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Don't look for neutral, don't look for good. Look for that polarity. That polarity is what's going to get you to the next level. While everybody else is like deleting negative comments or blocking people or whatever, I actually invite the trolls. Do not try to please everybody. Your content is going to be so dull if you try to please everybody. Attention is all we ever have. Our entire human experience is attention. Attention is the most valuable resource that anybody can have and anybody can harness. There's no way to get to the point where you are creating massive worldwide impact without half of the world or your audience or people that see your stuff not liking you. The worst thing that you can be when building a personal brand is forgettable and ignored and people pleasing. Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, queen Courtney Johnson, and I am here to un gatekeep the gatekept. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy. Trolls are tools and I work with so many creators that come to me and they're like, courtney, how do you deal with trolls? Like, I'm getting trolls for the first time. I'm getting haters. I'm getting people saying awful things to me in my comment section. Maybe you had a viral video blow up and all of a sudden have all these people in your DMs. Your comment section, like, how do you deal with it? I'm breaking down how I deal with it, how you can deal with it, and how you can actually leverage trolls to be part of your social media strategy while everybody else is like deleting negative comments or blocking people or whatever. I actually invite the trolls. I get really excited about the trolls. Let's just think of any famous, successful person, I don't know, let's say Alex Earl. Alex Earl is a massive, massive creator, influencer. Half of the world hates her and half of the world loves her. Right? She has so many trolls. And what trolls really are is they're an indicator that you're doing something right. Another example, Oprah. Oprah has massive, massive influence. Oprah is a massively powerful person, And Oprah has 50% trolls and 50% people who love her. Kim Kardashian. The Kardashians in general have massive power, massive influence, massive impact. 50% of the world hates them. 50% of the world loves them. So there is no way to get to the top. There is no way to get to the point where you are creating massive worldwide impact without half of the world or your audience or people that see your stuff not liking you. So every time I get a troll, I'm like, oh, my God, that is. This is the best thing ever. I'm getting closer to my goal. I'm getting closer to the power and the volume of impact that I want to have. So first cheat code around trolls is just reframing it to see that trolls are a good thing. They're an indicator that you are on the way, that you are on the correct path, and that you are going towards your dream of making a massive impact and a massive influence on the world. This is going to sound insane, but once you understand the way that these algorithms work, you're going to start to not only be okay with trolls, but invite them in and get really excited about them. So if you have people arguing in your comment section, if you have people in your comment section trolling you about how they don't like how you look, they don't like your dancing, they think the thing that you said was dumb. Whatever. That video, that post, that carousel, that photo is about to blow up, blow up. It's about to take off. Like, it is such a strong indicator. And many people want to go viral. They're like, courtney, I want to go viral on social media. But the minute they see that first mean comment, they pull back. They energetically pull back and get really scared. They might start deleting comments. They might take the video down, and that just does not work. The minute you start to see trolls instigate them, I'm not kidding. If somebody comments and they're like, oh, you're a dumb B word, comment back and say, oh, that's really interesting. Why do you think that? Or like, could you elaborate? I love to comment back and say, could you elaborate? Someone comments like, stupid, ugly. I say, can you elaborate? Can you elaborate? Because what happens when I say, can you elaborate? They go back into the comment section and they elaborate and like, well, I just don't like you because blah, blah, blah, blah. Amazing. Now I just went from having one comment from that person to like, four comments from that person. So that's boosting my numbers. Then you can actually get people to fight with each other in the comment section. That is an indicator that your video is going to blow up. Your post is going to blow up. How do you do this? Well, you can use controversy in order to get people to fight in your comment section. Now you can use this unethically. Don't use it unethically. I mean, controversy as something you genuinely care and are passionate about or something silly. A very controversial post that I Always post. It always gets people arguing is that I think the advertising agency model is kind of dead and doesn't really work. And I always propose a new model. Some people are really attached to that advertising agency model. So they get mad in my comment section and I'm like, awesome, that's so great. Other thing you could do is just something benign that you like Matcha Lemonade. For example, there's this account that posts different ways to make Matcha and some people are like, oh my God, Matcha Lemonade is sacrilegious and it's horrible and it's not how you should truly consume Matcha. Like pineapple on pizza is another great example. That is something that's going to get people upset. And again, don't just post like, I like pineapple on pizza just to make people upset. But once you understand how to instigate these trolls and invite them in, they just have less power over you and become a lot less scary. Like, we've been conditioned to think that everybody liking us is the goal, but the goal is actually to get 50% of people to like us and 50% of people to not like us. Because when something is neutral, nobody cares. Nobody cares about neutrality. Lemonade is a really good example of this. And I actually got this bit from Cocomoko's podcast. So Co Cocomoko theorized that Lemon8 and by the way, Lemonade is a Pinterest competitor that was started by ByteDance. So ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok. So TikTok was like, let's make a Pinterest competitor. Let's put all this money into it. Let's really push it out. And it never took off. Even though they had millions and millions and millions of dollars in advertising and user acquisition, it didn't take off. And Coco Moco theorized it didn't take off because it was good. Right? It was good. When things are good, they are neutral. When things are good, they don't take off because they don't have the strong roots of the anti people that are anti your thing. So the reason why Lemonade didn't take off is because it was okay. Think of a platform like TikTok. Ask anybody about TikTok and they're either gonna have a really positive opinion of it or they're going to have a horrible opinion of it. LinkedIn, tell somebody you're taking my LinkedIn course and they're either going to be like, oh my God, LinkedIn's awesome, I got this great opportunity. Or they're going to say LinkedIn is a cesspool and is horrible. Those platforms work because they have controversy. The platforms that don't work are the platforms that are neutral, like Quora. No one gives a shit about Quora. It's so neutral. So don't look for neutral. Don't look for good. Look for that polarity. That polarity is what's going to get you to the next level. Like, think about it. Nobody shares neutral content. Nobody is excited to send neutral content to their group chat. Nobody is excited to save and like and comment on neutral content. People comment and like and share content that makes them feel something and that is often polarizing. Again, you don't have to be polarizing in a negative way. It could be you think that this shirt is really cute and the audience doesn't think that shirt is cute because it's a really unique shirt. It might be you love to do your makeup this way, but the audience is like, but why aren't you doing your makeup that way? It can be benign. You don't have to weaponize this. But a lot of content creators and content coaches don't talk about this because it can be used for evil, because it can be manipulated in so many ways. And my intention is to show you guys how you can use this in a positive way. Because whether you like it or not, controversy is a tool that people are using and trolls are a tool that people are using. This isn't a new thing. This isn't some new phenomenon. Think of any great artist or art piece from the past, like legendary, timeless culture defining art. It's all controversial. The best music in the world is controversial. Taylor Swift's latest album. Taylor Swift is a Billionaire. Taylor Swift is the biggest pop star in the world. She released Life of a Showgirl and half of the world loves it and half the world hates it and hates her. She would have not got to the level of influence and power and celebrity that she's at without people hating her. She would not be where she is and she would not have the amount of press around her new album if there wasn't so many people that didn't like it, Taylor said. As far as I'm concerned, as long as my name and my album's name is in your mouth the first week of the release, it's a win for me. Doesn't matter if it's positive or negative. It does not matter. You're talking about it energetically. Polarization is the tension that makes something good. There's a saying that the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is neutrality, and the opposite of hate is neutrality. Love and hate are very closely connected because we're giving those things our attention. If you hate Taylor Swift's new album or if you love it, you're still giving it your attention. If you've never heard of it, if you're in neutrality, if you don't really care about Taylor Swift, you haven't heard of her album, you're not going to listen to it. You don't know who she is. That is where she loses power. So again, in the trolls, you gain power. Another thing I love to do is I love to bait the trolls. I add a bait, you know, to a fishing hook, I cast the line and I reel in the trolls. And how I do this is I preemptively think, what is going to make people upset? What are people going to be pissed off about? And then I actually put that in the hook or the opening line of my content. For example, when I bought my house, I knew I was thinking about, what are. What are the trolls going to say? The trolls are going to say, oh, maybe she has a sugar daddy. Maybe it's like family money, like, whatever. And so I actually preemptively put those things in my hook and my most viral video of all time. I think it's like 8 million views. The hook was when you randomly decide to buy a house that's only accessible by tram. That's an insane thing to say. I didn't randomly decide to buy a house, but I knew there would be people calling me a sugar baby. So I decided to throw that in to instigate the trolls. And obviously they were very upset. And that ended up being my top performing post of all time. Now, how do you not take it personally, right? Because you're like, courtney, I get it, we need trolls. But it still hurts when somebody insults me. It still feels awful when somebody says something mean about me. And I actually have some insane advice around this. I gaslight myself. I tell myself, they must be a bot. Like there's some sort of propaganda bot. They're not real. I tell myself they secretly love me. They're really in love with me. And this is just like how they're expressing them, being in love with me. Or I also tell myself, look, if I was in their situation, if I was raised in their family and I'm from where they're from, and I've read the books they've read and had their life experience, I would be doing the exact same thing that they're doing. So you also get to have compassion for the trolls. Also remember that what we criticize in others is what we dislike about ourselves. So if they're criticizing how you look, they're insecure about how they look. If they're criticizing how you talk, they're insecure about how they talk. If they're saying, oh, that thing is not possible, they don't think it's possible. Anything people say is not about you. It is not a reflection of you. It is a reflection of them. I mean, the most successful people in the world, they all have this massive polarity. Every single influencer or entrepreneur or celebrity, every single one of them. You cannot give me an example of somebody that does not hold this polarity. Love them or hate them, you have an opinion about them, and that is power. Guys, I'm not kidding. I have actively been trying to get canceled for, like, five years. I'm not kidding. The way getting canceled, like, boosts your star and your notoriety and visibility is really, really amazing. Because when someone gets canceled, like, love them or hate them, they have the attention. And attention is all we ever have. Our entire human experience is attention. Attention is the most valuable resource that anybody can have and anybody can harness. So the worst thing that you can be when building a personal brand is forgettable and ignored and people pleasing. Being hated and being trolled is much better than being ignored because at least people are thinking about you. They're talking about you. They're keeping you relevant. Something else that really helps is every time I see a mean comment, I just picture dollar signs. I'm like, okay, that mean comment made me 50 cents. And then the next mean comment, maybe another 50 cents. And I'm like, every single time somebody comments something rude or mean or awful, they're making me money. And I'm like, yes, thank you. So the dream scenario is not having 100% of people like you. It's having 50% of people love you and 50% of people really dislike you. And it's also not having a hundred percent of people feel meh about you or you're irrelevant. Every time my clients get their first troll, I see it as a rite of passage. I get so excited for them, I throw a troll party. We laugh, we dance. I'm like, heck, yes. I'm so happy that you got your first troll. So you can use the trolls. Don't be afraid of them. Actually invite them in if you want your content to perform well. I know your first instinct is to go inward and protect yourself and keep yourself sane. But I promise you, if you can start to see trolls as something that you love and you're so excited for, your content is going to blow up and your personal brand is going to blow up, next time you see a mean comment, you get a mean dm. Be like, yes, yes, I'm relevant. I'm getting more and more relevant. I'm so excited. This is so awesome. Trolls are a badge of honor. Again, think of any massive creator. Do they have comment sections that's like sunshine and fairies and rainbows? No, they have literally people that are battling each other and they get millions of views. And that's not a coincidence. So trolls are like engagement fairies. They come to bless your timeline with magic algorithm dust. And trolls are really good for the algorithm. Like, when a troll shows up, they're basically doing free labor for you. So what the algorithm sees when a troll comment comes up is engagement. And the algorithm doesn't care if it's positive or negative. This goes for every social media algorithm. They just see engagement. And engagement is such a good thing, especially the back and forth reactions. Which is why it's important if you want to boost your video to comment on the trolls and instigate them and make them say more stuff. At this point, I don't even look at my comments anymore. I. I can't be bothered. I'm not going to waste any time on these trolls. But once you're starting out, it's a really great way to put fuel on the fire if you can emotionally handle it. If not, delegate it. Okay, so now that you guys understand why I love trolls and a little troll strategy, I'm going to tell you what not to do, because there are a couple of common mistakes that are going to sabotage the entire approach. So first, do not delete every negative comment. I see so many creators do this. Like, they want the perception of perfection. They want their comment section to look so perfect. Don't delete the negative comments. Keep them there. Trust me. Okay, next, do not block everybody that disagrees unless they're harassing you. Don't block them. It's really awesome. If you have people that comment on all of your videos, they're your superfans. Even if they're commenting mean things. Next, don't argue and try to win. You can argue to instigate them. Just being like, oh, my God, can you elaborate or. Or what does that mean? People would be like, oh, my God, you're so annoying. What do you mean? I don't understand. Like, play dumb, but don't try to win. Don't set out to win. You're never going to change their minds again. A lot of them are bots anyways. And then don't take it personally. And spiral, remember the empathy piece. This is not about you. They're either a bot or they're just insecure about that thing, so they're taking it out on you. And then do not try to please everybody, okay? Do not try to please everybody. Your content is going to be so dull if you try to please everybody. Okay, to summarize, zooming out. This is not just about your content going viral. Trolls are an important part of your entire content strategy. Polarization creates strong fans, the people that love you, really love you. It creates strong engagement. It's literally free marketing. It literally makes you money. The algorithm goes in your favor and the trolls compound over time. Like the amount of comments are going to compound over time. And that's only going to come if you keep the troll comments. Don't delete them. Don't run away from them. Embrace them, love them. Get so excited for them because they are a sign that you are on the path to more influence. So next time you see a troll in your comments, please don't panic. Instead, smile, get really, really excited and celebrate. And that's how you win the content game with trolls.