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What a silly name for a blog.
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Marketers love a call to action. I've written about them a lot, and I think they're oft overused, but CTAs remain one of the most integral marketing tools. I think it's common to hammer customers too hard with CTAs, but here's a fact that's true about both life and marketing: People only know what you want them to do if you tell them. Beyond that, people need to be reminded of what you want them to do clearly and consistently. It's common knowledge that YouTube videos that include a request to subscribe in the video generate more subscriptions. I tried to find a good data source for that statement, but the internet is so riddled with think pieces about metrics and retention that I couldn't cite a source. Just trust me.
How Many Views Does It Take To Go Viral?
In the 30 year history of internet video, nothing has changed more dramatically than the goalpost of “virality.”
There’s no way to know exactly when the first video was uploaded to the internet, but it was sometime in the early 90s. Back then, there were only about 25 million internet users worldwide. It’s important to note that the internet of the early 90s wasn’t as interconnected as the internet of today. So, while there were ~25M folks online, you would likely only interact with a small portion of them. Perhaps you were a regular on a forum or chat board that expanded your reach, but the concept of “upload content for everyone to see” didn’t exist.
Engagement Rate: The only Stat that Matters
There is exactly one metric that truly matters when it comes to social media marketing. Contrary to popular belief, you really shouldn’t judge your online success by any of the vanity metrics that social platforms and digital marketers have invented to sell you things. You should judge your online success by one thing and one thing only, your engagement rate.
To put it simply, your engagement rate is the average percentage of your audience who interact with your content, beyond just viewing it. So how do you find your engagement rate? Well, to answer that question, I’m going to define some other terms first.
AI Sucks and I Judge You for Using It
I’m talking specifically about generative AI here, so your ChatGPTs, your Copilots, etc. I’m also not saying that other types of AI are better than generative AI, that’s just not what this blog is about. This blog is about marketing, a field which, as of late, has become riddled with AI. And it all sucks. All of it.
I acknowledge that there are some halfway decent use cases for AI across a broad spectrum of industries, but again, that’s not what we’re doing here today. If your eyes are bulging out of your head because, “WeLl WhAt AbOuT tHiS oNe ThInG?!,” go write your own blog.
What A Terrible Time To Market
It's a terrible time to market literally anything that isn't Kevorkian in nature, but we're all doing it anyway.
I spend A LOT of time considering the ethics of my existence, it's just how I'm hardwired. I spend even more time attempting to ensure that I feel both good and proud of everything I do with this business. So, when the world is underwater and Pennsylvanians on my Facebook are realizing that "MA" and "Medicaid" are the same thing, I have a really hard time doing goofy shit on TikTok.
But I do it anyway.
I do it anyway because, despite what social media tells folks, the human brain can't handle a constant onslaught of painful information. It's why movies and radio shows were so popular during WWII and why we all watched Tiger King in 2020. There is something about normalcy that helps us cope with the world around us. I'm not saving the world with my TikToks, but I'm breaking up the doom scroll, and that matters to me.
Two Factor Authentication
The marketing word of Q2 2025 has been "Authenticity." I have 100% added my voice to that rallying cry. As the internet becomes more algorithmically generated, AI slop, users will cling to moments of authentic humanity. With the impending doom of that reality looming, every marketer on the internet is advising brands to "be authentic!" and every brand on the internet is saying "how though?"
There's tons of practical advice online about how to make your brand "authentic." You can portray authenticity in your design, in your messages, in your content, etc., and you can find tips and tricks on how to do that anywhere. But I want more than that for you. (Though, if you crave that advice, consider my TikTok!) I want you to get more than a tactic or a strategy, I want you to get it.
And so, let's talk more about two-factor authentication. (hell yeah, another long, drawn out metaphor!)
Stop Making Marketing Complicated
I've said it before and I'll say it again, marketing is simple. Marketing can be difficult to execute, but, at its core, marketing is simple.
Every client that I've ever worked with in this business has used the same word when they talk about marketing: overwhelmed. That bums me out, but I don't blame these folks. Our industry has overcomplicated marketing to such a level where its simplicity is no longer accessible to the lay person.
You don’t understand CTA’s
When it comes to CTAs, everyone has a different idea of what they are. That's not a bad thing; CTAs take a different form in every industry/situation. What is a bad thing is the disagreements on how and how much they should be used.
So today, in this very blog, I'm going to teach you EXACTLY how and how much to use CTAs. This is empirically and unequivocally true. Anyone who says otherwise is entitled to their opinion, but their opinion is wrong.
How To Double Your Email List Without Really Trying
A few weeks ago, I made a relatively innocuous post on my Facebook and LinkedIn pages. To the untrained eye, this post looked like an objectively bad attempt to market my newsletter. However, the untrained eye would be surprised to hear that this post actually caused my subscriber list to more than double. I did something “right,” or, at least, something that produced the “right” outcome. Anytime this happens, it’s worth stepping back and analyzing what exactly happened. I’ve spent the last week or so digging into the analytics of my social marketing efforts for the newsletter, and what I discovered was nothing short of fascinating.
So here’s an in-depth look at how exactly I doubled my list in one social post, an important lesson about social analytics, and some practical tips to help you replicate these results.
Marvel Just Broke Marketing
There is this belief, nay, a misunderstanding, that the key to social success is posting the right thing. That, if one were to identify the perfect post, the views and engagement would come in droves. If you, dear reader, hold this belief, buckle the fuck up. I’m about to prove you wrong and blow your mind with the help of cinema giant, Marvel Studios. (Disclaimer: You do not need to be a Marvel fan or care about the MCU to read the rest of this blog.)
What Chain Emails Knew About Impressions
If you're familiar with the sounds of dial-up internet, I'm certain you remember chain emails. The misspellings, the vague threats, the excessive capitalization. It was a simpler time in our digital world when we weren't so averse to the occasional spam message in our inbox. But like, what the hell was that? In fact, why the hell was that?
Chain letters have been around literally since the dawn of human history. Historians believe many early examples have been lost to time, but here's an NPR piece about a chain letter from 55 AD. From physical letters, to pamphlets, to the invention of Hotmail, the simple chain letter has been one of the most prevalent forms of mass media. That's honestly kind of crazy considering most chain letters have no way to generate return.
Inflation is rampant on Social Media
On social media, 6,000 is just north of nothing. TikTok users can’t even join the Creator Rewards Program until they have 10k followers. On Instagram, follower counts are displayed as an exact number until they surpass 10k. To make another real world connection, that’s a few hundred more than the capacity of Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is 9,525.
The point of these figures is to show how skewed our perspective of “a social following” has become. In the 20+ year history of social media, the quantitative goal post of influence has only ever been pushed back. Unfortunately for everyone trying to kick that field goal, growing a social following hasn’t become more accessible. I’m not saying that social growth is “too hard” or “impossible,” I’m saying it’s not accessible. Why is that? Because of inflation.
Kendrick Lamar Proved My Point About Paid Advertising
Budweiser, Hotels.com, Marvel Entertainment, and Coffee Mate, paid LITERALLY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS for a 30(ish) second advertisement. Kendrick Lamar did a 12-minute halftime show for effectively free. What have you seen more discussion about on social media today? The ads? or Kendrick Lamar?
If you're social media looks anything like mine, and I'm willing to bet it does, you're seeing a lot more Kendrick discourse than discussion around Willem Dafoe playing pickleball. Do you even remember Willem Dafoe playing pickleball? I'll straight up Venmo you a dollar if you can tell me which brand's commercial focused on pickleball without googling it.
The Masks We Post
My name is Matt Cole and I am addicted to the internet. Or at least that's what I tell people when I don't feel like explaining that "the internet" is my job. I'm not actually addicted to the internet, but I do think I spend to much time here. That's why I spent some extra time this week offline. I recommend you do the same. As the kids say, "go touch grass."
If you follow me on TikTok, hearing that I was offline last week may be surprising. If you don't follow me on TikTok, (shame) you likely don't know that I posted every day last week. Outside looking in, these two facts may seem at odds. But allow me to rip the wool from your eyes and explain that "posting" and being "online" are different and not mutually exclusive.
The Future of TikTok
When it comes to posting content on the internet, for marketing, entertainment or anything else, the creator is at the will of the platform. While that can be a hard pill to swallow, it’s a pill you have to get down. The internet wasn’t built for your benefit, it also does not care about you. I’m sorry I had to be the one to tell you, but I hope it helps.
I hope it helps because it should take some of the sting out of these cataclysmic digital shifts. TikTok going dark and (potentially) selling out is nothing personal and it has nothing to do with you. These changes come and go and the best thing you can do is prepare for the next one. How do you prepare? You create your own footprint.
Screen Time: You Get What You Give
To quote prolific 90’s band New Radicals, “We only get what we give.” Now, whether you have the dreamer’s disease or not, this statement holds true and is the perfect conclusion to our blog series on screen time. No one ever expects the double New Radicals reference.
Over the course of this blog series, we have not only defined “screen time,” but we’ve also explained the “Algorithm” and how you can control it. That’s all well and good, but how does it pertain to the New Radicals? Good question.
This Is Nothing #2
Please stop spamming my inboxes. It will never, ever work. It will, however, continue to give me a reason to write this blog series. Today’s blog is about Followers.com. They emailed me last week asking if I would like to “Join Our Nerdy Podcast Revolution Today!” In our last issue, I needed to do some Googling before I cast my judgment. This time around, I can tell you up front that this is Nothing.
Screen Time: On TikTok
TikTok is, far and away, the MOST linked to a user’s screen time. While screen time is a factor for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, it takes a back seat to user experience. On TikTok however, screen time IS the user experience. When a user opens TikTok, there is no blank space. There is no landing page or home screen, no sign posts and no welcome mat. The moment a user opens TikTok (and maybe after an ad) they are fed content. And, to be clear, that isn’t necessarily content made by someone they know or follow. In fact, it’s more likely that the first video is from an account the user does not follow.
Screen Time: On YouTube
If your strategy involves posting to YouTube, understanding the inner workings of the site are imperative. While you may be able to stumble into moderate success on a platform like Instagram, LinkedIn or TikTok, you will find zero, and I do mean zero, success on YouTube without this knowledge. YouTube demands strategy and a meticulous approach across multiple steps. If someone has ever told you that YouTube is easy, they lied. YouTube is the Big Leagues, kid.
The first thing to note about YouTube is its absolutely massive scope. YouTube fits into conversations about social media outlets just as easily as it does into conversations about cutting traditional cable television. Not only do you have short-form and long-form user generated content, you have live streams, live television, professional sports broadcasts and feature films. The most subscribed to channel on the platform has 64.7 billion views all-time. The second most subscribed to channel is an Indian music label. Number three does exclusively children’s nursery rhymes.
Screen Time: On LinkedIn
LinkedIn is like the world’s most professionally dressed flea market. You’ve got a core group of users recycling the same concepts day in and day out. Also, much like a flea market, LinkedIn is somehow both everything and nothing all at the same time. Need to connect with your coworkers? LinkedIn. Need to grow your thought leadership? LinkedIn. Need to find a job? LinkedIn. Need to announce your new job? LinkedIn. Is LinkedIn optimized for any of those things? No, absolutely not.