Hey,
Hope your last week of 2022 has been at least somewhat relaxing.
(Or if you’re like me and are physically incapable of relaxing — hope you’ve had a productive week without meetings and Slack alerts knocking you out of flow state)
Today we’re going to cover one critical marketing mistake brands and creators make that makes it way harder to achieve their goals.
And I’ll show you how to grow your audience, and stay sane while doing it.
After all, you want to grow your audience in 2022, right?
Let’s discuss (I’ll keep this one quick)
1 content marketing mistake to avoid in 2022, and what to do instead
Marketers remind me a lot of people trying to get in shape for the new year.
What do most new gym-goers do?
Set short term goals and rush the process...
Go to the gym too often and end up burning out...
Try extreme fad diets that do more harm than good...
In short — they do too much.
As a marketer, I’d bet you do the same thing.
Set short term goals and rush the process...
Follow an unrealistic content cadence and end up burning out...
Try every trending platform or trend, even if it isn’t relevant to your business...
Again — doing too much.
If I could impart one superpower onto you for the new year, it’d be focus.
The ability to focus on the right platform...
The ability to focus on the right content on that platform...
The ability to avoid bouncing to the new trend just because everyone else is...
Look, I’m just as guilty of this as you are.
In 2021, I put myself through loads of stress creating across Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, email, and more. I grew an audience, but I also had more anxiety attacks than I have in any other year... not a recipe for longevity.
That’s why focus is my top priority going into 2022. In this article, I broke down why I’m sticking to Twitter and this newsletter.
TLDR: I’m putting all my focus into creating the highest quality tweets, threads, and articles I can.
Once you have a basic level of consistency, putting the extra effort into creating exceptional content is the difference between a mediocre piece and one that goes viral in your niche.
So, I’m choosing to operate at 90-100% on these platforms, instead of operating at 20-30% across 4-5 platforms.
Here’s the cool part...
In just 2-3 weeks of narrowing my focus, I’ve seen significant traction on both accounts.
Newsletter subs have increased by roughly 50%, and Twitter engagement has skyrocketed.
It’s not a coincidence. The same thing could happen for you if you listen to this advice.
Another win?
I also have time off. It’s weird and I’m still getting used to it, but I’m actually operating comfortably while still growing on a daily basis.
Want to experience that?
Focus.
Finally, I want to be clear: Growing an audience is still not easy. It’s still going to take time, effort, and some stress. Any goal worth achieving will.
In my opinion, the win here is that you’ll know that the hard work you put in is going towards tasks that matter (not busy work that gets you nowhere).
Need help figuring out what to focus on to grow your brand’s audience? Reply to this email and let’s chat (no strings attached)
1 resource to help you get better at marketing
Growing a brand from scratch using organic social media is hard.
Personal accounts usually get more traction since people just don’t relate to a faceless brand account as much as they relate to their friend, or their favorite influencer.
How do you solve this?
Well, a good start would be to read this thread my friend Matthew Gattozzi put together.
I learned a ton from it, and so will you:
PS - Matthew also writes a newsletter that helps you level up your brand’s content. You can find it here.
1 account to follow to get better at marketing
You know what, I’m feeling generous today.
Instead of one account, let’s do 10.
This Twitter thread will show you the 10 accounts that have made a legitimate impact on me as a marketer in 2021.
I’m confident that if you only followed these people, you’d be in a great spot with your marketing skills.
Check it out:
Oh, and be sure to retweet that thread if you followed anyone from it :)
One more thing
If you enjoyed this, and want to stick around for future editions, you can sub for free here:
Talk to you on Monday,
Tommy
PS - Missed Monday’s case study? I broke down exactly how your can use YouTube to blow up your podcast (3 simple strategies). Read it here.