Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Candy coated Kale

I don’t mind Kale but I don’t love it either.

But what if it was wrapped in candy?  

Like white chocolate?

Jolly Ranchers or…

M&Ms? 

That may sound gross, especially if you love Kale.  But if you’re like the millions of people who don’t like the stuff, a candy coating may give you some incentive to give it another shot.  

Imagine this at your state fair.  Right next to the deep fried Twinkies.

This sums up how you want to market on social.

Fun and deliciously entertaining on the outside with a strong message on the inside.  

Pew Research did a survey and they found more than half of Americans get some or all of their news from social media.  And 1/3 get their news from Facebook alone.

YES, you may coach people with some serious problems.

YES, your course may solve some un-funny problems but people won’t stop to look at your posts on Facebook if they aren’t interesting.  

If your focus is always “giving value” and teaching.  Or worse, giving your stuff away for free.  Do you think you have a shot against the cucumber vs. cats videos?  Or all the little adorable toddler Tiktoks out there?  Girls in bikinis?

Fat chance.

Use what I teach in the Blockbuster Marketing Club.  

What Ben Settle teaches and many others.

Be fun.

Be interesting.

Be curious.  

Do that and people will watch.  They will care.

They will eat right past the crunchy candy coating and go straight to the nutritious center.

Gotta bon appétit? https://adamstreet.net

Adam

PS  If you want to read the study:  

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/new-research-shows-that-71-of-americans-now-get-news-content-via-social-pl/593255/

Facebook: The dark night

My nephew’s goal is to make a full-time living as a social media influencer.  Some of his favorite Internet personalities make tens of thousands each month and he wants his share of the pie. 

I can’t blame him.  

He gets frustrated though because it’s taking him much longer than he thought it would.  It reminded me of some advice I received years ago.  It went something like this…

When it comes to getting your biz going it will usually take three times as long and cost twice as much as you think it will.  

No truer words have ever been spoken for young entrepreneurs.  There’s exceptions to the rule but better to think that way than think you’ll be the next Zuckerberg rich at age 23.

I harp on my nephew about one other thing.  And it’s the most important…

Build a list of customers and prospects.  It could just be their name and email address but having a list that YOU own can save your bacon. 

Pushing people off social networks to your website sounds easy but it’s not.  Why?  Because of Network Effect.  Network effect is when the number of people improve the value of the product or service. 

Take Uber for example.  Uber is #1 in ride share service which mean they attracts more drivers.  This lowers the wait time, which attracts more riders, which attracts more drivers, which lowers the wait time…etc.

It’s a constant circle that’s extremely hard to break.  That’s why you could spend billions and never take over Uber’s place as #1.  

The same is true with Google, Ebay, or Apple.  

It’d be like trying to stop a t-rex from charging at you with a fly-swatter.  You can’t break the momentum.

By having your own list you can rely on your direct marketing skills and NOT “the network”. 

That way when Facebook goes dark, or they change their rules or terms and conditions you can bounce back and pivot way faster than the poor sap that thought he didn’t need to build a list.

For daily marketing and email tips join at https://adamstreet.net

Adam

Why posting on social was like a staph infection

Originally I never did social media for my art business.  I couldn’t stand it.  No matter what Gary V or the gurus I love said.  I enjoyed posting on social about as much as a staph infection.

It’s because I was doing what everyone else was doing.  By posting my art and saying how cool it was or how excited I was making it, it bored me to tears.  

And worse.

There was no ROI to justify the time I spent.  I may as well been brushing my daughter’s cat.

What changed?  I added more of me.  My art became secondary.  I talked about my inspiration behind each drawing and what drove me to make it.  

My thought was, art is everywhere.  Why should someone watch my page?  To get the story.  The story is what connected people to me.

The same is true for you.  

I get you want to talk about your transformations and sales stats.  That’s cool.  But most people don’t care and they won’t know you any better than the next guy.  

And there’s a lot of guys out there…

Market however you want but don’t be afraid to talk about you.  YOU is what makes YOU unique.  YOU is why I should want to hire you.  

Leaving YOU out is like watching Rocky or The Empire Strikes Back with all the good parts taken out.