When you’re looking for a good book on how to harness the power of social media, what do you normally do?
You open up Amazon and search for “Hack Social Media”, “Social Media Marketing Secrets”, etc.
Well, the answer often lies in a book on a totally different subject.
This is the best “secret” I’ve found about social media: “It’s not about social media, it’s about the story, the story that matters or the story that entertains”.
We get obsessed with going viral. We often think that a horizontal bar on the top of the video will skyrocket engagements, the subs will increase the watch time by 15%, we spend hours on targetting the right people within the right radius, chatboxes, AI … Bollocks.
What do you want to communicate? Does it matter? Will it inspire? Will it entertain? Will it give hope? Answer the right questions.
The best post I’ve ever done for a client was just a story and a picture. No click to action buttons, no animated stuff, no bullshit. Just a f&*$%£$ awesome story which touched people hearts. Not on purpose! It was a 100% genuine story.
The book is called Thrive. The chapter is called Wisdom. The author is Arianna Huffington. This lady knows her stuff. She created the Huffington Post and sold it for $315 million, she knows stories, she knows social media.
Kindness and smiles,
Angelos Georgakis
PS: Don’t read only men authors. Women have their own unique perspective which is … right, most of the times!
This is probably one of my top 5 books 📚. I first read it 10 years ago when serving in the army. Although this book is intended for intelligence analysts who want to understand why and how they make inferences, this book can teach you human relationships, marketing, the secrets of a happy marriage, mindset, politics, economy, and … life!
I’ve taken a screenshot below to give you an example. Suppose some country A does something that has some unfavourable implications for country B. Country B instantly concludes that Country A did that to harm Country B. Hang on! That may be some secondary or tertiary effect of Country A’s action, or the result of some other player’s involvement (Country C), or pure coincidence! How many times have you thought, “That person did that because he doesn’t like me!” Are you 100% sure your that person took certain deliberate action because he doesn’t like you?
Daniel Kahneman wrote Thinking Fast and Slow, a fantastic book (probably the most famous book) on the way we make inferences but if you’d like to read something different try Richards Heuer’s book, Psychology of Intelligence Analysis. You can download it from the CIA’s website here. You’ll love it!
PS: – Talking to myself – We often tend to read the same and the same books, we’re after best-sellers, the top 10 marketing books, the top 10 psychology books, etc. However, a few times, the answer might be hidden where you don’t expect it to be. Be different. Be curious.
To take control of our lives, we need to take control of our consistent actions. I’m not talking about the things that we do once in a while but what we do consistently.
But what precedes all our actions? What is the father of all action? What drives all our actions? The answer to all these questions is one word – decisions.
You take action because you decided to take action. If you don’t take action, it’s again your decision not to take action.
People instead of making decisions complain about their conditions. I came from a dysfunctional family. My parents were really poor. I didn’t get the right education.
No one denies that there are people who are born with advantages. Genetic advantages, family advantages, environmental advantages, relationship advantages. However, for every “privileged” person I can give you an example of a non-privileged person that against all odds smashed all their barriers by making the decisions of what to do with their lives.
But what sort of decisions? Truly committed decisions. The moment you make a decision, it’s a commitment. There is no way back.
We have disempowered the word decision in our lives. We have associated the word decision with something like I should do that one day, I ought to do that one day, it would be nice to do that, wouldn’t it? No. If you decided that you have to do something, you must do it and you have to take action now.
A real decision is measured by the fact that you have taken new action. If there is no new action, sorry you haven’t decided yet.
A truly committed decision has to be unshakable no matter what happens. The stock market collapses, your girlfriend dumps you, your “friends” think you went crazy.
Your decisions need to stay there strong and powerful. Because your decisions reflect your values, your purpose, what you came to this world for. You decisions need to stay consistent with the quality of your spirit, your inner calling.
Make decisions often. The more decisions you make, the better you’re gonna get. Muscles get stronger with use and so do our decision muscles. Feel the excitement that comes from taking the committed decisions that shift your life towards the direction you wanna go.
Learn from your decisions. There are gonna be times when you screw up. Don’t focus on the short term setbacks but focus on the lessons that will save you time, money and pain in the future.
Build flexibility. Once you decide who you want to become, what is you wanna get, be flexible in your approach. Try different ways, learn throughout the process, experiment, don’t become rigid in your approach.
Enjoy making decisions. One moment, the moment that you make a true decision can change your entire life. The moment you decide to quit smoking, to buy a gym membership, to quit your job.
A truly committed decision is the force that can change your life.
Angelos
PS: For those who are asking about camera and lighting gear have a look:
Do you want to increase sales of your product or service?
Do you want to build awareness of your brand?
Then this book is for you.
Key Lessons
Customers don’t care about you. They care about themselves and their problems.
It’s not about you and your awesome product. It’s about them.
Stop selling to them.
Focus on their needs. Add value to them. Serve them.
Inform them, engage them, amuse them.
Make them more intelligent.
This is the only way to build trust. Once you build trust, selling becomes effortless.
Provide content that makes people stop and read what you have to say before you even think to sell anything to them.
Epic content is helpful, relevant, compelling, educational.
It’s not about finding customers, it’s about finding fanatic customers that will trust you 1000%.
Use storytelling. Storytelling shows why the brand exists. And that’s beyond any products or services.
You need to emotionally engage people. They have to see themselves in you.
The Six Principles of Epic Content Marketing
Epic content needs to fill a need: Your content should answer some unmet need. It should solve a problem that people have. It should add value. Sometimes, it meets just an emotional need. Have a look at Coca-Cola’s or Red-bull’s storytelling. Another example now. Have you ever seen any of Gary Vaynerchuk’s videos? Their purpose is to make take action. To awake the giant inside you. The target straight to your emotional world.
It communicates consistently: When you subscribe to a magazine, you expect your magazine to arrive to your door on time and as expected. The same holds with your content. Deliver consistently giving the best value as expected.
It requires you to find your unique human voice: Be human. Be you. Don’t be a reporter. When people build a brand, they become a brand. They speak like a brand. People want to connect with you. Show emotions. Send your newsletter as if you were sending a text message to your friend.
It expresses a point of view: Take a side on a matter. Don’t be afraid to have opinions. People will identify themselves with you because of your ideas and opinions. You can’t please everybody. What matters is not customers after all. It’s fanatic customers that will follow you no matter what.
It is less about sales: “The more you talk about yourself, the less people will share and spread your story.”
It is the best content in its niche out there: The ultimate goal is to provide content that people can’t find anywhere else. Though this sounds impossible in the beginning, the ultimate goal for you is to provide the best content out there that will position you at the top.
Do they above six points sound obvious? Yes, but who applies them to their marketing strategy?
It’s all about the brand. How cool we are. Why we are the best. What our product can for you.
NO!!!
Listen first. Then see how you can help and add value. Maybe sell later. They will buy from you. Why? Because they trust you.
Finally, Pulizzi says that epic content usually has some additional characteristics. It’s real time, fact-driven, efficient, visual and curated. Read here for more.
