There are 26 posts filed in Writing challenge ( this is page 2 of 3).
One of the reasons I spend so much time mentoring startups and meeting with entrepreneurs is that I love to help.I really, passionately love to help.
My mission statement hasn’t changed in the last decade – I want to help people achieve their goals.
This post is a way for me to call my bluff. And maybe yours as well.
Procrastination has a bad reputation, though it’s not always a bad thing as long as you are aware of it.
There’s a huge difference between procrastinating and lying to yourself about it, and procrastinating with full awareness but lack of self control.
A few days ago I talked about how you can improve interaction with 3 small tweaks.
Since then I’ve been getting some really great feedback from you guys about how well this is working for you. I’m super happy to see that you are following and testing yourself. Really, for me that’s exciting. I appreciate you taking the time to read my stuff and practice it.
Every week I get between 5-10 emails / messages asking me about ‘where should I learn social media’ and discussing the different schools and courses they can attend.
I often give them the same answer – It doesn’t matter. I might even add “If you are willing to spend some time and focus, save the money and start hitting Google / Neil Patel / Buffer / Social Media Examiner”. Because eventually the content is always the same.
Life is too short. We all know it. We rarely act according to it.
Today, Michael Assaf shared a beautiful post with me on Twitter.
The post, simply titled “Life is Short” was written by Paul Graham, and has managed to do what many cliche’ posts could not. Really look at what I’m spending my time doing and thinking – am I doing the right choices.
Inspirational quotes are everywhere these days.
It’s actually one of the most successful marketing strategies on social media. Neil Patel used it to increase his Facebook reach, Gary Vaynerchuk is dedicating his entire Instagram for his self-made inspirational quotes. Hell, almost every entrepreneurial Instagram account is using those.
Interacting with your followers and having meaningful engagements and conversations are key to social media and content success.
What keeps surprising me is that this is where a lot of companies and personal brands are really missing the mark.
You will be surprised how many social media folks just don’t engage back at all, and the ones that do, usually simple “like” the other persons comment or maybe sometimes say a simple ‘thank you’.
Before I go into today’s post I want to share with you that yesterday I didn’t post anything on this blog – but I did write a post for another blogger (post will be up soon) so I’m still counting it as a post done.
I said at the beginning of this adventure that some of the content might be off site. When it is published, I will add it here as Day 10.
Ok – I’ve been waiting for a long time to share with you something that not many content marketers are willing to admit.
Creating great content is a must if you want to succeed with content marketing, but it’s only 25% of the success factor.
The one big secret for making your content to actually work for you – is distribution and promotion.
If your content doesn’t have any distribution plan, it will fail.
If you think about most ‘growth strategies’ – they focus heavily on growth of distribution and reach. Why? because without distribution the funnel doesn’t even start.
I’ve recently started using Snapchat.
After listening to Gary talking about it so much, I’ve decided it’s time to give it a try. I love it. I truly enjoy.
Only one problem – It’s shitty for content discovery and content doesn’t last (it automatically disappears after 24 hours). That’s a bad combination for trying and increase reach.
If it’s very hard to discover content, it means that you will need to work really hard on getting followers and attention. Because the content disappears after 24 hours it also means that you’re not creating real estate, that can be discovered by future readers.
Why is this the only thing I’m telling you about Snapchat at the moment? Because as a marketer, being easily discovered is key.
So what is the first thing you should check when approaching a new marketing channel?
I’ll ignore the audience part because I will discuss it in future post. For now lets focus on the “discovery and building a following.”
Every time you decide taking your brand / company into a new marketing channel, before creating one piece of content on it – you need to ask yourself:
How will I get attention and followers?
Lets take Instagram for example. On the top of my head I look at Instagram and think:
Now that I broke down all my options to engage and get attention / followers on Instagram, I can start thinking about the tactics and content I need use to start getting new followers – so my content will have impact and actually get noticed by people.
Always ask yourself – How am I going to get attention on this platform and make it last. How hard will i need to work to get noticed / discovered.
I will write about this topic more in-depth soon.
But for now, try and test yourself – look a the marketing channels you’re currently using. What can you do to get more followers right now? Is this a good channel for you?
BTW, are you a snapper? follow me on Snapchat at roypovar or by scanning this code:
Roy Povarchik Snapchat
Yes, this is a dramatic headline, but I’m that excited. I’ll tell you why in just a minute.
Up until a few days ago I didn’t get Snapchat. At all.
I downloaded it a few times in the past, tried following some people I knew. But I just didn’t get it. I didn’t even get the interface (which sucks).
But something changed.
I saw Gary Vaynerchuk’s ‘SNAPPING MY WAY THROUGH VEGAS‘ episode and was partially brainwashed that Snapchat is the next big thing.
So I did what any old guy (Old in compare to a millennial) would do, and just looked through Snapchat support and looked up some Youtube videos explaining the product and concept.
Somewhere between watching Gary using it and thinking about my strategy and resolutions to 2016 the magic of Snapchat hit me.
If you’ve been following me / this blog for a while, you already know that I have issues with selfies and real time documentation. I just get awkward in the moment. Up until recently I haven’t taken and posted a selfie… every! I was always tagged, but never took the picture. That’s crazy right?
The second thing is that i’m too heavy with content. My professional blog posts take a lot of time to write and even on my Twitter account, I take everything too seriously and heavily. That doesn’t cope with the future of marketing. This is actually a part of why I started the writing challenge.
Snapchat changed that for me.
Why? Because this platform is hardcore all about real time, quick response, but most of all, if you’re not putting yourself out there – there’s nothing there for you.
But i’ve decided i’m giving Snapchat a try. So I’m all in. And it feels great.
Here are some of the things I’ve been doing in the last couple of days that i’ve never done before:
For me, that’s a huge change. Think of where I’ve started.
Business wise, I don’t know f Snapchat will actually have any results as getting new followers is super hard. But I will find out soon.
What I was really surprised though is to find out how many of my friends are actually on Snapchat.
Which actually proves Gary’s point – that Snapchat is maturing and will probably become the next big thing, and this is the time for you to build your brand on it before others in your field will take over.
So.. I’m on Snapchat as ‘roypovar’.
You can also scan this code to follow me.
Add your profile code or nick name in the comments and I promise to follow you back!
Roy Povarchik Snapchat
Did you miss the goal setting workshop last night? No worries – I have the recordings right here.
Goal settings is a serious thing. It can mean the difference between wasting another year, getting to 2017 and not knowing where the time went and having the best year of life.
This is why yesterdays ‘Goal Setting’ workshop was free, and why i’m sharing the recording here for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
I was actually not a 100% sure I will be able to do the workshop, as I am still sick. But at the last minute I decided that a sore throat and some fever won’t hold me down. But will cause me to have a wired voice during the session.
I’m sorry for the low quality, It was my first time using Google Hangout on air to do a workshop, but the content still looks good and is super valuable.
Enjoy the session!
Update: You can find the workshop slides here
Have any thoughts you’d like to share? That’s what the comments are for