Friday, November 1

Imagine you've crafted a masterpiece—a post that encapsulates your unique insights and expertise.

You hit "publish," and then... 5 views.

I’ve had consulting calls and clients who have the exact same thing.

Heck, my brand died a while back because I was so bogged down by client work that I lost sight of the bigger picture of brand building.

Since then, I’ve rebuild my brand - get way more impressions per post using the things I’ll cover today.

The honest truth is, without strategic distribution, even the best content can fade into the digital abyss.

It's about making sure that content reaches the right audience.’

But before we dig into the tactic you need to learn how social media algorithms operate.

Understanding Social Media Algorithms:

Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Threads by Meta use complex algorithms to curate content for each user.

These algorithms consider a few factors:

1. Engagement Levels: Posts with higher likes, comments, and shares are judged as more valuable. So the platform pushes these.

   Now this part is mainly dictated by your ability to write good copy.

   We’ve done several other pieces on this so definitely check those out when you have time.

2. Relevance: Gary Vee, and a lot of experts have talked on this. We’re slowly moving away from the follower-driven model - and moving into the interest graph.

   You’ve probably seen in.

   You hop into your social media account.

   And you see a bunch of content from people you haven’t followed before.

   Content that aligns with a user's interests, as determined by their interaction history, is more likely to appear in their feed.

   So relevance is huge.

   Combined with the last and it creates massive potential reach even for accounts starting from 0.

   Look at this example:

   When I started on Thread with 0 followers, I was still able to get insane reach.

   • 13.5k impressions

   • 698 likes

   Not bad at all for a new Threads account.

   

   And this is 100% possible for X as well.

   Most of the founders we start working with start pretty much at 0 and we still go viral.

   Now the last 2.

• Timeliness: Recent posts are often prioritized to keep feeds fresh. We see this slightly different on video platforms - but for the text platforms this is pretty accurate.

• Relationships: Content from users you frequently interact with is more likely to be shown. It’s called social media for a reason.

Now let’s get into the meat of it and discuss the actual tactics we would use for ‘distributing’ your content.

Distribution Methods

Content creation and distribution are two sides of the same coin.

As discussed, while quality content establishes your expertise, strategic distribution ensures that your message resonates with a broader audience.

So here are the main methods we use.

1. Paid Retweets and Shoutouts

Paid retweets involve compensating influencers or accounts with big followings to share your content on their account.

A lot of people hate it when we talk about this.

But it’s part of the social media game and has been for years now.

• On X: Paid retweets

• On Instagram: Paid shoutouts and posts

And it works.

It’s just you tapping into a bigger audience with content.

The problem most people assume is the engagement just comes from this.

No. Not at all.

You need to still have good content. It’s common where people expect these to SAVE them from having to write good copy, but what ends up happening is…

You write mediocre content.

You boost it.

Barely any uplift.

You see it cap to 2-10% reach on the accounts you paid to boost you.

You still need good copy. To push the algorithm. This just adds fuel to the flame so to speak. But you still need the spark.

So how do you find good accounts?

• Identify Relevant Brands / Personal brands:

  Look for individuals whose followers match your ideal audience profile. Tools like Social Blade or BuzzSumo can help identify influencers based on niche and engagement metrics.

• Check their base engagement: Do they have good engagement when they post un-boosted on their platform?

  Don't just focus on follower count.

  There are a lot of pages out there with dead followers.

  You want to get boosts from accounts that are active and winning.

• Negotiate Terms:

  Reach out professionally. Propose a mutually beneficial arrangement.

  Be clear about your expectations and inquire about their rates for retweets or promotional posts.

  There’s no way around this. Just be careful as some platforms are very sensitive about this - so definitely get them off the platform and talk about it on WhatsApp or Telegram.

Note: Authenticity Over Quantity - Prioritize influencers who genuinely resonate with your content theme over those with large but unrelated followings.

Never become too reliant on these.

Effective, paid retweets should complement, not replace, your organic growth strategies.

And that leads me to the next point.

2. Organic Engagement

Building authentic relationships with creators and influencers in your niche should be a priority.

It builds something we like to call:

“Base engagement”

And you accomplish a few things:

• Fosters a community of mutual support.

• Engaging genuinely with their content encourages them to reciprocate, amplifying your reach organically.

So your content gets consistent engagement without relying on paid.

iamaaronwill on X is a really good example of this:

He always talks about how he comments on everyone’s replies and spends a significant time nurturing these relationships.

As a result he has a solid base engagement that allows his content (un-boosted) to get thousands of views daily - several times a day on X.

Yes his big audience helps.

But if you look at similar accounts in the same space - a lot of them don’t even reach close to the average impressions on short posts.

Those are the accounts reliant on the retweet network.

We don’t want to be one of those accounts.

Here’s how to build up your base engagement?

1. Curate a List of Peers:

Compile a list of creators with similar goals or content themes.

2. Engage Consistently:

Regularly interact with their posts through thoughtful comments, shares, and likes.

3. Provide Value:

Offer insights or additional information that enriches their content, positioning yourself as a valuable connection.

This not only starts conversations and nurtures your relationships.

But you tap into their existing audience too.

It’s a double-win situation if you do this right.

Some other methods are:

• Get into podcasts

• Join Spaces on X

They accomplish the same things - sometimes even at a larger scale if you have the time and resources to get in on them.

Key Things to note:

• You want to be avoid being fake: Ensure your engagement is genuine. Superficial comments are easily spotted and can harm your reputation.

• Consistency: Regular interaction keeps you visible in the community and strengthens relationships over time.

For Founders and high-level entrepreneurs:

I thought I needed to add this note here because I speak to so many prospects a week about this.

You won’t win on these platforms without this.

Either make time for it - because it’s such a huge part of this game.

Or delegate a person in your team to help manage it.

I repeat, you don’t want to be an account with a lot of followers only to have your organic posts to fall on deaf ears.

You’ll lose any longevity that you’re trying to seek by building a brand.

3. Content Repurposing

Now, last but not least, this kind of a hack in a way.

But you can actually post the exact same content on several different platforms and get a multiplied return.

The psychology behind this is simple:

Different individuals have different consumption preferences.

So it doesn’t matter if you’re posting the same content on other platforms really.

The majority of people would be a different pocket of audience.

Here’s how we do it:

• Identify Suitable Content:

  Select high-performing threads or posts from X that can be adapted for other platforms.

• Tailor to Platform Norms:

  Adjust the format to fit the conventions of platforms like LinkedIn or Threads.

  This might involve tweaking the hook a little but or adding visuals but platform nuance is huge.

Dan Koe is a master at this and has grown his audience to several million just from doing this:

Now if you don’t have the resources to repurpose to a bespoke level for every platform.

Definitely do try just cross-posting the same content.

I’m currently doing it on threads on X and Meta and the results are phenomenal:

As you can see from my Beehiiv metrics, which is my email platform:

Even though I’m not changing anything from X —> Threads I’m still getting a good degree of conversions from it.

Not to mention the organic reach I’m getting on Threads alone as they push to both Facebook and IG.

Closing Words

Look, effective distribution is the linchpin of building a premium personal brand.

Definitely, do try these strategies and let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Ephraim

How I can help:

📣 Partner with me to build your personal brand here