- Geekmaster
- 2020-06-26 10:40:47
- 13 minute(s)
Are you looking to expand your social media audience? Whether you are looking to sell a product, grow your company, bring in customers, or even get yourself noticed, One Million Followers will help you achieve your goals.
With more than ten years of social branding experience, Brendan Kane lends you his expertise gained through celebrity and corporate branding.
WarningMany people want to share messages with the masses to gain exposure for their brand, product or service on social media. But, with over 60 billion messages shared each day on mobile platforms alone, most content gets lost in the noise.
Brendan Kane is a business and digital growth strategist.
He works with Fortune 500 companies, brands and celebrities to help them systematically find and engage new audiences. He also served as vice president of digital for Paramount Pictures.
ImportantFor the last 10 years Brendan Kane worked on improving online strategies for people like Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Disney. Brendan Kane has equally worked with MTV, Skechers, Vice, IKEA and other corporations to advise them on how to grow their digital audiences.
Brendan Kane has learned how to optimize analytics, data and paid media to help companies achieve massive growth.
- How much do you know about marketing for your digital platform?
- Are you at all focused on growing your social media presence?
- Do you know how beneficial investing time and money in social media can be for your business?
His book, One Million Followers, is filled to the brim with insights, tips and must-know secrets to growing your following in record time, and I am happy to share some of his knowledge with you!
The key to scaling a massive audience in the shortest time possible is to produce digital content and then test and measure how people are responding to your content in real time.
Each and every day, more than 60 billion messages are sent out on digital platforms.
ImportantIt is now feasible for anybody (not just celebrities) to build an authentic following of one million people or more on digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and LinkedIn.
When building a business or brand, the way that one connects with their followers, or fans makes all of the difference.
WarningUnfortunately, some may feel social media isn’t the right tool for them. It is too difficult to navigate or not enough followers to spread their message. This can leave people defeated and thinking that social media isn’t the best tool for them.
Eventually, everything comes down to content.
You cannot be successful online without solid content. You can build a million followers and if you don’t have solid content, it means nothing.
Today, social media makes it possible for almost anyone to reach large audiences — if they use it the right way.
The world is a busy place with millions of people and brands competing for attention on digital platforms. If you want to succeed and see results, you need to hook people in with your content and message.
Three Themes To Focus On For Your Content
What kind of content will demonstrate that you’re a thought leader in your field?
Thought leadership is a type of content marketing where you tap into the talent, experience, and passion inside your business, or from your community, to consistently answer the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience on a particular topic.
It’s not pedigree. It’s not where you went to school. Thought Leadership means you provide the best and deepest answers, to your customers’ biggest questions, in the formats your audience likes to consume.
Think about what you can teach your audience.
Give a talk, write a blog post, send an email, share content on social media… whatever method you go for, it all helps to increase your authority and encourage people to buy from you.
And if you’re sharing info in person, there’s nothing better than seeing someone’s eyes light up as you explain something beneficial that they were completely unaware of.
So find those knowledge gaps and start educating your audience.
People love it when you inspire them. With that in mind, what kinds of inspirational posts can you create that will resonate with your audience.
People learn by creating connections between the familiar and the possible.
So it should come as no surprise that, as content marketers, we often approach the task of developing new ideas and initiatives by referencing, analyzing, and iterating on the creative experiences we know and love – standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.
Brendan Kane advises that social media is the equalizer.
If you’re talented but unknown social media can give you exposure. Think about what makes you unique? What makes people want to share your message?
Give fans a reason to follow you and make you famous.
One Million Followers will teach you how to get authentic, dedicated, and diverse online followers from scratch using social media.
Brendan Kane spent almost four years building a set of testing methodologies and predicted calculations on top of the Facebook advertising platform.
ImportantHe used this advertising platform not as a media buying or advertising tool but rather as a market research tool. He did this so that he could identify the content format, themes, and stories that resonate with specific audiences to get them to share content at the highest velocity.
You need to test your content to understand how your content performs against specific audiences. You can’t just blindly post and expect it to work.
If you want to generate more followers in a short period of time you have to leverage the platform as a market research tool to test and scale the formats and themes people share the most.
Brendan Kane distributes his content on many channels, using one channel to test the effectiveness of specific content to drive followers and traffic back to his profile.
He then keeps testing to find the piece that generates the most effective opt-in rate. Once he figures that out, then he distributes that content across all of the other channel partners to drive traffic back and generate more followers.
The 3-part Break-Down of One Million Followers
What kind of story, format or theme will engage your target audience?
Develop a format, story, or theme which you think will engage your target audience around a specific message. Do this quickly and then start testing how you can catch & hold people’s attention.
Produce a low-cost version of your concept or message, which can be tested and validated.
Learn everything you can about what does and does not work from the tests you run.
Invest in it further if your hypothesis turns out to be correct.
If it’s disproved instead, quickly pivot to a new format, a new story, or a new theme, and repeat the process.
Analyze the results from your tests and allow them to drive both your short and long-term content strategy.
Test until you find a format or theme that truly works.
It’s not winning or losing, it’s finding answers.
You’re testing, learning and constantly changing things to find out what works and not giving up until you find the answer. If something doesn’t work, figure out why it doesn’t work and make a new test!
Aim to create shareable content with your audience.
ImportantThe great point is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to social media. Look around and borrow ideas from what has worked for other people. Do research about what gets people to share and come up with a hypothesis about the type of content to create.
When creating the headline be specific and find relevancy to your audience’s lives. Millions of people and brands are competing for attention and you need to hook people to your content and message from the beginning.
According to Brendan Kane, if you don’t have a good hook, no one will be interested.
ImportantKnowing how to structure your message is critical to success. Getting very clear about what makes you unique and differentiates you in the marketplace. You want to be be so unique that people just want to know more!
A good headline helps communicate what makes your brand, message or content different and valuable to your customers.
What is it that makes you stop and stare at an article in a magazine? Usually it’s a headline that communicates the story’s hook-point in a succinct and exciting way. It’s a short sentence or phrase that stands out, grabs attention and leaves your audience wanting more.
For Brendan Kane, it begins with your value proposition too — finding the thing that makes you unique and different.
Once you know what that is, you look for the people who are currently reaching your audience. They might be direct competitors or work in a similar space, either way, you want to dissect what makes them successful, what content formats get the highest return, and how you can apply them to your brand.
When you identify your Hook Point, you are essentially finding what will make your content stand out and hook people in.
One of Brendan Kane’s focus points is that the fastest ways to grow an audience for your brand is to already use an existing audience that can put you in front of a large number or people.
While this may sound confusing at first, Brendan Kane explains exactly what he means by this and provides several examples of how this method worked for him and his clients.
One example that Brendan Kane discusses of how to create an audience using an existing audience is with AirBnB.
When the site of AirBnB first got their start, they would go to Craigslist’s rental page and get in contact with the renters. They would tell them to go to AirBnB to list their properties because it was safer.
Once they were able to get renters to do that, AirBnB went back to Craigslist and posted that if people were still interested in renting these properties, go to AirBnB to do so. AirBnB took Craigslist’s audience and made it their own.
In a strategic partnership, two or more companies work together to create value — and to spread the word of that enhanced value to every participants’ target audience.
ImportantThe benefits include positive long-term relationships, trading ideas, pooling resources, saving on marketing costs, and sharing audiences of qualified potential customers. This new relationship also builds your authority on webinars and at trade shows, and it establishes you as an industry expert to your new audience.
Lead generation is a common form of co-marketing for two companies with similar audiences.
When you agree to work together on a piece of content – and promote that content to both audiences – you’re getting twice the leads you normally would.
You can have great content, but without reaching the right audience you won’t develop a following or find the people who will champion your message for you.
Like most people, you probably approach content creation by considering first what you want to say, and then what your audience wants to hear.
The right way to do it is actually to first design content that the algorithms are looking for, then that the audience wants to engage with, and lastly, what we want to say.
If you aren’t seeing growth from your content, chances are you’re not designing content for the algorithm.
WarningMost people suspect that its squeezing engagement and reach so that paid ads become necessary to reach a meaningful audience – in other words, pay to play. This isn’t actually true.
The takeaway here is to think of whether or not your content is “packaged in the way they see the world,” rather than how you see it.
ImportantThe algorithm is just trying to put few pieces of content first in a user’s feed that they are most likely to engage with. It can make it hard to see reach and engagement when you’re not creating content that matches up to what the algorithm wants.
Brendan Kane mentioned the Process Communication Model. The model helps you to get information to the people you want to reach.
The theory operates on the basis that individual’s personalities are composed of six separate behaviour types. Identifying the base behaviour type of your audience is the best way to help your message connect.
The six Personality Types Of One Million Followers
Perceive the world through thoughts and logic is their currency.
The Thinker is an exceptional organiser and a very detailed planner. They value facts and view the world by identifying and categorising people and things. They prize data and information. Their main character strengths are being responsible, logical and organised.
Perceive the world through opinions and value is their currency.
Persister is a person who sees the world through the filter of their values, standards and beliefs.
They value trust and view the world by evaluating people and situations through a belief system. They prize loyalty and commitment. Their main character strengths are being dedicated, observant and conscientious.
Perceive the world through emotions and compassion is their currency.
Harmoniser is a warm, compassionate person who sees the world through the filter of feelings about people and situations. They value relationships, family and friendship. Their main character strengths are being compassionate, sensitive and warm.
Perceive the world through inactions and imagination is their currency.
Imaginer is an introspective and imaginative person. They value direction and view the world by reflecting about what is happening. They prize privacy and their own space. Their main character strengths are their capacity to be imaginative, reflective and calm.
Perceive the world through reactions and humor is their currency.
Rebel is a very creative person who tends to find solutions in situations when others see only problems. They value fun and view the world by reacting to people and situations with likes and dislikes.
They prize spontaneity and creativity, and in their playful manner are able to turn a boring task into a game. Their character strengths show them as being spontaneous, creative and playful.
Perceive the world through actions and charm is their currency.
They value initiative and view the world by experiencing situations and making things happen. They prize adaptability and self sufficiency and are extremely resourceful and able to find solutions in every situation, as well as to get back on their feet after any setback.
Their main character strengths are being adaptable, persuasive and charming.
Harmonizers make up 30 percent of the population in North America. Logic speaks to Thinkers, who make up 25 percent of the population. And Rebels respond to humor and they make up 20 percent of the North American population.
To reach the majority of people in North America, it’s important to focus on feelings/compassion.
One Million Followers In Less Than 30 Days
Final Thoughts
Social media is a free and easy marketing tool — but it’s also filled with complexities, which can make it challenging for businesses to identify success.
It’s not impossible to reach one million followers in thirty days.
With over 60 billion messages sent across social platforms each day, consider reading Brendan Kane’s One Million Followers to ensure your post is the one that is seen.
A million followers is a huge investment of time and energy.
WarningBut a huge following doesn’t always mean a huge list of leads and sales. If you need to make money NOW or drive leads and sales from your social media, then that should be your first goal.
Make sure your social media goals are aligned with your business or brand goals.
ImportantAs you go forth in the world of marketing, what Brendan Kane hopes you remember is threefold: distribute content out to draw attention back in, have an open mindset based in testing and experimentation, and always ask yourself “why am i doing this, and who for?.”
We live in a digital world and social following numbers matter. Do this, and you’re on your way to one million followers!
If you enjoyed the article or have any comments, recommendations, or tips for improvement please do comment below.
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