Alright, here’s all my best personal branding advice. Totally free, right here, for you. CONTENT STRATEGY GUIDANCE Build influence over entertainment: Content should prove expertise and answer “why hire you,” not just entertain — especially for service businesses or high-ticket offerings. Consistency over frequency: No single required cadence; more posts = more opportunities, but sustainable rhythm matters most; focus on getting 1% better each post. Authenticity beats polish: “Yapping” content (one-cut, unscripted perspective videos) performs well; highly produced content is not required to build an audience. Hook is critical: Write the hook and body content separately; the opening one-liner should be the most compelling, standalone statement possible. Repurpose relentlessly: Tell the same story in as many different ways as possible; repetition with new context is a feature, not a flaw. Success stories as content: Any example of your business solving a problem makes strong, credible content. CONTENT IDEATION FRAMEWORKS 50-idea exercise: Write 50 content ideas on paper without self-editing; the first 20 are easy — the real, niche ideas emerge after pushing past that threshold. Calendar as content source: Every meeting or appointment can generate at least 3 content ideas. AI as collaboration partner: Use AI to brainstorm by feeding it context about your business and asking it to surface story angles — not to generate content from scratch. Crowdsource ideas: Family, young employees, and peers are valid sources; social media natives offer algorithm insight unavailable to older users. PLATFORM AND FORMAT DECISIONS Short-form vertical video: Single most important format for the next decade; same video can post to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts simultaneously. LinkedIn specifics: Best for B2B and professional audiences; I-statements and personal perspective outperform generic tips or meme content; text, image, and carousel (PDF) formats perform best. Instagram: Best for combining fandom-building and new business acquisition. Batching & scheduling: Batching is strongly recommended for busy owners; scheduling does not hurt algorithmic performance. AND HERE'S WHAT'S REALLY CRAZY: everything you’re reading here is transcribed from Zoom. I gave this fireside chat to the @Zoom Solopreneur 50 honorees—it’s this great program where Zoom offered small business owners free consulting & tools. I yapped for 30 minutes straight about how to approach social media when you’re a team of one, toss out all my best tips for getting started, breaking the seal, dipping your toe into personal branding. The above is a copy-paste of what Zoom’s My Notes saved from the talk. And every single attendee got ‘em in their inbox. Give these a try for yourself, and drop me a comment if you have any question. Go try Zoom’s new features, too—I’ll tell you that these were the most helpful notes I’ve seen come out of any AI notetaker.