Social Media Posting: Lessons Learned About Authority and Hooks

"Have I got your attention now?" - Blake, Glenngarry Glen Ross

Why is something important to you? Why is a piece of content relevant to the audience?

I may have a link, a story, a movie, or something else to share with you... but as impactful or important as it was for me, that doesn't mean it will be the same for you. Or perhaps it would be, and you will miss out on it because you don't yet see the connection.

This insight is something I've discovered over the past year and a half sharing on social media about how to connect what I share with an audience that may not care.

With an article, the headline is a way to accomplish this objective. The title is attempting to tell you why you should care enough to read it. In news articles, the idea is to use the title, subtitle, and early content to deliver the key information. Those who care about the topic can continue reading for further details.

On social media, when sharing content, the order of what we share should follow this dynamic. It should communicate here's what is at stake, why it's important, and why it demands your attention right now.

This is done most effectively when we build a reputation of sincerity, where we consistently deliver on this promise. Sensationalizing something for short-term attention will cost us later when we're ignored.

Authority Hooks

So we've landed on a topic people are interested in, why should they listen to you? What makes you an authority? What do you have that gives what you say more value than someone else? If we're going to get someone to care, we have to answer this in just a few words. Let me give an example.

Pretend you don't know me and I start talking to you about how to succeed as a freelancer, of which you are one. Maybe you listen, maybe you don't. 

Now, let me tell you, that I've earned $1.4 million freelancing consistently earning a six-figure income each year for a decade. And, I earn that six figures while working part-time and with incredible clients.

Have I got your attention now?

If you want that type of income and doing so only while working part-time, you want to hear what I have to say about how to accomplish it. Those who care will want to know that the blueprint is in my book, Path of the Freelancer.

On the Other Side of Serendipity

I've experienced this type of intersecting dynamic of something new and relevant in my life, many times. One was when I discovered the selling model from Blair Enns. When I had my marketing agency, we developed the pitching sales model (which is what most people develop) to try and get new clients. This involved a peacock-like dance (figuratively speaking) to win the business. This road led to frustration, disappointment, and burnout. It sometimes worked out but it had a high cost and one of those costs was a growing resentment. There had to be a better way.

And one day, a friend told me about this better way. It was called Win Without Pitching, a manifesto by Blair Enns. It was exactly what I was seeking and at the exact moment I wanted it most. That book helped change my life and business as it provided the mindset and framework to generate the outcome I desired without all the negative downsides that come with pitching.

It was rather serendipitous that this friend told me about this program at that moment. Otherwise, I may never have discovered it.

For us to succeed in social media, we need to recognize these states of our target audience so that we can be the friend that tells them about the solution they need or want at the time they need or want it.

Without establishing authority, we risk them being unable to see the solution we're offering.

The hook is when we convey the problem solution and what gives us authority all within a single sentence or a few words.

Participating in Providence

As I've said about churches before, I believe we have an opportunity to participate in what consider to be, providential or serendipitous moments. As Andy Stanley regularly says, we do not know what hangs in the balance of what we say or do.

Whether you believe in providence or not, I do believe sharing on the internet, particularly with social media is an opportunity to send the bat signal into the sky for others to see and benefit from.

Sharing vital insights from our position of authority in a way that conveys its importance and why the audience should care is a type of mission that can have transformative effects, if we choose to see them.