A (0:01)

Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for the do this not that podcast presented by Marigold. And by the way, we got a bunch of new listeners. Thanks for being here. And just so you know how we do it, I rip through some tips and tactics really quick and at the end, we, we have this section called since you didn't ask, which is totally ridiculous, which has nothing to do with the Brooklyn Bridge. But anyway, that's the format. So let's jump into what we actually do here, which is get into the thing. And the thing that we're talking about is the very start of your email, the very start of your social post, the very start of that LinkedIn post. This is not about a hook. People get it all wrong. And there's new data I want to share about the critical, most important thing in those emails and in those social posts. It's not the content that you're promoting. It's not that sale that you're promoting. No one cares about the nurture stream. No one cares about your copy in your email. No one cares about any of it. The thing that we don't pay attention to that changes whether or not we get engagement is literally the first word of your email subject line, the first three words on your social media post. This is not about writing a hook. A hook is a whole idea. Forget about the hook. We need to take a step back and think about literally what is the first word that we are using? Because that is actually what's going to determine whether or not somebody reads the subject line, reads a social post, opens the thing, interacts with the thing. And I have some data here on exactly what, what those first words should be and why. And now you're like, I'm really going to pay attention to a whole episode about a word or about the first three words? And yeah, the reason is you spend so much time on everything else. Oh, we got to get the landing page right. Okay, do we have the nurture sequence going after they sign up for the thing? Do we have the welcome email after they buy the thing? Do we have all the copy in that social post? What are the images in that social post? Who cares? Nobody is going to see the thing, read the thing, do the thing, buy the thing. If you don't nail that first word or the first few words. So first, let's talk about LinkedIn and then we'll get into email and Instagram. So if you post something on LinkedIn, the first three words that you write in that post, I'm not talking about the image, I'm talking about the actual copy in that post. The first three words, not the first sentence, not the hook. I'm talking about the first three words. The algorithm actually shows the first three words only on the top line of the notifications on the mobile app. Okay, so if you don't nail those first three words on your post, your engagement goes down massively. Social Insider said that those first three words, that first line right there, getting on that first line and getting it to be strong and engage will increase your engagement by 45 to 60%. So what are the words on your LinkedIn posts? What is the format that will get them to then interact with the post? These are the things that do the best according to all the most recent data. First is the idea of contrarian. If you start out your post and say everyone is wrong, oh, boom, hits you right, you're going to continue. Or if it's something like a command, stop doing this. I know how cheesy this sounds. I can't believe we're talking about three words. But this is what we need to be thinking about or being relatable. Relatable is everything I messed up, people will keep going or authoritative. Three things every I. The whole point of this episode is to be very, very intentional and to think about the first word, the first three words. What about an email? So for promotional emails, okay, literally the first word of your subject line. I'm not talking about the rest of your subject line. I don't care. The first word of your subject line is what really matters. So let's break it out into two groups. There's sales emails and like promotional, like discount, whatever. And then there's non sales related emails, content, whatever. So for non sales related promotional emails, the words that really will work, these words actually give you a 20% lift in overall open rate if they are your first word and the words are why stop? Invited. And most. So when you say something like stop, it actually gets you to stop. Whether you realize it or not. When you say invited, somebody gets excited, they're invited, they don't realize it. When you're invited to the latest blah blah guide, you're invited to the new webinar, you're invited some other piece of garbage. We like being invited. And then most, our most read blog post, our most downloaded piece of content. Our most blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So why stop? Invited most. These are the words. Now, if you're promoting something, a sale, okay, the words that are going to give you the biggest boost at the start, your first words are going to be the word last ends. And just so when you see an email says just in or ends today or last sweater in stock, why are you buying a sweater? It's very hot out. I don't know. The point is, don't just write a subject line. Think about how it works. And how it works is that word, that first word gets them to the next word. It also on Instagram. Instagram came out just last week and they said the most important thing on getting Instagram engagement, number one. Their number one format are Instagram reels, the videos. And they said it's all about the first four, five seconds. Now that's kind of obvious to me. It's more about the first two seconds. Okay. There's a lot of data out there that says the first second and a half is where they're going to decide if they're going to go further. The bottom line is if you're just saying, okay, what should I. What should we write the post to be? What should we write the subject line to be? What should we. And you've spent all this energy on this offer. You got legal to approve it. You've had people design it. You've worked on the copy and the landing page and the flow of after they sign up and whatever. And then you don't focus on the littlest thing that has the biggest impact. Nobody's going to see your stuff if you don't focus on this little, little thing that has a huge, huge impact. Why do I get so worked up? I don't know. All right, before we get into since you didn't ask, which is going to be ridiculous because it always is. I want to know. This podcast is exclusively presented by Marold and Emma is part of Marold. It is an email sending platform. It is awesome. I send all my emails using Emma. Your email platform stinks. Come on. Just for listeners of this podcast, they give us 50% off of Emma for three months. I am telling you, it is worth checking out. You go to jelson.com emma that is JSON.com emma for 50% off. This is ridiculous. All right, check that out. Let's get into since you didn't ask. So I've been traveling a bunch for these conferences and for these events and stuff and I shouldn't be let out of My house. I genuinely shouldn't be let out of my house because everything drives me bananas. So I just had to fly through the Atlanta airport, which, by the way, way too big. I mean, if you're interested in running a 5k and sweating, so trying to get from, you know, your connecting flight to your other flight, amazing place to do it, because it's. It's ridiculous. But that's not even the thing that really drove me bananas. So we need to make some rules about the. The people movers or the. Or the. Or the moving walkways, whatever you call them. You know those things that are flat, that are like escalators that are flat, that just move? I dig them, but the problem is I get on them and I want to. I want to. I want to glide. I want to, like, move. I'm walking really fast on them. I become, like, Usain Bolt. I'm, like, trying to woo. The whole point of them is to get people to move faster, but people get on these things, and then they stop. Like, it's a ride at Disney. It's not a ride at Disney. It's not like, oh, the whole point of these were created so you. You. You lazy human. You don't have to move anymore. It's not a ride. You're supposed to keep walking. And then if you're gonna be lazy and you're not gonna walk it, you're supposed to be on one side. But no, people block it right down the middle. I cannot tell you how much this bothers me, right? So I go on the walkway. This just happened. So I go on the walkway, and there's this, like, you know, family, whatever, and they're blocking the whole thing. And I say, excuse me, trying to get on the left side here, because everyone knows the left side is where you steamroll forward. Okay? I go. I'm trying to. Trying to get. So sorry. You know, Know. It was very nice. And the dude, the dad looks at me like, I could not have said something ruder. I could not have been ruder. I'm like, what is the problem, dude? Get. Come on. And then sometimes when the people mover or whatever it's called is too packed, what I do, because I'm a giant weirdo loser nerd, I walk on the side of it, right? I don't get on it. And then I try to show that I'm really cool, and I walk extra fast, and I try to actually beat the people mover to basically show all the people that are blocking the space on the people mover that I'm better than you. I'm a better person as it relates to moving fast than you. All of this is the stupidest thing in the world. Everything that just came out of my mouth in the last two or three minutes is useless. But if you're out there and you're a stander on the people mover, we need you to keep walking. No more standing. We're going to unite against you. We're finding you. Anyway, I appreciate you being here. You would be awesome if you checked out. Guru Conference. Guru Conference.com it is my free giant virtual event that is coming up. It's the world's largest email marketing. That's going to be two days. We are running out of virtual seats. It is in November. It's going to be awesome. Nicole Kidman is going to be there. Amy Porterfield, Donald Miller, the CEO of Liquid Death is going to be there. I mean, so many people are going to be there. Anyway, check it out. GuruCommerce.com you're awesome. Keep it real. You did it. You made it to the end. But wait, the party is not over. Listen, I want to keep hanging out. Subscribe to this podcast and if it wasn't the worst podcast you've ever listened to, give it a five star review. Why not? But you know what? I want to do even more with you. Go to google gurumediahub.com and we can partner there. You can find out about all of our free events, all of our stuff and if you're epically bored, go to jschwettleson.com and we could stay connected. You could find my newsletter and everything else I got going on. Thanks for being here and hope you subscribe.