Content Creation And Engagement Techniques

Most creators have this backwards. They're chasing views and subscribers, hoping they'll magically become clients. But after analyzing over 10,000 videos across 150+ channels, I realized something profound: YouTube success is about viewer intent. Last month, I worked with a founder who had 87K subscribers but was only making $12K monthly. She was creating "viral content" instead of strategic content. When I shared my systems with her, everything shifted. Here's what I learned about building in public through strategic YouTube content: 1. Foundation First Build genuine authority by teaching what you know deeply. This creates the trust foundation that turns viewers into clients. When you share knowledge transparently, you become the obvious choice for implementation. Your expertise becomes undeniable when demonstrated consistently. People trust those who teach before they sell. 2. Solution Showcasing Demonstrate your expertise through real problem-solving. People hire those who prove their value transparently. Your public work becomes your most powerful sales tool without feeling salesy. Live problem-solving builds immediate credibility and rapport. Prospects see exactly what working with you would look like. 3. System Transparency Share your actual methodology and frameworks openly. Building in public creates magnetic attraction to your process. 4. Transformation Stories Show real before/after results from your work. Transparency about outcomes builds unshakeable credibility. Success stories create emotional connection and logical proof. Other founders see themselves in your client transformations. 5. Strategic Bridge Building Use clear CTAs that guide viewers toward next steps. Every piece of content should have a purpose beyond views. 6. Value Ladder Creation Design a clear path from free content to paid services. Building in public means showing the entire journey. 7. Intent-Based Content Target purchase-intent keywords that your ideal clients search for. Strategic transparency attracts ready-to-buy audiences. 8. The PVT Formula Address specific problems, validate your understanding, then reveal your transformation approach. This converts 273% better than standard tutorial content. This is about creating beautiful, systemized, and impactful brands together. When you build your expertise in public through strategic YouTube content, you create multiple conversion opportunities while establishing deep trust. We 10X'd her revenue within 90 days using fewer videos but with clear strategic intent behind each one. The future belongs to those brave enough to build their systems in public. It starts with sharing your methodology transparently. __ Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Matt Gray for more. Want help applying this in your business? DM me ‘Blueprint’ and let’s chat. Only for founders ready to scale.

Mark Cuban is worth $6.2 billion but refuses to say "EBITDA" on TV. There's a million-dollar lesson in this difference. I was just working with a PhD client who kept using industry jargon in his posts. Smart guy. Knows his stuff inside and out. Getting 47 likes per post. Meanwhile, people with half his expertise were getting thousands. Here's what I told him that changed everything: Your expertise isn't the problem. Your packaging is. Mark Cuban could walk into any private equity boardroom and discuss CAC, LTV, and burn rates all day. But on Shark Tank? He talks like your mom is watching. Because your mom IS watching. And so are millions of other people who aren't in his industry but are fascinated by the stories. Here's the thing most experts miss: The best content makes smart people look smarter AND makes everyone else feel included. Cuban doesn't dumb down his analysis. He translates his expertise. "What's your customer acquisition cost?" becomes "How much does it cost you to get one customer?" "What's your monthly recurring revenue?" becomes "How much money do you make every month?" Same intelligence. Different packaging. My friends, this is why your content isn't getting the reach it deserves: When you use industry terms, only industry people engage. When you translate industry concepts, EVERYONE engages. More engagement = more reach = more of your actual ideal clients see your content. It's not about dumbing down. It's about opening up. Here's the framework that's generated over $2M in client results: 1. Write your insight using all the technical terms you want 2. Rewrite it like you're explaining it to a brilliant 12-year-old 3. Keep the sophistication, lose the jargon     My client tried this approach. His next post got 2,847 views instead of his usual 200. Same expertise. Better packaging. Here's your reality check: The most influential experts aren't the ones who sound smartest to their peers. They're the ones who make complex ideas feel accessible to everyone else. That's how you build a personal brand that transcends your industry. That's how you create content that gets shared beyond your immediate network. That's how you turn expertise into influence. The game changed. Did you? While you're trying to impress other experts with your vocabulary, the smart money is building bridges to bigger audiences. If Mark Cuban can explain private equity without ever saying "private equity," you can explain your expertise without the buzzwords. 🧱🧡 PS: Check the comments for my full framework on building a brand that actually impacts

So you've dabbled a bit too much with your favorite LLM and are struggling to write well, or authentically, without it. Here's some prompts to help — for you. Not your LLM. This post was inspired by a few conversations with professionals of all ages who wanted to regain confidence and authenticity in their own writing but didn't know where to restart, especially when the gulf between ChatGPT or Claude-levels of polish and their own thoughts seemed so wide. They wanted to re-learn (or some cases, learn for the first time!) what it meant to write in their own voice. I've distilled my suggestions into four prompts to feed into your biological, onboard superintelligence (that is to say, your brain). "How do I feel about [topic], and why?" Naming our emotions is one of the most powerful things we can do to arrive at a unique point-of-view. Are you feeling anxious? Astonished? Playful? Suspicious? Look up the "Emotion Wheel" for a great way to visualize and name your emotions. To go further, introspecting beyond "what" you're feeling into the "why" can connect your immediate thoughts to your unique life experiences and perspectives. This is the core of what makes you "you." "What do I hope to express by writing?" Writing is a deeply personal act. Yes, even when it's professional or academic-sounding! You're writing because you have something to say, and that special something overpowered the easy inertia of saying nothing at all. That's admirable already. But putting that "something" into words can help you hone and focus your intent, to raise the odds that after you hit "post" or "send" or "publish" that you can look at what you've written with pride. "What do I hope to achieve by writing?" One of the powers of great writing, beyond personal expression, is its ability to influence people's thoughts and behaviors. Writing can inspire, teach, connect, challenge, and so much more. Knowing what you want to achieve with your writing — who you want to reach, how you want them to feel, and what you want them to do differently after reading what you wrote — gives your writing added purpose. "What stories can I tell to express and achieve what I want to?" There's a reason we're so drawn to storytelling: because stories are windows into each others' worlds. Through stories, we share our thoughts, our feelings, our perspectives, our wisdoms, and our experiences. No one in the entire world can share the same stories that you can. And doing so with intent and purpose, even if those stories lack polish, naturally draws people in to your world. There's vulnerability in these questions, because ONLY YOU can answer them for yourself. And that same vulnerability is why so much AI-generated writing can feel so hollow: it doesn't know how you feel, what you want to express, what you hope to achieve, and what stories you want to tell. The combination of these things that makes your writing feel human. So sit with them. Sit, think, and write.

You’ve heard the advice, “Use stories in your presentations because people respond to stories!” Great advice. BUT… Your story won’t grab your audience’s attention and communicate your message unless it has these 6 elements. In fact, it could even have the opposite effect! Every story you use as the foundation of your high-stakes presentations needs to have: 1. A logical structure. A story needs a beginning, middle, and end with clear turning points between each section. Don't just jump between ideas randomly. Map your presentation flow on paper first so you can physically move sections around. The most persuasive structure builds toward your most important point. 2. An Emotional structure. In the middle of your story, create a rise of conflict where tension builds. This might be when your audience realizes their current approach isn't working or market conditions are changing rapidly. Plan moments where this tension rises before providing a cathartic resolve. Your audience will stay engaged through this emotional journey from tension to resolution. 3. A clear goal. The protagonist in your story must have something they're seeking–an objective that drives the narrative forward. In your presentation, position your audience as the hero pursuing something important. Whether it's reconciliation of different viewpoints or finding the solution to a pressing problem, make sure this goal is crystal clear. 4. Meaningful conflict. Every story needs the hero to face obstacles. This conflict might be with themselves, with others, with technology, or even with nature.  When preparing your presentation, identify what's standing in the way of progress. Is it internal resistance? Market challenges? Technical limitations? Acknowledging these conflicts shows you understand the real situation. 5. A resolution. Every narrative needs to resolve the conflict, though resolution doesn't always mean a happy ending. It could end positively (comedy), negatively (tragedy), or be inconclusive, requiring your audience to take action to determine the outcome. For business presentations, this inconclusive ending can be particularly effective as it prompts decision and action. 6. A lesson worth learning. While rarely stated explicitly (except in fairy tales), every story teaches something. Your presentation should leave your audience with a clear takeaway about what approaches to emulate or avoid. The quality of your story often determines the quality of your high-stakes presentations. Take time to really think through the stories you’re using. Hand-selecting the best ones will help you leave a lasting impact on your audience. #Presentation #StorytellingInBusiness #PresentationSkills

"I'm speaking to a big group. How can I connect with ALL of them?" The secret: If you want to write a talk that connects with a large crowd... FORGET about the CROWD. Instead, focus on the ONE. One REAL PERSON who might attend this event. One REAL PERSON you know personally. One REAL PERSON you care about. Then write a talk for that one, real person. Here's what most people do instead. When most people write talks for large crowds, they try to envision a talk that lands with EVERYONE. Here's what ends up happening. Under the pressure of trying to please a... → Large → Impersonal → Undefinable → Unknowable → General group of people ...they end up writing content that is... → Vague → General → Impersonal → Stereotypical It's nearly impossible to write fresh unique content with a "crowd" as the imagined audience. Instead, the best speakers write talks for ONE person. They imagine... One real person who they know personally. One real person who could attend the event. One real person who is representative of the crowd. And write the talk for JUST that one person. When you feel a personal connection to a real person that you know and care about... you will write content that is... → Fresh → Helpful → Specific The desire to HELP a real person you know will inspire content that is actually HELPFUL. The genuine CARE for a real person you know will inspire content that feels genuinely CARING. A PERSONAL connection to a real person will inspire content that feels actually PERSONAL. And content that is helpful, caring and personal will always connect with a crowd. Check the infographic for a step-by-step guide. You've got this!

If you over-curate & overthink your personal brand to perfection, your engagement will be dead! You see them everywhere—polished, poised, and perfectly positioned personal brands. Yet, their engagement is flat. Their audience? Passive. This is the"Perfect Persona" Effect—where people curate an online brand so flawlessly that it becomes unrelatable. And science backs this up. 📌 A study from Harvard Business Review found that leaders who share their struggles increase trust by 66% compared to those who only share polished success. 📌 Social psychologist Dr. Elliot Aronson’s "Pratfall Effect" proves that people perceive those who show vulnerability as more likable than those who appear perfect. The brands that win aren’t the ones that look flawless. They’re the ones that feel real. This is how we work this out with SackBerry clients: 1. Show the process, not just the results. ❌ “We grew our business 10x in a year!” ✅ “We struggled for months with zero sales—here’s what finally worked.” People relate to struggles, lessons, and real journeys. Share the how, not just the highlight. 2. Write like you talk. The easiest way to sound human? Read your post out loud. If you wouldn’t say it in a conversation, rewrite it. 3. Share your unpopular opinions. The fastest way to stand out isn’t to blend in. Take a stance. Challenge industry clichés. Say what others won’t. 4. Use the “3-Post Rule” to create trust. Your content should rotate between these formats: A personal story (human connection) An actionable insight (expert credibility) A polarizing take (sparks discussion) 5. Don’t fear the “mess.” -Not every post needs to be perfect. - Test new ideas. - Share drafts. - Build in public. People love watching something unfold in real time. So, tell me—what’s one thing you wish more people shared online? #PersonalBranding #Authenticity #BuildingInPublic #ContentMarketing

Last year, I helped a $70M founder get 36M impressions, 350k engagements, 117k followers, and 40k+ newsletter subs from 156 LinkedIn posts. But we almost failed before we even started. Here's the #1 mistake that nearly killed the entire strategy: BACKGROUND This founder came to me ready to "start posting daily on LinkedIn." He had hired writers, built a content calendar, and was ready to go. I told him to stop immediately. Why? Because 90% of founders think content strategy means "let's start creating content." They don't realize content without strategy is just noise that captures zero demand. What actually happens when you skip strategy: - You open Google Docs with no idea what to write - Your content sounds like everyone else's generic BS - You waste months creating content that gets zero engagement - Your writers produce "content" that doesn't connect with buyers - You eventually quit because "content doesn't work for our business" Instead, here's a 5-step framework that changed everything: Step 1: Understand the Context - Map out your infrastructure, target market, and culture - Study your competition, trends, and distribution channels - Know your threats and opportunities inside out This isn't sexy work, but it's where winners separate from losers Step 2: Clarify the Information - Document your insights, values, and personality - Get crystal clear on upsides, downsides, and customers - Write down what makes you different (not what you wish made you different) Most founders skip this and wonder why their content sounds generic Step 3: Write the Strategy - Your differentiation isn't "we care more" - dig deeper - Define your unique value prop in words customers actually use - Create categories you can own Step 4: Develop the Core Concept - This is where the magic happens - Turn positioning into a concept that drives everything - One powerful idea expressed clearly The $70M founder's concept became his North Star for 156 posts Step 5: Create the Content Strategy - NOW you can think about content - Voice & tone, topics, channels, formats - Frequency, key messages, CTAs, visual style Tools: Perplexity for research, Notion for writing, Figma for design, Taplio for scheduling The results when you get this right: - Content that sounds like YOU, not ChatGPT - Prospects, investors and talent reaching out saying "I've been following your content" - Clear differentiation from competitors - A library of assets your sales team actually uses - Inbound leads that already understand your value TAKEAWAY: Stop trying to "do content" without strategy. The most successful B2B companies spend 80% of their time on strategy and 20% on creation. Not the other way around. Your content will only be as good as the strategy behind it.

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: many AEO discussions focus only on technical fixes like llms.txt, schema, crawlability, etc. But there is a lot of leverage sitting in your site's content too. Optimizing for AEO includes your content evolving from "optimized for Google keywords" to "optimized for fully answering real questions with easily understood, well structured content." What this looks like in practice: 1️⃣ Answer Real Questions Look at your sales call recordings, sales + CS emails, and Google's "People Also Ask" for ideas about the real questions prospects are asking AI now. At Webflow, we added top answers (via FAQs) to our top six product pages and saw 24% more organic traffic in two weeks! 2️⃣ Create Easy To Understand Structure Topical clusters shift from baskets of keywords to groups of questions. Group your answers into those topical clusters, use descriptive headlines, and add lists to your content. 3️⃣ Keep It Fresh. LLMs reward recent, relevant information. 95% of ChatGPT citations are ≤10 months old. At Webflow, our SEO/AEO team refreshed content 5x more often and that led to 42% more organic visits (with that traffic converting at a 14% higher rate). 4️⃣ Add Human Texture. LLMs prioritize authenticity and authority. Include real stories, named people with deep expertise in the topic, and first-hand experiences. That’s what gets cited more often. Good AEO content does what good marketing always should: delivering meaningful, relevant content at the right moment in the prospect's journey. Is your team AEO optimizing your site both technically AND in content?

You can follow every content tip in the book: Use trending audio. Post 3x a day. Put text on screen. And still get stuck. Those aren’t wrong… they’re just surface-level. If you want to play the long game, you need more than beginner tactics. I’ve spent over 16 years helping creators shape content that lasts. These 5 principles come up time after time: 1. Use Data to Guide the Next Post → Build a simple tool to rank your posts. → Spot the patterns. Let winners guide what’s next. → It’s like giving your content a report card—except you should take this one seriously ;) 2. Remix Your Top Performers → Artists don’t make one hit and move on. → They remix, drop an acoustic, or get someone else to collab on it. → Turn your best posts into templates. 3. Innovate Your CTAs (Calls-to-Action) → Super direct CTA’s often kill reach. → Figure out a way to make your audience aware of your thing without the ask. → Ex: If you’re a vlogger selling an energy drink, always show yourself cracking one open mid-video. 4. Tailor to the Platform → TikTok ≠ IG ≠ LinkedIn. → Optimize for each platform individually → Don’t just repost, re-package 5. Tracking Everything Isn’t Productive → More data ≠ more clarity. → Pick 2–3 metrics that actually change your decisions. → Ours? Conversions, views, and watch time These aren’t just the latest “hacks” They’re habits of thoughtful creators who build brands that last. These are some of mine—what’s one content lesson you wish someone told you earlier?

After helping 150+ founders and executives grow their personal brands, I realized getting attention is simply not enough. Hear me out: 99% of the people I reach with this post aren’t ready to buy. Some just aren’t my ICP, and that’s fine. Many could be great clients/partners - but not right now. Maybe they: • are still weighing their options • don’t trust me enough yet • aren’t even aware of their problem yet If they just keep scrolling, it’ll be up to the LinkedIn algorithm whether they ever see me again. That’s what the retention engine is for. It’s a direct distribution channel with no algorithm and no text limits. Once someone signs up, I can stay connected and continue providing value, regardless of any social media channel. It’s easy to ignore (I did for too long), but it’s essential to a content founder. And it’s not complicated to build. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 Moving your audience from a social platform like LinkedIn to your own email list is called going from a “rented” audience to an “owned” audience. It’s “owned” because I control distribution and I can engage on my terms. I’m not held hostage by someone else’s rules, algorithms, or admins. In the past, I’ve used lead magnets to grow my email list. Lead magnets are free resources that are valuable to my ICP. It should be a complete package - not an unsatisfying teaser for something bigger. Some examples: • In-depth breakdowns of successful content founder playbooks • Education email courses sharing the theory behind our service • Notion templates to solve smaller sub-problems The goal is never to promote a product. It’s to educate potential customers. Also, the lead magnet can’t suck. If it does, and my ICP feels like I’ve tricked them into giving over their email, I’ve lost them. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 From here on out, my goal is to send my audience great content that: • Interests them • Solves their problems • Entertains them • Educates them Don’t buy the hype from gurus who claim you need a complex retention engine with 1,000 moving parts. In my experience, the best way to do it is with a simple newsletter. Don’t overdo it. We started out with 1 issue/month. We now do 2. If it adds value, people won’t get annoyed no matter the frequency. This week’s topic is… Retention engines! I give an in-depth breakdown of how to set one up, take a look at the Buyer Readiness Breakdown, and even share my latest playlist for deep work on Spotify. Find it here: https://lnkd.in/e6W-Mm2K