Why It Pays To Have A Cool CEO Edition

Happy Thursday,

Many advertising campaigns (especially the big ones) have been completely spoiled thanks to Covid.

• Ads that show large groups - not relevant
• Ads that show travel destinations - waste of money
• Ads that pretend like nothing is happening - bad taste

One ad I saw this week really demonstrated how constrained advertisers are - it featured only two people and was shot on an iPhone.

Ok, to be fair, it's an ad for iPhone.

But what I found super interesting was the ad was just two (famous) hockey players messing around, taping an iPhone to each other's equipment and around the rink.

Key Takeaway: With the holiday season quickly approaching, it will be interesting to see how other advertisers will respond. Covid restrictions will keep film crews lean and limits possible subject matter. Maybe a lot more commercials will say "Shot on iPhone 11" at the beginning...

Here are a few ideas I have for you this week:

Create Content for People, Not For Algorithms

Whether you like it or not, social media offers a huge opportunity to share your work and message with the world. Professional designers, photographers, and creatives know this all too well, as having a social media following is now part of the job.

On the podcast this week, Michael Tumlin joins me to discuss how to create content that builds an audience without losing your sanity keeping up with algorithm changes.

His biggest tip: Make content that your followers really like, the rest will sort itself out.

He also explains:

• The biggest mistake designers make on social media
• How to choose a strategy depending on the platform you're on
• Why everyone (especially newbies) should start a podcast

Hear how he publishes 3+ new pieces of work a week.

The Organic Social Media Strategy Top Companies Are Using

If you spend any time on LinkedIn, chances are you'll see at least one post from a member of the company Gong in your feed.

That's because they've got at least a dozen employees at various levels of the company posting every day. It also helps to have a CEO who's LinkedIn image is this:

But they don't simply post links to their latest corporate blog post. They actually post their insights about the business function they're in:

• Sales people write about front-line sales advice.
• Marketing people post about new email marketing strategies they're trying.
• Leadership share how they're managing a fast growing team.

The strategy is simple:

Each of them sticks to a topic relevant to Gong, providing timely and actionable value to their connections every day.

That's it.

So it's no wonder when they DO post a promotional link, I'm more inclined to click it.

Plus, the hundreds of thousands of FREE organic impressions they get across the platform everyday are a nice incentive to keep it up.

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