This week I want to share with you a quick tip for leveling up your social media game. I've gotten a bit better at Twitter and LinkedIn in particular, and the biggest reason why can be simplified into one sentence:

That may sound obvious. It may also sound inaccessible – the truth is that I've made friends with some really high-performers on those platforms and sometimes have the benefit of receiving direct advice on what's working for them right now.

But you know what? Having that access has taught me that I don't even necessarily need it...

Because when Creator A tells me that they've been having success with Tactic B, I can validate that by looking at their recent posts. When something is working you'll start to notice patterns in how someone posts.

Two quick examples:

1. ​Blake Burge – publishes one thread per week always on Saturday mornings
2. ​Andrew Huberman – publishes about sunlight exposure and/or adjusting caffeine intake just about every week

These patterns tell us something! So I made a couple of assumptions:

• Saturday mornings are a good time for Threads
• Repeating yourself isn't annoying – it's effective

So I started testing those assumptions. I tried posting a thread on Saturday morning – it did really well! Definitely a better performer than usual.

And that same thread? It was a re-post from a thread originally shared in October. It did pretty well back then, but I made some tweaks to the first Tweet and it did even better.

So, another point for repeating yourself!

Repeating yourself is good practice. People WANT you to play your hits – imagine going to a concert and your favorite band didn't play any of your favorite songs!

But another reason to repeat yourself is that it builds an association between you and your biggest ideas. I want to be closely associated with the concept of creator-educators, so I repeated this Tweet, and it did well again:
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Jay Clouse @jayclouse We hear a LOT about creators like MrBeast who have become entertainment juggernauts. But people often ignore the best part of the creator economy: Creator-educators. The bigger opportunity for most of us isn't taking on traditional media – it's taking on traditional education. pic.twitter.com/pj7NVdlUDf February 16th 2023 30 Retweets 237 Likes

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Your best work shouldn't be confined to a single post on social media. Keep repeating it, iterating on it, and you'll become known for it.

Now you may be wondering how to actually pick up on the things that these successful creators are doing. There are two methods that I use and recommend:

Turn on post notifications

My favorite technique (if you can deal with it) is turning on new post notifications for a creator I'm trying to study. It's easy to do on just about every platform, and you'll receive a new notification every time that creator posts.

There are two benefits:

1. You get to see (in real time) how they're using the platform. What day(s) do they post? What time(s) do they post? How do they engage in the replies?
2. You can be one of the first to engage. You may want to study these creators because they're having success in a similar space as you – so by being one of the first to engage (thoughtfully) you'll also have your face in front of their audience in the comments.

This strategy made it very clear to me recently that folks who are known for posting Threads are now dripping threads out (a minute or so between posting Tweets in the Thread). When you receive a push notification for each Tweet, slight tactical differences like this are obvious!

So I find this strategy the most valuable and fairly passive too – but it may be distracting for some, which means it comes with a high cost of context-switching. I recommend at least sticking to 1-2 creators at a time.

Dedicated blocks of focused study

The other technique is putting dedicated time aside and doing a deep dive into someone's timeline of recent content. Map out what days and what times of day they post. Look at how they engage in the comments. Look at the content of their posts to see if there are common themes that they may be finding above average success with.

Another potential outcome of THIS approach is that this research can actually lend itself quite well to its own content – imagine creating a piece like "I spent 10 hours studying [creator] and here's what I learned."

You don't need "direct" access or relationships with top creators to learn from what's working for them. All you need is a willingness to dig in and do a little deconstruction.

Presented by Craft + Commerce ConvertKit’s Craft + Commerce conference is happening June 8-10 in Boise, ID – and tickets are going fast This three-day event is designed to help you connect with fellow creators, learn from experts, and discover tools and strategies to grow your business. Craft + Commerce includes inspiring keynotes, workshops, meetups, live ConvertKit support, and social events. This is the perfect opportunity to gain valuable insights, network with your peers, and have a blast doing it. I'll be there (speaking!) and I hope to see you there too. Right now, you can take $50 off your Craft + Commerce ticket. Want to bring a friend? You’ll save even more! Register Now

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🗓️ FREE: Create The Future Summit from Teachable – Tune in for two virtual days of actionable strategies to help you pave your path in the creator economy. Join a free plan to save your spot. (I'll be speaking)!

🎧 An Interview with Ryan Holiday's Research Assistant – This podcast/channel called Backstage Careers is wildly underrated. By learning about the people behind the people, you actually get a lot of unique insight. This interview with Billy Oppenheimer was an interesting look into Ryan Holiday's day-to-day work style.

📹 Brennan Dunn's Evergreen Newsletter – Once again I find that Brennan and I are on the same wavelength but he's once again beat me to implementation! This video shows how Brennan is creating a controlled, effective welcome and onboarding experience for new subscribers.

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THIS WEEK ON THE PODCAST #140: Maurizio Leo The sourdough bread blogger who became an overnight success Maurizio Leo is a software engineer-turned-baker who's baked sourdough bread for more than ten years. Maurizio started a blog called The Perfect Loaf in 2013 to share his passion for baking sourdough bread at home. Since then, Maurizio’s business has grown a lot. The Perfect Loaf has nearly 100,000 email subscribers with an incredible 72% open rate. He has nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram and a growing YouTube channel as well. Recently, he even published a New York Times best-selling cookbook! New to the show? Start with a curated playlist.

One of the biggest reasons The Lab has been so successful for me is that I spent a lot of time thinking through how to design the membership experience.

I find that most creators who start memberships really fail to think this through, and as a result they create a membership that falls flat (or falls apart).

I created Build A Beloved Membership to help people avoid this heartache.

The course teaches you:

• How to design your membership
• How to price your membership
• How to get your first members
• How to launch your membership
• The tools I recommend
• ...and a whole lot more

More than 100 creators have already enrolled and I know it can help you too. If you're interested in building a membership, this course is a no-brainer.

Cheers,
Jay