No music, no intro, this is The Morgan Snyder Show.
“The algorithm has changed! My numbers have never been soooo low!”
This has been the most common complaint I have seen on LinkedIn lately.
I wish I could say it was only happening with the newer content crowd. Even some of the OG LinkedIn creators have had their gripes.
“New algorithm. It’s unpredictable. Can’t say what it is. Have to keep rollin’ with it.”
I laugh when I read posts and comments like this.
Not because I have the secret to beat the algorithm. I’m not even a LinkedIn top voice like my friends who get WAY LESS engagement than me. 😏
I’m chuckling because I have committed to a bit for 100 days and it’s been working better than anything I’ve written before.
Yes, better than ‘how to write’ content or ‘storytelling’ nonsense. I’m not Simon Sinek. I can’t draw circles on some paper and become an internationally known ‘business genius.’
All I’ve done is mock the self-righteous, gloating, pompous characters that we see on social media and pretended to be one of them.
My highest performing post? Let me read it to you.
👇
Saw a homeless man outside Starbucks this morning.Most people walked by and stared. A few gave him cash with a forced smile. I did something different. I knew I could do more, potentially something that would change his life.I sat down on the curb with my MacBook Pro and helped him create a LinkedIn profile. Even wrote a few thought leadership posts for him.When you really think about it, he doesn’t need another $5.He needs visibility and personal branding. He needs a platform. He needs followers.We talk a lot about “equity” in business. Sometimes it just means getting on their level, listening, and giving someone the tools to be seen.You should have seen his face when I created his headline and featured section.And then when I showed him our shared folder with his new posts, he wept.This is what real change looks like.Not charity. Empowerment.
462 reactions. 329 comments. 5 reposts.
People spoke their minds. Most of it was good.
John Linford said:
Even the great boastwriter himself, Stephen Watson showed up. Don’t worry. I won’t try an English accent.
If you need a laugh today and you’d like to view the comments section, please feel free to click here.
On and on I wrote, each post building off the narcissistic persona I was creating..
..the persona I was making fun of.
Those who have been following along, know that I was inspired by some friends who had basically been having fun with their content for months, and I decided to run an experiment.
What would happen if I joined the fray and posted satire, memes, and other ridiculous things?
Would I ‘damage my brand’? Would I be written off as unprofessional, forever lost on the island of misfit toys, never to get another client again?
So I wrote 20 posts in 100 days, which comes out to a post every 5 days.
If you averaged out all the posts, it comes out to about 25 k views each, with 505 k total views.
On a per post basis, this is by far and away the best that my content has performed..
..and that goes without all the views and likes I racked up by applying the same principles to my commenting. If I had to guess, I would add a few hundred thousand more views on top.
I posted less. I just had fun.
So what happened?
More conversations, new relationships, more exploratory calls, and more clients landed.
What’s so crazy is that my post from this morning has added 2 k more views since I started writing the script for this episode about 20 minutes ago.
One of the comments alone has 2 k views. It’s a zoom background with the Tiger King. Not surprised it’s racking up the engagement.
By taking my time and being very selective with what I put out into the world, making sure each line was building up the funny and tugging on something that would get a reaction, my content was much, much better.
The numbers don’t lie.
This 100 day period is my most successful run on social EVER. It’s not even close.
Happy to report it’s led in a sharp increase in friends made (and people sending ME video messages…we’ll cover what’s been going on there in another episode) and it definitely makes it easier to sell LinkedIn / social copywriting when you are putting up numbers consistently.
The experiment is complete. The results are conclusive. You can’t convince me otherwise.
👇
Humor works. Comedy doesn’t hurt your brand. Jokes make friends.
You don’t have to be Conan O’Brien to do it.
You can just be yourself, say mildly funny things, and win on LinkedIn.
The bar of boring is easy to clear and there’s really no excuse why you as the executive or your brand shouldn’t try to amp up the personality of your content.
It’s working extremely well. You’ve got to do it!
Please don’t listen to the naysayers or the algorithm complainers.
If you’re interesting and funny, you can make even the most milk toast of all social media platforms a place where you can develop awesome relationships and get new business.
I’m no PhD researcher, but even I can see what’s happening here.
I have a new social strategy for the next 1,000 days.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Before you go, a couple of reminders:
I am still on the hunt for a couple people to record a podcast episode with me. It will be a little longer than the usual 6-8 minutes, but not much.
We can cover your story, talk shop on all things marketing, or even about some creative habit you have that is helping you run your business. (or stay sane)
Thanks to the few that reached out already. I’ll be getting something scheduled very soon.
Also, on Amazon Unlimited, you can read my book, Keep It Light, for free.
It’s a year’s worth of content starters for the busy executive. These are posts that have got me millions of views over the last 5 years, and you can take the idea behind it and take it for yourself.
Build off one of my ideas, steal a line—whatever you want to do. It’s yours for the taking.
If you do read it and like it, please give it 5 stars. (along with this podcast)
My friends: Keep writing, keep pushing, and I’ll see you next time.