002 - Getting Traction on Threads (2023-12-13)

https://www.creativitythreadslife.com 

What is Creativity Threads Life w/ Mr Benja?

Welcome creatives! These are discussions, thoughts, case studies, interviews, and lessons about how our creativity relates to life. The host, Mr Benja, is a former video game programmer / designer for Rockstar Games, Sony Santa Monica, The 3DO Company, and others, as well as a fine artist. -- Be sure to check out the website for more.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Welcome again.

This is Mr Benja with
Creativity Threads Life.

I am your host and excited to
be here again because this is

a new podcast journey for me.

I've I've done podcast before.

I've been doing podcast since since you
had to FTP your files into into a server

somewhere, and, those days are long gone.

Now you just hit a freaking
button on your phone.

You got a podcast.

But back then, man, it it was rough.

So I'm excited to be starting up a new
one ten years after I started my, uh,

little over ten years, over a decade
after I started my first podcast.

Threads of creativity, discussing
creative aspects of life.

If you didn't hear the introduction,
you may be a little confused about that,

but you can always go back and listen.

But, basically, the idea is
that I think creativity threads

through all facets of life.

It goes through the home, goes
through your finances, goes through

your art, goes through your music.

Maybe you're a plumber.

It goes through your plumbing.

Yes.

Creativity is everywhere, and I think
creativity makes us a stronger force.

And since I've been on threads,
I've realized there are a lot

of creative people out there
that I could be talking to.

So I decided to Create This Podcast not
affiliated with Threads, and it will be

talking about things outside of Threads,
but it's the way I'm getting started.

And if they send their lawyers
after me, dear god, help me.

But this is a general discussion of
threads, not Threads, the app, by

the way, just just so we're clear on
that, just so we're perfectly clear.

Alright.

So in this one, we're gonna talk about
getting some traction on Threads,

getting getting traction in in these
types of microblogging discussions.

I was around when Twitter first
came out, and it was interesting

back then, still is interesting now.

Well, now it's x, but it was very
interesting when it first came out.

People weren't what to weren't
sure of what to make of it.

People weren't sure where
they would be going with it.

It was just a weird, weird time with
computers, the Internet, social media,

but a lot of people really didn't like it.

Now the threads have come out.

People talk like they like it, but a lot
of people really don't understand it.

They don't understand how
to get traction on it.

So I'm gonna be going
over a bit of that today.

First, I just wanted to, once
again, welcome everybody and

let you know a little bit about
where I am and what I'm doing.

Currently I've decided to push all
of my effort into into threads first.

It's an interesting way of
going about things, but I'm

gonna go push threads first.

I decided that, you know what?

I wanna start with this
microblogging platform, Put some

creative bits of information out
into the ether, see what happens.

Somebody responds.

Boom.

I like that.

They may ask a question or challenge
something that I said, and suddenly

we have a conversation going on.

Like, hey.

That's a good conversation.

You know what?

I'm gonna take that and
post it to Facebook.

You know what?

I got an image about that.

I'm gonna gonna post it to my Instagram.

And you know what?

This is becoming a really
in-depth conversation.

I'm gonna have a discussion
about it on my podcast.

It's gonna get that in-depth.

In fact, you're seeing that process
happen right now where I was talking about

creativity and podcasting on threads.

Lo and behold, I'm making
a podcast about it.

So that's how this new pillar
of information is gonna work.

And thank you for joining
me on the podcast.

If you haven't joined me on threads,
Get Over There, Talk to Me There.

And as always, you can catch you can
catch me at my website, mrbenja.Com.

That'll have all my links.

But if you just wanna talk to me on
threads, send me some questions, tell me I

messed something up feel free to flame me.

I'm good with it.

Love you anyway.

We're gonna keep going on with this thing.

And, yeah, this is a fun little
podcast I wanna do all about creativity.

As I said before, I don't mean creativity
in the sense that you wear neon frames

for your glasses or that you have, one
side of your head shaved and the rest is

purple or that you've decided to braid
your your beard and your goatee together.

That's not the kind of
creative I'm talking about.

I mean, that is creative, and you you
have marked yourself as a creative type

of person, or you may just be weird.

I don't know.

I'm okay with weird, but I'm
more concerned with creativity.

I'm more concerned with you being able
to take the resources you have, the

products that you already have access to,
the energy that you have corralled, and

I want to see what you can do with that.

I wanna see you create something with
what you have, making something out of

nothing, improving what exists currently
and making a better future going forward.

That's the creativity I'm concerned with.

And if you have the energy to
do that or if you don't have the

energy, Then You Should Be Here.

The topic of conversation is always about
thinking about how we can create a better

world for ourselves, a better environment
around us, and Better Discussions online.

So this is Creativity Threads Life.

Oh, and I do have a website,
creativity threads life, that you

where you can find all of this.

If you don't wanna go to my website and
see all the other nonsense I'm up to, just

go to creativity threads life dot com.

Alright.

So, yeah things have
been going good lately.

I'm I'm feeling good
in this creative mode.

It's coming down to the end of
December two thousand twenty three.

Things are wrapping up strong.

I've been doing good work on my other
podcast, Show versus Business with Theo.

We're going to hit a hundred fifty
episodes at the turn of the year.

So when we roll into two thousand
twenty four, we'll be at about

a hundred fifty episodes.

Really proud of that.

So let me get into the news.

So there's a lot of lot
of trailers coming out.

People have been complaining about
hero movie fatigue and, you know, not

enough interesting things happening
in theaters, but there are a lot

of trailers that have come out that
have really been interesting me.

And as much as people talk,
there's a lot of good content out

there for people to to get into.

I think that there's been so much
of it, and the discourse has been

all over the place that it's just
been hard to enjoy a lot of it.

But if you really find your group of
people, there there's good content out

there and good things to talk In fact,
I haven't even you know, I I really

like superhero movies and the hero IDEA.

I was about to say the hero's journey,
but that's another discussion.

I really like the hero vibe, and
I haven't gotten around to the

boys, and I haven't gotten around
to watching Invincible season two.

So I'll have to do that at some point.

I think the last last series that
I really got into and watched was

the one piece live action, which is
really good, and it's on Netflix.

And go ahead and watch that even
if you haven't seen the the anime

because the anime is a thousand plus
episodes, and it may not be your style.

And, honestly, I think the first three
hundred episodes, The animation is

so dated that it might throw you off.

The style is so interesting and
weird and Japanese that you probably

you may not be able to watch it.

I mean, you may just watch it
and look at it and think, my god.

What is this thing?

Who's been talking about One Piece?

Why is this so bizarre and weird?

Why is the anime animation so odd?

I don't like this.

I can't take it.

So you may actually need to get up
to, like, three hundred episodes or

skip three hundred or so episodes.

I don't know.

I read the manga.

Thought that was a lot better.

I didn't get into the anime until
a while later, so maybe that's just

my personal take on the situation.

Well, yeah, one piece was the
last thing that I kinda watched.

There are a lot of trailers out there.

Game of Thrones, hot d as we call it.

House of the Dragons is coming
out a new trailer for that.

Godzilla Godzilla Times Kong.

How do people say that?

Godzilla BiKong?

Godzilla TimesKong?

Godzilla xKong?

I wonder how people are saying that now.

Godzilla XKong is coming.

Aquaman's about to be out.

The GTA trailer for GTA six just came out.

Internet's light Enough About That.

We have the the Fallout series.

That is actually a lot more
interesting than I thought it would be.

I wasn't sure what they were gonna
do with the fallout series, but

Amazon may have come through.

So Amazon's always a little
Amazon's a little sneaky now.

You gotta gotta watch out for them.

They'll they'll drop some bangers here and
there, and they'll spend money on it too.

And Furiosa also dropped
with Chris Hemsworth.

It's kinda funny seeing Thor
playing in the Mad Max world, but

he didn't stray too far from that
character, so it's hard to separate

myself from team Thor in that role.

But, yeah for your videos, the
trailer was was pretty good.

I'll probably have to do a
whole creative trailer rundown.

That's something that
seems interesting enough.

Go through all the recent trailers,
the upcoming trailers, and see what's

going on in this In the State of Things.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I
haven't seen Blue Beetle yet.

Man, I am slipping on my hero stuff.

That's three things I have to watch.

Just made a note that right there.

And Godzilla minus one,
another news story here.

Godzilla minus one is tearing
up the box office right now.

Was only fifteen million or so in in cost.

I think a lot of that had to do
with not using big name actors,

but it only cost, like, fifteen
million, and it's doing gangbusters.

I don't know what gangbusters
is, but apparently, it's a lot.

And it's all from this
fifteen million dollar movie.

You can compare that with something
like The Marvels, which we'll

definitely be talking about.

Compare that with
something like the Marvels.

They cost over two
hundred million to make.

And it's like, uh, what are we doing here?

So things are changing, and Godzilla
minus one actually is getting over

on quality and getting over on the
fact that people want to see story,

action, and spectacle, and they may
not even care that it's subtitled.

They may not even care that you
don't have these big megastars in it.

They may not even care that it's not
too connected to this other universe.

So this is definitely giving
hope for a lot of Hollywood,

a lot of big budget films.

You know, maybe you can cut that budget in
half or, you know, in quarters, in eighth.

I don't know.

But it's good to see that other
movies are doing well, that

theater still has some pull.

Theaters are definitely going
down, but Godzilla minus one,

it's a good story for theaters.

Alright.

So I'm not gonna spend too much
time on the news right there.

There's some other news I could get into,
but I'll just go ahead and get into this

one right now and start letting you know
of something that's been on my mind.

We're talking about getting
traction on threads.

So with every social media network,
there's always this idea that I wanna

get on there, and I wanna get followers.

I wanna get famous.

I wanna have my voice heard.

And that makes sense because social
media networks are all about being

social and connecting with people.

And the more of a voice you have,
the more pull you have, the more

sway you have on that network, the
more it feels it feels good to you.

But But we've been doing social
media for so long now that

everyone's trying to game the system.

They're trying to fix the
figure out the algorithm.

They're trying to get in the
X so they can so they can win.

Right?

So they can just yeah.

I don't wanna pay for promotion.

I don't wanna Pay to Boost My Post.

I just wanna put out good content and
have good conversation with people.

How do I game the system?

And that differs depending on whether
you're an artist trying to show their

art off, whether you're an activist
or somebody in politics trying to push

their message out there or whether you're
trying to connect with friends or family.

There's all different types
of reasons for wanting to get

traction on any social media site.

And what do I mean by traction exactly?

I mean, think about a car stuck in the
mud or a Tesla truck stuck in the mud.

If it can't get traction,
it can't move forward.

You're spinning your wheels.

You're spinning all this extra energy.

You've got all of this wasted
power, and what you want to do

is move forward and you can't.

You can't do the very basic thing that
you're trying to do, move forward.

Even if you're going slowly,
moving forward is progress.

Even if you're going slowly, when you
see things working, you're like, yes.

I'm finally getting somewhere.

But when you're just not
getting any traction, you

may get a bot here and there.

You may get you put a lot of work
into a video, and it only gets one

like, and you you get disgusted.

Now, of course, there's this idea
that we'll just make better content,

and that's not really that helpful.

I'm gonna discuss things that will help
you make better content, but the idea

that you should just make better content
is it it seems like a bit of a throwaway.

Right?

It it's it doesn't it
doesn't help the discussion.

So, yes, make better content, but
we're gonna start getting into a

lot of points on what you should
do to make your content better.

And this is without gaming the system,
without special tips or tricks.

These aren't tips or tricks.

It's not like, hey.

If you post at four thirty AM,
then immediately delete your post

and then repost an hour later,
you'll get ten times more views.

Those are tricks.

And they those usually get get ferreted
out and and removed in a short while.

This isn't like this isn't schemes like
follow for follow or start a follow train.

That's if you wanna do that, that's
okay, but I'm not advocating that.

I'm talking about getting actual
traction in what you want to do.

If you're an act if you're a marketer
out there, it'll probably tell you make

more content and make better content.

Obvious.

So we're gonna start discussing
what it actually means to

get a little traction there.

Now who am I?

I've been around the social
media scape for a while.

I'm a total introvert, so I actually
don't try to put too much feeling

or or I shouldn't say feeling.

I shouldn't try to put I shouldn't put
too much stock into, like, being social

because that's that's not what I do.

I I am I'm not shy at all, but I'm
not necessarily a social person.

I don't go out looking
for social interactions.

So I am an introvert who was able to
grow a couple pages to a thousand,

you know, a thousand followers.

And I think that's fine
for a lot of people.

A lot of people wanna get two thousand,
three thousand, ten thousand, whatever.

That's fine.

That's a whole that's a
whole game that you can do.

But what I'm talking about is just
being able to express yourself and

get people communicating with you,
getting some feedback, getting some

engagement, and getting some forward
momentum to where you're happy about

the platform and it's not work to you.

I think that's what a lot of
people would hope to have.

So There is one thing
about getting followers.

Let me just make a few
little explanations here.

Getting followers does not
mean You're Doing Better.

It means that people have decided to
click the follow button for some reason.

You may have a lot of followers
but get no engagement.

You could even buy followers, and they
won't give you a lot of engagement.

Engagement is the liking,
sharing, commenting, replying,

reposting, etcetera of your work.

It's when people actually stop
and interact in a back and

forth way with your content.

And liking is the very least of that.

Sharing is probably the most important
event or even saving if you want.

You know, someone saves it off to
their saved folder, which which you

can't do yet in thread, so don't
don't don't go looking forward.

But follower account, a lot of
people are get get caught up

on the follower account number.

And for most creatives, I think you'll
be doing much better if you can just find

the group of people that you're looking
for and and actually engage with them.

And over time, you should start
getting more of a following if

you're doing proper engagement.

So this is not about just
boosting a follower account.

Although your follower
account should increase.

It took me a relatively short period
of time to get a consistent flow.

So I started out with one hundred somewhat
automatic followers from Instagram,

and I've grown that two eight hundred
followers of people who actually comment,

interact, like, and discuss things.

So not a glorious achievement.

Nothing like grant to grandstand about,
but I know how to get in there and do it.

And If I was more of an extrovert
and really wanted that energy

there, then I I'm definitely
sure I can get more of a follower

account, but that's not my concern.

And reach.

Is what you're saying
getting out to people?

Reach is important because when you say
something, does the algorithm, does the

system, and do the people think that you
should get out farther, that you should

be listened to, that you should be heard
that you should be paid attention to.

That's what reach is.

Are you actually reaching out and
getting in in front of anybody's feeds.

Are you getting on anybody's screens?

So follower count, engagement, reach,
um, an enragement if if you're into that

sort of thing where you enrage people.

Those are all different factors.

And we're gonna be going over
some things to just to get better

engagement and to get more reach.

And I hope it it'll make you feel
better about using the platform.

Basically, I want you to get traction.

Because once you get traction and
you start going somewhere, here.

Then you'll keep going.

That's the whole point.

Moving forward, and you
wanna keep moving forward.

That's my version of traction.

So without any further ado,
let me just jump into the god.

It took me eighteen
minutes to get that far.

I need to I need to tighten
this up a little bit.

I'll fix up my format now.

Don't worry.

So some things you can do to
increase your your engagement.

I guess we could say number one.

Yeah, number one, search for your
interest and engage with those posts.

You simply just wanna go through
looking for things that you want to talk

about and talk about them with people.

This is a totally like, even if
you don't know anybody or you don't

just wanna post into the void,
get on there, scroll through, do

a search using the search button.

Let's say you wanna talk about e three.

Search.

Find out what people are talking about.

Go into the search bar
or tap the search button.

Type in e three.

Boom.

There should be a bunch of
posts with e three on there.

Some of my posts will come up, say, hey.

I missed e three or I
thought e three was cool.

Put your thoughts down.

You don't have to be contentious.

You don't have to be smart or witty.

Sometimes you just may wanna say, hey.

It was pretty cool.

I like this or ask a question even.

Hey.

What did you think about such and such?

So search for your interest Engage There.

Number two, engage with big
accounts and small accounts.

A lot of people say that you should
engage with the bigger accounts

so you get more views and people
are more likely to run into you.

But the thing about posting to bigger
accounts is It's Like Being a Big, uh,

Small Fish in a Big Pond or just one
person at a concert, you know, raising

your hand and saying something out loud.

You're probably not going to get heard
as much, but there are a lot more people

there, so it brings up the chances of
you getting seen and getting heard.

Now you want to do the big
accounts every so often.

Like, if we're talking about game
development, you wanna find the

biggest game developers on threads
and go comment on some of their posts.

What's actually interesting about
threads right now is that there's

not a terrible amount of people.

So a big person might actually
have the opportunity to see

your post and reply to it.

I follow some very big people on
threads, and they may only get

ten or seven or five replies.

If there are only five replies,
the chances are very high that

they'll see what you have to say.

So that's targeting the big accounts.

And if a person from a big account
comments on you yours, that automatically

makes you a little more valuable.

And, of course, there are small accounts.

There are people out there who
really want to talk to other people.

So if you find a small account that's
talking about something you'd wanna

talk about, engage with that person.

They're probably gonna be like, oh, wow.

We're not at a big open concert.

We're just two people standing in in
a in a in a grocery store listening

to the music, and we're like, hey.

You like this music?

I like this music too.

There's nobody else here
listening to this music.

Hey.

What's your name?

I'll follow you.

You follow me.

Boom.

You've actually found somebody who
You Like who resonates with you.

They're a small account.

So don't be afraid to
talk to small accounts.

There's reasons to do it.

Don't be afraid Just Talk to Big accounts.

There are reasons to to do that as well.

Number three, engage
through meaningful replies.

If you really want engagement,
Make a Meaningful Reply.

I've seen people online that really just
they try to get traction, but then they

don't really make any reasonable replies.

It's just a string of five hearts
or a bunch of LOL emojis or maybe,

you know, six flames in a row.

Like, oh, that was fire.

Yeah.

You said something great.

Six flames in a row.

Fire.

That's a clap.

That's an applause.

That's a a reaction.

That's not a reply.

That's not something that
needs to be engaged with.

It's fine.

Maybe all you wanna do is support
and throw your flames up or whatever,

the, you know, the high five hands
or the prayer hands or whatever.

But that's not really engagement.

That's just putting something out
her, and that's fine to do, as I said.

But if you're looking for
engagement, stop, think a moment,

and say, how could I reply to this?

Could I add more information myself.

Could I ask a question that looks
looks for even more information,

or could I ask a question that
challenges this a little bit.

Maybe there's a little bit of
nuance that needs to be brought

out with a a challenging question.

Or maybe I need to provide some extra
context because the original poster.

Didn't provide all the context
that's necessary for this discussion.

Maybe they they need to do that.

So there are different ways You
can add your reply to a comment.

But if you're just making empty replies
and you're not getting anywhere,

don't be surprised because the the
very basic reactions aren't meant

to have these types of engagements.

If you wanna get traction, let's
say they're talking about football.

Cowboys R Up.

Right?

And, you know, if you put on
there if someone puts, hey, man.

Cowboys did this and this and this game.

I was really I was really proud.

He put five thumbs down emojis.

No one's gonna interact with that.

It's like, okay.

You don't like what the Cowboys did?

Fine.

That that's great.

Whatever.

But if you put well, the Cowboys only got
that far because, you know, such and such

defenseman, defensive lineman was hurt
or they you know, the the weather was bad

and well, you're lucky the quarterback
had an injured elbow or whatever.

It's It's like, okay.

Now we're starting to get somewhere.

Now we're starting to have
an actual conversation.

Think about what you might say in a bar.

Think of what you might
say to your friends.

Think of what you might say to strangers
that you'd see in a public place that

you might actually say something to.

I know it's it's it might be weird for
some of you talking to and with strangers,

but if someone's putting their information
out there to be talked about or talked

with or talked to, then it's it's an
open invitation for you to reply to it.

You don't have to be
snarky or mean or anything.

In fact, threads will probably
depress or suppress your post four

being angry, snarky, or negative.

But just get in there and
say what you've gotta say.

If something's on your mind,
you think about it, put it down.

Don't try to be vile or anything.

I think that's a I think that's a
default that a lot of people, you

know, have a knee jerk reaction.

They see something they don't like
and they, you know, trash it or they

see something they really like and
they They Praise It, and both of

those may be a little unfair, but
try to have an actual conversation.

So think about it that way with
more than just an empty emoji or

empty hype or an empty reaction.

Put a little love into it.

Number four.

If you're just posting, like, out into
the void and you're not replying to

anybody, you're just posting to your
own page, make something meaningful

with a question or a statement or
a realization or a perspective.

Now there are some people who have certain
posts that they can say something like,

peanut butter and jelly is for suckers.

And that post may go
viral for whatever reason.

They may just be that type of person
that posts weird inane topics like my

peanut butter and jelly is awesome.

Or they listen.

If that person works for Reese's
or they work for Smucker's

Jelly, that you may okay.

It's like peanut butter and Okay.

I get it.

Boom.

I'll like that post.

Boom.

I'll retweet that or whatever.

But it has to have a
context that makes sense.

Imagine if you and your friends
are standing around doing your

thing and somebody walks up.

I like peanut butter and jelly.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Great guy.

Get out of here.

So post that are on your own wall oh, no.

They don't even walk up
because this is social media.

They're just standing there, and
you walk past them, they say I

like peanut butter and jelly.

You probably don't care.

When you're posting things to your own
wall, try to make things that are current.

Try to make things that
are a little unique.

Make sure they're relevant to the
current conversation going on.

Make sure they're engaging and
that people it's something somebody

might actually want to hear.

You don't need to overthink it.

But if you're if you're just seeing all
these posts go by and you're like, I need

to add myself into this Wild Void of Post.

What am I gonna talk about?

You don't have to post a link.

In fact, I I recommend
you don't post links.

I'll get to that later.

Post something that's
reacting to a conversation.

If it's Sunday, think, hey, man.

It's a happy Sunday.

I hope everybody's doing Boom.

If that's how you feel in
your heart, put it out there.

Somebody who's thinking that might
also like your post might also reply.

If it's Wednesday, you may think, hey.

You've made it through half the week.

Good job, everybody.

Boom.

That's your positivity post.

Or if you wanna say what's
happened in your life.

Wow.

I just I just fell down
a flight of stairs.

My leg hurts.

I think it's broken.

I will not be at the
kickball tournament tomorrow.

Dang.

Sorry for the kids.

It's like, wow.

You won't be able to make the
kickball tournament tomorrow,

and the kids are gonna miss you.

Um, interesting.

I got to see a little bit into your life.

That's interesting.

I mean, it might not be interesting
to to anybody on your feed,

but it could be interesting.

So what I'm saying is just
make meaningful posts.

You know your vibe, your brand.

Start trying to post things
continuously that make sense to you.

It's not always gonna be the hottest tip.

It's not always gonna be
what you had for breakfast.

Us.

It's not always gonna be what
you saw on the news that night.

It's not always gonna be the weather.

You're gonna have to have a mix of these.

And by putting out things
consistently, you start to

develop an online personality.

Marketer Types.

They'll say niche down, always post
about the the latest this or that

or, you know, continually post to
your niche and give provide value.

Listen.

I can go get value by searching
whatever I wanna learn from YouTube.

I can find value just by scrolling
through TikTok, Instagram, or whatever.

But with something like threads, Do You
Have Anything Interesting to Say in the

Body of All the Things that You Say?

Is there a personality there?

Are you reading the the room of threads?

So try try that out and just, you know,
make meaningful posts and be current

and relevant with your questioning.

So another part of that.

So I'll say number five.

When you're making all these
meaningful posts, the reason you

want to keep doing them and not just
throw one or two out there, there.

The reason you wanna keep having
meaningful and interesting post is

when someone sees a post, there's a
high chance that if they're interested,

they'll go look at your profile.

And if they go look at your profile
and there's a long string of posts

that all express your personality.

Then they're gonna be like,
oh, this is who this person is.

I'm glad I stopped to look.

Let me like this.

Let me follow them.

Let me reply to that one.

Let me see what they're gonna do tomorrow.

And you make a mark in their mind.

You've branded yourself a little
bit in their consciousness.

So you gotta be you gotta remember
that a lot of people won't

just comment on anybody's post.

They may look at what you're doing,
jump over to your profile, and can see

how many posts you have in that vein.

Like, if you say, I hate yarn, somebody
who's into into, you know, uh, crocheting.

May stop and go, he hates yarn.

Why do you say that?

And then they click on your profile.

It's like, oh, this person hates yarn.

Well, he said that that person said
that because, you know, they they

had a a ball of yarn get tangled
up, and it was just a one off thing.

They're into crocheting just like me.

Oh, okay.

Didn't mean they hated yarn.

They just were having a tough time
yarn that day, so they posted that.

This is cool.

I like yarn too.

I mean, I'm I'm into yarn.

I'm into crocheting, and
sometimes I hate yarn.

You know what?

I'll follow this person.

So when you have this body of post and
you've been continually making things

that are interesting, when people
come back to look at your profile,

they'll see them, and they'll follow.

So yeah.

When I say make meaningful
post, I don't mean one.

I mean, keep it going.

Alright.

Number six.

Quote quote thread.

I said tweet.

Oh my gosh.

Quote thread or quote the actually, this
makes sense on Twitter too, so whatever.

Quote or repost what
you think is relevant.

There are some accounts
that do nothing but repost.

I don't recommend that because
it it doesn't offer a personality

of your own, and I don't know.

You just you just turn into
a meme page at that point.

I think that you need to throw a little
bit of context in with most of your post.

If You Don't Put Your Own Voice
Into It, it just seems like it just

seems like spam after too long.

Like, they're just trying to shove
other people's ideas in your face.

But if you if you say something,
if you have a little bit of

commentary on a post, then you can
actually add to the conversation.

Boom.

New movie trailer comes out.

Instead of just reposting the
movie trailer, say, I Saw the First

One when I was five years old.

Now they're having the
third movie come out.

This is great.

I'm excited about it.

Check this trailer out.

What do you think?

That's a lot more engaging.

That gives you a lot more traction.

People start to understand
you a little better.

Or They may if you just if you just
repost something without putting in

your own two cents, people may may
not know what to think about it.

They may think that, Oh,
maybe this guy just likes the

person just likes the visuals.

Maybe they don't like it and because
I don't like it, I'm just gonna assume

they don't like it either, and they're
posting it because they wanna laugh at it.

So you may actually get a
negative response if you

don't put your own spin on it.

Right?

This happened to me once where I think
I reposted I forgot what movie it was.

I reposted something because I thought
it was kinda dumb and idiotic, but

I didn't leave any context to it.

I just posted it and
was like, look at this.

I'm thinking in my head, look at
this nonsense, and I repost it.

And then I got somebody who liked
that content and was like, oh,

this is great, and this is great.

And I'm thinking, uh, I didn't
post it because I liked it.

Posted because I wanted to trash it.

But now I seem like a jerk if I go in
there trashing it, and all these people

have provided support for the post.

So but it was on Facebook, so I could
just hide the post without deleting

it and, you know, people wouldn't see
it anymore, but it was still there.

So that's just a word of caution.

If you ask you know, repost, quote
post what you think is relevant to

you and add a smidge of context.

You don't need a big long
soliloquy or an essay, which is

fine if you wanna do that too.

But, hey.

Just put your own little spin on it.

Speaking of spin, number
seven, have a voice.

If you're just reposting what everybody
else does, if you're just taking ideas

and not really filtering them, you're
just putting them out there because

they're quote, unquote, interesting.

That doesn't that doesn't
express your voice at all.

Threads is a creative platform, and it's
gotten me to do more Creative Posting,

which means more of my own voice on
something, more of my own perspective.

Not necessarily that anybody else's
voice is wrong or bad or out of control.

Just making sure my own
voice is connected to it.

So I have a certain spin on this.

Is like, hey.

Listen.

I'm coming here to talk about creativity.

I think this trailer was creative.

I think the visuals were strong.

I think it's very interesting
what this company is me.

I'm glad that they were able to create
such a phenomenal presentation in such a

short amount of time being that they've
only been working on it for under a year.

This is great.

This is awesome.

That's my commentary.

Boom.

That's my voice.

If somebody else's voice, they may
say something completely different.

They're like, oh, this is a long time
coming, the financial side of it.

It's like, oh, okay.

They're talking about the finances.

Mister Benja wasn't talking about
the finances, but this other guy is.

So You start to separate yourself from
everybody else who may be talking about

that trailer, having your own voice.

If you don't know what that voice is when
you make a post or a quote or a reply.

If you don't know what your
voice is, start figuring it out.

Not saying you're this or that.

Start saying, I push
this type of information.

I I'm a proponent of this style
of activity, and start making your

personality a little more known.

And what you don't like
will fall by the wayside.

And in fact, you can even
post what you don't like.

As I said, I don't usually recommend you
try to define yourself by what you don't

like, but there are times for that too.

Speaking of the Cowboys, I
know a lot of people will post

about not liking the Cowboys.

It's great and it's funny and
adds to people's personality.

I don't even I don't even
watch football anymore.

I just I just know the Cowboys
are a thing, so love it.

Have your voice.

Number eight.

You gotta be careful, and you need
to remove, block, or just ignore

bot accounts or or troll accounts.

There are certain accounts out there
that will do nothing but harm to you.

I don't do this very often, but if I see
a clear bot account, if if something is

clearly just engagement farming or a post
is coming from some worker in a in a in

a farm of worker drones that are just
typing away because somebody paid them to.

If you see something that's Clearly,
a bot or paid or paid shill.

I don't even know what online paid
shills are called, But They Exist.

If you just don't want that type of
connection, just block I personally

don't block many actual people.

I have a discussion
with them and say, hey.

Cool.

Thank you for your time.

Whatever or I just ignore them.

But actual bots?

Block, mute with an with the quickness.

The more bots you have around, the more
likely it is that other bots will show up.

You Don't Want Bots.

Bots are the automated programmed
forces running through threads,

running through Twitter, Instagram
running through all these platforms

and will just make your life hell
if you start to engage with them.

Even if I see a like, I'm like, man,
I'm trying to get my number of likes up.

Bot shows up and likes my account.

I go to that account, block them.

I don't want your like.

I don't want your follow.

I don't want anything it.

It's just going to bring bad business.

Keep bots away from you.

Bad actors and bad people.

There are people that just
go against what you're about.

That's up to you, and that's
a whole another strategy.

But bots, remove them with the quickness.

And they're they're getting harder to
they're getting harder to fish out, so

not everybody can tell who or what a bot
is, but just look for the telltale signs.

And if you're not sure,
maybe ask somebody.

I don't know.

Uh, and sometimes I gotta block
forex traders and NFT guys too.

Uh, some some of those accounts
are just unbearable, and

they're not real conversations.

So you gotta block those people that
are acting like robots because they

wanna get you signed up for some four
x program or whatever, then, you Yeah.

If you might have to mute them too.

I I those are people I mute, you know,
and just keep them kind of away from me

or or remove them from my follower list.

But it depends.

Alright.

Number nine, iterate.

You're not just gonna have anything
pop off in a in an ephemeral social

platform like like the ones we've
been talking about immediately anyway.

So when you post one thing,
that's not the end of it.

Be ready to come back
tomorrow and post again.

Don't take it too seriously that you
made a post and it didn't go anywhere.

It didn't do Stop looking
at the number of likes.

Stop looking at the the follower account.

Just say, okay.

I made this post.

Come back tomorrow.

You come back tomorrow.

Your post didn't do anything.

You may have been a little too advanced.

You may be confusing people.

Maybe you need to say the same thing
with a different voice, with a different,

um, you know, a different style.

Maybe it's June, and you shouldn't be
talking about Thanksgiving in June.

So maybe you need to wait a few
months to talk about Thanksgiving.

Me.

Or maybe you're just kinda confusing
with the way you wrote it, so

maybe you need to write it again.

Uh, I remember I wrote something
about messaging and branding.

And I was talking about the marketing
type of messaging and branding.

And a friend of mine, after, like,
three posts, came in just yelling.

Like, I don't believe this.

Messaging and branding is you know, mess
all this messaging, it's it's all BS.

Everything has a I'm like, woah.

Woah.

Woah.

I'm not talking about the
message of your of your story.

I'm not talking about the message you
have as an individual or a person.

I'm not talking about your your cause.

I was talking about the branding
marketing side of a message, what

you're putting out to the public.

Uh, you know, there's a whole as
I said, A lot of creatives aren't

existing in that marketing, branding,
advertising, promotional space.

So when you say something like
messaging, They hear it differently.

And I had to stop and
say, oh, you know what?

You're totally right.

The way I was presenting
it came off looking kind of

doofy, so so let me respond.

Let me reply.

Let me start putting out my
messaging a little better.

Let me start putting out my content with
a little more clarity on what I mean.

And sometimes you don't know
that your message is unclear

until it goes out there.

And you have to iterate, so
you have to keep trying again.

If you've got a good message or
you got something to say, say it.

It'll catch on.

Well, I mean or it won't, and
you'll need to change it up.

But either way, you have to iterate
to know that and to understand it.

And even if you're successful
right off the bat, that's even

more of a reason to iterate.

You reiterate what you've
already put out there.

It worked.

Put it out again.

Add add some layers to it.

Continue the conversation.

Get the conversation bigger.

So no matter what, iterate.

Some people are gonna say be consistent.

Yes.

But iteration on what you're doing is
more important, which is refining that

same thing that you've done, refining it,
altering it, streamlining it, making it

proper fit for the next time you post.

Number ten, be sincere.

This is a difficult one for a lot of
people, But Get Online and Be Sincere.

Try to say what you mean without being
offensive and rude, and just put it

out there with some some vulnerability,
some thought behind it, some sincerity.

This is being real.

You're not trying to play
to an algorithm completely.

There there is a little bit of
play that I do advocate for.

But for the most part, if you're
authentic and you have a message,

their ways to get it out there, and
the algorithm will love you for it.

It's like, oh, this
person is being authentic.

Oh, thank god.

Finally, this person is not being a bot.

This person is not
trying to sell tummy tea.

This person is not trying to
sell a forex trading course.

They're not trying to
push NFTs on anybody.

Oh, thank god.

This person is being
authentic and sincere.

The system will love you for it.

And not just the automated systems
at Meta, the system of the people on

these platforms will love you for it.

They're like, my god.

Thank you.

Somebody who's actually saying something
with authenticity and sincerity.

We love that person.

So be sincere.

Alright.

I'm gonna blaze through the rest of these.

Keep this at about under an hour maybe.

Hope you all are enjoying this.

And, Yeah.

As I said, let me know what you
what you think about anything

that's going on here in threads.

Just let me know in any of my post.

Alright.

Um, be consist there there are
two strategies to this next one.

This is number twelve.

Um, number eleven.

I'm sorry.

Curate your feed.

You have to be careful
with what you take in.

You might like a lot of random nonsense,
but what happens is it gets very difficult

to Curate What the System sends you.

It's trying to show you a certain thing.

And because you like so many disparate
things, The system starts to have a hard

time figuring out what it should show
you, what it should reward you with.

And then people will complain
that, uh, this is terrible.

I never get to see what I want.

I never it's like, hey.

Listen.

If you've liked and followed all these
accounts and you retweeted stuff or

reposted and rethreaded all kinds of
information, and it just starts to

look like a mishmash, then it starts
to become very difficult for the

system to parse out what you want.

You have to actually stop at some
point and say, you know what?

I'm tired of seeing cake
picks on my on my feed.

And by cake picks, I mean the
kind made with butter and flour.

Or do I?

I'm not sure what I mean anymore.

Actually, I did have a problem
with cake too many cake picks

showing up on Instagram.

I liked a couple accounts, and, uh, next
thing I knew, it's nothing but cake, man.

Like, I couldn't concentrate.

I was sweating.

Too much cake on my my Instagram timeline.

Had to unfollow, block, mute, all that.

Too much cake.

Anyway, uh, let me say no.

I can't say pie either because
that pie has connotations.

Too many cooking pics,
too many cooking videos.

How about that?

I'll see, uh, too if you have too
many cooking videos, you might

need to go through your feed.

Unfollow all these cooking
channels you followed.

Every time you see something
about cooking, say, hey.

I'm not interested.

If you're on Instagram, you can update
the little the the interest keywords.

There's a button somewhere that say, hey.

Listen.

I don't wanna see anything about cooking.

And over time, your feed
will get back to normal.

Some people have said screw it and
just deleted their whole account

because they get upset that they
screwed up their own account.

It's like, you didn't need to do all that.

There there are ways
to fix your situation.

Start by unfollow mass unfollowing
people, going to your follow list and just

unfollow, unfollow, unfollow, unfollow.

Unfollow a bunch of people that you don't
recognize or that you don't care about.

Give it a day or two.

The system will start to work
itself out a little more, and you

should start getting a feed that
is more makes more sense to you.

Now why do you curate your feed if you're
trying to get When you're posting, there's

a back and forth kind of effect going on.

So you start to post more.

And you'll notice that the replies,
the likes, and things that come back

to you, if they're from a certain ilk
or if they're from a certain section

of your your social media user base.

Then you know that, okay, when I post
this, these types of people are seeing it.

And you can kinda start adjusting
your your feed from there.

You can kinda start curating.

You start to realize, oh, these
people are seeing more of my post.

Maybe I should post more
of this and less of that.

Maybe I should and maybe if I'm seeing
too much stuff on comic books and I want

more video game stuff, stop following
so many of the comic book people.

Stopped responding to them so much.

Stop liking their post.

And they may be your friends and
everything, but if you want your

feed to behave a certain way,
You've Got to Remember, every

action you take affects that.

And I paused when I said every
action New Take because you only

have to look at a post, and it
will start realizing that you're

spending a lot of time looking at it.

As I said, cake.

I looked at cake.

The Instagram caught me looking at cake.

And even though I didn't like,
even though I didn't reply,

it knew I was looking at cake.

So I had to get rid of cake.

Cake be gone.

Too much cake is bad for you.

Yeah.

Uh, number twelve.

Be consistent or drop fire
content that makes waves.

Now Being consistent just
means you're posting regularly.

You post a lot on Sundays, maybe.

Say, hey.

Chill Sunday, everybody,
and you're consistent.

So people start to expect every Sunday,
they'll see your chill Sunday post.

Or maybe it's a throwback Thursday.

Every Thursday, you throw back a bunch
of photos from way back in the day,

and people start to get used to that.

Not just not just the
people, but also the system.

It starts to expect you posting
certain things on certain days.

This is necessary for for good feedback,
for good engagement, for good traction,

for people just become used to something.

Like, imagine you go to a grocery
store and on on every Saturday

you go grocery shopping and
you see the same person there.

It's like, hey.

How you doing?

Hey.

How you doing?

And you both have this exchange
and it becomes a consistent thing.

When you go there one Saturday
and that person's not there,

it's like, uh, oh, it's missing.

Okay.

Whatever.

Or if you go there and
they don't say, hey.

Good morning anymore.

They say, don't forget to lock your car.

Kinda like, uh, wait.

What happened to good morning?

Why are you telling me not to why
are you telling me to lock my car?

Okay.

But what if they don't
say anything to you?

Then the consistency is broken.

So you just need that consistency out
there So that the number of people

that see your post and they do this
sub people do this subconsciously.

They'll see your post
and they're like, okay.

He posted about video games.

Five weeks later, they see you posting
about video games, and they'll say, hey.

In their head, they'll say, this
person posted about video games.

Maybe I should just jump in and ask
them a question, maybe I should go

to their profile and see if they
are involved in video games somehow.

The consistency starts to express your
personality and starts to make people

understand who you are much more clearly.

Or you can be consistent in another way,
which is whenever you show up, you know

that Certain Fire Content is Dropping.

Some people post sporadically, but
every time they show up, it's like and

Kanye West is a great example of this.

Kanye West doesn't post a lot himself.

A lot of people follow Kanye West
around and make posts for him.

But when he posts himself,
you realize he's going in.

He shows up, start
saying all kinds of this.

Start saying all kinds of that.

And people are like, oh, lord.

Here we go again.

But it gets traction Because People are
used to him showing up out of nowhere and

having just lighting the Internet on fire.

That's what people are used to.

So if you only show up on a social
platform, let's say, threads, If you

only show up after a big movie comes
out that you really like, and people

are just kinda sitting around waiting,
and they see one of your posts.

It's like, bro, did you see The Marvels?

That movie was fire.

I loved it.

Marvels Marvels Marvels.

And for the next week, you're
posting nothing but marvels.

And people are like, man, every time
this guy finds a movie he likes,

he just goes in and posts all day.

I love it.

But then you may go silent
for another couple months.

Suddenly, another movie comes
out that that person likes.

Boom.

Bunch of posts on that.

And that's enough to keep that's enough
of a consistency in style and energy.

If you're gonna go to the second
strategy, you need to have high energy

and high volume because you're coming
out of the blue and just attacking.

It's like whenever Dracula showed up.

Whenever Dracula showed up and came
down from his mountain fortress,

you you knew he wasn't playing.

He was he was biting heads.

He was taking bodies.

He was getting rid of people.

He was bringing all his minions.

There was about to be chaos
whenever Dracula showed up.

But then if you have, you know,
your neighborhood burglar who who

steals something every week and
is always breaking into cars and

stealing stuff out of shop windows.

You know, that that's that's
something that happens on the regular.

You don't have to be as crazy if
you're showing up on the regular.

So there are two strategies to
being consistent, making sure that

you're showing up, doing your thing.

Come in hot or do it all the time.

Thirteen.

Find what works and don't force it.

A lot of people try to force
ideas, and that really never

works in the creative space.

I mean, no matter how much
money or how loud you try to

get, it it gets you somewhere.

It gets you a certain distance.

But like I said, we're
trying to get traction, man.

If you're just spinning your wheels
and mud is flying everywhere,

you're really trying to force
it without changing anything.

Maybe you need to stick
some rocks under there.

Maybe you need help with somebody pulling
you out of the mud or your stuck place.

Maybe you need a new set of tires.

Maybe you need to call a call a
helicopter in to to drag you out.

Maybe needed a maybe need to get
an Uber and leave the car forever.

If you're stuck in the tie
stuck in the mud, spinning your

tires, you gotta do something.

But know when you're spinning your wheels,
and try not to force too much stuff down.

If it's not working, change it up,
change the hair color, change the

dress, change the presentation.

Start fiddling with it.

And this goes back to the other one.

Start iterating a little bit.

Play around with it.

Just just just don't try to force it.

When something clearly doesn't work,
the and the people are telling you

something or not telling you anything
with your lack of engagement.

Change it up just a little bit.

No one's gonna look
back and say, well, wow.

In in two thousand twenty two.

That person just posted
all over the place.

Now they're posting consistently,
but two thousand twenty two, man,

That person was all over the place.

No no one cares.

They're only gonna care when
you found what you were looking

for and you started doing that.

You find a lot of artists like this too.

They they try out a lot of styles, and
then suddenly, some small section of their

works just take off and say, oh, really?

You all like this?

This is what you like
because I like this too.

Okay.

Now we have a match.

Now there's a match between what the
creator likes, the creative person

likes, and there's a match with what
the audience can resonate with at

that point or wants to resonate with.

So now you have a match.

But if you try to force it,
a lot of times, you're just

gonna push turn people away.

You're gonna push them away, turn
them off, and it doesn't really work.

So, obviously, you want to number
fourteen, Post Good Content.

Don't post any nonsense, man.

Just I mean, There's a thing about
trying to be good and trying to be great.

But some people, they post,
and they're like, well, I tried

posting and it didn't work.

And they'll get mad at you.

Right?

But did you try to post something good?

And this once again, if you think
about art, I I tried drawing a

face once, and it wasn't good.

Yeah.

But did you try to make it better?

You have to keep trying to make it better.

A lot of times people aren't going
to engage with your attempts, but

they will they will recognize them.

They'll notice them.

And then maybe after
the fifth one, the okay.

The first four sucked,
but this one's good.

So you were consistent.

You iterated.

You made a meaningful post.

You had a voice.

You know, these are the
other tips I gave you.

But now you're finally good in
someone's eyes, and they're like, okay.

Now this person is good.

Now I like them.

You may find that with musical
artists, where you hear hear two

or three songs, uh, that, uh,
not, uh, I don't like that person.

Then they make their fifth
song, you're like, okay.

I like now that one I like.

And suddenly you like all their music.

In fact, most artists musical artists
that you hear and most visual artists,

they're not they're not showing you
their first attempt at trying to be good.

They're showing you something
that's built up over time.

So whenever you post, Try to Be Good.

Try to make good post.

Look at other people who
make post that you like.

Look at other profiles.

This one person just makes some
random nonsense post, and it

doesn't make any sense to me.

But they're good at it, and
I'm looking at them like, wow.

That is a good post.

I don't understand it.

Doesn't make any sense to me.

There's no punctuation, and it's
only, like, three or four words,

but it's on some nonsense that I
can't help but like like button.

Uh, I love it.

I'll I'll follow you because it's weird.

I don't get it, but it's good.

So that's the same thing with yours.

You gotta you gotta find your voice
and try to post something that's good.

Don't oh, gosh.

And we're on we're talking
about threads and social media.

Yeah.

Don't worry about trying
to here's the thing.

Don't worry about trying to be perfect.

Both every outing.

Put something out there.

And when you iterate, make
it just a little bit better.

Take a half a second of
thought instead of saying, wow.

This game sucks.

Try to update it and say, Wow.

I've never played a game that
took me so long To Finish.

And then you're like, oh, okay.

I thought they were talking about
a football game that sucked.

Now they're talking about a video game.

Next time you post, wow.

I don't know why it took me so
longer long to beat Elder Scrolls,

but I'm finally done with it.

I will never play this game again.

Now you're starting to get into
a little more Vibe on how to

communicate and express something.

You wanna be succinct.

You wanna be fast.

You want to be quality.

But to do that, you have to
actually try to post something good.

And you'll get better over
time, so keep Alright.

So those are all the things
that you should be doing.

And you know what?

I have this is an hour long.

I have a whole bunch of things that you
shouldn't be doing, but this went so well.

I'm I'm gonna do that
in a whole other posts.

Things you shouldn't be doing on threads.

Ways to lose traction.

Ways to mess up your account.

Boom.

There we go.

Now I have an idea for another podcast.

This has been mister Benja
with Creativity Threads Life.

If you like anything you hear
hear today, hear hear today.

Okay.

I gotta I gotta rewrite this Outro.

If you liked anything that you heard
today, please be sure to like, subscribe.

And if you're on threads, leave a comment.

I wanna know what you're thinking about.

Wanna know what's going on with you.

And as always, I will do shout outs,
, listener mail, listener stories,

or whatever if you provide them.

People are jumping on threads,
talking to me all the time

now, and I'm really liking it.

And shout out to Aconoclast talking
about Disney and, uh, the branding.

He is overseas and seeing the
whole Disney brand from a whole

different light than I am.

Thank you for your comments.

, thank you I don't know how to say this.

Asami.

Yeah.

Thank you, Asami Makes, for always
always posting up good content,

, keeping the keeping threads light
and happy, some of these people on

threads, man, just makes me happy.

May be happy to see good conversations
going on, good creative people doing

creative things, and keeping the
Internet a fun, safe, happy place.

So that's it for this one.

what's coming up next?

At some point, I'm going to do, as
I said, the follow-up to this one.

I'm not gonna Dua Right Away.

I've got one where I wanna talk about
start getting into actual case studies.

I wanna talk about the Marvels.

Uh, I wanna talk about Batman.

Wanna talk about some different
creative things that have gone

out there, and I'm gonna give you
a little bit of my history too.

So you'll get to hear a little bit
about where I came from, Rockstar Games.

I'm wanna do an e three podcast.

Whole bunch of great ones.

If you have any topics that you
want me to get into, let me know.

Thank thank you very much.

This has been Mr Benja once
again for Creativity Threads Life