There is a reason you aren’t getting more customers on social media…

Because you use it like 99% of people on the planet.

Most people use social media like customizable tabloids with an infinite stream of content. But if you want to blow up your business, you need to use them as personal news outlets. That’s how the pros do it. And if you become a pro at the social media game, you can trigger explosive growth for your business without spending a penny on followers. 

I figured this out on my own and I mastered it. In 2017 Forbes named me the #1 Marketing Social Media influencer in the world. In 2020 I used social media to help crowdfund more money than any human in history, $50M in under 10 months. I started my social media presence from scratch and went from practically zero followers in 2008 to over 17 million today. 

How?

By using sheer force of will to become a social media celebrity. If I can do it starting from zero as a 60-year-old white guy who doesn’t even like social media… so can you. And I’m happy to tell you exactly how I did it so you can make your brand a global name. 

“But Grant, I don’t want to be a celebrity. I don’t want that kind of attention.”

Well, if you love your business and want it to go global, you’ll have to learn to want it. Because people only give their attention and money to those they know, like, and trust the most. If they don’t know you, they can’t buy from you. Your goal as an industry celebrity is to make sure as many people as possible know who you are and that you’re the go-to source for anything related to what you do. If you commit right now, you could become the most dominant presence in your space. 

And you’re ready to do that, here’s how I did it.

Becoming THE celebrity in your industry

Celebrity status means getting known by as many people as possible. Staying top of mind. Receiving LOTS of attention. And how do you get all that? Content… oceans of content. The more content you put out into the world, the more people will see you and the more often you’ll be in their heads.

If you’re starting from scratch, this can sound daunting. But that’s where I started too, and now I’m known as one of the best social media marketers on the planet. So you too can make your audience go stratospheric on social media, and it could happen faster than you think. 

Here’s what you need to do:

First, create the celebrity version of yourself that you want to share with the world. Think of it like an avatar or caricature. It’s you, but not exactly you. It’s a celebrity version of you to represent your brand to the world. Together with this avatar, you need a clear and concise explanation of who you are, what you do, and why people need to pay attention to you. 

In short, you need to create a persona that perfectly communicates your unique story to your audience. I call this the “Manufactured Celebrity” (MC). Putting this together will take some time and reflection. It’s simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Here’s the best way I know to get started crafting your MC and brand story.

First, list out everything relevant to your life. Experiences, successes, failures, struggles, achievements, jobs you’ve had, likes and dislikes, hobbies… You name it. “But Grant, that stuff is irrelevant to my brand.” 

No, it’s not. 

Because everything about you connects you to another group of people out there who could possibly buy from you. The more you can connect with them, the more likely they will be to give you money. And the more people you can connect with, the more potential buyers you have in your audience. And if you’re thinking, “That’s a lot of info to write down…” you’re completely right. Your list will probably look something like mine:

And that’s not even half of all the details I share with my audience.

You have to get everything on the table if you want to craft a captivating story.

Because your brand needs a face. Faces belong to people. And your audience only pays attention to people who are interesting enough to cut through the noise of today’s hyperconnected world. You have to be willing to divulge all the details that make you who you are as a person. 

And sometimes, you’d be shocked at the things that build connections between buyers and sellers. For example, I even wrote down “dog owner” on my list… Why? Well, because I own two beautiful European dogs. But more importantly, because 65 million people in the United States own dogs. And many of them are willing to spend more money on them than any of the humans in their life. 

Even if I’m not selling the chew toys, that’s an emotional connection I can create with 10s of millions of people. L

et’s be clear, Those millions may or may never buy from me (even though statistically a few of them should).

But at least they’ll know me and feel a positive connection with me that will stick with them.

Once you’ve got all the raw data out, you need to transform that disorganized mess into a compelling story. It’s got to be true, personal, powerful, and interesting. A story that reveals your journey and purpose. If your story lacks any of those aspects, it’s bound to get buried by all the competing distractions your customers will find more interesting.

If you’ve been following me for long enough you probably know my story well. My dad died when I was ten. I became a drug addict. Lost every job I had. When my mom gave up on me I turned my life around. I became an incredible salesman. Then a master marketer. Now I’m a wildly successful business owner and real estate mogul aiming to help 7 billion people prosper. 

That’s a great story and it’s all true. But if I left all that in a disorganized mess on the board it wouldn’t mean a thing. Piece your story together and start sharing it. Which leads to the next phase.

Be EVERYWHERE

One of my 10 commandments of marketing is “omnipresence.” You need to share your story everywhere at all times. Because making money depends on your ability to reach people, as many people as possible. Each of the different social media platforms puts you in touch with different kinds of people. Not all platforms will be equally profitable, but wherever there are people, there is the possibility of someone connecting with you and giving you money. And since social media is free, it costs you NOTHING to be present on all of them.

Think about it this way. Every single social media platform is like a TV channel. Except it’s a channel where you can completely control the flow, volume, quality, and frequency of your contact with your audience. You need to be on every single communication line you can, even if you don’t think it makes sense.

For example, I’m on Snapchat. I’m a 60-year-old guy and I have no idea how it works and I don’t use it.

My millennial staff insisted that none of my audience would be on Snapchat. I told them to post on there anyway. And guess what…some days I’m getting $5k coming in from people who find me on Snapchat. It pays to be omnipresent.

But be aware, that just because you’re everywhere doesn’t mean you can copy and paste the same thing all over the place. I’m all for repurposing content. One of my biggest marketing rules is: Never use anything once. Always reuse and repurpose. But you have to curtail your message to your audience at all times. Never lose track of where they are. 

In other words, don’t forget your prospects. Let’s call him Jimmy. Jimmy acts differently and consumes information differently based on whatever social media platform he’s on at the moment. When Jimmy’s on LinkedIn, he’ll want something different from you than when he finds you on TikTok. 

The same goes for practically every different platform. You need to custom-tailor your message to account for that. But no matter how you tweak your message, everything you post has to in some way contribute to bringing in the cash. To do that…

Leverage my proven social media cash-flow formula 

How do you create social media content that will make you money? In the beginning, it’s fastest and safest to just imitate what’s already working. To shortcut your learning curve, I’m happy to give you my own social media cash-generation formula. 

This formula was laid out by my business partner and world-famous marketer Frank Kern. Before Frank and I went into business together, Frank studied my social media strategy to crack the code for quickly growing your social media presence. I didn’t even know I was doing it until he showed it to me. Want to use it for yourself?

Okay. Here it is:

(GW + O) x F = $$$

Here’s how it breaks down:

GW stands for goodwill. 90% of my social media content is pure “give, give, give.” I’m not asking for a sale. I’m not promoting a product. In contrast, I’m just trying to help people in my audience while asking for nothing in return. 

All I’m trying to do is provide value to my audience and give them something to improve their life. That’s goodwill, and it shows your audience you’re genuine and cares about them. This increases your know, like, and trust value while positioning you as a go-to expert in the space.

O stands for Offer.

If 90% of my content is given, the other 10% is the offer. I’m happy to give away free value most of the time, but the best way I can help people is to get them to buy from me. Sure I’ve got thousands of hours of content for free online. Dozens of free offers people can get a hold of. But at the end of the day, I want to help these people make a difference. That means they need to get my books, take my courses, attend my workshops, join my coaching programs, etc.

Once you’ve got your Good Will + Offer, you need to multiply it by F… F stands for…

FREQUENCY… lean into it.

If you want to be a celebrity, you can’t just simply use social media, you want to abuse it. It’s not enough to throw a couple of posts on Facebook to blow up your brand. 

A single post on social media is like throwing a brick into the Grand Canyon. You see it for a second, then it’s gone. Your goal should be to fill the Grand Canyon with bricks. 

Because let’s face it, people’s attention is extremely limited. You’re not just competing against your competitors’ advertisements and social media profiles… you’re competing against everything that’s fighting for your customer’s attention. Politics, Ukraine, social unrest, UFOs, and whatever the latest outrage is. 

There is so much noise, so much competition, that if you’re going to stay top of mind, you need to be posting constantly. You need to crush through the noise with the sheer, brute force of relentless frequency. You need to risk annoying people with how much you post. Because the fact is, the people who are willing to unfollow, probably aren’t ready to buy from you. But the people who like you, will be more and more engaged. If you’re not getting haters, you’re not making a meaningful difference to anybody. In the meantime, your frequency will turn non-fans into fans and fans into fanatics. 

You should post so frequently that even if aliens are invading Earth, you’d still be top of mind. You never know when your audience is active online so post all the time, anytime morning, evening, and night. If you want a global audience you need to post at peak hours in every time zone. 

Don’t procrastinate

You need to get started NOW. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today. Because if you’re like most business owners, you’re already behind the curve. But that’s also good news. Because once you get dialed into social media, you’ll have a massive advantage over your competitors. 

Too much planning and perfectionism will hold you back. Sometimes people never launch their social media because they’re so concerned about it being “perfect.” Perfectionism is just a form of procrastination. Getting it done is more important than getting it perfect. Quality will improve over time as you produce greater quantities of content.

So if you’re ready to get serious about growing your social media, here’s a goal I’d like for you to hit by next week. 

Create your own social media avatar like the one below. 

Slap a picture of yourself on a whiteboard and draw a line connecting it to every social platform you have at your disposal. This includes social media like Facebook and Twitter, podcasts, blogs, webinars… all of them.

List every platform you can come up with and develop a message that’s specifically tailored to that audience. 

Here’s what I mean by that. On LinkedIn, I typically share blogs and articles because that’s what people expect on LinkedIn. On YouTube, I pump out educational videos and live webinars (some of these are 8 hours long). Then on TikTok, I drop 30-second tips on sales and investing. On Instagram, I drop lots of flashy visuals. It’s the same Grant Cardone, the same message, just altered to suit the medium and the audience.

Once you’ve got your platforms laid out, commit to pushing content on those platforms every day. And if you need to hire somebody to help you, do it. It’s worth getting the publicity. If you want to enjoy the quantity of customers at the prices you deserve, you must BECOME the celebrity in your space. So commit to doing whatever it takes.

If you have any questions, comment and let me know.

Be Great,

Grant Cardone

Disclaimer: This content is intended to be used for educational and informational purposes only. Individual results may vary. You should perform your own due diligence and seek the advice from a professional to verify any information on our website or materials that you are relying upon if you choose to make an investment or business decision. Investment, real estate, and business involve great risk and there is no guarantee of performance or results.We are not attorneys, investment advisers, accountants, tax professionals or financial advisers and any of the content presented should not be taken as professional advice. We recommend seeking the advice of a financial professional before you invest, and we accept no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage you may incur.