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: View and Subscribe to all threads about this book RSVP to our Live Discussion – Tactic Talk: Social Media   Happy Reading!   ... View more

Hey Square Readers!   Thank you so much for joining our Square Readers Book Club! Don’t forget to click Join Group at the top of our Book Club Group Hub.   I would love to learn more about you all, so here's a space to introduce yourselves and to meet some fellow Readers.      So tell us a bit about yourself here in the comments.    Tell us: Your name & location Your business name (and website) What you're hoping to learn and gain from Book Club Your favorite book (business or fun) A picture or two of you or your business   And of course feel free to reply to each others’ intros, especially those nearby or in the same industry as you.   Looking forward to meeting you all, and reading with you, Pesso ... View more

Hey Readers,   We’ve now finished up reading Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk, and we’ve covered everything from your business’ use of social media, the basics of covered the basics of why attention matters, went through the The Modern Advertising Framework, did an overview of the current Social Media Platforms, held a social media consultation, and shared the final takeaways from the last chapters.     So let’s talk about how you’ve implemented what you’ve learned from the book. I’d love to hear what ideas resonated the most with you, what you learned, what it’s been like to actually enact those changes, and how they’ve impacted your business.    I know there is so much to digest and implement. This book really is more academic text book than what we’ve read in the past and, as such, requires working through it rather than a straight read.   In light of that, @Pesso and I hope you’ll join us for our live Tactic Talk event about social media use in your business. Bring questions you may have, wins, any “lightbulb moments,” or even frustration – we wanna hear from you!   Don’t forget to RSVP to Tactic Talk: Social Media, a new version of our Book Club Live Discussions that we’re holding Tomorrow, Tuesday October 29th, to chat together about the social media strategies. Hope to see you there!   We’d love to hear your answers in the comments: What resonated the most with you from this book? What have you done in your business as a result of reading this book? What effects have you felt on your business so far? Where do you still feel lost or frustrated after reading this book?   Don’t forget to: View and Subscribe to all threads about this book RSVP to our Live Discussion – Tactic Talk: Social Media   Happy reading! ... View more

Hey Square Readers,   We’re almost done reading Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk, so make sure you jump into some of our discussion threads and let us know your thoughts and what you’ve learned.      Since the Festive/Holiday Season is busy for most business owners, we’ll be taking off the months of November & December 2024, and picking back up in January 2025!   We’ll have our next round of book voting in either November or December, so stay tuned and keep your eyes open for that thread!    Even though we won’t be reading together for those two months, you can still read on your own! Check out our Bookshelf with a full list of all of the books sellers like you recommended, and get a head start before we start back up on January 1st!   In the meantime, please don’t forget to fill out our Survey, and RSVP to our Tactic Talk Live Discussion all about Social Media on Tuesday October 29th!    Happy reading, Pesso ... View more

Hey Square Readers,   We’re coming to the end of Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk, and so far we’ve talked about your business’ use of social media, covered the basics of why attention matters, went through the The Modern Advertising Framework, did an overview of the current Social Media Platforms, and held a social media consultation.    Now let’s dive into the last chapters of the book, wrapping everything up, and sharing our final key takeaways.     Let’s start with Chapter 5: Breaking Down Content Examples    This chapter goes into the different content formats that you can create, the benefits of each, and strategies to be most effective, which the author says is more art than science.    You don’t have to try each and every one of the formats he details, but adding some variety and following trends can help gain exposure and attention. Some of the content types he details are: straight-to-camera selfie videos, reposts, interview clips, modern commercials, listicles, memes, user-generated content, skits, lead-gen promotions, green screen, questions, text posts, carousels, reaction videos, and so much more.    Here are some key takeaways that we found most valuable:   Authenticity and realness is key, so just share what you know:  “Content doesn’t have to be fancy to work—it can be as simple as looking into the front-facing camera on your phone and talking about what you believe in… Posting is better than not posting. A lot of creators and businesses can easily execute on this content format. Just pick a common piece of advice you give your customers, clients, or something you believe in, and literally make a piece of content with it right now… This kind of authentic, “in the moment” content through straight-to-camera videos helps build a closer connection with the audience and leads to building an actual engaged community.”   Don’t try to emulate commercials, make something different: “The best modern commercials are videos that people actually want to watch. These are advertisements that feel like scenes from a hilarious sitcom, a music video, or an enticing movie trailer. They’re not like the standard, vanilla ads we all see on TV with a car driving down a hill and people smiling.”   Bridge the gap between online and in-person communities:  “Social media is the gateway to real-life interactions. What I mean by that is, you can take the community that you build on social platforms and deepen that relationship even further through in-person events or meet-and-greets… To get the most value out of this, I always recommend filming the in-person events, and distributing that footage in the form of clips across social platforms.”   Chapter 6: Real Life Scenarios   In this chapter, the author does a bit of role playing, breaking down situations based on real scenarios they’ve encountered in his company’s experiences. These can help give ideas and inspire you in your path, whether or not your situation directly reflects the example.   Here are some helpful points gleaned from these scenarios.   If you’re worried about mucking up your brand account while you’re experimenting: “Create brand-new accounts on social media related to your business category… By starting with these accounts, you won’t “screw up” or “bother” the way the train is running at the company… Most social media content doesn’t lead to direct sales results immediately… This will take years to build, so that if you do have a post that gets a lot of views and leads to a couple of clients, it’s considered an early indication of success.”   Customers search on social media too: “First off, understand that social media search is aggressively on the rise. It’s no different than placing an ad on Google or maximizing your website to show up higher on Google search rankings. Content on social media can achieve the same effect…    The value of educating your audience and giving away knowledge: “Oftentimes, the biggest opportunity in the world is to do the work before you’re paid for it… Start by making videos. If you’re not good at video, write detailed analysis in written form on LinkedIn, or use the notes app to type out your thoughts… If you’re good at your analysis, your content will find its way to smart people… That will lead to your opportunities.”   Try changing things up with new formats and types of content: “The 80/20 rule. Continue to do the standard content you’re already doing 80 percent of the time, but 20 percent of the time challenge yourself to do something completely different. That’s two out of ten posts where you should be switching things up and making content about something you normally don’t. It is highly likely that you’ll get far fewer views and less engagement; however, on the nineteenth time you do it, you might find your next big “thing.” If you never try to put out different stuff, you’ll never find it, and I have watched hundreds of thousands of influencers and creators get into ruts and lose their place in the game because they never added the 20 percent.”   Every single post is an opportunity to gain a new audience: “With the TikTokification of social media, you could have three followers on TikTok and post tomorrow and if your content is good, you can miraculously have 100,000 people seeing that video. Your content will “find” its audience… You just need to be mentally ready for some of your existing followers criticizing you. The bottom line is, don’t stop yourself from posting just because you think it’s not going to get likes or you’ll lose followers… That doesn’t mean that every piece of content is going to do great, but overall, you’ll find your cadence and some stuff will hit… Be your most true and authentic self, and you will be happier.”   Try different things to reach different people: “Stop being scared. Make content that’s relevant for different people. Different people are going to buy your T-shirt or software or shoes, and they’re going to buy them for different reasons. There’s so much fear around being “on brand” that prevents companies from being relevant. People have chosen vanilla messaging to one group because they fear being relevant to every group, and it’s limiting their growth. If you’re only selling vanilla, your customers are only going to be people who like vanilla. If you’re selling different flavors that various people like, you’re going to have more people buying. It’s just business.”   Shadow banning isn’t a big thing, it can just be hard to make engaging content: “The reality is, 99.99 percent of you need to get out of this concept of “shadow banning.” I heard people refer to this term a lot around 2017–18, as the supply of content on Instagram increased and organic reach began to decline for some major influencers. They wanted to blame the platform, not realizing they were starting to lose market share because of the game of supply and demand… It’s harder to make a video get 5–10 million views on TikTok today, whereas years ago it was more common. Why? Because now more people are posting on TikTok and the supply of content is higher. That’s the way it will always work. The answer to your question is, you need to make new stuff.”   Social media takes time and work, but it’s important to make the time: “Everybody who’s reading this has ambition. And if you have ambition, auditing your time becomes important because a lot of you are busy. You have families and you have leisure time that you need for rest and mental balance. I get it. I don’t want you to add four hours of work a day. I want you to find four hours that you’re wasting. For example, I believe every one of you could cut your meetings in half across the board and find the hours to dedicate to this… Either you do it yourself or you could hire somebody, but you can’t sell to consumers without knowing what they care about.”   Don’t hire someone without knowing what’s needed for yourself: “One of the biggest issues of the last decade in social media is that a lot of businesses have built out marketing teams of kids under twenty-five because they think the “kids just get it.” That’s laughable… This isn’t about age, it’s about skill. If you want to build out a team, put the strategies of this book into practice yourself, for months. You need to understand it in and out, so that you can hire the right people to do it for you. Otherwise, you won’t know how to evaluate who’s good and who’s not… That doesn’t mean you need to become an expert, but you do need to allocate some meaningful time over the next month or two to start dabbling so you can know enough to ask the right questions.”   We’d love to hear your answer in the comments: Which post formats do you typically use? Which would you be open to experimenting with?  What can you do to be more authentic with your business on social media? What are you still apprehensive about? What are your current unknowns?   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: View and Subscribe to all threads about this book RSVP to our Live Discussion – Tactic Talk: Social Media   Happy reading, Pesso   ... View more