all the content experts keep getting this wrong and it's insane [idgaf 027]

Bula Reader,

Literally anyone I know that posts on LinkedIn has said something like this at some point.

And not just friends trying to get clients; even LinkedIn guru types that sell how to get clients on LinkedIn are struggling (in private, they just don't admit it publicly).

They all just blame "the algorithm" (wrong) and how no one cares about their content (not wrong).

Then you've got the content experts selling systems and frameworks and templates that they promise will make your content way more effective.

But.... it's all a pile of shit, cause it just tries to make your content look like other "thought leadership" content.

Seriously.

Think about why we scroll past these thought leadership bullshit posts.

I don't know about you, but I can pick em from the first line (or what people call the hook)

If the hook makes my eyes roll, or it doesn't even stand out enough for my brain to actually process it, I'm scrolling on.

The experts will scream about how "HoOKs aRe iMpOrTaNt!!!!" which is true, but then they follow a madlibs style template instead of coming up with their own. Or even worse, using AI to do it.

Our brains have to process everything we read. They need to classify it, to decide what to do with that info.

Is it useful knowledge? Is it entertaining? Is it something we already know? Is it garbage? Do we care?

But, since our brains are lazy af, they look for shortcuts. Anything they can do to classify the stuff quicker.

That means that the hook we come up with should help people classify our post as something useful.

Now here's the part that a lot of experts seem to actually get wrong and I honestly can't figure out why.

Let's imagine you're me (congratulations on the promotion), and you want to show off your knowledge about websites and conversion rates and all the other shit someone who needs a new website should probably be thinking about.

You (or me?) has got the actual main points, the stuff that shows the knowledge off, but we want people to actually read the fucking post.... so we need a "hook" to grab em.

A good hook will help them classify the post as interesting or worthwhile, which makes them likely to read the rest.

Just in case you haven't spent a lot of time learning about content writing, here are the types of hooks most experts are going to guide you through:

None of these are all that bad in theory, but in practice people keep messing them up, and so the result ends up being shit.

Where I think a lot of the experts go wrong, they forget that the market is continually evolving. Consumers keep getting exposed to content, to marketing, every day.

The novelty wears off, and stuff that worked a few months ago, stops being effective.

So the stuff they teach today is kinda like reading from a dusty old playbook. But not the good kind like you're in a cheesy kids football movie and you find the playbook hidden in a library, and it's full of plays that were effective in the 70s and won games goddamit, but everyone forgot about it and it's like totally new now, so you use it and the commentator who's some old retired football star recognises the plays and gets super excited, and you end up winning the big final.

Nah those are the good ones. We're talking the playbooks that everyone already knows in and out and has developed counters to. We don't want these kinds of dusty playbooks, cause they suck.

Your hook isn't PART OF THE STORY.

It needs to flow and make sense.

If you have this really epic hook, but the next line doesn't connect to it in any way, people get confused. Confusion isn't really a good thing unless it's part of your strategy (ps. don't make it part of your strategy), so all that happens is your post gets classified as trash.

Your hook is a fucking lie.

Bruh.

The first line of your post tells people what the rest of it is about. I've seen a lot of people put a big claim in the opener, but then never actually reference it again.

Don't be a piece of shit.

It's obvious AF.

If we've seen it before, our brains can classify it.

If your hook is "Here are 5 things you can do to get more leads via your website" then my brain classifies it as generic advice (cause it is).

If your hook is "Here's 5 non obvious things (I learned the hard way) that will get more leads via your website" then my brain classifies it as possibly non generic advice, which means its worth checking out (just don't forget mistake 2).

Although tbh even that hook is probably generic at this point, because I still know it's about getting more leads via my website.

It's preachy.

I'm scrolling linkedin. I'm not at church or wherever people go when they want to be spoken to like children.

There's one thing going through my head when I see a post about how I'm doing everything wrong, and it rhymes with "duck off" (psst: it was fuck off).

Telling people they're doing things wrong (even if they are) is a great way to annoy them, but not a great way to connect.

This part ain't too hard thankfully.

Rather than copying some big name influencer that's in a pod and gets crazy traction no matter what nonsense they write, follow some basic rules.

Why should people even read your post? I've scrapped so many post ideas because I wasn't really saying anything special.

Generic tips, entry level knowledge you'd find just by thinking about looking the topic up, stuff that offers zero personal insight.... why bother? That's not going to make your "thought leadership" post actually fire.

First you need your angle, or why your post is worth reading. Get that "why" across in your hook.

Remember, our lazy af brains are trying to get out of thinking.

So, I like to think about what I can do that is a bit different and leads to a different outcome than people expect.

Maybe you notice people starting posts the same way, and you throw in a twist at the start that makes it stand out. Maybe you come up with the opposite result. Maybe you throw in a swear word (FYI - linkedin really doesn't like it when I do that, the arseholes).

If it looks like everyone else's content, and doesn't do anything different, it's gonna bomb. Throw in a twist, and you might get some attention.

This is such GENERIC advice, but it's important.

If your hook makes people say "huh?" or "whaaaat?" or "how?" then there's a good chance they'll read the post.

If your hook makes them say "meh" or "ugh" or "psh" then there's a good chance they won't.

We're so bored and over everything. If you can make us FEEL something, you earn some attention (that's why ragebait works, but I'm not a fan).

I know I talk about how important it is to push your personality out into the world. And I know it's probably annoying at this point.

But you know who else is annoying? McDonalds with their golden arches. And yet they keep using them in all their marketing and they keep winning. So I'm being McDonalds when I tell you: get your personality into your content.

It's not the easiest thing in the world, but the more you understand who you are and what your personality is, the more you can push it into your content. And that means your content becomes recognisably yours.

That shit stands out, because (presumably) you're the only you there is.

Ultimately, if you want to be all thought leadershippy, try make your shit interesting.

Don't be a dork with zero personality. Don't try clone the big names (trust me, they cheat).

Bring your own personality into it, follow some basic rules, and don't be like everyone else.

Ultimately, ask yourself: does this sound interesting to me?

If not, try again.

Cowabunga,Nick Gulic