Social Files

If your social posts are flatlining in performance, test the hook. Then test it again. And again. And again. There are so many different levers to pull in the first few lines alone. You don’t have a source material problem, you have a framing & creativity problem.

The companies that don’t understand this will get left behind. Too many companies are afraid of posting too much. They should be afraid of nobody knowing who they are. You earn the right to focus on “quality over quantity.” #b2b #b2bmarketing #socialstrategy

Startup Social Strategy 101: A lot of times, the content that 'converts' the best into new leads isn't content that 'performs well' on social platforms. It doesn't always get the most impressions. It doesn't always get the most people engaging. But it DOES get the right people reaching out. Now, you can't skew too far in this direction. You need to have balanced Content Funnel that both optimizes for audience growth and converts that audience once you've added enough value to them. More in today's quick video. Share this with your marketing team if it was helpful. Or don't. Up to you.

I see a lot of social media ‘thought leaders’ shouting about how every company needs an organic social strategy. They’re half right. Yes. Every company can benefit in some way from a strong social presence. Even in B2B. Scratch that—especially in B2B. But there are certain companies where organic social is: (1) More important. (2) More effective. And over my years in social content, I’ve picked up a handful of criteria I run through when assessing if a company is a perfect fit for organic social in their content motion. In tomorrow's edition of Social Files (my weekly newsletter on B2B social strategy) I'll reveal the 5 signs that social is a viable channel for your B2B company. Sign up here to get it in your inbox: https://lnkd.in/gN4vAKjQ

Let’s dispel a common social media strategy myth. One of the biggest concerns about organic social is that the content lifecycle is too short and you have to stay “on the treadmill.” Here’s a helpful reframe I picked up from Alex Hormozi’s $100M Leads: It isn’t just the content that compounds—the audience does. So sure, each individual piece of content might have a short lifecycle. But the overall audience is the real asset you’re building. Make sense?

Startup Social Strategy 101 Here’s the ‘minimum viable social strategy’ we would use to take your startup from 0 → 1000 followers (and start generating leads) on LinkedIn/Twitter: 1) Decide between personal or brand account For most startups, building the founder’s personal brand is an easier lift. Your company has 0 brand recognition, so it’s going to be hard to stand out on the timeline. Plus, even companies that do have brand recognition have a harder time than personal accounts. Both assets (personal & company page) are necessary long-term, but to get your social presence off the ground, I’d build your personal brand first. 2) Pick your platforms This one’s simple. Just use LinkedIn + X. This is where most B2B startups’ ICPs hang out and consume business-related content. These two platforms also allow for easy diversification because you can create a post for LinkedIn and then copy it over to X as a long-form post, and vice versa. There are some nuances, but super easy to repurpose. 3) Pick your content pillars In short: WHY is someone going to follow you? - Are you going to lean into entertainment/humor or education? Or a combination of both? - What topics are you going to educate or entertain around? I usually break topics up into 3 buckets. Broad ‘business-related’ content (top of funnel) Industry-related content (middle of funnel) Product-related content (bottom of funnel) The exact ratio of each type of content depends on the goal of the social strategy and the maturity of the company’s presence on social. Assuming this is a 0→1000 strategy, I would recommend making most of your content either ‘broad’ or ‘industry-related.’ You have no audience to start, so nobody really cares about your product yet. Fill the room first, then try to sell. 4) Decide your cadence - 5x per week on LinkedIn - 5-10x per week on Twitter - 30min per day of engagement and outreach Example schedule: Post 1: Personal story about solving a hard problem related to your industry Post 2: Breakdown post of a strategy used by a popular brand or person in your industry (this allows you to ‘borrow credibility’ and stop the scroll) Post 3: Listicle breaking down 5 common myths about your industry (bonus points if they’re a bit controversial) Post 4: Personal story about why you started your company Post 5: Customer case study that highlights a major pain point in your ICP (here’s where a direct CTA makes sense) Post 6 (Twitter only): One-liner, slightly polarizing statement Post 7 (Twitter only): Meme highlighting a pain point our ICP faces Post 8 (Twitter only): Engagement prompt related to your ICP This isn’t a perfect calendar. That’s going to depend on your company and what ends up working for you as you test. But if you stick to this for like 7-8 weeks, I’d be surprised if you didn’t get some traction.

Too many companies want the rewards of an engaged community on social without the time investment & creative risk it requires to make compelling content. Or, as bodybuilding legend Ronnie Coleman once said: “Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-a** weights.”

If you want to build an audience for your B2B company, you need to build a Content Funnel. I speak to a lot of B2B founders who are excited about organic social as a GTM channel. Maybe they’ve tried it before. They usually run into 1 of 2 problems, though. Problem 1: They only post product-related content like feature highlights and case studies. Maybe they saw some initial traction, but then momentum fizzled out. Problem 2: They only post broad content that generates a ton of ‘attention’—but low-quality attention. This happens a lot when companies hire a crappy ghostwriter or content agency. The solution? A Content Funnel. This concept isn’t ‘new.’ The content funnel is a concept heavily used in other types of content, like SEO. Some content is used to generate traffic. Other content is used to convert that traffic. This can be applied to organic social. (1) Top-of-funnel content Goal: This type of content is meant to generate impressions and visibility. What works: The angles for this content should be broader and appeal to a wider audience here on LinkedIn or X. This could be broad business breakdowns, personal stories about startup life, etc. Split: 10-20% of your social content should be TOFU (2) Middle-of-funnel content Goal: This type of content is meant to generate impressions and visibility. What works: This type of content shouldn’t be salesy, but it should be ultra-specific to the ICP you are trying to reach. It should at least be related to your industry. This piece you are reading is an example of ‘MOFU’ content. Split: 60-70% of your social content should be MOFU (3) Bottom-of-funnel content Goal: This type of content is meant to appeal to followers who are closer to booking a demo or signing up. It’s not meant to get tons of eyeballs. What works: This type of content can be more product-related. This could be feature highlights, case studies, etc. Split: 10-20% of your social content should be BOFU (Note on the %: I know the math isn’t perfect. The content splits here can fluctuate, so the percentages might not add up to exactly 100%. Spare me the comments 😂) In most cases, MOFU content should make up the majority of your social content. This type of content can fill the room but doesn’t sacrifice quality in the process. Occasionally use TOFU content to gain massive visibility, and occasionally use BOFU content to convert that traffic into demos booked, email subs, etc. This is a structure that I find works well for myself and for the founders + companies my agency works with. Let me know if you have any questions. PS: If this was helpful, go ahead and repost or share the post with your team so more B2B marketers can see it! 🤝

Most marketers grossly underestimate the posting volume needed to create momentum on an early-stage account. TLDW? Increase your shipping velocity.

21 pieces of social media advice for every B2B founder: 1) ‘Trending content’ is overrated. Lean into trends, but don’t live or die by them. 2) It probably makes more sense to scale your personal account than your company account as an early-stage company. 3) That said, invest in your company accounts so you aren’t totally reliant on your own socials (and stuck on the hamster wheel). This becomes more important as you scale. 4) LinkedIn first. Maybe X. Ignore everything else. 5) You need to give people a reason to follow you aside from selling your product. Educate and entertain in a way your ICP resonates with. 6) Scrappy visuals tend to perform better than super-polished graphics. 7) Posts with media (images or videos) tend to perform better on LinkedIn and X right now. Create accordingly. 8) Make sure your marketing team and your product team are aligned on feature launches. Give your marketing team time to promote the feature. Did a feature really launch if nobody heard it? 9) Spend time every day engaging with people on the platform. Be social on social media. Don’t spam, but comment on posts you actually find valuable. Respond to customers who ask questions in DMs. 10) When competitors pipe up, keep quiet. Getting into petty arguments on social rarely looks good for you. There are exceptions, but generally, just let it pass. 11) Attention does not equal intention. Stop trying to go viral for the sake of it. 1000 potential customers > 100,000 low-intent followers. 12) Create content that compounds. You want to create a library of binge-worthy content for people to consume if they stumble upon your page. What content can you post now that will be relevant 6 months from now? 13) 5% of your posts will drive 95% of your social media growth. This is normal. Keep posting. And if you have a team, trust them and trust the process. 14) If you’re charismatic and good on video, lean into that. Video content is great for building trust with your audience. It doesn’t need to be ‘high production.’ 15) As your company grows, delegate socials. Your schedule is going to fill up, but you can't let the momentum you have on social die out. 16) When you delegate, hire a proper social media manager or social agency. I love traditional content marketers, but they often have different skill sets than are required to excel on social. 17) Take risks on content that doesn’t adhere to ‘best practices.’ You want to create a unique identity on social media. 18) No tool or software is going to make or break your social strategy. 19) Think in Slack groups. Will the piece of content you’re about to publish get shared in a Slack channel by your ideal customer? 20) The best social content is created in a state of caffeine-induced anxiety (half joking). 21) Please. Don’t use ChatGPT to write content. It’s painfully obvious. (That said, it’s a great tool for research and even some rough drafting). That’s all I’ve got today. What else would you add?