Read time: 6 minutes

I didn't send my usual Monday newsletter yesterday. Why?

Because I bombarded you over the weekend.

So, I delayed yesterday's newsletter by 24 hours to give you a break.

Now I'm back.

Today, I continue my quest to make your life easier.

The aim of this email?

To give you total clarity on writing content for social media.

Because let's face it...

Writing online can make your brain hurt.

You have to learn how to:

• Edit
• Write
• Ideate
• Persuade
• Tell stories
• Test your ideas
• Engage with others
• Grow your audience
• "Post at the right times"
• "Make quality over quantity"

The list goes on and on and on.

The good news?

I'm a perfectionist by nature.

I hyper-fixate on things.

I need to know EVERYTHING about a topic before I can relax.

It's kinda' toxic.

"So... how is this good news?"

Because it's forced me to spend thousands of hours obsessing over irrelevant things.

I've learned the hard way.

It's also forced me to build systems & frameworks to keep everything simple/reduce my overwhelm.

Half of the "writing online" advice is useless.

It'll leave you stagnant, confused & overstimulated.

It's hell for new (and even experienced) writers.

It keeps them stuck (like I was).

It annoys me.

There's an old saying that goes:

"Too many cooks spoil the broth."

It translates to:

"If too many people are involved in a task or activity, it will not be done well."

And that's exactly what these online writing coaches & gurus are, "cooks."

Your content is the "broth."

And they're confusing the hell out of it.

Polluting your mind with a thousand different opinions & ideas.

That's where I come in.

​

The 3 C's

As a founder/creator trying to build a strong personal brand, you need to focus on 3 areas:

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, last week's newsletter will bring you up-to-date).

If you did read last week's newsletter, you'll know I showed you how to execute the first "C" in the 3 C's.

• Category Design
• Content Systems
• Conversion Systems

This brings us to Content Systems.

Introducing CAG.

The CAG framework is something I've been developing this year & it's at the heart of my content strategy:

"Why do I need CAG?"

1) When you don’t connect: Your audience doesn’t care

2) When you don’t build trust: They don’t believe in you

3) When you don’t grow: You're invisible

All that effort, time & creativity down the drain.

But here’s the thing:

It’s not your fault.

You’re not lacking talent or ideas.

You’re lacking a map.

A system.

A way to turn scattered content into a compounding machine.

I've been banging on about this for a while...

So by now, you understand it's important to create content for:

• Connection
• Authority
• Growth

"But Morgan, how?"

​

Building Connection

This is how you make more people like you.

The goal is to share something either relatable, personal, or vulnerable.

How can anyone compete with you if you inject your interests, stories, failures, lessons & world views into your content?

And I want you to remember one crucial tip:

People only care about your story if they can picture THEMSELVES in it.

It's not about telling them how your pet goldfish died when
you were 6 years old.

They need to believe that they can do the things we have.

• Build the businesses we have
• Won the mental battles we have
• Overcome the challenges we have
• Gone from unskilled to skilled like we have

One overarching word: Relatability.

Don't appear too perfect or out of reach from your audience.

You'll alienate them & seem unrelatable in the process.

If people can't relate to our Connection Content, they'll scroll past it.

"Okay, how do I create Connection Content?"

There's no one-size-fits-all answer.

But here's what you should consider:

​

1) Your Story Format

To make your life easier, you'll need some story templates.

Story templates allow you to focus on the important points in the story & not worry about if it makes sense.

They allow your creative juices to flow.

There's nothing wrong with using story templates.

All the biggest writers & creators follow frameworks of some kind.

Plus, after a while, you'll start experimenting & building your own templates.

This is where the fun starts.

Story templates to get you started:

​Click here.​

​

2) Your Story Length

Avoid overloading your readers with essays.

Keep your Connection Content short & sweet.

Stories work best on social media when you remove every word that doesn't need to be there.

I'll give you an example:

​Here's a story stretched across multiple threads.​

​Here's a story contained in one thread.​

Guess what?

Same plot.

Same points made.

Same emotions evoked.

Same message delivered.

Exact. Same. Story.

But told in 2 different forms.

One's short & concise.

One's long & descriptive.

Now, there's always a time & place for long, descriptive content on social media.

But before you commit the time & energy to writing a longer piece of Connection Content, test the idea first.

Do this:

Write a short, snappy version of the story, lesson, failure, etc.

If it performs on social media (people validate the idea with likes, shares, comments, etc.), then you could turn it into a long-form piece of content.

This reduces the risk of spending 3 hours on content that fails miserably.

Please learn from my mistakes, I've done this 100's of times.

​

3) Your Story Topic

What point am I trying to make?

What lesson am I trying to share?

What emotion am I trying to evoke?

These are the questions you should ask yourself when choosing a story topic.

Remember:

Connection Content aims to "connect" with people.

You want to humanize yourself.

As blunt as it sounds:

The goal is to make them like you more after reading than they did before reading.

So, consider this when choosing your content topic.

Resources to help you:

​The StorySync System.​

​The Authentic Creator OS.​

Bonus example:

Connection Content doesn't always have to be in story format.

You can get creative & use long-form lists.

​My MMA story​

​

Building Authority

This is how you make more people trust you.

It's super simple.

The goal? Show your competence.

People need proof that you are who you say you are.

"Okay, how?"

You need to do 3 things:

• Solve painful problems for people (actionable content)
• Show social proof (testimonials, case studies, etc.)
• Manage expectations (consistent value)

​

1) Solve painful problems

Solve super-specific, painful problems for your audience.

Authority content isn't about going viral (if it does, bonus).

It’s about:

• Solving narrow problems with complete solutions
• Providing templates, resources, playbooks
• Revealing their next logical problem
• Giving your readers "quick wins"

Examples of me solving painful problems for my readers:

​Not knowing how to write effective sales copy​

​Not knowing how to productize yourself​

​Slow social media growth​

​Not having a newsletter​

​Not having authority​

Have you noticed a pattern with these examples?

They are all long-form content.

Value-packed long-form content will help you build a cult, not a following.

Focus on:

• Newsletters
• Long-form Threads

You'll occupy more of your readers' mental real estate.

Short-form = Awareness/discovery
Long-form = Nurture/trust-building

The more time your audience spends with you, the sooner they'll want to pay you.

My favourites:

• Newsletters
• Long-form Threads

​Learn how to write your first newsletter here.​

​Learn how to repurpose your newsletter here (1 idea becomes many).​

​

2) Show social proof

Build a Trust Engine.

Show how you played a role in somebody's transformation (or your own).

Share:

• Results you got for your clients or yourself
• Positive customer DMs/comments
• Testimonials you receive
• Build case studies

Don’t just post them, add your thoughts/commentary.

Sprinkle social proof in 5-7 times weekly.

Social proof = your lifeline.

Examples of me showing social proof:

​A response to my newsletter​

​An email from a customer​

​Results I got for myself​

​A customer testimonial​

​A client spotlight​

​

3) Manage expectations

Authority can only be built through consistent valuable content.

• You are only as good as the last thing you made
• You are only as relevant as the date you made it

This is the life of a creator…

Don’t get complacent.

Remember:

Volume negates luck but also increases your surface area for it.

Choose a posting cadence that's sustainable for you.

Once you've decided on a rhythm that suits you: never miss a day.

​

3) Borrowing Authority

This is how you make more people know about you.

I dove head-first into this topic a few weeks ago.

This newsletter is already getting long, so I'll save some room.

The link below will give you a complete blueprint for borrowing authority:

​Click here to read.​

Then, take inspiration from some of mine:

​Ryan Holiday + more​

​Top 25 personal brands​

​Top 21 creator-entrepreneurs​

​David Ogilvy​

​Steve Jobs​

​Nicolas Cole​

​

That's it for today's Coffee Break

Keep creating, testing, and refining.

I'll see you in a few days.

Morgan

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