Likes Matter? Content Matters? Does it Matter? What Matters?
“Hey check out what I sent you on Instagram, you’ll like it!”
“I already liked that picture!”
“Wow we like a lot of the same stuff, and there’s a lot of likes on that post.”
“Really though! Wow! That person is pretty well-known.”
“Must be to have that many likes!”
“Maybe I’ll get more likes by commenting on their posts!”
“Yeah maybe some more people will follow you too.”
I don’t care about likes.
I mean people see my stuff and that’s cool.
You know, on Instagram some of my pictures have been receiving 400–500 views from accounts. As a result of that though, only about 50 likes have resulted.
That level of engagement is not bad per se but I also would not say that it is good.
But I care if you like the message.
I care if you like the content.
I care if you are positively impacted by what I’m distributing.
And if you aren’t?
Well, I’d like to know.
Maybe I can improve in some way to better serve others.
Maybe I can’t speak to you in the same way I could speak to someone else.
Either way, I’d like to know.
Andy Frisella, the Founder and CEO of 1stPhorm, ran a podcast for 200–300 episodes called the MFCEO Project (my favorite podcast hands down).
The thing is, he never ran ads, he never gave talking time to things he didn’t believe in, and he cut through the weeds and went straight to the point — every time.
The podcast that he hosted was never sponsored by anyone either.
What he did say was that the cost of listening was simply sharing it with someone if you received any value.
To me, if the purpose was selfish, maybe how many people could review or buy from him as a result of the podcast, he would have pushed product, been sponsored, something.
But he didn’t do that. He produced hours upon hours upon hours of free content on the podcast just because.
To me, I believe that it’s much the same thing with much of the social media posting that I do.
I share the things that are working well for me and the things that I am learning.
If they happen to work well for other people and be beneficial in that way, great, I hope that would be shared and passed on to others.
“If you ever hear yourself saying, ‘I think I understand this,’ that means you don’t.” — Richard Feynman