re creating content. Let’s make it successful. You have to publish content that includes at least 1 of these seven.
The most successful do more than one simultaneously.
Success Secret 1:
Skin
Show cleavage, scantily clad outfits, tight and revealing clothing, or shake it, twerk it, bounce it, bop it. This is the fastest, easiest, most reliable and ethically questionable method.
Success Secret 2:
Style
Fashion sense, costuming, elegant clothing, dress, make up, hair, home decor, renovation, balloon arranging and photography. Any unique sense of style in any category will work.
Success Secret 3:
Stance
Take a controversial stance, declare it boldly, and never apologize for it. Now double down. Doesn’t have to be political. “You should spank your kids, game the credit card companies for points and use to travel, invest everything in crypto, stay at home dads are better for marriages, or Lebron James is better than Michael Jordan.” Any controversial stance will work.
Success Secret 4:
Skill
Show off your amazing talent. Cooking, dancing, plate spinning, drawing, parkour, gymnastics, surfing, instrumentation, singing, skiing, and folding clothes. Focus on developing one skill until you become better than most. Then make that YOUR Thing.
Success Secret 5:
Stunt
Any intentionally planned publicity stunt to get an unexpected reaction from someone. Can be a prank, an act of generosity, a set up, a hidden camera, or vandalism.
Success Secret 6:
Sketch
Planned comedy sketches with scripts, directing, editing, or sound effects. Stand up comedy, parody, mockery, and roasting someone will work.
Success Secret 7:
Stupidity
People love to see others fail and hurt themselves. Jackass, American Funniest Home Videos, Ridiculousness, and fail videos have made this a well worn path to video success.
Now you’ve been given the seven secrets to social media success. It’s up to you what you do with this information.
You’ll at least be able to spot the next self-declared nose-picking social media marketing expert who wants to help you use social media to grow your platform.
If you’re strategy doesn’t include leveraging these seven secrets then your destiny is mediocrity.
There’s no benefit in the perfect execution of a bad strategy.