I’m sharing this painful memory in the hopes that it’ll help you.
The year was 2011. I was an up-and-coming TV producer, and White Label Comedy wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye…
But I was starting to develop theories on how to make a splash on social media.
And I intended to start with my personal Facebook page.
For far too long, I had languished in the realm of single digit engagement…
While other creative types were enjoying likes and comments by the bucketload – a new type of temporary fame that I was keen to experience for myself.
I planned to score a viral hit – and I would achieve it by combining two things that EVERYONE loved back then…
And so, for eight months, I painstakingly trained Ralph the Pug to sing along to The A Team – Ed Sheeran’s cheery folk pop banger about a sex worker addicted to crack cocaine.
(This was 2011, remember. Shape of You wasn’t an option.)
My peanut butter expenditure exploded – my love life, less so – but it was ALL going to be worth it when those thousands of likes came pouring in…
I posted the video. Held my breath.
“Ready to be a superstar, Ralph?”
“They say she’s in the Class A team”, he replied, just like he’d been trained to do.
Want to know how many likes that video got?
Seven.
Even worse than receiving next-to-no positive reaction, I actually received a low key backlash…
“Poor Ralph! You shouldn’t exploit an animal like that!”
“Adam – is this why you’ve been so tired at work?”
“This is Ed’s lawyer. Remove his song from this video.”
Despite this humiliation – and despite the fact that Ralph and I parted ways citing “creative differences”…
…I still think of this as a huge success.
Why?
Because I learned what NOT to do if you want massive engagement.
(And we now do the exact opposite for our clients here at White Label Comedy.)
Don’t burn time, money and effort on creating content based on what you assume your audience wants.
Especially when that assumption is based on guesswork.
You’ll waste your resources for little-to-no-return – and worse, you’ll risk a backlash.
Instead, give your audience what they actually want.
But how do you find out what that is?
Simple.
We’ve got new training that will teach you how we do it for our clients – AND how to make the kind of content your audience won’t be able to resist…
