2023 Content Strategy/Analytics Review

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Master the art and science of creative strategy

Creative minds. Math-obsessed media buyers. To ship more winning ads, you need both worlds working together. 

Introducing: Thumbstop. 

Thumbstop is a weekly newsletter covering the art and science of creating winning Meta, TikTok, and YouTube ads. 

⚡Creative strategy templates 
🔬The science behind effective hooks  
💰 Winning TikTok & Meta ad formats 
📊 Time-saving reporting techniques 

Who is this newsletter for:

👉 DTC and ecom creative teams looking to build their data skills 
👉 Heads of growth who want to increase their creative skills 
👉 CMOs who want to build effective creative performance teams 

Every week, you’ll get new growth & creative cheat codes used by top DTC and ecom brands. New issues are sent every Sunday. 

💌 Subscribe here 

Today we're going to my war room.

I'm showing you how I'm attacking each social media platform.

• How often am I posting?

• What type of content am I posting where?

• How do I repurpose content?

Plus, I'll be revealing my stats on each platform. Then this time next year, I'll do another one of these to see the progress.

But first, I want to talk a bit about my overall content strategy.

Back in 2021, I saw writer Trung Phan say he posts "smart threads and dumb memes". This idea of "smart content v. dumb content" has been the basis of my strategy as I've grown my Twitter to almost 20k followers, my newsletter to almost 10k, and am growing at hyperspeed on YouTube.

Give me 2 minutes in this video to explain how and why Smart Content v. Dumb Content works:

Ok if you didn't watch the video, you’re missing out. But don’t worry, I'll explain more below anyways.

CYBER PATTERNS

SUBSCRIBERS: 8,868 • OPEN RATE: 42%

Wow, this year has been wild.

We’ve grown from 1,000 readers to almost 9,000. By this time next year, I’m betting growth compounds and I hit somewhere around 40,000 readers.

Like my social strategy smart content v. dumb content, I try to do the same thing here: smart long-form posts and dumb memes at the end of each post. The smart content is the protein, the dumb memes are the dessert.

As you’re well aware, I post a free newsletter every Sunday and an extra newsletter every Wednesday for paid subscribers. The main difference is Wednesday’s posts tend to go deeper into tactics and case studies.

My newsletter strategy revolves around trying to do my “Job to Be Done” better than anyone else: help you upgrade your content strategy and win the great online game. I’ve grown Cyber Patterns primarily via social media so let’s jump right into that.

TWITTER: @IAMJASONLEVIN

FOLLOWERS: 18,856 • 1-YEAR IMPRESSIONS: 39.5M

I saw Trung's idea back in 2021 when I had about 1,000 followers.

Here’s how it works: Post smart threads or long-form tweets to educate. Post dumb memes to entertain. If possible, educate and entertain at the same time.

I post 1-3 smart threads or long tweets per week plus a few dumb funny quick thoughts and memes per day. I center the smart threads around my niche of content strategy and I try to incorporate personal stories in there as well (because your life story is your own competitive advantage).

I also publish my newsletter every Sunday and Wednesday, so I post the video and a long tweet (basically repurposed newsletter) for each edition too. Twitter is trying to become the new YouTube—so I'm investing thousands every month into making content strategy videos and funny street interviews and skits.

Reminder: On Wednesday, I’m publishing a guide on branding aesthetics and it will be very Twitter-heavy. Get access here.

TIKTOK: @IAMJASONLEVIN

FOLLOWERS: 2,035 • 28-DAY VIEWS: 61,275

I was at 500 followers a few weeks ago so I'm pretty stoked to be at 2,000 now. What’s my secret?

Posting street interviews 3x per week and funny jokes ~2x/week. Oh, and dropping $10-20/video in promotion 😈. If you’re going to spend thousands making videos, you might as well spend $20 making sure people see it, right?

I’m getting followers as cheap as $.09 each on my best videos. Good content plus some ad dollars goes a long way. Are all my followers super valuable? Probably not. Are they buying stuff from me? Nope. I don’t care either way. I’m just trying to boost numbers so I have a solid-looking portfolio to start making videos for startups (I already tweet for them, why not videos too?).

I'm doing exclusively dumb content on TikTok... because TikTokers are dumb. Ok just kidding. The reason I’m only posting dumb funny content is that I only use TikTok to watch dumb funny content—to me, it'd feel ungenuine putting educational content on there. The same thing with Instagram. I've tried posting smart content on both of them and I feel wack.

It reminds me of the saying "create the content you want to consume." I like watching short funny videos on TikTok and Instagram and longer educational videos on YouTube so that’s how I’m doing it (more on YouTube below)

LINKEDIN: IAMJASONLEVIN

FOLLOWERS: 1,717 • 30-DAY IMPRESSIONS: 10,834

I'm an aspiring LinkedIn-fluencer I admit it (if you couldn't tell by the photo of me at the LinkedIn office in London) and I'm ok with it. I'm getting newsletter readers from LinkedIn (hi!) and finding new clients.

I have to admit I have not perfected LinkedIn yet. But looking at the graph above, I’m pretty stoked the top demographics of followers are founders and writers (my exact target market).

Like on Twitter, I'm doing the smart v. dumb content strategy. I'm posting smart pieces at 8:30 AM every weekday morning and then funny quick thoughts and memes when I think of them. All of my content is just repurposed less edgy version of my tweets and I use Typefully to schedule it all out for both platforms.

I think my biggest LinkedIn growth strategy has been something else though… it's a trick I learned from viral LinkedIn shitposter Jack Raines:add random people in your industry as connections. 

Yes, your LinkedIn feed will be random, BUT it’s worth it if you’re trying to build a following. When someone accepts your connection, they'll count as followers and see your content. When I met Jack a couple years ago, he told me he was doing this with hopes of blowing up on LinkedIn. About a year later, he started going viral almost everyday, became the King of LinkedIn, and now gets paid to post on LinkedIn. (Read my interview with Jack in Memes Make Millions).

Hopefully I can go a similar route over the next year.

YOUTUBE: @IAMJASONLEVIN

SUBSCRIBERS: 196 • 28-DAY VIEWS 69.2K

I'm up over 999% this month for subscribers. Insane, right?

Yes, I know I only have 196 subscribers, but let me tell you why I'm hype af.

According to YouTuber Ali Abdaal, it takes the average YouTuber 90 videos to hit 1,000 subscribers (it took him 6 months). Most quit before they get there. I'm only 8 long-form videos in and I'm not quitting.

Currently, I'm posting 2 longer content strategy videos per week and 3-5 YouTube Shorts repurposed from TikTok. My belief is that as long as I stay consistent posting, I'll hit 1,000 subscribers in a few months and then 10,000 and 100,000 and 1 million eventually. I’ve been making YouTube videos since I was 11 and finally have the budget and mindset to make videos every week. So there’s no stopping. It’s game time.

Want to follow the journey? Subscribe on YouTube.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I’m super happy with growth everywhere.

Sometimes I get frustrated I’m not already at 25,000 readers here or at 50,000 on Twitter, but I just try to be patient and work hard. “Long term games with long term friends” is the motto. There’s also no real rush, I’m doing this forever.

I hope this post was as helpful for you as it was for me writing it.

Go make some cool shit this week.

CYBERPUNK HYPERLINKS

Let’s get cyberpunk. Some cool cyberpunk links for you to make creative shit:

📘 Need a cyber community of collaborators? Join the free Visualize Value Discord and say hi. I’ve made some awesome friends and collaborators there.

🎶 For my musicians friends out there, I just learned about a sick app called [untitled] for sharing your song drafts.

🔨 Want to build a community online? Screw the Roman Empire, go build a Community Empire with my old boss Greg Isenberg.

[For more cyberpunk hyperlinks every Wednesday, upgrade to premium]

NERD OF THE WEEK: JORDAN MIX

Last week, I got coffee this week with my friend Jordan Mix.

He’s a designer who perfectly blends hand-drawn visuals with creative wisdom. Hit Jordan with a subscribe for weekly posts.

MEMES OF THE WEEK

[For extra spicy memes every Wednesday, upgrade to premium]

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason Levin

P.S. Want to really upgrade your content strategy?

🎥 Subscribe on YouTube for weekly videos.

📞 If you want a consult on your content strategy, schedule a call with me.

📘 Check out my book on meme marketing Memes Make Millions

Until next edition, see you on Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok.