Why 99% of creators fail

I’ve been posting on social media every day for 1,042 days.

I’ve made all the mistakes.

But by some divine miracle of the social media Gods, I’ve still built an audience of 500,000+ people and helped 117+ creators grow and monetize their social media.

And I owe it all to learning 1 key lesson I learned in my first 3 months of failing to grow.

So, in this email, I’m going to break down why only 1% of creators survive long term and how you can avoid wasting hundreds of hours trying to grow, only to end up quitting.

Social media boils down to 1 thing:

99% of people view social media growth as hacking the algorithm.

But let’s stop and think for a second…

What’s the purpose of the algorithm?

To keep you and me on the platform as long as possible so they can stuff ads down our throat and make money.

And what’s the best way to keep people on the platform?

To give users content that’s relevant and interesting to them.

From this moment on, I want you to view the algorithm as just another word for human psychology.

What do the people want?

So we know the algorithm feeds people content that’s relevant and interesting to them.

Problem is, 99% of people don’t take into consideration what’s interesting to others.

So, what’s the secret sauce?

Well, turns out humans are pretty simple.

We’re always interested in 2 things:

1) Moving away from pain

2) Moving toward pleasure

You need to position your content as the bridge that moves people from Pain Island to Pleasure Island.

I know Pleasure Island sounds like a big ol’ orgy island, but stick with me here…

Back in 1943, this smart psychologist dude, Abraham Maslow, distilled human desires into 5 pillars.

Unconsciously or consciously, all our drives in life fall into 1 of these categories.

So, the 1,000,000 dollar (or follower) question is how do we help people achieve these needs?

How to create kickass content

Actionable content.

That’s it.

The unsexy answer.

You create content that shows them step by step how to do something.

Because when you give value (solve pain points and help them achieve a desirable situation) people begin to value you.

If they value you, they’ll follow you.

To give you an example, lemme show you how to do this:

1. Got to the website Prompt Perfect. Since you’re probably a potato like me when it comes to using AI, this tool will optimize prompts to get 100x better answers from Chat GPT.

   

2. Type in your goal. Specify who your ideal audience is. Here’s what I wrote:

   

3. Prompt Perfect will give you an optimized prompt to use for Chat GPT. Paste that bad boy into Chat GPT and watch the magic unfold.

   

4. You now have endless ideas for content creation. For each idea, research different sources and create a step-by-step post on how to overcome the challenge your ideal audience is facing. Again, you can use Prompt Perfect to aid with this process.

   

It’s so simple, yet most people are creating content that is the equivalent of a fortune cookie.

No substance.

So, if you wanna stand out in the sea of endless content, solve people’s pain points and fulfill their desires.

Do this consistently over a year and I guarantee you’ll be on your way to *cue the white girl voice* micro-influencerrrrrr status.

Hope this helps.

Much love and happy Thursday.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Problem Solvin” Robertson