Forget Clickbait—This Works Better

Marketing Shenanigans (#022)

Stop trying to leverage fancy hooks and clickbait to get people’s attention. Instead, do this.

Social Media Is Just a Conversation

Here’s the secret: treat social media like you’re talking to a friend.

• Making a point? Say it as if you’re chatting over coffee.

• Telling a story? Save the best part for last—keep them hooked.

• Trying to be likable? Don’t overthink it. Just be yourself.

Sure, there’s no shortage of “expert” advice promising you millions of views. But here’s the part nobody tells you:

A million views won’t matter if you’ve got nothing to back it up.

What I mean is that if you don’t have any entertaining content after punching your lottery ticket with a million+ view video, it’s like making a halfcourt shot when your team needed four points to win the game.

What to Focus On Instead

Forget the obsession with going viral. Focus on what actually builds trust and keeps people coming back:

1️⃣ Be yourself. People can spot inauthenticity from a mile away. Besides, if you’re not yourself, you’re not furthering your brand voice and attracting the wrong audience.

2️⃣ Be clear. If your audience has to reread your post to get it, they won’t.

3️⃣ Tell great stories. Stories make people remember. That stat you love? Not so much.

4️⃣ Find your flow. Create in a way that feels natural to you—not forced by the latest trend.

It might take longer to go viral this way, but when you do, it’ll be in front of the right audience. And that? That’s the real win.

The Takeaway

Be authentic. Build trust. Create content that resonates. Because it’s not about millions of views—it’s about having something to show for it when the right people find you. Virality comes and goes. Building an audience? That sticks. Let’s focus on what lasts.

Stay bold,

Teddy

Teddy Giard

In case you don’t already know, my name is Teddy, and I operate a firm that specializes in marketing strategies for lifestyle brands. Our approach is simple: align your product development timeline with your marketing production timeline; by doing so, we can own the distribution of our message and our products.

If you’d like to explore working together, feel free to fill out this form, and if we’re a good fit, we can schedule a discovery call. We ask this because we keep a fairly narrow target for whom we work, and we like to be as open about that on the front end as possible. After all, time is life’s most valuable resource.