What to do When Social Media Platforms Die

Let's Talk About TikTok

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It’s Time to Talk About Social Media

At the time that I’m working on this edition of the newsletter, the United States Congress has passed a bill requiring TikTok to sell or stop doing business in the United States. While the bill is making its way to the President’s desk, I’ve made a point of reading and watching the commentary about what’s happening with TikTok in the US before commenting on what’s going on.

I have a lot of thoughts about the broader context that we should be thinking about as we build out online brands and especially brands that are heavily dependent on social media. This action should be considered a wakeup call and the goal of this week’s newsletter is to get readers started on taking actions that will protect what they’re working so hard to create.

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What Happens When Social Media Platforms Die?

TikTok

It’s clear that TikTok will litigate against the US Government and make the case that it’s being unfairly targeted. This process could take a year or years to litigate so people who are currently on TikTok have some time to begin future proofing their brand and pivoting their brand building strategies.

This sucks.

For the many people who were able to make money utilizing the TikTok platform, having to rethink their business strategy likely feels incredibly frustrating.

5 Hard Truths About Building on Social Media Platforms

• They are almost always owned by an individual and that individual’s needs/wants/and aspirations will eventually be in conflict with YOURS. Especially as you build out a business leveraging their platform. Don’t believe me? Here are some examples below:

  • Facebook-The Facebook algorithm is such that if you grow a massive community/group on Facebook, your group may or may not see what YOU the GROUP HOST are posting. Your goal is to communicate with your group, Mark Zuckerberg’s goal is to grow Meta’s revenue. He has a massive business that he’s running.

  • Twitter-For those of you who know me personally, it’s likely that you’re aware that my social media platform of choice is Twitter. However, Elno (that’s Elon Musk) has no interest in continuing to foster what I have traditional loved about the platform. This is just a stated fact.

  • Clubhouse-Does it even exist anymore?

  • Periscope-Same question as the previous one. Does it even exist?

• Eventually the Platform Will Change-This will happen as a result of time, user fatigue and differing trends. I’ve frequently stated that in the past 5 or 6 years I’ve noticed an increasing disinterest in using social media platforms. Partly, because there are so many to choose from and that I recognized that there’s more than one way to grow a brand. And as time moves on the platforms change what they provide to their users and how the platform/app works.

• The Algorithm is a constant guessing game-As creators we have an idea of what the algorithm for different platforms may be looking for but the algorithm constantly changes. Algorithm proofing your brand is one of the most important strategies you should be focusing on.

• The Lifespan of a Social Media Platform is Unknown-And seriously, there’s no guarantee that a platform will be around as long as you would like to be or hope for it to be.

• Most people get their goals mixed up-There are several ways to approach social media. You can do all three at the same time or focus on one at a time. Either way, you’ll notice that I didn’t mention building followers.

  • Brand growth

  • Scale Community

  • Make sales

How to Protect Your Brand

Let’s be clear, even though this post is sharing a somewhat cynical view of social media, I enjoy social media. However, I’m a lot more invested in building a brand that scales and

• Quit chasing lightening in the bottle moments-What I mean is that many people love utilizing these platforms because of the opportunity to go viral. I know people who’ve gone viral on TikTok/Facebook/Pinterest/etc. I’ve gone viral as well. But, those moments are often few and far in-between and you have to be prepared to capture your new community members/leads/sales when it does. By the way, I’m not against strategizing a viral moment. But, it’s not a long-term business building strategy.

• Build a List-At this point, focusing on growing a list of connections/contacts/subscribers/community members is non-negotiable. You MUST do this. I am recording a free workshop that I will make available to my paying subscribers some time in May. Keep an eye out for more details. By the way, I use Flodesk for building my list and selling several of my products.

• Build Your Own Platform-What exactly does this mean or look like? You need to have a home base associated with your brand. Components could include the following:

  • Website

  • Owned List

  • Podcast-You own the RSS Feed and distribute your content

  • YouTube-With a HUGE caveat…it’s a 3rd party platform which is still highly problematic. YouTube can still shut your channel down. BUT, if you are growing a list and have saved your videos-there’s a point where you could offer them direct to user via your own platform.

• Become known “For a Thing” or two-I’m known for a couple of different niches. In the beginning that was completely unplanned. But, now I’m so happy that I did this.

  • What this looks like for me:

    • Known for creating content about making money online from somewhat social good perspective.

    • Known for creating personal finance content from a social good perspective.

    • Known for creating content about Colorado from…you guessed it, a more equitable representation of the state.

      • I’m consistent in my content, area of focus and branding.

  • What this could look like for YOU (Examples)

    • Becoming known as the creator who helps moms learn how to build online brands.

    • Become the “go to” person for learning how to use CastMagic.

    • Teach people how to design a subscription business that actually makes money.

• Diversify traffic to your content and brand offerings-I also accidentally fell into doing this at the start of creating content for my brand. Being too heavily reliant on traffic from one platform will make you too emotionally invested in the platform. You will think differently about a platform if you have strategically brought in traffic from different sources.

  • Here are some examples on how to do this below:

    • Brand collaborations where the brand helps grow your authority and send people to your work.

    • Podcast content-This could happen by creating your own content or being a guest on other podcasts

    • Traditional media coverage-If you’re lucky enough to attract television, newspaper, magazine coverage that could create a boost to your website.

    • Pinterest-It’s a search engine. NOT social media. SEARCH ENGINE.

    • SEO-Search Engine Optimization

    • Freelance writing projects-Gain recognition as an expert in your space by getting paid for highly visible freelance projects. Pick projects that will grow your brand, get you paid and scale the visibility of the work that you’re doing.

• Collaborations-Working with other content creators who compliment the work that you’re doing. I collaborate with a large number of amazing content creators who have somewhat adjacent audiences but expertise in slightly different areas of focus.

• Create a Branded Resource or Experience-Creators Getting Paid is absolutely a branded resource. Grants for Creators curated by Danielle Desir is also one of my favorite resources as well. However, there are also unique experiences that people could create as well.

  • In 2019 I hosted an in-person event called “Money on the Mountain” where women from all over the United States and Canada flew into Denver for a weekend of financial talk and conversation.

  • A conference such as FinCon-The personal finance content creators’ conference

  • Afros and Audio-This is one of my favorite events. If you’re a part of the African diaspora and are a podcaster-this is the event for you.

Remove the Emotion

It’s also time to stop being so emotionally attached to your favorite platforms. This one is so hard to do but so important. Side-eye the platforms and develop a bit of cynicism about the platforms that you’re growing on. I’ve gone through this detachment phase with Facebook/Twitter/Instagram and Pinterest. I still use them but I never forget how the platforms have changed in recent years-making it a lot more difficult for users to use the platform to reach their end goals.

Resource Shout Out-CastMagic

I am a slow adaptor to new technology and digital tools. Usually I like to take my time because of pricing, wanting to see if the early hype is just hype and to learn from other people’s experiences. I had the opportunity to sit in a workshop that walked through how CastMagic can help creators create using AI. What I LOVE about CastMagic, besides the fact that it makes content creation easier-CastMagic doesn’t train an AI.

What does it mean?

That currently your IP (intellectual property) is more secure. Instead, CastMagic is trained only on what you share with it. The team was so helpful and I truly enjoyed learning about this cool tool. If you’re looking for an AI tool to use, but are nervous about IP like I am then CastMagic might be a good fit for your needs.

How To Grow Your List

The #1 tip I shared in this edition of the newsletter is to grow your list. I share tips on how you can grow your email list without ads. Paying subscribers listen on!