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CONTENT FOR FOLLOWERS: SECRETS MARKETERS DON'T SHARE
3 types of content you need to be using to drive follower growth...
Niall Ratcliffe
January 12, 2025
In partnership with
Morning!
My nose is rosy, the sun has already set, and it’s safe to say this winter cold isn’t going anywhere just yet.
But there’s no time for moaning, I have an essay to write and today we’re going to be talking about content - again.
Why again?
Because while everyone acts like the content train has already left the station, I am convinced it’s the most overlooked form of marketing in 2025.
1% of companies have mastered it, 10% are average (but think they’re good), and 89% are still sat on the sidelines.
Today, I’m going to show you my research from trying to solve one of the toughest content problems I’ve run into.
Let’s get into it!
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION HERE
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION
BREAKING DOWN THE STRATEGY
On July 16th 2024, I posted a story on LinkedIn about the transformation of my life.
It was a piece that briefly showed how I’d gone from a not-so-luxurious upbringing to celebrating closing in our first £ 1M year in business - while also showing how much of a sh*t show it was to get there.
I was pretty proud of the post (and the story behind it), but it wasn’t anything special, just another story on LinkedIn.
But overnight, it started to go viral.
It hit 50,000 views.
Then 100,000 views.
Then 500,000 views.
In the space of 2 weeks, the piece ended up amassing 2.8 MILLION views.
It was one of the most viral pieces of content I’d ever written.
In the days following I gained around 1200 LinkedIn followers off the back of that post. It was the most I think I’d ever gained in the space of just a few days, yet still… it seemed quite small compared to the number of views the post had.
But… I was grateful for the new followers and didn’t overthink too much. That was until I had another post go viral 2 weeks ago.
This time, it was a “Carousel Post” breaking down Good Vs Bad B2B Content.
But this one didn’t go anywhere near as viral, it didn’t even cross 1,000,000 impressions.
Yet when I started to look into my follower analytics I was pretty shocked to see this…
I’d gained 2000+ followers in 3 days - more than double the post that got 2,000,000+ views. At first, I thought something wasn’t right. “Maybe the views hadn't updated yet?” I questioned.
But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
In the viral post, I gave people my entire story - giving them no real reason to follow me (they already knew the story).
Yet with the carousel post, people followed me to receive more of the same. More content breakdowns, more carousels, more knowledge. It gave them a reason to follow me.
Ding. Ding.
It was simple. It should have clicked long before. But it took that thought process for it to click - and now I knew the perfect types of “followable” content.
But that was only half of the puzzle.
Because creating “followable” content is useless if nobody sees it. The key is to create content that ticks 2 boxes:
1/ Followable
2/ Shareable
I’ve spent the last week making a list of content that ticks both boxes.
Here are 3 content types that are both followable and shareable – the kind of content you want to create to actually grow a social media following:
Content Type 1: Second-Hand Social Cred
Social media is the only place on earth where everyone makes it clear and obvious they want the world to look at them.
Because if you’re on social media…
Posting.
Commenting.
Resharing content.
You might as well put a big sign on your head saying, “I want attention”. There’s nothing wrong with it, but that is the truth.
Yet so many marketers forget to take this into account when it comes to creating social content.
If people are going to share it, they need to believe that sharing it will increase their social credibility.
If they share a clever quote → Social cred rises.
If they share an insightful breakdown → Social cred rises.
They aren’t going to share:
A post on your story.
A fancy-looking graphic.
A post of you selling something.
These can all play a part in your content strategy, but they aren’t going to create shareable pieces.
Take my carousel for example, it ticks both boxes perfectly.
1/ Shareable - 340+ people reposted my carousel. Many of which added comments like, “This is how you should look at content” - a classic example of second-hand social cred.
They want people to think they understand content well, so they reshare a breakdown someone else did to showcase themselves as people who consume great content breakdowns.
(It’s like those people who always tell you they listen to clever podcasts or read certain books - even though you never see them doing either!)
2/ Followable - If you have identified yourself to your audience as someone who reads those types of content breakdowns then why wouldn’t you follow the creator to get more like it?
You’ll get more future social cred + you can keep telling yourself you’re a content guru.
(🚨 Nuance Alert 🚨 This does not mean everyone who reposted/followed is going for second hand social cred. I’d like to think some people just enjoyed the content!)
Content Type 2: Puzzle Pieces (Series)
There are 2 types of series you should be sharing on social media:
1/ Repeatable Series: Consistent formats your audience expects regularly.
Examples:
Good Vs Bad content
Brands doing content right
2/ Story Series: Narratives told over multiple posts to build curiosity.
Examples:
“How we scaled to £1M (Part 1/3).”
“My biggest mistakes as a marketer (Part 1/5).”
I’ve already done a full breakdown on repeatable series (read that here) so I’m just going to focus on story series today.
Influencers have built massive global audiences with these “Story Series”, yet very few B2B brands have taken advantage of or adapted the style for their content.
On Cloud nailed this in 2023 by hosting an interview-style series with Lydia Keating where she would document going on a run while interviewing someone.
At first, the content did okay… but by the end of the series it had a cult following watching every episode. Just take a look at the stats by the end:
13,000,000 views.
50,000 social followers added.
People love series. Netflix makes $ 9B/year off of our love for it. It’s time more brands embraced them too.
Start a series and watch how many followers you gain.
Content Type 3: I Want To Be You
Iman Gadzhi is the king of “I want to be you” content.
Private jets, fancy clothes, expensive watches. He’s living every 16-year-old failed footballer’s dreams - and he’s made millions off the back of showcasing it.
The concept is simple:
Position yourself as someone a niche want to be → Share content of your lifestyle → People follow because they want to be you.
It’s essentially “Aspirational content marketing”.
But this isn’t just a personal branding tactic, it works for brands too.
The process is simple:
Pick a type of person you want to identify with your brand.
Share content that’s relatable to that person.
Watch them slowly start to follow your page and share the content.
Hubspot has done this perfectly.
Who is the general type of people Hubspot want using their product? Semi-nerdy marketers and salespeople.
So what do they share? Memes, inside marketing jokes, and goofy content.
Why does it work?
Shareable - Hubspot’s audience repost it to signal to their audience that they too are goofy sales/marketing people.
Followable - They follow Hubspot because they relate to the brand.
Everyone is signalling something to someone. Your key as a marketer is to get them to use your content to signal to their audience they’re like you.
If you do that, that’s what you call a content-market fit.
🌱 THE GREENHOUSE
Things I’ve saved this week that are worth seeing:
TL;DR
CT 1: 2nd hand social cred
CT 2: Puzzle Pieces (Series)
CT 3: I want to be you
I honestly could’ve talked about different types of content that do this for weeks, but that last line sums this breakdown up perfectly:
“Everyone is signalling something to someone. Your key as a marketer is to get them to use your content to signal to their audience they’re like you.”
That’s my north star as I create content over the next few weeks.
Like this breakdown? Make sure to rate it below!
Until next Sunday.
— Niall
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