The Startup Ideas Podcast
How to write viral tweets with the man who beat the X algorithm
Mon, 23 Sep 2024
Join me as I chat with Nick Huber, a serial entrepreneur and real estate investor, as we dive into the art of going viral on social media. Nick reveals his proven formula for creating engaging content that’s reached millions and helped him grow a massive following. If you're looking to boost your social media game and learn strategies that truly work, this episode is packed with actionable insights!Timestamps: 00:00 Intro01:36 The mindset02:39 The structure of a viral tweet / Example 108:42 Example 211:38 Example 315:51 Example 4 (video content) 16:59 Example 517:35 The importance of priming the algorithm19:28 Example 622:37 Example 71) The mindset:• Don't try to make everyone like you• Be willing to look silly sometimes• Have thick skin - you can't please everyone2) The structure:• Start with a "wow" statement that sounds unique• Take a hard line on one side - no nuance• Back it up with strongly written copy3) The hook:• You have 1/8 of a second to grab attention• Make people laugh, strike emotion, or teach something• Use numbers and specific details for added humor4) The controversy:• Say something different than what most people hear• Take an un-nuanced stance on a debatable topic• Trigger people who disagree (respectfully)5) The follow-up:• Double down in your second tweet• Add more context or examples• Don't backpedal or soften your stance6) The visuals:• Use video when possible - algorithms favor it• Catch attention in the first second7) The mix:• Blend personal content, entertainment, and value• Prime the algorithm with high-engagement tweets• Follow up bangers with business-related content8) The authenticity:• Tweet things you actually believe• It's okay if not everyone agrees• Spark good conversations and critical thinking9) The strategy:• Build a following of smart people and entrepreneurs• Use the "jab, jab, jab, right hook" approach• Leverage high-engagement tweets for business asks10) The lesson: Nuance doesn't go viral. But thoughtful, controversial takes that make people think?Want more free ideas? I collect the best ideas from the pod and give them to you for free in a database. Most of them cost $0 to start (my fav)Get access: https://www.gregisenberg.com/30startupideas 🎯 To build your own portfolio businesses powered by community you might enjoy my membership.You'll get my full course with all my secrets on building businesses, peer-groups to keep you accountable, business ideas every single month and more!Spots are limited.https://www.communityempire.co/📬 Join my free newsletter to get weekly startup insights for free:https://www.gregisenberg.com/70,000+ people are already subscribed.To improve your rankings your business on Google and using AI for SEO, sign up tohttp://boringmarketing.com/FIND ME ON SOCIALX/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenbergInstagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/FIND NICK ON SOCIALX/Twitter: https://x.com/sweatystartupInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweatystartupLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sweatystartup/
Nick, the man who needs no introduction, but I'm going to give you an introduction anyways. You have probably more businesses than you have fingers at this point. You are running somewhere.com, which is just taking over as a recruiting agency right now. You've got probably a hundred million bucks in self-storage facilities. You've got time to be a good father.
You got time to troll the internet when hundreds of millions of people see it. Of course you're coming here and you're sharing some ideas.
Let's do it, man.
And I wanted to do something a bit different. I want to get inside your brain around how you actually craft content that gets people ticking. And I don't know if you can just open up a Google Doc and just start typing out stuff and we can jam on it.
However it works, I want people to listen to this and at the end of it, understand how you do it, how you're able to be in Athens, Georgia and get the entire planet to
jump up with happiness or pain or do something you think that works let's do it man i think we can cover a lot quickly because my strategy is pretty simple i mean we all know the framework of great twitter copy but the mindset is a little bit different and the mindset is that if you try to make every single person like you on the internet
If you are worried about what people think, if you have thin skin, it's impossible to do well. It really is. Because if you try to make everybody love you, nobody will actually have an opinion on you at all is the truth. So if you're not a little bit different, if you're not afraid to put yourself out there, and if you're afraid to look silly, then it's not for you, right?
So I make myself look stupid sometimes is the bottom line.
I'm going to share my screen and I want to go through tweets. We've never done this together. You're talking about some of the real bangers?
The viral ones?
Yeah, why not? And also other people's tweets too. What makes them great? Let's just go through it. I'm going to share my screen. Can you see my screen? Let's go to you for a second. I'm going to go through maybe a few tweets. And you tell me which one you want me to stop at. I mean, this one has 720,000 impressions. What were you thinking when you tweeted this?
So the structure, you can see it here. I make a statement that people say, oh, wow, that sounds unique. I'm not sure if I'd agree with it or not, but that's not like what I mostly hear. And that's that first line. Okay. Then I spend the rest of the tweet taking a hard line on one side. So there's no nuance. There's no teasing out both sides. My structure is, hey, I'm going to say something. Boom.
Well, you know, obviously there's nuance. Obviously there's two sides of it. Obviously it doesn't apply to everybody, but I'm going to act like it does. And I'm going to take a very strong side towards one of them. That's the structure of a great tweet. So something that not everybody agrees with, said as fact with conviction, and then a bunch of really strongly written copy to back it up.
That's how almost all of my viral tweets are structured.
And how were you thinking about this reply second tweet?
It's a little small for me. Let's see here.
Don't buy into... Here, I'll actually make it bigger. Don't buy into this. Actually, can you see better now?
Yeah. So I feel like I just feel super passionate about this in general. Maybe it's because I live in the South. Maybe it's because I see a lot of people making the mistake of waiting too long to have children. And I'll read the tweet. My advice to 25 year olds. get married young and have more kids than you can afford. That's the wow part of the tweet, right?
Everybody reads that and they're like, whoa, that's the opposite of what I hear. I hear marrying your, picking your spouse is like, you know, the most important decision you'll ever make. Be very careful about it. Be very deliberate in it. Be, you know, super thoughtful on it. And kids are super expensive and I need to be financially secure before I have kids.
Like, so boom, the thing that Nick said at the very top is, um, different than what a lot of people say. Then I go on to take a very hard side towards having more kids younger. I've never met anyone who wishes they'd had fewer kids. That's a super strong, un-nuanced take supporting my first line. But I've met a lot of people who regret waiting so long or having so few.
Every 60 plus year old that I know cares about one thing above all else, their kids and their grandkids. That is just a super powerful, convincing thing that's also super triggering to people who disagree with it.
And what percentage, like what percentage true is this tweet?
I pretty strongly believe... So look, it's geared towards my target person. Obviously, not everybody is in the situation where this applies to them. They're people with mental issues. They're struggling with alcohol. They literally do not have their own life together and they have no business getting married and trying to support a child.
But I'm talking to the people who are like me because that's the majority of people who follow me on the internet are competent people, 30 to 40 to 50 years old, who are kicking ass at their career. They're making money. They're into entrepreneurship. They're into business. And maybe they've just kind of forgot that, holy cow, kids are super important to live a rewarding life.
Then I make the second tweet. Don't buy into the illusion of choice because you hear the excuse all the time of guys and girls alike being like, I just want to travel. I want to get it out of my system. I And I personally pretty strongly believe that that's bullshit and actually creates a bunch of bad habits that are really hard to break when you actually do want to settle down.
So my second tweet, I just lean in. Don't buy into the illusion of choice. Don't buy into the lie that is getting out of your system. If you travel and sleep around and do whatever you want for 20 years, it'll be even harder for you. Bad habits die hard. And it just lights people up, right?
I think the strategy, by the way, of double downing on your second line always hits hard.
Yep. Yeah. Catchy, catchy little intro. My advice to every 25 year old. Okay. I'm going to read this because I want to know what Nick advises 25 year olds and then boom, a super strong controversial viewpoint. And then me taking one side, even though if I were in a conversation with somebody, you discuss the nuance.
Like we can, we can discuss the nuance of this right now that having kids is not right for everybody, but yeah, I do think a lot of people make this mistake. So my goal with this was to make people think twice about it.
Totally. And by the way, for, for, for this pod, like it's okay. What we're talking about right now is how to create content that goes viral. So we're not talking about nuances and stuff like that. It's really just about how you're structuring it and what the insights are.
Right. Yeah. Nuance. The lesson here is that nuance does not go viral.
Yeah. Nuance does not go viral.
I'm going to continue scrolling and then let me know when I should stop.
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Okay. Could you do this one? Yeah.
All you have to do is refuse video games until about the age of 16. Then your kids will be so far behind their friends it won't be fun for them. They'll give up and focus on real life. Virtually no chance they'll grow old to spend 20 hours a week on a computer casting spells. It triggers all the people who sit around and play video games as a hobby because it's true that...
Video games, while they do add a lot of critical thinking skills and maybe people argue hand-eye coordination, I disagree with that. But they argue the benefits of it. I don't think they're very beneficial. So I took that hard line and it frustrated and made angry a lot of gamers.
Yeah. And the reality is you actually believe this, you know? And so it's like, you're tweeting things that you believe, which I think is whether I agree with you or not. Like, I actually disagree with you, but I know that you'd believe this because I remember texting some, you know, you, I was like, I played video games today. And you're like, well, basically why?
Um, but it's cool that we can still be friends and just have differing opinions, you know? Um,
I get a lot of messages. I get a lot of messages from people who support me and follow me and want to use my businesses. And the first thing a lot of them say to me is, Nick, I love your stuff and I don't agree with all of it. Right. I spark good conversations. I make smart people think critically about things. And obviously, what I think doesn't apply to everybody.
So throw out the stuff that doesn't apply to you. But I guarantee you, some of the stuff might strike home with you.
How important is putting numbers in tweets?
Yeah, I think I have this one tweet about a white Escalade. Like if you want to... If you can get really specific and it adds just a layer of humor, like 20 hours a week on a computer casting spells just adds a layer of humor to the thought of somebody playing World of Warcraft.
It's that picture of that guy on South Park who's got his hand up on the desk and he's really obese and he's eating chips while he's beating Cartman and all the friends at war. World of Warcraft, right? That's what you picture when you think of 20 hours a week casting spells. So I like to add a little bit of complexity. I have this one tweet about salespeople and driving a white Escalade.
I love to hire salespeople who are paycheck to paycheck, but drive $120,000 white Escalade. Because they're super motivated to sell and they are highly determined to make it rain and they'll work super hard because they're cash strapped. And it's just funny because we all know a lot of salespeople like that.
Let's talk about Marshall, this one that you retweeted here. Why do you think... Why do you think this one blew up?
I actually workshopped that with Marshall. So we worked on that one together because it's a promotion for somewhere.com. But I think that it's the same structure that we are talking about at the beginning. We have a line at the top is just the wow factor, right? I'm like, I should read this. It's catchy. It's the hook. I sold my company for $52 million earlier this year.
That's the first line that says, hey, drop what you're doing and read the rest of this tweet. Because in reality, somebody scrolling Twitter, you get an eighth of a second of their attention. You have to realize that like they are selfishly scrolling Twitter being like, what can you do for me? What can you do for me? What can you do for me? Are you going to make me laugh?
Are you going to make are you going to strike my emotion or are you going to teach me something? Those are the three things are going to make me laugh or be entertaining in some way. Or are you going to are going to teach me something? So you're trying to stop them in their tracks with that very first line. Just like my advice to every 25 year old.
Oh, I might want advice because I might be, I might have a kid who turns 25 or I just might be interested in this. Boom, Marshalls. I sold my company for $52 million. Not very many people have done that. I'm going to read. I'm going to give it more than an eighth of a second. I'm going to give it four seconds. So now you have four seconds. And it's the controversial part, right? My secret weapon.
I had two Americans on my team and 150 plus international folks at a time of the sale. Wow. Not only was this a remote company... But 1% of his employees were U.S. based and 99% of his employees were overseas. Finance, ops, sales, and then the rest of it we're selling, right? We're telling people what somewhere offers. Finance people, operations people, sales people, developers, even executives.
And then bang, this is the catchy one, all for 80% less than U.S. talent. You can do this too. Here are seven people ready to hire today. That tweet got 1.4 million impressions and it drove a hundred plus leads to somewhere.com and it was worth a quarter million dollars of marketing for us.
And it was insane. Insane. That's crazy. And you did something else that was really smart here, which is you could have just put higher salespeople for $1,800 a month, but you did this. Can you explain why?
Yeah, we made it so that these people can see and hear the voice of who they could potentially hire. Because a business owner thinks, oh, I might hire somebody abroad. And they think of what they get on the phone when they talk to a Filipino who works for Bank of America. And they're like, damn, I really hope this person can actually help me. But it's unlikely.
They're going to forward me around a call tree. And it's going to be kind of tough. Because corporate America has trained us to think a certain type of person who works overseas. But if you play Keegan's video... He sounds like us. He sounds like an American. So, yeah, it's really pretty cool. So when they see that and they feel it, it hits different and it sells much more effectively.
Yeah, and the platforms are optimized more for video now. So I think it also just, you know, you're feeding the beast, the algorithm beast as well.
You mentioned something that's so important. This is really hard because Twitter is changing so fast. And I think Elon knows what he's doing and he's chasing engagement, chasing daily active users. And it's going to point him towards a TikTok, Instagram type model. So I'm worried that we're going all video over time on Twitter. So it's kind of scary for guys like me. What do you think?
Well, I agree. just because the ad dollars are also in video. But you seem to be leaning into video right here. This is working. I don't see many videos that have 700 likes. What did you do here? Did you script this out? How important is the background? Walk me through your thinking on this one.
Yeah, so I recorded a 52-second video. Can you scroll just the very beginning of it so I can read that? Yeah. I can't remember exactly what I said in this video. Oh, yeah, I'm saying repeat after me. I will keep it simple. I will copy what works. And we're going to talk about this in the second half of our episode, which is maybe a pretty cool transition.
But yeah, my videos, the exact same thing. It's catchy because I have, when somebody's scrolling Instagram or Twitter, I have one second of their attention. So I have to catch it right away. So let me tell you my advice to every entrepreneur in this world. Copy what works. I will do boring things. I will, you know, avoid what's sexy.
I'll stop chasing everything that everybody else is chasing in the world. And I'm going to simplify it. And I'm going to do boring things. And the people who have succeeded in entrepreneurship, most of them can really relate to that. So that's why it took off.
Very cool. All right, let's do one or two more. Bangers. Bangers. Maybe this one? Three names you never share? Yeah.
I just have a... I wouldn't say it's a natural gift to be funny with word or anything. I don't know if it's funny, but it does hook. So yeah, three names you never share. Your babysitter, your house cleaner, and your attorney. I've learned my lesson on all three. And it's just funny.
This is a funny tweet because you really, you cannot share your babysitter in the group chat or you will not be able to secure your babysitter next Friday when you need your babysitter.
And someone's probably listening to this and thinking, why is Nick posting this? How is this going to actually make his businesses better? What's the ROI of a tweet like this?
I think it's a mix, right? Most of my tweets are just trying to get smart people to think. Maybe there's some entertainment. Maybe there's some personal stuff to get people to know me. And then there's trying to get smart people to think more critically about something.
And if I can get smart people and entrepreneurs to follow me, then when I post a tweet like the one Marshall tweeted about international talent...
um i'll be able to get 250 000 worth of business in the door that way so it's just a it's just a constant process of trying to get attention trying to add value trying to make smart people think critically about something and then you ask it's the gary v jab jab jab jab jab right hook and the right hook is the ask hey let's do business pay me money for recruiting services or whatever
Yeah, it does really prime the algorithm. So if you do hit a banger like this, gets a thousand likes, your next tweet, maybe it's a lead magnet, maybe it's something else, but it does work more.
You'll notice it. If you click at somebody's tweet on Twitter, you're going to see another one of their tweets the next time you open the app and start scrolling. But if you scroll right by one person's tweet four times, you'll see that... the app will realize, Hey, I don't want to see Nick anymore because you just scrolled past five of his ideas. So I'm not going to show you his next couple.
So it really does prime the algorithm and your next tweet after a really high engagement tweet will get a lot of engagement. So you can use that to your advantage.
Okay. I want to do this last one from, from you. And then after this, I want you to pick one creator and we're going to like kind of look at one or two of their, of their posts.
Okay. Nikita is a genius copywriter, so I pick him.
Cool. This football one, what were you thinking when you tweeted this?
I just talk a lot about how I think football is brutal on the brain and I'm not going to let my kids play it. Um, and then I just see a kid here get laid out and obviously concussed as a five-year-old and it's sickening. So just spreading, just trying to spread. I'm not, I don't have an agenda for engagement with this one.
I'm literally trying to talk other 35 year olds like me to not let their sons play football.
Right. Totally. I will also say like the quote retweet, this is like a, it does work a lot in the algorithm these days. Um, You find something and then you can just add your POV on top of it. A lot of times it goes viral. You know who's good at that? Levels.io. I don't know if you follow him. Peter Levels. But he's a massive quote retweeter.
Probably about 20% to 30%, actually maybe more, is him just quote retweeting. And he gets massive engagement.
Yeah, he has the same strategy as me. I think he has a lot of people who totally dislike him because he has what some people would call radical views, just like I do. But he stands behind his actual opinion and he's done the work to build his own opinions. So I think he also gains a lot of respect.
So I think it's been a massive part of him building his brand is to not being afraid to ruffle some feathers.
Totally, yeah. He went on the Lex Friedman podcast and basically... talked about PHP and like this is a language that not many people sort of write in. And he writes in it and it's just, it's a dividing thing to say that just like, oh yeah, just build something in PHP. So I think he believes the stuff, but he also does it to ruffle some feathers for sure. Quick ad break.
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Nikita's work on Twitter has just been unbelievable. I mean, he writes so well. His copy is so good. Like, if you want to study copywriting, forget me. Look at Nikita. Look at the way he structures. Obviously, it's impossible to remake what Nikita does because he's so clever with his jokes. Not everybody has the mind of a comedian. But he's also brilliant when it comes to building consumer apps.
So he's built this reputation online where he is the guy to go to in the tech community when it comes to virality and consumer apps. So he has just massive, massive respect. Here we have Elon obviously following Nikita. I would not be surprised if those two get dinner soon.
It's just leveling up his entire career because of the reputation that he's built on Twitter, which is just, it's awesome to see him. So happy for him.
A hundred percent. Yeah, this is, this is just so good. A lot of his stuff is like very, it's like not a lot of words too, right?
Yeah, he doesn't do any threads or a couple threads, but most of them. And he's the perfect mix of like, hey, I'm going to show you how serious I am and how good I am when it comes to building consumer apps with a really thoughtful thing to say. Like on September 17th, which is yesterday, he tweeted about seeding an app with users.
He just gave a really good insight for people who are actually building apps and to get a really valuable following of actual entrepreneurs. Yeah. And then right after that, it's a huge joke about how aggressive Europeans are about sexual advances. And if they put an emoji in a tweet, that means they're coming on to you.
Only Nikita can follow up a tweet about seeding an app with users with, hey, here's how Europeans are coming on to you in a tweet, in a message. It's just hilarious.
Yeah, homies got range for sure.
Absolutely.
I'm going to put together just some takeaways. I'll probably put in the comment section on YouTube around just like how to, how to tweet like Nick, how to tweet like Nikita. Um, cool. Um, well, Nick, thanks for taking us through your mind there. Um,