Marketing Lessons From a Mega Twitter Influencer
Ed Latimore has nearly 200,000 followers on Twitter, here's what he has to say about growth
I rarely curate the thoughts of others, but I’m making an exception today because this particular set of thoughts is so important for today’s creators to hear.
Also, these thoughts come from someone who I’ve gotten to know a bit over the past few months.
Last, I can expand on them because when I read what he had to say, it felt like the words were coming from me because I think the exact same way.
You should use:
Proven hooks
Templates and frameworks for your content
Clever headlines
Compelling introductions
Nicely formatted and styled content
All that stuff is important. Without that foundation, it’s going to be difficult to grow as a content creator.
But “me too” marketing has gotten out of control. These days, everything on my feed looks like everything else. Sure, it’s catchy, but it’s not the type of stuff that will help you build a dedicated following.
Instead, listen to these thoughts Ed has to share — thoughts I wholeheartedly agree with.
If you’ve been a dedicated reader of this newsletter, you’ve heard me talk about this over and over and over and over.
It’s the answer nobody wants to hear, but it’s the truth.
I focus my writing on Medium.com. I browse the feed to see what’s trending and almost always there’s an article from a new writer that says “Why I’m Leaving Medium.”
They blame the platform, but 99 percent of the time when I go to check their writing, it’s god awful.
I’m okay with people putting out crappy work. That’s how you get good. I’m not okay with people who complain about platforms when their work is the problem.
Your stories give you the only real edge you have as a content creator. Nobody can copy your life experiences.
You have to have some sort of origin story that makes your content meaningful. Ed went from living in the ghetto to becoming a pro boxer before he had ever penned a word.
This gives him instant credibility.
My story isn’t as good as Ed’s. I grew up middle class, but I messed up my own life, dropped out of school, became a convicted felon, then bounced back from it all by studying and implementing self-improvement strategies.
Talk about what you’ve gone through. Each of us has content specific to our lives we can share.
To grow on platforms, you have to learn the rules and then break the mold with your unique each.
I learned the ropes on how to succeed on Medium. Things like putting your work in the right publications, writing clever headlines, formatting your posts well, choosing the right tags, etc.
But I rose to the top because I was interesting.
You have to find your own angle. Mine? I just told the brutally honest truth about self-improvement to the point it hurt people’s feelings, but also made them think and take action. I’m crass. I curse. My writing is punchy and aggressive.
Ed grew up in the projects around crackheads, so he makes jokes about crack cocaine and comes up with clever jokes about black coffee:
Coffee so black security follows you around the store while you drink it
It’s politically incorrect, slightly offensive, and also hilarious. Too many creators want this perfect little image. Be real. Be interesting. Or you’ll die out
I’ve talked about this before. If you want to make a full-time living as a creator, you need to multiply your time horizons by 10X. Maybe even 100X.
I’ve been doing this daily for 8 years and I still have a ton to learn and room to grow. What makes you think you should be at the top of the game just yet?
You should be thinking in years and decades, not weeks and months. That’s a lot to think about right away, which can overwhelm you.
For now, your only goal is to post something today.
The goal after that is to post something tomorrow.
This is a game of stringing consecutive days together until you’re no longer worried about quitting due to inconsistency. Once you’ve broken through that threshold the rest is a matter of time.
But, you gotta get there.
One step at a time my friend.
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Make sure to follow Ed on Twitter here
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Here are some links to other cool things you’ll enjoy:
Watch this webinar replay I co-hosted with Self-Publishing School to learn how to write a best-selling book
Take my free 5-day course that teaches you how to make a living writing on Medium
Buy my best-selling book - Real Help: An Honest Guide to Self-Improvement
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram because I create unique content on each platform