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I Studied 10,000+ Videos, These Mistakes Are Killing Your Content — Transcript

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0:00If you want to build a business using
0:01social media, there are a few huge
0:03mistakes you have to avoid making. And I
0:05see people fall into these over and over
0:07again. I call these the seven deadly
0:10pitfalls. If you can avoid all of these,
0:12it's pretty much guaranteed that you
0:13will eventually win on social media. But
0:15if you fall into even one of these
0:17traps, it will set you back months or
0:19even years immediately. So, in this
0:21video, I'm going to break down all seven
0:22deadly pitfall mistakes that you need to
0:24avoid at all costs when you're growing
0:26on social media. I'll cover what to do,
0:28what not to do, and most importantly,
0:30how to fix it if you've already made one
0:32or more of these critical mistakes. By
0:34the way, I'm Callaway. I have a million
0:35followers. I've done billions of views,
0:37and content is all I do all day long.
0:39All right, mistake number one is super
0:41simple, but it's devastating for the
0:42people that make it. And it has to do
0:44with running paid ads. And I'll say it
0:45super plainly. If you have an organic
0:47account that's already working on social
0:49media, do not ever run paid ads directly
0:52through that organic account. I'm
0:54talking about boosting organic posts
0:56directly. Do not do it. If you've
0:58already done this, you'll know
0:59immediately what I'm about to say and
1:00why this is such a critical mistake.
1:02When you run paid ads through an organic
1:04account, one of two things is going to
1:06happen. First, you send a signal to the
1:08social platform that you're willing to
1:10pay for additional reach. This means you
1:13have money in their eyes. When they
1:14detect this, it's rumored that the
1:16platforms will slowly throttle down the
1:18free organic reach you are getting to
1:20try to bait you into continuing to pay.
1:22Now, they'll never admit this and it's
1:24anecdotal, can't be proved, but if you
1:26think about it, it makes a ton of sense
1:27if this is how it works. If I was
1:29running a social platform trying to
1:30optimize for ad revenue, that's exactly
1:32what I would do. Now, I'm not here to
1:33spread rumors that I can't substantiate
1:35for sure. So, let's just assume the
1:36platforms don't literally throttle you
1:39just because you paid. It doesn't even
1:40really matter because the second thing
1:42that happens when you run paid ads on an
1:44organic account is that you will notice
1:46your reach go down. It's not the
1:48platforms doing it on purpose, but
1:50something happens that will force your
1:52reach down. Let me explain. When you
1:54have an organic account that's working
1:55and you're posting content for free and
1:57viewers are coming in, the algorithm has
1:58a super clear profile of exactly who is
2:01watching and engaging. This is called
2:03your audience avatar. When you run paid
2:05ads, you bring in a whole new crop of
2:07viewers to your original organic
2:08audience, many of which aren't a perfect
2:11exact match to that ideal audience
2:13avatar. And when they come in, they
2:15don't engage because of the content on
2:16its own. they engage because of whatever
2:18promise the ad was making. In other
2:20words, by paying for more reach, you've
2:22actually diluted the clarity that the
2:24algorithm has on who your audience is.
2:26So, when you run your next organic post
2:28for free, a portion of those viewers
2:30that see it are the ones that came in
2:32from the paid ads, and they won't engage
2:34or watch it because they didn't actually
2:35like you or the content in the first
2:37place. This leads to weak performance
2:39metrics on the organic post, which
2:41signals to the algorithm your content
2:43has gotten worse, so they push it less.
2:45That's why your views go down. The truth
2:47is, your content may not have gotten
2:49worse, but your content audience fit
2:51did. So, when you run paid ads on an
2:53organic account that's working, either
2:55the platforms literally throttle you or
2:57your newly expanded but less targeted
2:59audience engages less. Either way, your
3:02organic reach is going down. Now, I
3:04can't say conclusively exactly how many
3:06paid ads it takes to trigger this
3:07effect. I also can't say the amount of
3:09ad spend it would take to trigger this.
3:11But if this has happened to you and you
3:13had an account working, you ran paid ads
3:15and now the account is no longer
3:16working, you'll know immediately this is
3:18real and how devastating that can be.
3:20Now, I'll say this, there is a way to
3:21revive an organic account where this has
3:23happened. And the way is by shifting the
3:26mix of your audience more organic and
3:28less paid. So, all you have to do is
3:30post a ton of organic content, probably
3:32months worth in a row, and try to slowly
3:34rebalance that mix to be more organic.
3:37But if you did run a lot of paid ads and
3:39your audience is a lot of those
3:40pay-to-play people that didn't really
3:41want to be there, your account might be
3:43cooked. So my recommendation, and I
3:45cannot say this clearly enough, once you
3:47have an organic account that is working,
3:49do not run paid ads directly from that
3:51account. Now, here is a really important
3:53distinction when it comes to paid ads.
3:54And this is where I will square my
3:56advice from all the things you're
3:58hearing from people like Gary Vee and
3:59others. It's true that the best strategy
4:01for using social media is to first run
4:04organic posts to verify what works and
4:06then juice those organic posts with ads.
4:09That is the optimal strategy. But here's
4:10the critical difference. When you run
4:12them as ads, you don't boost directly
4:14from the organic golden goose. You
4:16either run them from a meta ads account
4:18that's connecting multiple accounts
4:20together or you take the creative that
4:23worked to a separate account designed
4:25for paid and boost it there. Once you
4:28have the golden goose, you do not boost
4:30directly from that or you'll lose the
4:31organic reach. This is the nuance that
4:33not a lot of people talk about, but I've
4:35seen over and over again is a huge
4:37mistake from business owners. Again, I'm
4:38not saying paid ads are bad. Paid ads
4:40are amazing, but running paid ads on an
4:42organic account that's already getting
4:44you free reach is a disaster. All right,
4:46the second major social media mistake
4:47that I see is people that get spread too
4:50thin way too early. I call this failure
4:52by suffocation. Not to be crude, here's
4:54what happens. Typically, someone will
4:56start to get some traction on one social
4:59platform. Maybe it's Instagram, maybe
5:00it's Tik Tok, maybe it's YouTube. But
5:02what happens is that instead of doubling
5:04down to really focus your attention to
5:06scale and systematize, instead they
5:08immediately try to expand from one to
5:10many platforms. When you do this, you
5:12fracture your focus, kind of like
5:14Voldemort's Horcruxes in Harry Potter.
5:16And this suffocates that initial golden
5:18goose platform of the creative and
5:20operational attention that it needed.
5:22So, you go from spinning one plate
5:23successfully to spinning five plates
5:25poorly. And this is probably the biggest
5:27hidden mistake in all of business, not
5:29just content. You jump to a second,
5:31third, or fourth battle before winning
5:33and locking things up on the home front
5:35first. Now, I know this mistake
5:36intimately because this is the single
5:38biggest misstep that I have made in my
5:40content and entrepreneurial journey. So,
5:42here's what I recommend you do instead
5:44and what I wish I would have done if I
5:45could go back to the beginning. Start
5:47with a single platform and a single
5:49content format. So for me it would have
5:51been short form video on Instagram. What
5:53you want to do is compound all your
5:55focus and attention on that one single
5:57surface. And that means becoming
5:59automatic at making winning content
6:01every single time for that platform.
6:04Responding to all comments, responding
6:06to all DMs, really going allin on that
6:08one platform ecosystem. Then build a
6:11system for producing the optimal content
6:14volume on that platform. In this case
6:16for Instagram with short form video,
6:17it'd be one post per day. Build a system
6:19for doing that and do not focus on
6:21anything else until that system runs
6:24itself. And the way you judge if it can
6:25run itself is that you hire yourself out
6:27of every non-delegatable task without
6:30the quality or quantity going down. Now,
6:33that system must be resilient enough to
6:34run for 30 days in a row without
6:36breaking. That's how you know it really
6:38works. This will probably take you 3, 6,
6:40maybe 12 months to do that one system
6:42for that one platform in that one
6:44format. It is only at that point, once
6:47you have a system running for 30 days in
6:49a row without breaking, that you should
6:51then expand and try to tackle another
6:53content platform. I call this overall
6:55approach methodical expansion. This is
6:57the right strategy to prevent yourself
6:59from burnout and really set up a strong
7:01foundation to be able to build on top
7:02of. But most people don't do this. Most
7:04people get a tiny bit of traction on
7:06that first platform, realize it's going
7:07to be a ton of work, fracture their
7:09focus somewhere else because they think
7:10it's an easier game, and then they're
7:12fighting on two fronts, which brings
7:14both of their outputs down. I know this
7:16intimately because this is what I did.
7:17The truth is, and this really is the
7:19golden nugget, if you pick the right
7:21platform format combination the first
7:23time for whatever it is your business
7:25is, you might not ever need a second,
7:28third, or fourth. That first one could
7:29feed your business forever. So, if
7:31you're a beginner, hopefully this is
7:32encouraging to hear. You don't need to
7:34fight on all fronts. Pick one format,
7:36one platform, and go all in on getting
7:38the most out of it. Build a system,
7:40delegate yourself out of that system,
7:42make sure it's resilient, and then
7:44consider expanding to a second. All
7:46right, social media mistake number three
7:47is what I call shotgun topics. And this
7:49happens when you cover too many
7:50different topics on the same social
7:52media account. This is one of those
7:53mistakes that is going to make your
7:55growth feel like quicksand. You're
7:56moving, your legs are turnurning, but
7:58you're actually going nowhere. Here's
7:59what happens. Social media algorithms
8:01are designed to cluster around similar
8:03topics. That's how they're built. This
8:05is why social media in the 4U era is not
8:07really social media anymore. It's more
8:09like interest media. The algorithms
8:10figure out what topics you're interested
8:12in as a viewer. Detect what topic a
8:14video is about and then try to best
8:16match the two so that viewers see things
8:18they're interested in. So, as a creator,
8:20your only goal is to train the algorithm
8:23that your channel is a go-to for a
8:25specific topic cluster set. The more it
8:28feels confident in this designation, the
8:30more it will know who to put your videos
8:32in front of and the more it will push
8:33them. The big mistake that many creators
8:35and brands make, especially at the
8:37beginning, is that they assume the
8:39viewer is there for them as the person.
8:41And because of that, they have a free
8:43license to talk about whatever topic
8:45they want. The truth is, viewers aren't
8:47watching for you. They're watching for
8:48their own selfish interest, whether that
8:50be entertainment or educational value.
8:53Now, I'll admit maybe your top 5 to 10%
8:55super fans will listen to you talk about
8:58whatever topic you want, regardless of
8:59it's in their interest set. But for the
9:01other 90 to 95%, the masses, they
9:03couldn't care less if you cover a topic
9:05they don't care about. So, when creators
9:07or brands try to cover too many topics
9:09on the same channel, the algorithm gets
9:10confused, doesn't know who to push you
9:12for, and then pushes you less. So, my
9:14recommendation is very simple. Build a
9:16channel that is worldclass around a
9:18single topic. If you have an offer, a
9:20product, or a personal brand domain that
9:22you know you're building for, this
9:23shouldn't be hard. You already have your
9:25topic. Stick with that. And if you're
9:26early in the content game and you're not
9:28really sure what category or topic to
9:30pick, that's totally fine. Feel free to
9:31experiment and jump around. Just know
9:33you won't grow very fast until you lock
9:35in on one. Again, this is something that
9:37I personally struggle with a lot in my
9:39own channels. And upon reflection, I
9:41realized I was playing the game
9:42completely wrong. That's why I didn't
9:44grow as fast as I wanted. I had a tech
9:46and AI channel where I also intermixed
9:48videos about brand and marketing. I
9:50thought I'm the GOAT so I can violate
9:52the rules and people would just follow
9:53for me and it doesn't really matter. I
9:55was wrong because even though I was
9:56getting millions of views on both types
9:58of videos, my audience wasn't growing.
10:00And that's because every time I posted,
10:02only half of my audience would have
10:03cared about the topic in the first
10:05place. And that half was switching
10:06depending on whether I was making tech
10:08or marketing. What I realized is that
10:09I'd be a lot better off just making two
10:11different accounts and training them
10:13separately, separate algorithms,
10:15separate audiences, and compounding like
10:17that. This way, I could become a go-to
10:18in each field and have the algorithm
10:20help me both times instead of hurt me.
10:23Do not cover too many topics on a single
10:25channel. If you're trying to grow
10:26faster, just pick one or make multiple
10:28channels. All right, social media
10:29mistake number four and a huge trap is
10:31probably the most common question that I
10:33get asked and it has to do with picking
10:35your niche. specifically feeling like
10:36you wasted time and effort if you picked
10:39the wrong one. So, the question we're
10:40answering here and the pitfall we're
10:42really avoiding is, how do I pick the
10:44right niche based on my goals so that I
10:46make sure I use my time wisely? Now, I'm
10:48going to make it super simple for you. I
10:49have a four question framework that you
10:51can use to figure out what niche is best
10:53for you. And this works for every
10:54person, brand, creator, any scenario.
10:57This is the ideal formula for figuring
10:59out your niche. Okay, it's a four
11:00question thing. The first question, are
11:02you trying to make money from content or
11:04not? If not, the answer is easy. You
11:06should pick the niche or topic that
11:07you're most interested in. Don't
11:09overthink it. Don't try to calculate
11:11things. You're not going for money. You
11:13know that. And so, pick the topic that
11:14you actually care the most about. If
11:16yes, you are trying to make money from
11:18content. Maybe not today. Maybe today,
11:20maybe eventually. Keep going to question
11:21two. All right. Second question. Do you
11:23already have a product or offer or
11:26service or an established personal brand
11:28niche that you know you want to drive
11:30traffic to? Yes or no? If yes, then
11:33that's also easy because the topic or
11:34niche decision has already been made for
11:36you. If you have a product or service or
11:38offer, you're making content about that
11:40niche. Your goal is to become an expert
11:42or position your brand as an expert in
11:44that niche to flow back to the product.
11:46If you sell accounting services, you're
11:48making accounting content. If you sell
11:50social media growth coaching, you're
11:51making content about social media.
11:52Again, your goal is to become one of the
11:54most well-known brands or personal
11:56brands in the space, developing an
11:58expertise or perspective on that topic.
12:00Okay? Now, if you don't already have a
12:02product or offer or service or personal
12:04brand category defined, you're going to
12:05keep going to question three. Okay,
12:07question three. Are you a complete
12:08beginner with zero content skills in
12:10this format, or do you have the basics
12:13already dialed? And by the way, the only
12:15way you should consider having the
12:16basics dialed is if you've made a lot of
12:18content in this exact format. So, if
12:20you're doing short form video, the only
12:22way you can say you have the basics
12:23dialed is if you've made 30 or more
12:25short form videos in the past. So, if
12:27you've never done 30 short form videos,
12:29if that's the medium you're going for,
12:30you are considered a beginner. Okay. So,
12:32question three is, are you a beginner or
12:33not? If you're a beginner, you're going
12:34to pick whatever topic you're most
12:36interested in. Doesn't matter, and
12:38you're going to make 20 or 30 short form
12:39videos on that. And I know this will
12:41sound counterintuitive, but you're going
12:42to assume after those 20 to 30 videos,
12:45you may have to start over from scratch
12:47on a new topic. And this is completely
12:49fine. It's completely okay. Those first
12:5120 to 30 videos are what I consider your
12:53learning era. Because the truth is, if
12:55you're trying to actually make money
12:57from social media, closing the skill gap
13:00on how you make content will come before
13:02you actually make any money. So, the
13:04most important thing you can do is pick
13:05a topic you actually like so that you
13:07make enough videos to be able to close
13:09the gap. You have to close the gap. The
13:11only way to close it is to make videos.
13:12The only way you're going to keep making
13:14enough videos to close it is by picking
13:15a topic you actually care about. Now,
13:17once you hit 20 to 30 videos on whatever
13:19topic you picked, you will graduate from
13:21a true beginner to having the basics
13:24covered, level one to level two. And at
13:26that time, you can decide to keep going
13:28with the niche you've chosen based on
13:30all the new information and skills you
13:31have, or restart from zero with a new
13:34niche, but you get to take the skills
13:35with you. Okay? Okay. So, once you
13:36graduate from being a beginner to having
13:38the basics dialed, whether you came into
13:39this exercise having the basics done, or
13:41you've done step three, you did the 20
13:43to 30 videos on your favorite topic, and
13:45now you have the basics covered, we're
13:46going to move to the last question,
13:48question four. Question four, are you
13:50trying to eventually monetize from your
13:51own products, services, or offers, or
13:54are you mostly trying to monetize from
13:56brand deals? And I know you may not
13:58understand what this means today if
14:00you're a pure beginner, but let me try
14:01to break this down. Really, what I'm
14:03saying is, do you eventually want to
14:04both have to make content and make
14:07products, or do you just want to make
14:09content and get paid to make content?
14:10Those are kind of the two paths. Now,
14:12like I said, if you're a true beginner,
14:13you may not understand the difference
14:14today. But that's fine because you're
14:16not going to be on step four today.
14:17You're going to be on step three, making
14:18your first 20, 30 videos to close the
14:20skill gap. Okay, now back to the
14:21monetization because question four is
14:22really where people get tripped up. If
14:24you're trying to monetize from your own
14:25products or services, but you don't have
14:27them today, you don't know what they're
14:28going to be. The best way to pick what
14:30content to make is either a space where
14:33you have unique insights or experience.
14:36Maybe you worked a job in the past,
14:37maybe you've really studied it or
14:38focused in, or you pick a customer
14:41profile that you want to spend the next
14:44decade interacting with, talking with,
14:46studying, and communicating with. This
14:48is how you work backwards. If you don't
14:50have a product or offer today, but you
14:52think you want one in the future, this
14:54is how you start with the content
14:56audience to then fit into the product or
14:58offer. For example, let's say you have a
15:00bunch of unique knowledge around
15:01wellness. You studied nutrition in
15:03college. You worked at a wellness
15:05startup. You just really care about
15:06wellness. Or you just want to be in the
15:08wellness space. You know that. You just
15:10don't know how. You don't know what you
15:11want to make, etc. Well, then I would
15:13pick wellness as my content topic and
15:15start hammering videos in wellness.
15:18Eventually, you will figure out what
15:19people need and build a product or
15:21offer. But you don't need to close that
15:22gap today. What you do want to do is
15:24make sure directionally you're angled
15:26towards a space that you want to keep
15:28going in. And so thinking about where
15:29you have expertise or which audience
15:31profile you want to play with is a
15:32really good way to think about this
15:33backwards. Okay. Now, on the other side,
15:35let's say you never want to own your own
15:37products, right? Making content is
15:38enough. You don't want to have to both
15:39make content and make products. You're
15:41good just making content. That would be
15:43the brand deal side. What you really
15:45want is to make content, have brands pay
15:46you to do it. So, if that's you, the way
15:48I would pick my niche, if I don't
15:50already have one that I'm obsessed with,
15:52I would pick one where you have huge
15:54companies that make a ton of profit
15:56already paying influencers a lot to make
15:58content. So, for example, if you're
16:00trying to monetize from brand deals, but
16:02you cover nonprofits, well, you're going
16:03to have a problem because the nonprofits
16:05don't pay influencers that much to cover
16:07them. So, if you actually want to build
16:09a business and make money from brand
16:10deals, you got to pick a niche where the
16:12companies that are already paying
16:14influencers are paying a ton because
16:16that shows they're willing to pay more.
16:17So, if this is your path, I would spend
16:19less time thinking about what customer
16:21you're selling to and more time thinking
16:23about the players in the industry or the
16:25players in the space that would be
16:27paying you for those brand deals cuz
16:28your customers really are the brands,
16:30not the end buyer. Now the truth is
16:32ideally whether you take the products
16:34and services path or the brand deal path
16:36there's some vin diagram that merges
16:39what you actually care about and then
16:41either where you have unique interest or
16:43which brands are paying. Ideally there's
16:45an intersection that overlaps and that's
16:46the niche you pick. The reality though
16:48is that it's going to take hundreds of
16:50videos or hundreds of posts on social
16:52media for you to see any amount of
16:53money. So you really do need to pick a
16:55niche that you think you could make at
16:57least 100 posts about. So, that's the
16:59four question framework that really
17:00applies to any creator or brand on earth
17:02that runs through exactly how to pick
17:04your niche. The honest truth about
17:05content and social media is that the
17:07only way you lose is if you stop
17:09posting. And so, as long as you pick a
17:11category that you'll keep posting in,
17:13you'll win for sure. This is why I can't
17:15tell you personally which niche to pick
17:17specifically. I can only give you a
17:18framework to try to think through what
17:20matters at every stage. So, if you're a
17:22beginner, and I know a lot of people are
17:24watching this, pick a single category
17:25you're interested in. Make 30 videos.
17:27close that beginner skill gap and then
17:29re-evaluate with question four. All
17:31right, by the way guys, if you like how
17:32I'm breaking all of this down, kind of
17:34trying to explain these heady concepts
17:36that not a lot of people talk about into
17:37simple terms, I actually built a free
17:39community specifically for business
17:41owners where I do this for every aspect
17:43of the content workflow. If you're
17:45trying to grow on social media, you're
17:46trying to grow on YouTube, you need help
17:48with strategy, with thumbnails, with
17:49execution, with editing, all of it is
17:51explained in this type of framework in
17:54Wavy World. We have 65 free trainings.
17:5635,000 entrepreneurs are already in
17:58there. It's really a no-brainer. If you
18:00want to get better at content and you're
18:02a business owner, it's for you. Got a
18:03link in the description below if you
18:05want to sign up. All right. Social media
18:06mistakes number five and six really go
18:08hand in hand. So, I'm going to combine
18:09them together here. And they really have
18:10to do with experimenting to find new
18:12visual formats and then sticking with
18:14one once you have it working. Most
18:16creators and brands are on the hunt for
18:18one thing. When you scroll and you're
18:19like, I want mine to look like this.
18:21What you're really looking for is a
18:23signature visual format that you can hit
18:26over and over and over that just looks
18:28like you branding visually execution
18:31that just feels like you. That's what
18:32most people are looking for. Now, there
18:33are a ton of great examples of this in
18:35action on social media today. Of course,
18:37my friend Orin has a signature format
18:39called product verse brand where he
18:41takes a category, water bottles or
18:42coffee machines, and he breaks down the
18:44different products or brands that people
18:46buy. Are you buying it for the product
18:48because the utility and functionality or
18:49are you buying it for the brand because
18:51you're paying a markup for the name or
18:52logo? There's a popular creator called
18:54Khloe Sha who has a famous series 30
18:56lessons under 30. She crushed from that.
18:59Another creator Adrien Purr, super sick,
19:01has his own kind of signature visual
19:02format. You recognize immediately that
19:04it's one of his videos. My friend Ryan
19:06too has a really cool series called
19:07Creator Marketing where he breaks down
19:08creators. Again, you see this, you
19:10immediately know it's his. The list goes
19:12on and on, but most of the biggest
19:13creators have their own signature visual
19:15format, and that is what you know them
19:17for. But why I wanted to cover this in
19:19this video is that there's a common
19:21mistake a lot of people fall into when
19:22it comes to approaching this visual
19:24format. And the first one has to do with
19:26beginners stressing themselves out when
19:28they don't have one initially. When
19:30you're a beginner, and I know this
19:31because I was a beginner and felt this
19:33too, all you want is to close the gap
19:35between where you are today, meh, and
19:37then the future of having a dialed
19:39signature visual format that people
19:41love. All you want is to close that gap.
19:43But from my experience, and this is the
19:44huge mistake, you cannot force the
19:46discovery of this signature visual
19:48format. If you constantly think about it
19:50and try to overengineer it, it will not
19:52come. Most of these signature formats or
19:54signature visuals were born out of one
19:56rogue idea that those creators had. They
19:59tried a bunch of stuff, threw it at the
20:01wall, something stickked, they doubled
20:03down a couple times, realized it was a
20:05pattern that it was working, and that's
20:07how they eventually emerged to have this
20:09signature format. So, here are two quick
20:10tips for beginners or brands for how to
20:13find your own signature visual format
20:14without getting super anxious or forcing
20:16it. The first one is all you really need
20:19is one unique angle or signature visual
20:22element in your videos. Maybe it's a
20:24small object you hold every single time
20:26you film. Maybe it's a specific
20:28animation or graphic style. Maybe it's a
20:31certain font. Maybe it's a certain color
20:33palette that you use every single time.
20:35Instead of trying to force architect an
20:37entire world on day one, which is a lot
20:39to bite off, just focus on picking one
20:42visual element that you want to
20:43experiment with including this element
20:45might morph into your full signature
20:47visual style eventually. Now, second,
20:50this is the most helpful workflow I
20:51found to try to discover what these
20:54signature visual formats are that are
20:56working in your space so you can get
20:57inspiration for your own. The first
20:59thing you're going to do is pull up all
21:00the popular creators in your niche on
21:02sandcastle.ai. Then, when you're in the
21:04videos tab, you can go to the channel
21:06filter and search individual creators
21:08one after another. When you sort all
21:10their videos in the videos tab by views,
21:13you can see their top performing videos.
21:15What you'll notice pretty quickly is
21:16that any series they have will show
21:19itself in the top. So, for example, we
21:21pulled my friend Orin up, his last 12
21:23months worth of posts and sorted it by
21:24views. And right away, you can
21:26immediately see the product verse brand
21:28format and series really shows at the
21:30top. A lot of his top performing posts
21:32are in this format. So, if you're in the
21:34brand marketing or social media growth
21:36or creative direction space and you like
21:38Orin and you pulled him up, you might
21:40see this and be like, hm, what can I
21:42take from this and twist to make my own
21:44signature visual format? So, maybe
21:46instead of his product verse brand, if
21:48you're in the cooking niche, you come up
21:50with a series called Dine Verse Dash,
21:51where you go to restaurants and you film
21:54in an interesting visual way their
21:56signature dishes as they get served. And
21:58then you decide in the video if you're
21:59going to dine, eat it, or dash, leave.
22:02That could be an interesting twist on
22:04Orin's signature format that you use on
22:06your own. Or maybe you make the series
22:08eat in or take out where if you're a
22:10chef at home, you cook your own version
22:12of a signature dish. You also take out
22:14one from the restaurant and then you
22:15compare them side by side and you could
22:17shoot it really cool in the kitchen.
22:18See, the core of Orin series product
22:20versus brand is there. The core bones
22:22are there, but you really iterated and
22:24twisted it a ton to where it's almost
22:25not recognizable. So, the mistake here
22:27is avoiding forcing the visual style
22:30from day one. either pick a small
22:32element and experiment or do some
22:35research on the top creators in your
22:36space and try to understand what format
22:39visually and series-wise they've created
22:42and then twist it to try to make your
22:44own. Now, one other tip on the flip side
22:45for the few people watching this that do
22:47already have a signature visual format.
22:49Don't go away from it. Too many people
22:51have something working but then pivot
22:53and try to chase corny styles or weird
22:56trends that only last for a couple days.
22:58If you have a bell cow, run it over and
23:00over. Once you have something working,
23:02run it over and over and over and over
23:04until it stops working. If you strike
23:06gold, it'll keep working. I'm telling
23:08you, people will tend to associate you
23:09with this visual style and it will
23:11deepen their fandom more quickly. So, if
23:13you get one of these winners, do not
23:14abandon it. All right, mistake number
23:16seven is really the macdaddy of all
23:18these mistakes. And this is not letting
23:19the data tell you which content you
23:22should make next. It boggles my mind how
23:24many creators and brands are making
23:26content fully based on their gut, not
23:28using any data at all. The truth is, if
23:30you just replicate the content that's
23:32already working in your niche over and
23:34over, you will win. It really is that
23:36simple. And that's because human viewers
23:38tend to behave the same way over and
23:40over. Now, I realized pretty early on
23:42that using data to inform my ideas and
23:45the way I executed videos was a cheat
23:47code that most creators were not tapping
23:48into. And so, that's why I spent the
23:50last 12 months codifying that system
23:53into a tool. That's what Sandcastles.ai
23:55is really. Sand castles is just a social
23:58media data engine that lets you find and
24:00use proven content formats to then
24:02incorporate in your own content to make
24:04it better. This exactly how I use it to
24:06get a data advantage over everyone else.
24:08First, I build a list of all the top
24:10performing creators or brand accounts in
24:12my space. Then I use that list and
24:14organize all their top performing videos
24:16in one place. So what you're seeing
24:18would be the last 3, 6, or 12 months
24:20organized by views or by outlier score
24:23or by engagement score. Immediately, I
24:25can see all the winners organized right
24:27there for me. Now, here's where it gets
24:28crazy. I can now click into any of those
24:31videos, and I can extract out the
24:34topics, the hooks, or the storytelling
24:37style that they use one click. So, right
24:40here, I can take this video, go to the
24:41transcript, see that I like the hook,
24:43click save that hook to my vault, and
24:46then I've extracted that hook as a
24:48component template that I can use in
24:50future videos that I make. Now, this
24:52vault is basically my personalized
24:54database of all the winning hooks and
24:56styles that I found across all winning
24:58videos. So then when I go to write a new
25:00script on whatever topic I want, I can
25:02use that proven hook or proven
25:04storytelling style again and again and
25:06again with one click. So it's my topic
25:09using their proven hook or their style
25:11or it's my topic using their proven hook
25:14or my style or it's my topic using my
25:17best proven hooks and my style. There's
25:19infinite combinations when you build
25:21this vault out. Either way, I'm using
25:22the best of the best of the best
25:25components at every stage. And this
25:27workflow allows me to build a banger
25:29script in literally 60 seconds using
25:31validated pieces at every step. I know
25:34the topics worked because I saw them
25:36ranked. I know the hooks worked because
25:37I saw the views. I know the style worked
25:39because I saw the views. I'm using
25:41databacked pieces to make my own
25:43versions. This is what using the data to
25:46make content on social media really
25:47looks like. And the truth is, most
25:49creators and brands are not yet
25:50approaching social media in this way.
25:52The ones that do are crushing everyone
25:54else because they only use the things
25:55that are proven with data. If you want
25:57to learn more about how to build one of
25:59these datadriven content systems using
26:00sand castles the way I did it, I'll link
26:02a few things below that walk you through
26:04exactly how to do it. All right, guys.
26:05That's all I've got for this video. We
26:07covered the seven deadly pitfalls,
26:09really the most common mistakes that
26:11people on social media make that prevent
26:13them from growing more quickly. And as
26:15always guys, I'm trying to bring the
26:16stuff that most people don't talk about.
26:18I'm trying to cover different things
26:19that aren't just regurgitation so that
26:21you get unique insights and you have an
26:23edge over everyone else. So if you're a
26:25business owner focused on using content
26:26to grow your business, this YouTube
26:28channel is the best in the world. Also,
26:30if that's you and you like this channel,
26:31there's no reason you shouldn't be in
26:32Wavy World. I've got 65 free trainings
26:34in there with 35,000 other business
26:36owners. If you're not in there, they're
26:38getting an edge over you cuz everyone's
26:39collaborating with each other to try to
26:41improve their content together. So, if
26:42you want to join that, I got a free
26:44invite link in the description below.
26:45All right, we'll see you guys on the
26:46next video.

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