Love writing, hate video? How to grow your biz/personal brand without using your face/voice
Love writing, hate video? How to grow your biz/personal brand without using your face/voice
If you're not making tiktoks by now, it may be that it's just not for you. The good news is, if all you wanna do is write, here's a cheatsheet for making that happen:
1. Writing (words) take less data than video, and loads faster in mobile feeds, and *still* gets a lot of feed placement on Twitter/Linkedin/Facebook.
Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook are probably the three platforms you need to focus on, with Substack being the other place to write to.
Don’t waste focus on Instagram/Tiktok/YouTube if you want to be a writer, better to have one or two VERY STRONG platforms then a few that are average. Great copy/content on one platform will make you more money than you can believe - you won’t need to be “everywhere” as the common advice says 🤣🥲
2. You are now a “copywriter”, maybe spend an hour researching what that is if you’re new to it.
The best copywriting book I’ve ever read is “Confessions of a persuasion hitman” by Ian Stanley.
It opens with a legendary paragraph:
“17 minutes.
17 minutes is all of the time I ask of you to decide if this book is right for you.
If you’re not excited to read the rest of this book after 17 minutes, you have my permission to put it down, and I’ll refund you, and you can keep the book, no questions asked…”
Smart copywriting - Ian knows most people do not even read the books they buy.
And if they don’t read it and become “enrolled” in his worldview, they won’t buy his more expensive products.
3. No matter what you’re selling, your can sell it using words only.
Follow great copywriters in your niche.
In my niche (business/marketing/copywriting) I recommend Dan Meredith (entrepreneurship niche) Mike Samuels (copywriting) Colin Theriot (copywriting/tribe building) as solid Facebook copywriters you should follow/learn from.
I can’t stand reading my Linkedin feed but there are people doing it well on there too.
4. Post 2-3 times a day on your chosen writing platform (FB or Linkedin, etc)
Two thirds “value posts” (how to do xyz, like this post) and 1/3rd memes/reposted pics/videos and personal updates that make people interested in you.
Reminder: Try to avoid posting external links to a website on Facebook
It will crush your reach.
Import videos rather than link to YouTube, copy and paste the text from a blogpost into Facebook rather than linking to your blog, etc.
5. Engage with people who react/comment on your posts.
I shouldn’t have to say this :)
People soon lose interest in commenting if you never engage with them.
6. If you have too much family/friends on your personal Facebook or don’t want to turn your personal FB into a biz profile, start your own FB group.
But you’ll need to fill that group with people, which isn’t easy from a standing start (I’ll drop an updated guide on how to grow a FB group as a post in here if there’s demand, just let me know in the comments).
(I strongly suggest surrendering your Facebook profile to be a business platform that makes you money, and keep up with family on Whatsapp and friends on Instagram)
7. Use other Facebook groups to get your initial audience.
Make a list of the 15-20 Facebook groups in your niche that have engagement on most posts.
Facebook search is *okay* but there are a lot of spammy groups in all niches.
Far better to find 20/30 Facebook friends or people you respect and follow and see if they have their “groups” public.
That’s a good lead source.
(If you subscribe to my paid articles here on Substack, I will send you the 15 Facebook groups I personally post in which have great engagement and 100,000+ members)
If you want this list and other bonuses including extra articles, here’s a little offer:
Once you have your list of Facebook groups, post once a day in those groups with your very best value posts.
Try to resist doing a “call to action” as group owners don’t like that. Reply to comments as they happen.
If your value posts are good, people will add you as a friend, message them and say hi when they add you!
8. Consider replying (and adding value) to posts from the celebrities in your niche.
This method is arguably more powerful than posting content, especially on Twitter:
Become a “reply guy” (or girl, but reply guy does rhyme). Simply comment replies to the question posts people ask in Facebook groups.
If you’re more detailed and give more values than other commenters (not hard) your comment will be upvoted and people will start to add/message you.
Like everything on this list, the more you do it, the faster you will get clients.
I’ve always preferred writing to being on camera or using my voice, shoutout Substack for finally giving me a platform where I can express myself the way I want to be expressed.
If you want writing to be your main “thing”. use this guide!