Tuesday, 8.15pm
Sheffield, U.K.
Adventure is just bad planning. – Roald Amundsen
If the purpose of business is to create a customer then the purpose of marketing is to create a conversation.
People can’t talk to you if they don’t know you exist. If they’re not aware of you.
It’s easier than ever to get in front of people.
Or is it?
More accurately, you have a small chance of getting your content into the social media feed if you post something relevant and the algorithmic gods smile on you.
It is, when you think about it, the mathematics of the casino.
LinkedIn plays the role of the house.
I’m picking LinkedIn because it’s the platform for B2B firms.
The algorithm has to work well enough to give you a buzz but not so well that you don’t need to use the paid promotion options.
It also has to keep you hooked by showing you a small handful of superstar winners that so you can see what wild success looks like.
Too cynical?
I don’t know. It’s the game we have to play. And it’s easier to play a game when you like doing what you’re doing and have a plan. One that will give you an outcome regardless of what happens on the platform.
Why am I telling you this?
Over the next few weeks I will be running an experiment to see if I can systematically create content for my professional practice on LinkedIn.
I mentioned yesterday that this blog is where I think and my professional practice is where I do.
So I’d like to share with you how I’m going to go about planning this experiment.
The first thing is putting some constraints around the kind of content I’m going to share.
I’m going to stick with 5,000 year old technology: text and handmade drawings.
Luk Smeyers has a great resource on creating a content machine if you’re a consultant.
And it comes down to a few key points.
- What can you write about that others will find valuable?
- What topics are your audience interested in?
- Can you create and stick to a schedule
A good idea is to create a cadence and share a particular kind of thing each day of the week.
Smeyer’s example is is advice on Monday, case studies Tuesday and Wednesday, newsletter on Thursday, advice as a carousel Friday, a reshare Saturday, and a shoutout to other creators on Sunday.
I don’t know if I can be as consistent – it all depends on how much time it takes but if it’s all taking too long there’s a simple fix.
Reduce the scope to fit the time you have.
The important thing is to ship. You don’t lose until you stop playing.
Cheers,
Karthik Suresh
Handcrafted insight 