Hey Square Readers,
As we’re getting into reading Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk, let’s get deeper into the material. So far we’ve talked about your business’ use of social media, the first basic principles of the book, and broken down The Modern Advertising Framework.
Here we’ll cover Chapter 4, going into more details about each major social media Platform and how to create content for each. The goal is to help you to get clear on two of the Sections of the Framework from last week, where people seem to get a little lost and extremely frustrated: 2. Platforms and Culture (PAC) and 3. Strategic Organic Content (SOC).
Let’s dive into Chapter 4: Platform Overview.
This chapter goes into detail breaking down each social media platform, their origins, their benefits, and specific strategies and tactics to use for them. We won’t go through all of that detail here, but we’ll do a quick overview of some of the key points of each.
While there’s no rule that says you must post on every single social media platform, there is a lot of exposure, attention, and skills to be gained for your business by trying out each new one that comes up.
“Even if a platform turns out to be a ‘fad’ and goes away, you’d still retain the brand value that you captured by putting out content there … [and] the learnings would translate to other platforms… When you get brand value, people will still find you wherever consumer attention moves next… If a platform does stick around, usually it expands its user base to many different demographics. In that case, it would be smart to get on it early and get a sense for how to make content on the platform.”
Each Social Media platform has its own culture. Sure, some businesses find success by posting the same content across platforms, but in my experience, the best accounts differentiate across platforms, speaking to specific “cohorts” of potential customers within the cultural framework of the platform.
Platforms
Ok- BREATHE! If you’re sorta new or resistant to Social Media, I know what I just wrote sounds a lot like word salad, so let me break down the culture of each social media channel:
- Facebook has pretty much been around the longest. I know I spend time on Facebook to see what my friends and family are doing. I share photos of my kids and my dogs and post major (and not-so-major) life updates. Admittedly, I’m not so great at tapping into Facebook culture for my business, but I do use it to keep people abreast of upcoming events that we host.
- Instagram started out as a photo-sharing platform. As such the content on Instagram is more beautiful and polished, but don’t be fooled. Whereas Instagram feeds used to look polished, that full “put together” aesthetic is a thing of the past since Instagram began pushing Reels over static individual Photos.
- TikTok, the new-comer on the block, gained popularity with kids and teens dancing to popular songs. While a lot of TikTok is still dancing, there is huge up-side and potential to reach customers. I find TikTok to be the most off-the-cuff of all the social media platforms.
- Not to leave out our business-to-business friends, LinkedIn is a professional networking site, and as such, continues to have a similar culture. It’s an excellent platform to position yourself as an expert in your industry and share relevant information that users will find interesting as they’re scrolling through the platform.
The following four I’m going to do my best with. I don’t have a ton of experience with them but they are incredibly large platforms with value depending on what your market/cohort is.
- Twitter (X) is more a stream of immediate consciousness that is visible/readable by the public. If you are an expert in a particular field, you can try searching for content in your area of expertise and respond to, showing yourself an expert in your field.
- YouTube has long content and newer short-form content like Reels/TikTok. Long form content tends to be more polished/vlog format whereas reels is more off-the-cuff similar to TikTok.
- Snapchat is used by younger kids and it’s about fun, filtered photos that are off-the-cuff and are not permanent.
- Threads is Facebook’s answer to X/Twitter and is all about conversation. Create threads that spark a discussion and invite replies. The easiest way to start a conversation is to pose a question. Consider being direct and asking your followers what they want to hear from you on Threads.
Content
PHEW- that was a lot! So, now we know the difference between each platform’s culture.
The magic trick to creating content that goes viral AND builds your brand and sales is to do so within each platform’s unique culture. As I’m writing this I’m laughing; a sentence that was easy to write but incredibly difficult to execute.
Sometimes I think this can be where people get stuck-figuring out what type of content you should be creating to reach your individual audience cohorts. The best way to figure out what your cohorts are consuming is to consume the content yourself.
Have you looked at competitors and/or leaders in your industry to see what type of content they’re creating? Are there any industry-adjacent creators that are successful? Pick a platform and spend a considerable amount of time consuming content from all creators so you become intimately familiar with the culture there.
While you’re scrolling listen for trending sounds/trends and act on them, fast. Just this afternoon we were listening to Charlie XCX and were laughing at how fast “Brat” summer came and went. The challenge is to use relevant trends while connecting it to your particular business.
When it comes to creating content, I prefer to keep it fast and keep it moving. I don’t consider it “throwing spaghetti at the wall” but testing different types of content to see what your market prefers from you while also figuring out what feels most natural and authentic to you. The more authentic you are, the more successful your content will be.
Finally, think about providing value. We started our TikTok by teaching about the products we carry (Gary talks about this on page 71). My thinking (at the time) was even if customers didn’t buy from us we’d solidify our position as an expert in our industry.
Jump into the comments below to share:
- What platforms are most appealing and appropriate for your business?
- What new platforms might you try after learning more about them?
- What new things can you try to maximize your efforts across these platforms?
Feel free to share any other thoughts you have about this book. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Don’t forget to:
Happy Reading!
