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5 reasons you're not growing on social (and how to change that) + free resources

It's time to level up your content

Author

Roberto Nickson
June 15, 2023

I have been in the content game for a long time. Over a decade now. Primarily building faceless brands, and as of this year, focusing on my own personal brand.

I have witnessed the evolution of all the major platforms, the trends and best practices for each.

Today, I have identified 5 major reasons why people are not growing on social. I’ll lay them out below. I’m also hooking you up with free resources that I use consistently across my content creation.

Let’s get into it.

Reason #1 – Selfish Content

It’s not 2016 anymore. Posting vanity pictures of yourself showing off how cool or hot you are no longer will cut it. The primary thing you need to be focusing on is how to create value for your audience.

People want to be educated, entertained and inspired. What can you do to enrich the life of someone consuming your content?

Reason #2 – No Hook / Storytelling

Steve Jobs said, that the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. I made a video outlining his process for telling a great story.

The storytelling format is the most effective method on social right now.

To tell a great story, you need a hook, set-up, conflict and resolution – in that order.

Reason #3 – No Evolution

Audiences grow. People become interested in new things. It’s important to adapt, and evolve with the times.

One of the biggest complaints I see on Instagram is that the “algorithm hates photography!”

Modern algorithms have one primary objective – to find content that people are interested in and push it to as many people as possible.

That same landscape shot you (and millions of others) have been posting since 2012? Of course it doesn’t hit as hard anymore. Audiences have seen it – repetitively – for years and years.

As an artist or content creator, you always want to evolve. Push creative boundaries, try to produce something novel and more exciting. Challenge yourself.

Focus on telling the story behind the shot. What you had to endure to achieve the shot. The technical components behind its mastery.

Again, always go back to the central point – how does this piece of content bring value to my audience?

Reason #4 – Small Formatting Mistakes

This is a small one, yet small changes can deliver big results.

Pay attention to your formatting when deploying content. For example. On Instagram, take advantage of as much real estate as you can. Never post on the feed with any aspect ratio smaller than 4:5. Meaning, if you’re posting a square or a landscape shot, by default, you’re not maximizing the amount of eyeballs that will land on your content.

Or, if your caption is one giant paragraph, the information is hard to parse and reduces the likelihood of someone reading it.

Reason #5 – No Consistency

It’s difficult, I know. But this is important. Being consistent is a superpower across all platforms. That doesn’t mean posting every day. Maybe not even every week, depending on the type of content you produce. But try to stick to a schedule, and be consistent.

I’m serious. This is what separates the top creators from the rest. Consistency. They always show up, no matter what.

Free Resources for Creators

Hope that helped. Okay – now I have free resources for you that are part of my workflow.

Free Editing Resources for Premiere

Free drag and drop motion presets for Premiere. Super flexible and easy to use. I use them quite often in my workflow. Saves a lot of time in the long run by not having to manually keyframe motion.

A really useful (and free) library of helpful transitions, social media design elements, sounds, text presets, etc.

Trendy Memes and Viral Sounds

Content Reference Tools

Eyecandy is a database of over 5,000 GIFs representing the very best visual techniques in the world of filmmaking.

Eyecandy can be used as an educational tool, or to help build decks and moodboards for your next film.

Semrush has a lot of free, useful tools for researching topic ideas, trending keywords, and more.

Ahref also has a great keyword generator

Productivity

My favorite note-taking tool at the moment is Obsidian. We are actually building something similar into Eluna which I am excited about.

Be on the lookout for it. We have built a great foundation into the platform and now are beginning to develop our creator products.

Hope you learned something useful.

One last announcement from me.

I am creating a comprehensive content and growth course with Digital Jeff. Everyone we have coached privately have experienced faster growth and higher quality output. We have decided it’s time to productize our decades of experience.

There will be an early bird, preorder special, dramatically cheaper than the eventual price of the course. I’ll keep you updated.

Will see you in the next one. Peace!