If social media was vaporized from existence tomorrow at 9:13 a.m. . . .where are your subscribers?
We are unpaid employees of social media.
The only winner? LinkedIn and all the others.
Social media gets free content from us. What do you get in return?
Direct people to your landing page to build your list, you are penalized.
We can’t add links to our LinkedIn posts because LinkedIn wants eyeballs glued to LinkedIn, so we obediently tuck the link into the comments.
We slave away for the algorithm.
It’s hilarious, really.
Until you think about what happens when the rules change.
Recently, LinkedIn and Google changed their algorithms. Some creators lost half their views overnight.
That’s what happens when you borrow an audience. . .Notice I didn’t say your audience.
As sure as ocean waves will pound the shore, there will be another algorithm change.
It’s practically a law of the universe now.
And when the algorithm changes you’re gone.
Like you never existed.
Unless you have a system that operates independently of whims.
Last time I checked, the algorithm never whipped out its Visa card and purchased something from me.
It never opened and read one of my emails.
And it certainly never trusted me enough to invest five minutes of its hectic day.
Who does? Human beings. Humans with credit cards needing solutions.
So who’s your real customer?
The demanding algorithm?
Or the person staying up after everyone else is asleep, trying to build something online—who a solution to a problem you can solve?
Attention isn’t the business. Trust is.
I strive to be memorable enough that you follow me where the algorithm high tide can’t wash us away.
When someone joins your list, they aren’t renting you a five-second glance while doom-scrolling on the leg press machine in the gym.
They chose to invite you directly into their living room.
And that choice deserves more than recycled AI slop written to satisfy your algorithm employer who doesn’t pay for your content.
Look, I’m not against social media.
I use LinkedIn.
Even if it is occasionally fake, as we discussed before.
But I refuse to confuse posting with building an asset.
Social media is a sandcastle built at low tide.
Your email list is a fortress built on solid rock.
Every day, creators and marketers frantically shape and pat down soggy sand.
Then here comes the rushing tide of algorithm updates, ready to flatten the whole thing.
Their solution?
Slap another turret on the castle.
It’s a majestic turret.
Truly.
But it’s still grains of sand.
The Silicon Valley ocean doesn’t care about your architecture.
One tiny wave from a new update can flatten your entire kingdom in seconds.
Your email list is different. Because it’s built on the relationship you create with another human being.
That’s the asset.
Not the views. Not the likes.
Build your audience where high tide can’t touch it.
