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Matt Barker

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Simple hook tweak to attract ICP clients

Yesterday I remembered how annoying it was when I'd post on social and get basically no likes or comments (from anyone, not even the right people). I'd put the effort in, but no results. Are you in the same boat right now? You are not alone. I’ve been there too.(remember everyone started zero, doesn't matter where they are now). I'd wonder why my content wasn’t landing with the audience I wanted to attract. And let's be real, it sucks. But over time, I realised it wasn’t about working harder...

Writing on social is unpredictable. Amount of times I’ve written up what I think is a freaking legendary post, then it bombs or doesn’t blow up like I thought it would? 100s of times. Easy to get disheartened. Especially when you’re just getting started and every post feels like you’re putting yourself on a billboard for everyone to see. The mistake most online writers make though? They don’t learn from “bad” posts. But after writing 10,000+ social posts, I’m numb to the feeling of “bad”...

I’ve been writing on LinkedIn since January 2022. At the point of writing this it's October 2024, so that brings my online writing journey up to 34 months. Then consider I've posted at least 7 times per week since then, and we're up to around 1,000 pieces of content JUST on LinkedIn. But sometimes, my posts don’t land the way I expect. And it’s demoralizing. When you think you’re sharing gold, but the audience doesn’t react. That feeling isn't reserved for newbies - it still hits occasionally...

Before we dive in... Spend too much time writing content? Need a faster way to write consistently? Tomorrow you can join me (Matt Barker) on a free Zoom training called "The 5 Minute Daily Writing System". I'll show you step by step how I write long form, educational content every day from just 5 minutes of writing. Over 70 folks are signed up already, join us here. There’s a lot of advice out there about creating content without selling. But here’s the thing: If you want to make money, you...

My social copy has driven over $2,000,000 in sales. One of the most important reasons for that? Stories. People love stories - they’re wired to connect with them. But for a while, I wasn’t sure how to use storytelling properly in my content. Storytelling was what my wife would call "spaghetti bolognese" in my head. Where to start? What to write about? Why would anyone care? How do I stop getting sidetracked? With events from your whole life to write about, it's hard to focus and write a...

Alright, confession. I used to spend HOURS every single day on Whatsapp. Instantly replying to group chats Sitting waiting for notifications to pop up Being a keyboard warrior But I loved it. I got a buzz off it. Until I started my own business from zero. And I was wasting precious time every day that could’ve been spent getting my next client or you know, making money to pay for my rent? I know, dumb. I ended up thinking I had “no time”. But it was an excuse, I was avoiding the hard work....

When I first started writing social copy, I looked for advice. All the “best practices” I found said: Use hashtags Use emojis And as illustrated above, they still say that. Sorry to break it to you, but that is not social copywriting. That’s BS social media hacks that flat out don’t work. And after writing over 10,000 posts, earning 50,000,000+ views and 200,000+ followers for myself and clients, I’m in a pretty good spot to confirm that. Here’s 5 actual social copywriting best practices (so...

Before we dive in... No time to start your email list? LinkedIn followers are great, but email subscribers are better. And Harrison's case study of how he turned an agency founder's 10k followers into 800 email subs and £6k pipeline...in just 90 days...is a great example of why. Read case study here. I’m writing on 4 social platforms right now: LinkedIn Twitter Substack Threads LinkedIn is still my number 1. But in the background I’m warming up others. Because you never know what can happen....

One thing I’m weirdly bad at - writing freely. I’m so caught up in frameworks (which 100% work) I forget to include the raw and real stuff. And that’s the way I love to write - raw and real - so I miss out on the love sometimes. Sad. But I want the love and the outcome (scaling my business) from my writing. So to do that, I need a system. Here’s my 5 step system for writing 300 raw, real words every day (and turning them into refined content that grows my business): Step 1. Write raw, real...

I always struggle after long breaks. Even though I didn’t stop writing completely, it makes writing feel weird and disconnected. But I have to regain my writing groove. Here’s 4 ways I’m shaking off that feeling (and getting back into a productive writing routine): 1. Embrace weirdness Long breaks put me out of sync. I come back feeling disconnected and like “what the hell is going on here then??”. And that makes my writing process feel weird. Then I try to fight it and it becomes this overly...