Hey there,

Your social media following will grow if you know what makes you unique. Here’s how to figure it out.

One thing you should know

While everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend, I read Roger Martin’s “Playing to Win.” Oh, and watching my beloved LSU Tigers lose, but let’s not dwell on that.

Back to Roger Martin’s book. He lays out five steps for crafting a winning strategy:

1. What is your winning aspiration?

2. Where will you play?

3. How will you win?

4. What capabilities must be in place?

5. What management systems are required?

These questions help create a winning social media account strategy, but I want to discuss the fourth one.

To rephrase Roger’s question in this context: what are you so good at and have so many resources in place already, that your competition is discouraged from even entering into your space because it would cost too much and take too long?

Or, to simplify even further, what makes you unique?

It could be any number of things:

1. years of experience in your field

2. exclusive opportunities in your career

3. a revolutionary method (although I do have many caveats with this one)

4. access to something others don’t have

5. insider information

6. proprietary data/research

7. combination of unrelated skills

The good news is that everyone has something unique to draw from to create a distinctive point of view.

The key is to be really, really specific about what that is, so specific that people can’t compete against it.

Here’s mine:

I’m an Emmy Award-winning Director who spent the last 15 years helping people look and sound their best on camera. After working with celebrities, actors, billionaires, narcissists, psychopaths, and regular everyday people, I’ve learned how to get the very best out of anyone. On top of that, I’ve built a media company with a state-of-the-art studio that helps service-based businesses 3x their sales through social media. Now, I’m taking all I’ve learned and teaching people who want help but can’t afford it or aren’t ready for one-on-one coaching with me and my team.

Your homework is to figure out what that thing is for you. If you don’t know what it is, reply to this message, and I’ll help you figure it out.

One thing you should do

If you follow my content, you know I stress that your account shouldn’t be about you.

Here’s the catch: you can talk about yourself, but the order matters.

Credibility is easy for product-based accounts. Reviewing the new iPhone? Hold it up in the first few seconds. Selling cars? Stand by one when you talk.

Service-based sales are more complex. We don’t trust unreliable sources, so you have to talk about yourself periodically. But if you know your exclusive point of view, it becomes natural to talk about yourself in a way that serves the viewer. 

This week, create a video that has this flow:

Hook: Your promise to the viewer in 5 seconds or less of what they can expect in the video.

Tease: Expand on the hook and give it a bit more context. 

Credibility: Share something about you that fits in the context of the video and would get people to keep watching.  It should be concise: 5 seconds or less.

Content: The core of the video.

Bow: Ask for a follow and a like.

And another thing

Check out Matt’s post, which follows the path outlined above. Did you notice his credibility portion? It’s so sneaky and freakin brilliant. 

What should I write about next? Just hit reply and let me know.

Until next time,

Will