Chief Brand

No music, no intro, this is The Morgan Snyder Show.

I see a lot of things social media. After all, I live there.

I spend the majority of my waking hours managing my client’s accounts, and trying to stay active with my own.

A lot of what you read makes you roll your eyes. One can only take so much cringe…

But every once in a while, you see something that makes you stop scrolling and say, “Okay. This is cool.”

That kind of a post, for me, came in the form of a job ad in my LinkedIn feed.

PayPal is hiring a Head of CEO Content for Alex Chriss. Up to $236,500 a year.

Granted, it’s a huge range, and I’m guessing there will be VERY FEW who can ask for the top, but still, this post is big news for executive writers.

My feed blew up with people talking about this. I’m not surprised. In fact, I think it’s one of the biggest content leadership moves I’ve ever seen. It’s a sign of what’s to come. (fingers crossed)

In light of this big annoucement, I thought it’d be fun to break down why a 31-billion-dollar company is investing a quarter-million dollars into their CEO's personal brand.

Why is Paypal Doing This?

So, why now for PayPal? Let's look at the situation.

The new CEO, Alex Chriss, took over in September 2023. He inherited a company under immense pressure. The stock was down over 75% from its peak. The market was skeptical.

Then in January, he made these “world-shocking” innovation announcements. The market’s reaction? A collective shrug. The announcements were seen as small improvements, not as big everyone was hoping for.

Seemed like there was a massive gap between the internal strategy at PayPal and the public's perception of it. A bridge had to be built. And who is the best person to build that bridge? The most visible, most influential person in the entire company: the CEO.

This isn’t a one-off. The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer confirms what we all feel in our gut: trust in institutions, in the media, in government, is in the toilet. But you know who people do trust more and more? The leaders of companies.

CEOs are becoming the most reliable sources of information. PayPal knows this. They know that in a world where viral tweets can affect your stock price, you cannot afford to be reactive. You have to own the narrative.

This isn't just a defensive move against negative press. It’s about proactively shaping investor confidence.

Just look at Adobe. Last month, their stock took a hit after a vague corporate announcement about their AI strategy.

It was full of jargon, and the market got nervous.

But then CEO Shantanu Narayen got on his personal LinkedIn and started posting specific examples of creators using their new AI tools, making the strategy tangible and real.

He told a human story that the press release couldn't. That’s narrative control. That's the job PayPal is hiring for.

Being on the Offensive

This is about offense, too—building a competitive advantage, especially when it comes to the war for talent.

A few years ago, the idea of a CEO having a personality was a liability. Today, it’s a talent magnet. When a leader shares behind-the-scenes struggles and values, he humanizes the brand. The best people want to belong to something bigger. They want to work for a person they believe in.

And this scales down, too. It’s not just for the billionaires.

Just look at what John Hu is doing at Stan, the creator store platform. They just made the Forbes' Billion Dollar Startup list.

Is the product good? Yes.

But a huge part of their growth is John’s own brand.

He is relentlessly authentic online, sharing his wins, his doubts, the lessons he’s learning.

He’s the CEO AND the company’s most compelling case study.

Top engineers and marketers see that and they want to work for him.

Now, contrast that with the ghostCEOs. Think about any of the big, legacy companies. Can you name their CEO? Do you know what they stand for, what their vision is? Probably not.

Their narrative isn’t out in the open. And when a crisis hits—layoffs, a bad quarter—that vacuum gets filled by angry employees and skeptical journalists. There’s no pre-existing well of trust to draw from.

In 2025, being invisible is the same as being vulnerable.

This is exactly what PayPal is trying to solve. They’re in a multi-front war against Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, Block...you name it. They can't win by just being another faceless corporation. They need to reposition themselves, and putting Alex Chriss front and center makes that shift more relatable, more memorable, and more human than any corporate messaging ever could.

This Writer Better Be Freaking Awesome

So, they’re hiring a master storyteller for a quarter of a million dollars a year to shape the CEO's voice.

To tell his story. To make him a visible, credible leader. Will other companies follow suit?

I did find a similar, quieter role pop up for a general manager in Microsoft’s AI division. The title was different, but the job was the same: make the leader the voice of the strategy.

And I know what some of you are thinking. “Great, Morg. But that's PayPal. That's Microsoft. I don't have a quarter-million-dollar budget for my personal brand.”

I know. I don’t either. I think it’s interesting to look at is a shift in priority.

Really it’s a shift in how business is done. We are entering an era where the CEO isn't just a leader of a company, they are a content channel.

A media empire in their own right. You are either a signal, or you are noise.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you know that you don't need a huge budget to do it.

Like I mentioned earlier this week, my most successful 100-day run on social media ever came from posting less, and just being more interesting. From using humor. From having a personality. It led to more conversations, more relationships, and more clients.

PayPal is placing a massive bet that the voice of their leader is one of their most valuable assets.

If a 31.8 billion-dollar company has decided it’s essential to invest in their CEO's personal brand to stay competitive, it’s probably something that most companies should look at.

Final Note

Before you go, a reminder: my book, Keep It Light, is free to read on Amazon Unlimited. It’s a year’s worth of content starters for the busy executive. Take an idea, steal a line—it’s yours. If you like it, please give it 5 stars, along with this podcast. It tells other people that this is worth listening to.

My friends: Keep writing, keep pushing, and I’ll see you next time.

No music, no intro, this is The Morgan Snyder Show.

“The algorithm has changed! My numbers have never been soooo low!”

This has been the most common complaint I have seen on LinkedIn lately.

I wish I could say it was only happening with the newer content crowd. Even some of the OG LinkedIn creators have had their gripes.

“New algorithm. It’s unpredictable. Can’t say what it is. Have to keep rollin’ with it.”

I laugh when I read posts and comments like this.

Not because I have the secret to beat the algorithm. I’m not even a LinkedIn top voice like my friends who get WAY LESS engagement than me. 😏

I’m chuckling because I have committed to a bit for 100 days and it’s been working better than anything I’ve written before.

Yes, better than ‘how to write’ content or ‘storytelling’ nonsense. I’m not Simon Sinek. I can’t draw circles on some paper and become an internationally known ‘business genius.’

All I’ve done is mock the self-righteous, gloating, pompous characters that we see on social media and pretended to be one of them.

My highest performing post? Let me read it to you.

👇

Saw a homeless man outside Starbucks this morning.Most people walked by and stared. A few gave him cash with a forced smile. I did something different. I knew I could do more, potentially something that would change his life.I sat down on the curb with my MacBook Pro and helped him create a LinkedIn profile. Even wrote a few thought leadership posts for him.When you really think about it, he doesn’t need another $5.He needs visibility and personal branding. He needs a platform. He needs followers.We talk a lot about “equity” in business. Sometimes it just means getting on their level, listening, and giving someone the tools to be seen.You should have seen his face when I created his headline and featured section.And then when I showed him our shared folder with his new posts, he wept.This is what real change looks like.Not charity. Empowerment.

462 reactions. 329 comments. 5 reposts.

People spoke their minds. Most of it was good.

John Linford said:

Even the great boastwriter himself, Stephen Watson showed up. Don’t worry. I won’t try an English accent.

If you need a laugh today and you’d like to view the comments section, please feel free to click here.

On and on I wrote, each post building off the narcissistic persona I was creating..

..the persona I was making fun of.

Those who have been following along, know that I was inspired by some friends who had basically been having fun with their content for months, and I decided to run an experiment.

What would happen if I joined the fray and posted satire, memes, and other ridiculous things?

Would I ‘damage my brand’? Would I be written off as unprofessional, forever lost on the island of misfit toys, never to get another client again?

So I wrote 20 posts in 100 days, which comes out to a post every 5 days.

If you averaged out all the posts, it comes out to about 25 k views each, with 505 k total views.

On a per post basis, this is by far and away the best that my content has performed..

..and that goes without all the views and likes I racked up by applying the same principles to my commenting. If I had to guess, I would add a few hundred thousand more views on top.

I posted less. I just had fun.

So what happened?

More conversations, new relationships, more exploratory calls, and more clients landed.

What’s so crazy is that my post from this morning has added 2 k more views since I started writing the script for this episode about 20 minutes ago.

One of the comments alone has 2 k views. It’s a zoom background with the Tiger King. Not surprised it’s racking up the engagement.

By taking my time and being very selective with what I put out into the world, making sure each line was building up the funny and tugging on something that would get a reaction, my content was much, much better.

The numbers don’t lie.

This 100 day period is my most successful run on social EVER. It’s not even close.

Happy to report it’s led in a sharp increase in friends made (and people sending ME video messages…we’ll cover what’s been going on there in another episode) and it definitely makes it easier to sell LinkedIn / social copywriting when you are putting up numbers consistently.

The experiment is complete. The results are conclusive. You can’t convince me otherwise.

👇

Humor works. Comedy doesn’t hurt your brand. Jokes make friends.

You don’t have to be Conan O’Brien to do it.

You can just be yourself, say mildly funny things, and win on LinkedIn.

The bar of boring is easy to clear and there’s really no excuse why you as the executive or your brand shouldn’t try to amp up the personality of your content.

It’s working extremely well. You’ve got to do it!

Please don’t listen to the naysayers or the algorithm complainers.

If you’re interesting and funny, you can make even the most milk toast of all social media platforms a place where you can develop awesome relationships and get new business.

I’m no PhD researcher, but even I can see what’s happening here.

I have a new social strategy for the next 1,000 days.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

..

Before you go, a couple of reminders:

I am still on the hunt for a couple people to record a podcast episode with me. It will be a little longer than the usual 6-8 minutes, but not much.

We can cover your story, talk shop on all things marketing, or even about some creative habit you have that is helping you run your business. (or stay sane)

Thanks to the few that reached out already. I’ll be getting something scheduled very soon.

Also, on Amazon Unlimited, you can read my book, Keep It Light, for free.

It’s a year’s worth of content starters for the busy executive. These are posts that have got me millions of views over the last 5 years, and you can take the idea behind it and take it for yourself.

Build off one of my ideas, steal a line—whatever you want to do. It’s yours for the taking.

If you do read it and like it, please give it 5 stars. (along with this podcast)

My friends: Keep writing, keep pushing, and I’ll see you next time.

No music, no intro, this is The Morgan Snyder Show.

I spent the last week in the panhandle of Florida.

If you’ve never been, this is what you’re missing out on:

Beautifully clear water, fishes swimming all around you, the whitest, softest sand that you’ll ever walk upon, and 100% humidity.

You can’t get away from it.

When you’re away from the ocean, you’ll still be breathing water.

You can’t forget about the seafood. There is something very special about fried grouper, mango salsa, and eating tacos while looking over the bright blues and greens of the sea.

For a moment, you forget the world you left behind and in my case, lost in my own thoughts.

I start to think, “what if I lived here? What would life be like? Would I still love boogie boarding or plopping a chair down to read a book?”

When I was snorkeling and diving, watching schools of fish avoid my passing hands and jutting under cresting waves, I went even more existential. “I write social media posts. What’s the point? Is that really what I’m supposed to do?”

Then I thought about paying taxes next year, the car troubles of my 2011 Honda CRV, and how inadequate I feel when I’m around people who talk about all the Bitcoin they have or the Range Rover they drive.

I am what I am: not too long ago, a humble Spanish teacher who now write words on a screen for a living, and who still, from time to time, feels like he’s not going to make it.

Bills, bills, bills, dance studio fees, premier soccer payments, a healthy mortgage..

..a weight in my chest while I’m weightless underwater spotting cobia and Spanish mackeral.

I’m not sharing this for your pity, nor exaggerating for a good story.

These are the real things I thought about with a scuba mask on and my 5 y/o son yelling from the sandbar, “Dad! Take me out again! I want to boogie board!”

By the time we were coming home, delayed in Dallas for 3 hours before boarding a flight that didn’t take off until 10:30 pm, I had a different perspective.

Exhausted and wanting to finish The Amateur, I looked at my family of 8 in the row beside me and behind me, and thought, “Yes, it’s true that we have to make sure all these happen, and it sucks sometimes. But it’s worth it.”

Julie had Lewis laying down in her lap, Maggie on her shoulder, and she squinted in the darkness with a slight smile that let me know she agreed.

We have a short amount of time with these little people, and we’re making the best of it.

Far from perfect parents, but also recognizing we’re not too shabby, we’re giving them a life where they feel loved and supported, and they have a mom and dad they can depend on to do the right thing.

We’re not here for very long, some us don’t get hardly any time to live out dreams or create that ideal life we imagine in our heads, and the best we do is try to push forward and do the right thing.

Be good to people. Remember to be kind. Listen more than we speak. Keep sharing our stories. Lift up our neighbors.

Give where we can.

Chances are, even after decades of writing social media posts and books, producing podcast episodes, and helping hundreds of clients over the course of my “career”, I’ll be in my 70s and be relatively obscure.

I won’t have a Hollywood star. I mean, most people in Utah county who are active on LinkedIn probably won’t have any clue what I had been doing for 40 years.

“Oh, you’re that old satire guy from LinkedIn? That’s…cool.”

I can’t guarantee stardom, money or fame, no matter how hard I work.

I have to be ok with that.

It can’t stop me from writing the social media posts, from trying to break through all the noise of other copywriters, agencies, consultants, and quacks.

I am just me. I accept that.

And hey, while I’m swimming along in life, I get to be around people I love, eat tacos, and feel good about making it this far.

I guess that is the whole point of it.

..

Before you go, a couple of reminders:

I am still on the hunt for a couple people to record a podcast episode with me. It will be a little longer than the usual 6-8 minutes, but not that much longer.

We can cover your story, talk shop on all things marketing, or even about some creative habit you have that is helping you run your business. (or stay sane)

Thanks to the few that reached out already. I’ll be getting back to you shortly.

Also, on Amazon Unlimited, you can read my book, Keep It Light, for free.

It’s a year’s worth of content starters for the busy executive. These are posts that have got me millions of views over the last 5 years, and you can take the idea behind it and take it for yourself.

Build off one of my ideas, steal a line—whatever you want to do. It’s yours for the taking.

If you do read it and like it, please give it 5 stars. (along with this podcast)

My friends: Keep writing, keep pushing, and I’ll see you next time.

No music, no intro, this is The Morgan Snyder Show.

I have a weird relationship with networking.

I simultaneously love it and hate it.

As an introvert who has an extrovert switch, networking for me can at times be as enjoyable as a root canal, but at other moments, so rewarding when you meet someone and you think, “Hey! I could be this person’s friend…outside of this room!”

These events are weird places.

You’ve got spinning blue lights and the heavy bass of electronic dance music beating into your head.

Then, the impenetrable conversation circles. There are three people, their backs forming this perfect defensive wall.

You can't get in. You do the hover. The slow, casual orbit, hoping a gap opens up.

“Did he just nod at me? Can I come into your little circle?”

Then you have the conversations where you feel like a trapped animal.

They’re explaining the entire history of vinyl siding.

You can't just leave. There are rules. You have to fake an excuse.

You do the slow pivot...the eyes start scanning the room...you give a little point. “Oh... is that... Bill? I have to go say hi to Bill.”

There is no Bill. You're pointing at a potted plant.

My personal favorite is the name tags.

They give you this sticky label…where does it go, exactly?

Is it a left-shoulder thing? A right-pocket thing? Do you put it in the center of your chest letting everyone in the room know you need serious help?

Steve the VP has it on his lapel, but Sarah from marketing is a high performer and she’s decided to put it on her right shoulder pad of her jacket so when she goes to shake your hand with an iron grip her name is right here. She’s Sarah.

So, I get to a table with a small plate of teriyaki chicken in my hand, and there are three other networking hopefuls sitting with me.

The conversation is great. I make new friends. A brief reprieve from the EDM…or at least, a few minutes when I’m not annoyed by it.

I stand up and start making the rounds again, but this time, I’m facing a new challenge.

I’m fielding ALL the questions about writing, like I’m the representative for all writers everywhere on the planet:

“How does someone get into writing? Do you identify as a writer or a business owner or as something else? Do writers make a good living? Are writers afraid of AI? What do you do for your clients with all the posts that you write? I hate social media…Thoughts?”

After doing the QR code thing on LinkedIn and having people take my phone to put in their information, I’m tapped.

I’m imaging the work I could be doing instead of this weird business dance for adults.

Plus, I just talked to several INNOVATORS, FOUNDERS, and…DISRUPTORS!

I’m tired.

By the way, what does DISRUPTOR mean?

Are you breaking things? Are you running into important meetings yelling, Booooo!?

“I'm sorry, is this your quarterly planning session? Well, it's been...DISRUPTED!”

And then the room claps for you like a bunch of seals in the pirate show at Sea World.

These days, everyone is a disruptor, a synergizer, a master connector. Nobody just works anymore.

You can't just be 'a guy who sells paper.'

No, you're a Lead Evangelist for Cellulose-Based Communication Platforms. Ohhhh yeah.

That’s probably why people aren’t intimidated by me.

Writer of Posts for Leaders on LinkedIn isn’t cool enough. I need something better like:

The Greatest Thought Leader of Human History—even better than Gandhi or Aristotle.

After the event, you get a follow-up email or text. Of course there is. That’s standard networking protocol. You have to be polite to the people you’ll never talk to ever again.

The line is always, 'Great Connecting!'

Was it a great connection? You were telling me about vinyl siding, remember? I was trying not to drop teriyaki on my shoe.

Is that connection?

The message always ends with the ultimate empty promise: “We should talk sometime!”

It's the business world's, “I'll call you.”

It means nothing! “Sometime” is not a day of the week.

There's no “Sometime” on my calendar.

As far as gestures go, it’s one of the most hollow and empty, right next to the head nod as you pass someone you’ve already talked to at the networking event.

It's a hypothetical chat that will never, ever happen.

..

Ok, I have to ask:

Did any of these jokes make you laugh?

You probably smiled at a few.

After all, you’re probably listening to this at lunch or in your car.

You’re not going to belly laugh.

It’s not cold enough in the room and you probably haven’t been drinking.

Plus, my delivery is not as good as Seinfeld’s.

I’m working on my comedy writing.

My posts on LinkedIn have generated hundreds of thousands of views over the last 90 days.

They’ve all been satire, written in a self-righteous style mocking the ridiculous leadership posts we sometimes see.

I had to laugh when a friend texted me the other days and said, “You’re really building a funny brand.”

Engagment has been high, conversations keep happening, I’ve landed a few new clients, I’m having a ton of fun, and I’m just beginning to understand what ‘funny’ can do for my business.

So, I want to open it up these conversations to more people.

Since February, I’ve done these short episodes.

What I’d really like to do in the next couple of months is get some of you on here with me, talking about everything under the marketing umbrella, and what’s working with your own strategies.

Obviously we can talk about how you’re writing and developing your content, either for your personal or business brand, but it doesn’t have to be that.

I’m fine to talk about anything.

If that sounds interesting and you’d want to be on the show, come and find me on LinkedIn and send me a message or drop me a line at [email protected].

Either one.

..

Thank you for listening to The Morgan Snyder Show. Don’t forget to give it five stars and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It tells people that this is worth listening to.

Need help with your social media presence? You can find time with me at thoughtleadertoday.com.

Also, I published a book called, Keep It Light. It’s a year’s worth of content starters and posts that you can use to build your personal brand. Read it for free on Amazon Unlimited.

My friends: Keep writing, keep publishing, and I’ll see you next time.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored some awesome topics.

We've talked about the upside of fame, as well as dove into Rory Sutherland’s ideas around the non-linear, unpredictable magic of building influence.

But, then comes the quiet, almost embarrassed follow-up question.

The one that arrives in the DMs after you listen to the episode. And it sounds something like, "I love this idea, Morgan, but..."

What if I look foolish? What if my boss doesn't get it? What if I post something... and hear nothing but crickets?

That "but" is the wall between theory and action. It's the voice of fear.

And today, we’re going to tear that wall down.

..

Come say hi at thoughtleadertoday.com 👋

Last week, we talked about the ‘upside of being famous.’

The focus wasn’t necessarily on becoming a celebrity, (although that would probably help your chances of building a business, just ask Ryan Reynolds) but, as a known, trusted leader in your space.

I touched on the ideas of Scott Galloway and others last week, and I enjoyed putting the episode together so much, that I wanted to dedicate another to understanding the non-linear process of building reputation and influence.

..

Come and say hi at thoughtleadertoday.com 👋

I want you to think about the word famous.

What comes to mind?

Celebrities, red carpets, social media influencers with millions of followers?

It’s a word that can feel a little…weird to the everday entrepreneur trying to build a successful business.

Most of us have been taught since a very young age to value the work, not the notoriety. I’ve heard several execs say over the years, “I don’t want to be famous. I just want to make a difference.”

Seems reasonable enough.

But what if we reframe it? What if, for a leader, fame isn't about celebrity at all?

..

Come and say hi at thoughtleadertoday.com. 👋

I’ve shown you data from my clients and from my own content and how that has translated into more conversations.

Write funny, make money—the new slogan every founder should put up above their desk when they go to make content on LinkedIn and X.

I mean, I even took an entire episode to promote thoughtleadertoday.com, spelling out all the reasons that listeners should partner with content writers and tell better stories.

To be honest, I feel like I’ve covered it enough and I need a break. You probably do too. :)

BTW…If you want to see satire that went big this week, just go to my LinkedIn and see my latest post. It’s currently sitting at 130 k views.

You’ll never look at Starbucks the same.

..

come and say hi at thoughtleadertoday.com 👋

Once upon a time, there was a leader. Her name was Claire. This is her story. 👀 🍿

..

Come and say hi at thoughtleadertoday.com 👋

No music. No intro. This is the Morgan Snyder Show.

Over the last 30 days, I have written 7 posts on LinkedIn.

For me, that’s serious restraint.

In the past, I’ve posted every day, for weeks on end. I’ve had the mentality that, “all visibility is good visibility.”

The more people see me in their feed, the better. After all, I’m a writer that helps leaders, athletes, and celebs with social.

I should practically live on LinkedIn, lawnchair out with a raspberry lemonade in hand, commenting on every post.

Well, I was wrong. I’m not afraid to admit it.

My “passing bar” so to speak for posts wasn’t high enough. My perspectives weren’t sharp enough.

Meaning, I would just create posts and get them out there because if they didn’t work, hardly anyone would see them. “Oh well! I have tomorrow to get out another post.”

What was my engagement like? Decent.

But was I getting the volume of messages, the website views, the exploratory calls that I wanted and needed? No.

I think for a long time, my audience had Morgan fatigue.

So, what has happened over the last 30 days? What has made me pull back?

Without spending too much time on it, it’s really because of the work I’m doing alongside Napa.

Their content does so well on LinkedIn. The strategy is to be funny, to make fun of startups, to basically laugh at where social media, sales, and technology mix together.

I’ll include their profiles in the show notes so you can see for yourself.

I watched them for a couple of months absolutely crush it, and wanted to see if I could crack the code..

..or at least try.

So I tried. What happened?

Over the course of 30 days, my 7 posts were seen by 250 k people.

More than any other time writing online, it’s generated more conversations than ever before.

And that has translated into calls and new client work.

I’m so surprised. Never would have imagined this would happen.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Good for you, Morgan. Gold star.”

(I love gold stars and I’ll take any I can get.)

I share this because something extraordinary is happening with business leaders and their content.

The whole idea of thought leadership and professionalism is changing in significant ways.

Like normal, great things happen when executives and their teams start talking on the internet, and saying interesting things. That hasn’t changed.

And like we’ve talked about here on the podcast recently, my goal (and anyone who is on social media platforms) is to win the internet. Every day.

The thing that I’m seeing changing is the use of parody, satire, memes, and jokes as a crucial part of social media strategy and how you draw people into your story.

Brands have been doing this forever - Surreal, Old Spice, Progressive, Wendy’s, Duolingo, and so on.

But it hasn’t been until fairly recently that I’ve seen this transition into the world of executives at a larger scale.

Sure, there’s always been humor. Not at this level.

My friend Kevin Baker, who I work with to create content for a few founders, posted a funny bit about coworking out of a Costco. In a few hours it had a million views and real estate people were reaching out to him to talk about office space. Major brands like Zapier dropped comments. It has over 10 k reactions. It could end up being one of the most viewed posts of the entire year on LinkedIn.

There’s a chance you’ve seen it already.

That single post got him 10 + new appointments to talk shop on content. Who knows what else is going to happen on Day 2.

For a site that many would say is, “just for professional conversations and job hunting” this is a major shift that few people are aware of.

They don’t realize how to harness humor. They don’t feel comfortable injecting their personality into much of anything because of outside perception and not living up to their title in the c-suite or upper management. They might be afraid of what investors and partners might think. I don’t know, it could be anything.

The point is, weird is winning. Funny is winning. Being boring never was winning.

My content is…not great. What do I do about it?

You might wince when I say this, but I’ll just say it. Because love and friendship is about honesty.

Better to be told by a friend you have a piece of spinach wedged between your front teeth at the networking event then for you to go around looking like a goober.

Here’s the truth:

Chances are, your content is no bueno.

It doesn’t do anything to convince the masses that you’re the right company or person for the job. It doesn’t warm anyone up to how you see the world. It’s not doing you any favors or making you any friends.

It doesn’t entertain. It doesn’t educate.

It’s not working.

The good news (if you can call it that) is most people are in the same boat.

Between the company announcements and the latest marketing trend being parroted, there are very, very few people putting out original content, and original thought.

Or saying anything of value, for that matter.

Social media feeds from leaders are full of the most trite and overdone ideas known to mankind.

It’s a cesspool of cliches, to put it lightly.

So it stands to argue that the VERY BEST THING YOU CAN DO for your personal social accounts is to stand out.

I don’t care what it looks like. The bar is really low.

You can funny, you can stir the pot. You can call someone out, you can be mysterious.

Just don’t do what 99% of everyone else is doing.

Now, I got a comment yesterday from a copywriter over in the UK who gets huge engagement on her content. She’s spunky, she’s fun, and I’ve followed her for a couple years.

Haven’t ever talked to her, but I was really grateful she left a note for me on my post yesterday, because it speaks to what I’m covering here.

Let me read it to you:

A final note:

If you can lay down your pride, your ego, and some of your past experiences with writing online, you get to a place where you can meaningfully connect with people.

Who knows what magical moments will transpire if you can do that.

..

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Want to talk shop on all things writing online? You can find time with me at thoughtleadertoday.com or send me a DM on LinkedIn.

My friends: keep writing, keep publishing, and I’ll see you next time.