You don't want Followers. You want Exposure.

Read the full articke for free on my Substack “Run The Day” here.

Let’s talk equations for a minute. Not any Albert Einstein sort of equations about the meaning of the universe, just social media equations. I’ll keep it simple. Just 1+1+1.

This is the formula everyone thinks equals success in marketing:

 Followers = Exposure = Community = Revenue 

You can swap Exposure for Community, as they kind of become interchangeable at some point, but this is the formula that actually equals success in marketing:

 Exposure = Community = Followers = Revenue

People always ask for “followers” first and foremost upfront. How do I get more followers? What should I do to get more subscribers? How do I get popular? That is what people have been trained to want, but what they really want but don’t know yet, is exposure. That is because exposure, in turn, leads to new followers, popularity, and subscribers, which in turn leads to revenue and success. You want someone to follow you who likes what you or your brand has to offer.

You don’t want someone just to follow you for the sake of increasing numbers. However, this is the reason why so many people resort to fake followers, botted streams, and engagement communities — like for like, follow for follow, view for view, subscription for subscription, stream for stream, etc. you get the picture — but none of that actually builds your brand. 

It only satisfies your ego guiding your marketing strategy. If you ever hear any “marketer” tell you that it is “great for optics,” “everyone is doing it,” or “even celebrities are doing it,” — don’t walk. Run away. If you are going to go down that route, you might as well invest in a Ponzi scheme. It accomplishes the same thing at the end of the day because it might look good for a while, but you will only be left with nothing. They are also not a marketer. They are scamming you.

I digress because, yes, you do want followers, and all of that will come in the process of building, of course, but we need to change our mindsets and begin with the concept of exposure, which comes from a real marketing strategy. We have been conditioned into thinking that quickly becoming popular will make you successful. 

That is human nature and what we are taught all throughout our lives. That is what we see everywhere. However, it is only until you can build your exposure and people find you through what you are offering that you can begin to build the brand you want. But even the most popular brands and people, the ones who last, who everyone wants to emulate, got there through a sound marketing strategy and the exposure that strategy got them. 

If you look at successful brands or creators, they build their following based on their content, in real life and online, slowly and steadily. Then they see that spark in followers and revenue. If you look at online creators like Swagg, who now has millions of followers, he was grinding Call of Duty for years. Playing for ten people, then thousands of people, then tens of thousands of people on Twitch. Finally, during Covid, and the onset of the Battle Royale, Warzone, his content truly took off on YouTube, and he became a household name in gaming. 

MrBeast, the King of YouTube, started by grinding out content until that exposure finally paid off. Look at someone like Sssniperwolf, who has turned her whole quirky attitude into an entire brand. Even Kendall and Kylie Jenner started as one of “Kim Kardashian’s” sisters until that exposure on “Keeping Up With Kardashians” turned them into a moguls. 818, anyone? Sure, they started off on a bit of a higher foot than most, but that didn’t guarantee anything.

You can even go more old school and look at a brand like Von Dutch. They existed in a little store, grinding out designs they thought looked cool until one day, Paris Hilton was wearing it on the cover of every magazine. Even Paris Hilton was a product of exposure, going out to clubs, modeling, and finally landing a show on MTV, the everything-YouTube channel of the 80s and 90s. That exposure catapulted her into the stratosphere. 

Even MTV was a product of exposure, gaining popularity through the new medium of television, and so did every band who had their music video on MTV. Television itself was a product of exposure, gaining popularity by advertising new technology in newspapers and magazines until everyone saw one in their neighbor’s homes and had to have one. And, yes, magazines and newspapers were a product of exposure, gaining popularity by delivering door-to-door and putting newsstands on the corners of major cities.

So, that is how Exposure = Community = Followers = Revenue

Read the full article for free on my Substack “Run The Day” here.

How to grow your social media accounts.

When people ask: How do I grow my accounts?

My answer is always four things:

Good content + Targeted Ads + Community Engagement + Good Team = Growth

If you can do those four things, you will see growth. The most important thing for long-term growth is often the thing that gets forgotten about the most: Building A Well-Rounded Team

I see many companies and brands always hiring Content Creators, Ad Specialists but not very often Community Managers. Sometimes, but not as much. I even sometimes see these 3 positions merged into one position, which is impossible for one person to do (at least in 1 day).

I also often see Digital Strategist or Social Media Manager intertwined with these positions, and they are not the same. A Strategist is the one overseeing everything, coming up with and keeping track of strategies. A Manager comes up with a calendar, copy, and posting schedule.

One other important thing: Never underestimate how powerful it is when you actually answer people in comments, like other people's content, and show an interest in your community.

It takes time and is a grind, but it will lead to you finding the right audience for your pages. If you don't engage with people, do not expect them to engage with you. It is a two-way street, and people will tune out if they show you social media love and you show none back.

Build your team and plan accordingly!

It's Drake vs AI Drake

We’ve gone from, “You heard that new Drake?” to, “You heard that new AI Drake?”

I wouldn’t be surprised if people start honestly comparing the actual artist to the AI version of the artist soon.

Is it good for the artist? No. Is it good for music fans? Yes.

Will labels hate it? Of course.

There is no way they or the artist can earn money from it yet. It’s the new Napster.

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Their problem then was how do you prevent someone from putting music on the internet? No one has really truly figured that out because piracy is still huge. So, how do you license the sound of someone’s voice when it’s not even their song with an original instrumental?

Sounds like we are in for a whole new legal battle for what constitutes IP of an artist. Is the sound of your voice something you can put up legal traffic cones around?

Probably at some point, but it’s the Wild West for now. Napster had 80 million users at one point, but these social media platforms have hundreds of millions of followers being pushed content in an artificially produced algorithm. The song already had 20 million views on Twitter, and 15 million views on other platforms like TikTok (where it was first posted by someone named Ghostwriter977.

The explosion of AI-generated music and content will certainly explode. Imagine what might happen if people start using AI to recreate deceased artists such as Frank Sinatra or Elvis. Their estates might try to stop them, but what about deceased artists who aren’t as well-known? Who will go to bat for them?

As pointed out in the above image, the real kicker is that no one owns the content. How do you own the sound of your voice if it is artificially generated? Technically, is it even your voice anymore, or is the software or AI the owner? Sure, it sounds like Drake. However, is it really Drake or the product of code sounding like something we know?

For now, labels have been able to get the song taken down on social platforms and streaming services. Even Drake took to Instagram upon someone recreating an Ice Spice song with his voice and said, “This is the final straw AI.” In some way, it feels like Drake is embracing internet culture as he always has.

Internet culture is what propelled him to superstardom. So, to some degree, he is probably laughing about it and will continue to boost his popularity off AI versions of himself. However, he is also saying this is getting ridiculous. But you know what has also been ridiculous? The plethora of Drake memes over the year. I don’t think he ever earned money from a meme of himself, though. Therefore, he might have to look at AI songs in the same way. It all propels him further into the pop culture lexicon.

To me, that’s the best W you can take away from it now. With his powers combined of real Drake vs. AI Drake, we might see an artist grow to heights we have never seen because everyone wants to be Drake, and now they can.

Hey, Fake Drake made quite a few dollars just doing appearances and pretending to be the guy.

How I helped my mom become a coaching influencer on TikTok with over 40,000 Followers

Recently, my mom wrote a best-selling book called "Trust Your Tuition," and needed some help with her social media presence.

So, naturally, I said, of course, I could help you even though I have never worked with an author or in book publishing.

At first, she just needed some help promoting her release and driving traffic to her Amazon page. While I will not take credit for her book going #1 in the self-help section in the first week, with a bit of my help and targeted ad campaigns, HER BOOK WENT #1 ON AMAZON IN THE SELF-HELP SECTION IN THE FIRST WEEK!

Also, at my encouragement, I urged her to get more active on TikTok, as it is easily the fastest-growing platform for creatives. But what content to create? Where do we promote it? So many questions.

Well, I mentioned she should start reading chapters from her book to promote the release globally and the new Audible release of her book. If they are going to listen to you read a whole book, why not give them a proper sample of what that sounds like? Spoiler alert, people on TikTok loved it. I also encouraged her to provide her everyday insightfulness as I think a large spiritual audience is on the platform. Spoiler alert again; they love that too.

Fast forward 4-months, and her content has received 1,200,000 views, she has 40,000 followers (up from 3,000), is getting offered speaking events around the world, new people find her every day and thank her for her daily advice, the book went #1 in Germany, and did I mention the 40,000 global fan base?!

We also decided to do a custom bookmark giveaway to some lucky followers to celebrate her new followers. However, instead of just asking people to comment, we went about it more strategically! I told her we should run a Lead Generation campaign and encourage people to submit their info that way. Now, not only can she pick out some lucky winners, she can add them to her weekly newsletter, send out gifts to them at a later time, and so much more.

Well, turns out people love bookmarks, as the giveaway received 183,000 video views, thousands of new followers, and 100 people submitted their info to enter the contest!

We also took our show on the road to Instagram, where in 1 week, she gained 3,000 new followers from targeted ads around her content. Not to mention even more Likes, over 60,000 views, and more.

This also continued to show me how my marketing skills translate across genres. Marketing is about know-how. So, to all of those companies that require 2-3 years in a very specialized field -- look at the quality and talent of the person you are hiring. It is impossible to get experience in something until you actually get experience in something. Anyway, I now have 1 year of experience in publishing and a very happy mom. The latter is probably more important.

If we haven't formally met....

It's always good to remind people what you do! So, I went ahead and updated my About section. Felt good to go over some accomplishments over the years!

So, if we haven't formally met....

Hi, it is nice to meet you! I have 10 years of experience in providing full-service social media management and digital marketing services that cater to brands in the digital space.

I specialize in:

💠Account growth and management
💠Paid social ads across on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, and Twitter 
💠Google Search and Display Ads
💠Engagement ads
💠eCommerce and driving online sales 
💠Creative content consulting
💠Content creation 
💠Video and photo editing
💠Website building and SEO
💠Copywriting
💠Top-to-bottom project planning

Some of my clients have included artists and businesses in music, fashion, books, film, entertainment networks, and food & beverage. Some people and companies I have worked with include Lil Wayne, Young Money Entertainment, Nicki Minaj, Cash Money/Republic Records, Utopia Distribution, 300 Entertainment, and more. I have also worked with various independent artists on project rollouts such as music videos, single releases, and album releases.

Over the past 10 years, I have garnered over 60 million social media fan and managed communities with over 150 million followers. I also have managed over $3 million in marketing spending and delivered over $10 million in online revenue. I have also worked alongside brands to help launch products such as Tidal, Spotify, EA Sports, Ethika, SUPRA, Sprayground, Samsung, Roc Nation, Penguin Books, Sovereign Brands, Apartments.com, and more.