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It’s National 🥚 Egg Month, Reader! An egg, mayo, and cress sandwich on 🍞 white bread is the superior egg sandwich.

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for LinkedIn

• 📺 YouTube channel and content strategy

• Google launches test of 🔎 Tracking Protections

• 🤖 OpenAI's public GPT Store is open

• Threads to improve low-quality ➡️ recommendations

Want to reach more leads and customers on LinkedIn, organically? LinkedIn’s Collaborative Articles can position you as an expert to new audiences beyond just your followers. 

Contribute to LinkedIn Collaborative Articles

LinkedIn uses AI to generate content on topics like sales, marketing, and social media. You can add your expert insight to the resulting articles by responding to a prompt and sharing your thoughts and expertise.

The more you contribute, the more likely you are to earn a Top Voice badge that signals to LinkedIn users that you have deep knowledge about the topic. 

A big benefit is that you'll see who engages with your contributions, allowing you to engage and connect with potential new clients. 

Spend a little time regularly giving your input to these articles and you’ll quickly grow your authority and visibility.

Today's tip is inspired by Judi Fox, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World.

You May Not Know This, Reader.

Most events don't include recordings. And if they do, they're a costly upsell. But not Social Media Marketing World. Recordings are included with your All-Access ticket. Why? Because we know that attendees can't be in four places at once, so they appreciate being able to listen later. 

"Almost every time slot there were two or more sessions I wanted to attend. Since I knew I would get recordings, I could choose the best option for me without feeling like I was missing out," said attendee Jamie Chril. 

Get your All-Access ticket (plus recordings) here.

Attracting YouTube Subscribers That Convert

YouTube is one of the most powerful business-building platforms on the internet but too many social marketers get stuck on vanity metrics like subscriber counts, likes, and shares. Those things might help you qualify for different features in the YouTube Partner Program, but that passive income can only take you so far. 

Instead of chasing numbers, you need to get the right kind of subscribers: subscribers who convert.

That means you have to show up all the time. Consistency creates trust and trust creates community. You need to be consistent in your story, content types, and posting frequency.

Start With Your Story

Your story, what makes you and your business different, won’t resonate with everyone, and that’s good. You want to find your unique audience and the right story will qualify your leads instantly.

Here are a few ways to figure out what makes you and your business unique:

• Take a personality test. Which traits stand out? What speaks to you?

• Ask your friends or colleagues what they noticed about you when they first met you.

• Ask your friends what they seek your advice on. What are you an expert in? 

• Think about events in your past that shaped you. Is there a narrative that links them?

Use your story to develop a branding guide that helps you make content that’s consistent and recognizable. Think about details like your color palette, font choices, channel banner, the text in your “about” section, and a clear statement of what makes you unique.

Map Your Content Pillars

Content pillars are the key topics your audience is interested in and allow you to demonstrate your expertise. Once you determine your content pillars, treat them as playlist titles. Then, populate your playlists with content that contributes to the customer journey.

While a back catalog of relevant videos in playlists shows viewers that they can rely on you over time, you should also create a “recent” playlist to let people know you’re regularly showing up with something new. You’ll need both to build trust.

Include Your Story in Your Content

Remember: Content on YouTube has to be educational and helpful. So, even though you’ve spent time figuring out your story, you don’t want to make your story the main topic of your videos. 

Instead, think of your story as the extra spice that helps your content stand out. When you make a video, share insights from your experience, journey, or aspirations only when they relate to the topic of your content.

Show Up, Consistently

Ideally, you want to publish two long-form videos (5–15 minutes) and four shorts every month.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Danie Jay.

You Don’t Want to Miss This!

February will be here before you know it… and so will Social Media Marketing World. Thousands of marketers will gather in San Diego, Feb. 18–20 at our 11th annual event.  

Can’t make it this year? Don’t worry. We have the perfect solution. An On-Demand ticket gets you access to ALL of the content from the conference—including the sessions, keynotes, AND the extra day of workshops—all from the comfort of your home or office.

Yes, I want ALL the great content!

🗞 ICYMI: Google Tracking Protection: On December 14, 2023, Anthony Chavez, Vice President of Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative, announced the next step towards phasing out third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. Starting January 4, 2024, Google began testing a new feature called Tracking Protection on 1% of Chrome users globally. This feature restricts third-party cookie access by default in order to limit cross-site tracking of user activity across websites. The goal is to eventually roll out this change to all Chrome users in the second half of 2024, pending approval from the UK's regulatory body over competition concerns. With Tracking Protection enabled, users selected for testing will be notified when opening Chrome on desktop or Android. As they browse, third-party cookies will largely be blocked, with exceptions made on a per-site basis if they refresh pages multiple times to restore site functionality. This small initial test allows web developers time to assess readiness for an eventual permanent block of third-party cookies aimed at enhancing user privacy. Source: Google

🗞 OpenAI's GPT Store: OpenAI plans to launch its "GPT Store," where developers can publicly list AI-powered chatbots called GPTs this week. In an email, OpenAI stated that developers will need to review updated usage policies and branding guidelines to ensure GPT compliance before being eligible for store listing. Additionally, GPTs must be set to "public" and have user profile verification. GPTs enable the creation of chatbots without coding by having developers describe desired capabilities in plain language. OpenAI's GPT Builder tool then attempts to build an AI assistant to perform those functions. Developers have been able to create and share GPTs via the ChatGPT site since shortly after the initial GPT Store announcement. However, public listings have not been enabled until now. It is still unclear whether the GPT Store will have a revenue-sharing component for developers. An OpenAI spokesperson said more details will be revealed next week with the launch. Source: TechCrunch

🗞 Threads Recommendations Improvements: On January 6, 2024, Instagram head Adam Mosseri posted a video apologizing for the recent influx of "low-quality recommendations" on Instagram's Threads platform. He acknowledged that many Threads users have been seeing content that pushes the boundaries of Instagram's community guidelines without technically violating them, including hate speech and transphobic posts. While some posts are just engagement-baiting spam, much of the content is decidedly negative. Mosseri stated that the Threads team is working on improving the recommendation algorithm and quality of suggested posts. He expects noticeable improvements over the next few weeks, saying the issues should be largely fixed at this point. Mosseri apologized for the proliferation of objectionable content, committing to additional work to prevent such posts from being amplified on Threads going forward. Source: Engadget

Did You Know?

For the perfect jammy egg, boil it for 6 ½ minutes.