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Social Media Isn’t Hard. It’s Misunderstood. — Transcript

by Kallaway · 4,318 words · 636 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you want to grow faster on social
0:01media, I'm going to explain exactly how
0:03to do it. Because the truth is, if
0:05you're struggling to grow, you're
0:06probably just approaching the content
0:08game with a suboptimal strategy. Now,
0:10I've cracked every social platform I've
0:12ever been on. Instagram, Tik Tok,
0:14LinkedIn, even YouTube. I have a million
0:16followers. I've done billions of views.
0:18And the secret is that I actually went
0:20down the rabbit hole to deeply
0:22understand how each individual platform
0:24works. The psychology, the algorithms,
0:26the core fundamentals for how to grow.
0:28So, in this video, I'm going to give you
0:30the full secret sauce. These are five
0:32non-obvious learnings for how social
0:34media actually works. And these are the
0:36same lessons that all the big creators
0:38deeply understand and that you may not.
0:41All right. Now, the first uncommon
0:42learning is that social media isn't
0:44actually social anymore. It's just
0:47media. And this seems like a small
0:48wording change, but it actually shifts
0:50everything about how you approach the
0:52content game. When social platforms were
0:54originally invented, they were social
0:56first. In that old era, everything was
0:59engineered to connect you with other
1:01people and show your content
1:02specifically to people that followed
1:04you. This was OG social from 2003 to
1:07about 2020. But since 2020, everything
1:10about social media changed because of
1:12Tik Tok. Just like YouTube, Tik Tok was
1:14not built for social connection. It was
1:17built specifically for media
1:19consumption. Think about it. You don't
1:21come on YouTube to talk to other people.
1:23You just come on to watch interesting
1:24videos. Tik Tok was essentially the same
1:27thing. It was YouTube but vertical. And
1:29the problem is that Tik Tok worked so
1:31well that it set off a chain reaction
1:33that caused every other social platform
1:35to shift in the same direction away from
1:38social and towards media. All that
1:40social media strategy, you have to throw
1:43that out because the game is completely
1:45different now. The platforms are no
1:47longer focused on social. They're just
1:48focused on media. And here's the big
1:50difference. Social is about matching
1:52content from followers only. Media is
1:55about matching content from anyone,
1:57followers or strangers. So, if you're
1:59really trying to grow with content, the
2:01million-dollar question is this. What is
2:03the best strategy for growing faster,
2:06generating more views, and turning those
2:08views into dollars? So, I'm going to
2:10give you the full cheat code right here.
2:11Think about this from Instagram's point
2:13of view as a business. Instagram gets
2:15paid when a viewer watches an ad. Their
2:17algorithm's only job is to keep viewers
2:20on the platform as long as possible so
2:22more ads can play. Now, the easiest way
2:24to keep viewers on Instagram for longer
2:27is to show them videos they actually
2:29like. And it sounds stupidly obvious,
2:31but this is so critical to understand.
2:33This system of connecting random videos
2:35with viewers that actually want to watch
2:37them is called audience matching. The
2:39better the match, the happier the
2:41viewer, the longer the session, the more
2:43ads they can run, and the more revenue
2:44Instagram generates. If you help
2:46Instagram make better matches and it
2:48makes more money, it will reward you for
2:50that. And this is the whole social media
2:53game. It is not more complicated than
2:55that. Matching is all the algorithms are
2:57designed to do. But the difference in
2:59this nonsocial media era is that the
3:02algorithm is allowed to match you with
3:04videos from any creator, not just the
3:06ones that you follow. So for you as a
3:08creator or a business owner, if you
3:10really want to grow on social media,
3:12your only job is helping the algorithm
3:14match your stuff with the right viewer
3:16because then you'll be happy and it will
3:18be happy. And when it's happy, it pushes
3:20your stuff more. Okay, so how do we
3:22actually help the algorithm do this
3:24matching better? Are there tactical
3:25steps we can take? Yes, there are. In
3:28order to best match your videos with the
3:30right viewers, the algorithm only needs
3:31to understand two things. The topics of
3:34your videos and the profiles of those
3:36viewers that want to watch them. That's
3:38all it needs. And the beauty is you can
3:39actually train the algorithm to get
3:41these answers quicker. The first
3:43tactical step for doing this is to be
3:44militantly focused and disciplined on
3:47your topic selection. All you have to do
3:49is make consistent videos about the same
3:51topic. Precision of topic is everything.
3:54Instead of spraying and praying across a
3:56bunch of different topic areas, pick a
3:58single topic and hit that bullseye over
4:00and over and over. If you're personally
4:02interested in sports and tech and
4:05design, don't make videos on the same
4:06channel about sports and tech and
4:08design. This will confuse the algorithm
4:10and it won't know what topic to push you
4:12for. Pick one topic area per channel and
4:15stick with just that. And here's the
4:17real tactical secret. Most algorithms
4:19run their audience match targeting based
4:21on the video transcription and the
4:23caption. So they look at the words
4:25you're saying and somewhat what you're
4:26writing in the caption and that's how
4:27they determine what topic you're
4:29actually talking about. Then they
4:31analyze which viewers are engaging
4:33positively with that video and they
4:34create a lookalike audience to push it
4:36further. So this is the key takeaway. If
4:38you want to grow faster and you want to
4:39convert attention into dollars, you need
4:41the algorithm's diagnosis of what topic
4:44you're talking about and who it's for to
4:46be accurate with what you want to talk
4:48about and who you want to get in front
4:49of. If it can't diagnose this topic
4:51audience match well, it's not going to
4:53push your videos. So, when you look at
4:55your channel and you scroll through your
4:56last 20 videos, are these topics all the
4:58same? Are they all targeting the exact
5:00same viewer avatar? If yes, and you're
5:03still not getting views, then the issue
5:04is with the video quality itself. And
5:06that is a much easier solve that I've
5:08been covering in all my videos. But if
5:10no, and you're all over the place with
5:12different topics, then this is your big
5:14issue. The best way to make sure the
5:15algorithm pushes your stuff to the right
5:17people is to only make videos about a
5:19single topic driven from pain points of
5:22that user consistently for several
5:24months. And after doing 30 to 50 videos
5:26like this, the algorithm will learn the
5:28type of topic that you want to talk
5:30about and it will start pushing you into
5:32that community. So, if you want to grow
5:33on social media, these are the things
5:34you do not want to do. Number one, do
5:37not make videos about a bunch of
5:38different topics on the same account.
5:40Number two, do not make videos that are
5:42not valuable or interesting to that same
5:45single target viewer avatar. And number
5:47three, do not make broad videos that do
5:49not apply to your viewer avatar on that
5:52account. Stay hyper precise and do this
5:54over and over and over. This is all you
5:56have to do to train the algorithm. Now,
5:58getting those videos to actually perform
5:59well once you have the algorithm aimed,
6:02well, that's a whole another set of
6:03issues. That's ideas, storytelling,
6:05script writing, editing. But the good
6:06news is I have lots of content to help
6:09you with that. I actually put together
6:10Wavy World, which is a free community
6:11for entrepreneurs with 17,000 people in
6:14it to help with that stuff. The links in
6:16the description if you want. It's
6:17completely free. But if you don't aim
6:18the algorithm correctly in the first
6:20place, well, then you're going to be
6:21stuck in zero view land and none of that
6:23other stuff actually matters. So, the
6:24summary here is this. Social media is no
6:27longer social. It's just media. Media
6:29works by matching viewers with videos
6:31they want to watch, regardless of who
6:33the creator was that made them. And
6:35three, to make that match happen more
6:37successfully with your content, you need
6:38to stay super disciplined on a single
6:40topic consistently over and over and
6:42over. All right. Now, the second
6:44uncommon lesson that I've learned about
6:45social media growth is that virality is
6:48a trap. If you want to get the ego boost
6:50of 10 million views, well, then go as
6:52broad and as wide as possible. But if
6:54you actually want to make money from
6:55content, there is a much better way to
6:57do it. Let me break it down. There are
6:58two types of virality. Pure virality and
7:01ontarget virality. Pure virality is
7:04virality at all costs. You intentionally
7:06pick extremely broad, extremely
7:08relatable topics to try to grow the
7:10viewer pie as much as possible. And this
7:12is where the 10 million plus view videos
7:14come from. But it turns out this
7:16actually isn't what you want if you're
7:17trying to build a business. Because pure
7:20virality spans across too many different
7:22viewer groups. If the video is about new
7:25tech for designing homes and you do get
7:2710 million views, well then the chances
7:28are you've engaged tech people,
7:30architects, people that are trying to
7:32design homes, people that are interested
7:34in real estate. And despite the dopamine
7:36rush that does come from that, this is
7:38probably going to hurt your ability to
7:39monetize your audience. And the reason
7:42builds on this audience matching and
7:44targeting point I just mentioned. The
7:46more different audience groups that
7:47engage with the same video, the more
7:49confused the algorithm is going to be
7:50about where to point your next video.
7:53And you don't want the algorithm
7:54confused because then it won't help you
7:56find more of the people you're trying to
7:57find. So, a better way to approach
7:59virality is to go for ontarget virality.
8:02On target virality means that a large
8:04percentage of viewers within your target
8:06profile see the video, but it doesn't
8:08spill beyond that. Imagine you had one
8:11giant pie with 8 billion people in it.
8:13Pure virality is trying to get as many
8:15of those 8 billion people to see it, no
8:17matter where they fall on the pie. On
8:19target virality is picking a super
8:21narrow slice and then trying to fill as
8:23many people within that slice but not
8:25beyond it. Now, the reason ontarget
8:27virality is a better strategy is that it
8:29lets you be more nuanced with your topic
8:32selection because broad virality almost
8:34always requires super broad generic
8:36topics. But deep trust is built when you
8:39can talk about specific user pain points
8:41in a niche and narrow way. When you
8:43acknowledge your mission is not pure
8:45virality, you're able to come up with
8:47video ideas that widely target your
8:49narrow audience, essentially getting the
8:51highest penetration percentage of your
8:53potential buyers. And here's the cool
8:55part. It turns out that algorithms like
8:57precision a lot more than they like
8:59breadth. It would rather you be a fan
9:01favorite in the web design niche than
9:03appeal somewhat to all creatives. And
9:05this is because cult favorites are super
9:08strong audience matches. When you're
9:10able to execute a narrow topic with
9:11constant precision, it will push you
9:13more into that niche and you will become
9:15category viral. This is why you see so
9:17many small creatives with only a couple
9:19hundred thousand followers and cult
9:21fandom grow 7figure businesses. But
9:23these huge massive 7 million follower
9:26influencers can't even pay their rent.
9:28The riches are in the niches and the
9:30niches are best activated with ontarget
9:32virality. Now, I want to be clear. I
9:34definitely do want virality. I just want
9:37it aimed at my category. So, the
9:39tactical suggestion here for gut-eing
9:41your ideas and your content strategy is
9:43to constantly be asking yourself this
9:45question. Is my core audience avatar
9:47going to find this idea interesting,
9:49useful, valuable, or entertaining? If
9:52not, don't even make the video because
9:53even if you get a broadly viral hit,
9:55it's probably just hurting your
9:56potential chances to monetize. By the
9:58way, if you want help improving your
10:00videos so they do drive more of this
10:02ontarget virality, the best way to do
10:04this is to improve your storytelling and
10:06script writing and aim it at the right
10:07audience. To make this easier, I
10:09actually built an AI tool called
10:10Sandcastles that just does this for you.
10:12It takes everything I know about
10:14formulas and formats in content and
10:16compresses it so it just does it
10:18automatically. We have people using it
10:19right now that are writing 30 scripts
10:21per day and they're actually converting
10:22at a high level. So, if you want to try
10:24it for free, we have a free trial for
10:25everyone. Sandcastles.ai. Check it out
10:27in the description. The third uncommon
10:29learning that I've realized about social
10:30media is that you don't need to be
10:32playing on every platform at the same
10:34time. A common piece of advice from the
10:35social media gurus is you have to be
10:38everywhere cuz you never know where your
10:39buyer is going to show up. I think this
10:40is nonsense. You know exactly where your
10:43buyer is going to show up. They're
10:44spending time on one of these six
10:45platforms: Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn,
10:48Tik Tok, Instagram, or X. All you need
10:51to do to grow and monetize on social
10:53media is to fish where your fish are.
10:56Pick the one hero platform where the
10:58highest density of your customers live,
11:00plus add email, and then only play on
11:02that combination for 6 months. After
11:04working with hundreds of business owners
11:06on social media strategy and content
11:08over the last year, I've realized that
11:10the over complication and overextension
11:12of trying to be everywhere all at once
11:14actually is doing more harm than good.
11:16Because when you focus on a single
11:18platform, you can immerse yourself into
11:20the community and learn about the
11:21zeitgeist of just that platform so much
11:24better. And by focusing on just one,
11:25that means you can comment on other
11:27people's posts in your niche. You can
11:29reply to every single one of your
11:30comments. You can use the secondary
11:32formats like Instagram stories if you're
11:34focused on reals. Essentially, you
11:36become a staple in your category on that
11:38platform. And by doing this, like
11:40anything, you compound your results
11:42faster because all your attention is
11:44compressed on one thing. Now, when it
11:45comes to formats, the secret is that all
11:47the fish are migrating to video. So
11:49whether it's short form or long form
11:50video, you definitely want to be
11:52creating video on whichever platform you
11:54choose. So the tactical advice is this.
11:56Pick your hero platform. Make sure
11:58you're making video content. Stay as
12:00consistent as possible. Engage in the
12:01comments, engage in the DMs, and focus
12:04on nothing but this for 6 months. And if
12:06you don't know which platforms your
12:07customers are actually on the most, take
12:09a small random subset of your existing
12:12customers and ask them. And if this
12:14doesn't work, think about who you follow
12:15and where you learn the most about the
12:17information in your space. When you're
12:19trying to be everywhere all at once and
12:21you don't have a core team to support
12:22you, everything can just get a little
12:24too complicated. So remember, fish where
12:26your fish are. All right. Now, the
12:28fourth uncommon learning about social
12:30media is islands verse ecosystems. And
12:33this one is going to shock you. Almost
12:35everybody on the internet is going to
12:37teach you to approach social media like
12:39one connected ecosystem. They'll say
12:41that your main goal is to get somebody
12:43to follow you on one platform and then
12:45do whatever you can to try to get them
12:46to find you everywhere else, connecting
12:48that ecosystem like a spiderweb. So
12:50they'll say you want to post about your
12:52YouTube videos on Instagram stories or
12:54post about your tweets on LinkedIn or
12:56post about your Tik Toks on YouTube.
12:58Essentially, the advice is to find one
13:00follower and then get them to follow you
13:02everywhere else. But I think this is a
13:04suboptimal approach. The ecosystem
13:06concept makes sense in theory as a
13:09construct to describe a brand that's
13:11already well-built. But if you're
13:12starting out from scratch, tactically
13:14this is the wrong strategy. Instead of
13:16thinking like an ecosystem, you want to
13:18treat social media platforms like
13:19individual islands that are not linked
13:22together. And let me explain what I
13:23mean. Each social platform was developed
13:26on its own. They all steal features and
13:28UX from each other, but they all have
13:29different quirks, different algorithms,
13:31and most importantly, different platform
13:33owners. Instagram, which is owned by
13:35Meta, wants to keep people in the
13:37Instagram family, not going to YouTube,
13:39which is owned by Google. And when you
13:41really think about it, it makes sense
13:42why platforms would reward behaviors
13:44that keep users on their platforms
13:47instead of pushing them to others. So,
13:49the first reason why you want to think
13:50of platforms in islands instead of
13:52connected ecosystems is because the
13:54platforms will actually hurt your reach
13:55when you try to push people out. When
13:57you post a URL in a tweet or a LinkedIn
14:00post, they nuke your engagement. When
14:01you post a URL in stories, they nuke
14:03your engagement. And why do they do
14:05this? Well, simply put, the platforms
14:07don't want their users leaving. They
14:09make money when their users stay. Now,
14:11most people that are coaching personal
14:12brand building will tell you that the
14:14cost of the platform nuking your stuff
14:16when you share links is worth it if you
14:18can grow everywhere. I disagree. But
14:20besides this, the even bigger reason why
14:22you want to think in separate islands
14:24instead of connected ecosystems is
14:26because of the user consumption
14:27patterns. Think of each social platform
14:30like a car driving on the social media
14:32highway. Each one is going at a
14:34different speed. Let's say Instagram is
14:35going at 35 mph. Tik Tok is at 50 mph.
14:39YouTube might be at 10 m hour. Users go
14:42to certain platforms because they like
14:43the consumption experience, the algo
14:46targeting the sub communities on that
14:48platform. When you try to force them
14:49from one to another to build the
14:51ecosystem, they end up hitting it and
14:53then churning right away. They don't
14:55like switching. And this causes them to
14:57either abandon watching your stuff
14:58altogether, abandon watching it on the
15:00new platform, or subconsciously dislike
15:03that you tried to force them away from
15:04what they already liked. It's better to
15:06meet each person where they are to make
15:08content native to the island and try to
15:10keep them there. And then you can use
15:12consistent branding, imagery, and
15:14storytelling elsewhere so that when they
15:16natively discover you, it feels aligned
15:19and matches. If someone's on Instagram
15:21and they also like consuming on YouTube,
15:23let them find you on YouTube as well.
15:25Don't force them there. Now, for each
15:27island, the only ramp you do want to
15:29build is from rented to owned. So, it's
15:31okay to ramp from Instagram to email or
15:33Instagram to private community, but you
15:35don't want to ramp from island to
15:36island, Instagram to Tik Tok. And if you
15:38do want to build a holistic connected
15:40brand cuz you're just not really fully
15:42buying what I'm saying. My frame for
15:43this is world building. World building
15:45is creating visual consistency or
15:47cohesion across different platforms.
15:50You're not pushing people, but when they
15:51do discover you, everything looks and
15:53feels aligned and matches. Ecosystems
15:56are forcing the cross-platform
15:58discovery. Don't force it. Just world
16:00build separately and let them discover
16:02the different islands. Now, my last
16:04uncommon learning has to deal with
16:05making money from content. And it took
16:07me a long time to realize this, but this
16:09was one of the most important lessons
16:10that I learned. Almost everyone making
16:12content is doing it because they want to
16:14make money. Let's be honest about that.
16:15This is the game. We all see all these
16:17influencers that appear to make insane
16:19money. And so we think we could do that,
16:21too. And we jump in. And so, if you're
16:22like me, you probably followed a similar
16:24path. You jumped in. You really sucked
16:26at first, but slowly surely, you started
16:28getting better and building up your
16:30skills. You grinded and grinded. You
16:32spent 12 months and hundreds of hours
16:34trying to do this. And then finally, you
16:35started to turn on monetization and get
16:37some money coming in. And then it hit
16:39you. $52? Is that it? That's all I'm
16:42making from YouTube AdSense? 12 months
16:44of grinding and hundreds of hours and
16:46all I'm getting is $52. And so you keep
16:49going for another year and you spend all
16:51this time and months and months and
16:52months. Maybe you land one brand deal
16:54for $500 and maybe one for $1,000 here
16:56and there, but you're working really
16:58hard. The views are high, the followers
17:00are high, but the money just doesn't
17:02seem that high. It doesn't seem in line
17:04with what you expected. And this is the
17:06big learning. Value does not really
17:08acrue at the media layer. This is the
17:10lesson. There are three layers in the
17:12content stack. The bottom layer is the
17:14platform layer. This is Instagram, Tik
17:16Tok, YouTube, the actual platforms. The
17:19middle layer is the media layer. That's
17:20me and you, the creators that are making
17:22content on the platform. The top layer
17:24is the offering layer. These are the
17:26products and services and brands that
17:28make products and pay creators to make
17:30content to drive attention to those
17:32products. Most of the money gets acred
17:34at the platform layer, the Instagram,
17:36YouTube, Tik Tok or the offering layer,
17:38the brands, products and services that
17:39are driving. But very little gets
17:41captured at the media layer. All the
17:43attention is generated from the media
17:45layer, but very little of the value is
17:47actually captured here. And this is
17:49because value capture is correlated to
17:51risk. It's much easier for anyone to
17:53start making media than it would be to
17:55start a brand or much harder to start a
17:57social platform that actually works. And
17:59so the rate paid to creators is lower.
18:01The value captured is lower. The
18:03learning for me and probably you as
18:05someone that's trying to build internet
18:06businesses and survive as an
18:08entrepreneur is that value just doesn't
18:10acrue in a big way at the media layer.
18:12It's better to use media to gain
18:14attention and then funnel that media to
18:16owned products and services than it is
18:18to rely on the value capture AdSense and
18:20brand deals from the media. And
18:22tactically, this means building your own
18:24products, services, or doing affiliate
18:26deals with uncapped upside instead of
18:28relying specifically on AdSense CPMs or
18:31brand deals. And I can get more into the
18:33business side of content and
18:34monetization models in a future video if
18:36you guys want, but this is a critical
18:37piece when you're trying to monetize
18:39from content. There's just not that much
18:41money in the media layer relative to the
18:44other two. All right, guys. There you
18:45have it. Those are my five non-obvious
18:47lessons for how to actually grow and
18:49monetize on social media. To recap,
18:51number one, social media is not social
18:53anymore. It's just media. And this means
18:55the game has changed because the media
18:57game is all about matching content with
18:59the right viewers. To help the algos do
19:01this matching, you want to stay super
19:02disciplined on a single topic for a
19:04single audience avatar consistently for
19:06a long time. Use the words you say and
19:08the captions you say to help the algo
19:10detect what topic you're actually
19:12talking about. Number two, pure virality
19:14is a trap. If you want to make money
19:15with content, you want to go for
19:17ontarget virality, which means maximum
19:19penetration within your ideal avatar
19:22slice. To do this, pick ideas that
19:24resonate specifically with their pain
19:25points, but wrapped with category
19:27relevant broad case studies. Number
19:29three, fish where the fish are. You
19:31don't need to be on every single social
19:33platform. Pick the one platform where
19:34your customers live. Be video native and
19:37consistently engage in the comments and
19:39DMs. Do this specifically for 6 months.
19:41Number four, think in islands instead of
19:43ecosystems when you're building your
19:45social brand. Platforms are built like
19:47islands. Users consume like islands. You
19:49should treat them like islands. Build
19:51native content for the platform and
19:53don't try to force ramp people from one
19:55to another. The only ramps you should
19:57build are like ferryboats taking people
19:59from islands to email or community owned
20:01platforms from rented to owned. And
20:03number five, value does not acrue at the
20:06media layer. If you want to actually
20:07make money from content, know that the
20:09value occurs at the platform and the
20:11offering layer. Use the media layer to
20:13build attention and then ramp that
20:15attention to owned products and
20:17services. And remember guys, when it
20:18comes to the actual tactics of making
20:20better videos, the nuts and bolts, the
20:22click- forclick, I have tons of free
20:24resources and other videos linked below.
20:26And also, it's a shameless plug, but
20:28Sand Castles is the best AI tool for
20:30helping you ramp up your content
20:32production. So, if you haven't tried it,
20:34it's completely free to try. You should.
20:35And lastly, make sure to leave a comment
20:37to let me know what you guys want in the
20:39next video. But until then, we'll see
20:40you guys on the next one. Peace.

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