How To Think With Dan Henry How to Leverage Controversy to Get More Social Media Reach
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"If you make enough noise, all eyes will be on you. Make sure you're selling something."
You might have noticed that I've stirred up quite a bit of controversy recently, and I'll be honest…
In a way, I did it on purpose.
Let me explain.
I did not set out to create controversy, but I did decide to capitalize on it.
There will always be controversy to deal with at times in your business, there are only so many ways you can handle it when it comes, so I chose to make it serve me.
Let me show you how I'm leveraging this controversy and share how you can learn to do the same.
In this episode, I am going to cover:
- What are the three choices you have when dealing with controversy
- Why you should expect to deal with controversy at some point in your business
- How to leverage controversy to help your business get more social media exposure
If you got value from what you heard here, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast! Bonus points for you if you write a review! ;)
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— TRANSCRIPT —
In today's episode, I'm going to teach you how to hack the social media algorithm to get more reach and attention, especially before you launch a new product.
Okay. So this is gonna be an interesting episode because I've stirred up quite a bit of controversy recently, and oh gosh, I'll admit it. I kind of did it on purpose, but I will explain all of that. All will be revealed in this exclusive interview with myself. So, first of all, let's set the stage here. You know, it is not getting any easier to get reach on social media, whether that be Facebook, Instagram even really any social media platform. Now here's the thing, social media platforms and they all have different algorithms, but ultimately it comes down to one really simple way to look at it. If your content is engaging and it's getting tons of engagement, and people are engaging on the platform, that's good for the platform because people are staying on the platform. Because they're engaging and not going somewhere else and doing something somewhere else, which means they're buying advertising, or they see advertising, and they're generating revenue for the platform, right?
Because if you go on YouTube or Facebook or Instagram and you just go, Oh, that's cool. And then you leave, well, that's fewer revenue dollars for that platform. So the more you stay and engage, the more they like you because you're making them money. And unfortunately, in this world, one of the most engaging things is controversy and polarity. There are other things too, like, you know, like comedy and things like that or news, but one of them is, and probably the easiest, the one that you can control and you can pretty much fabricate out of nowhere is controversy. And so when you have a post or something going on your profile, your platform that is controversial, lots of people engage. They comment, they argue, et cetera. And the platform goes, Oh, this person's content is very engaging, something's happening.
So let's show more of their stuff. Let's start showing more of their stuff the next time they post. And I noticed that dramatically. I mean, I have hundreds and hundreds of comments sometimes on my posts. And then, you know, when I go to post other things, people will always say, well, Dan, I see you everywhere. Well, yeah, 'cause I make sure that I push the algorithm here and there. But here's the thing is, I always say, if you make enough noise, all eyes will be on you, make sure you're selling something.
So recently, and I'll break this down. We're about to release a new ad, and I'll just give you the whole background here. We're expanding the company a bit. We're doing a whole new website design for getclients.com. We're building out a whole new webinar. We're widening our audience a bit because, for a long time, we've only helped coaches and course creators, but people who are in other types of businesses, like maybe they're an accountant, or maybe they have an agency, or maybe they're a web designer, or maybe they shoot music videos for a living, or maybe they provide some sort of done for you service or whatever. Like we've had them trickle in here and there, and using our same system, we've been able to get them the same results because, you know, the principles of marketing are the same. It's just how you apply them. And so we created a new program called High Ticket Selling, which I released to my students a few weeks ago. And we started selling people into that, that aren't just, they're not specifically a course creator or a coach, but maybe they sell tax planning or maybe whatever. Really it works for anybody that has a transformational product. It wouldn't work if you were necessarily e-commerce unless you had an e-commerce product that was transformational and expensive or could be expensive. So not a fidget spinner. Ultimately we teach people. We're moving to teach people how to raise their prices, create a red carpet experience for their customers and, sell for a much higher price over the phone and still dominate the competition. So that's how we're widening our audience, and we need something to sort of kick that off and let everybody know, Hey, this is what we're doing now. So what better than a viral music video?
So we're filming a music video on March 1st on my yacht, and we're going to do this big funny thing. And I'm sure that if we just released it as is, it would be fine. It would go somewhat viral, and it would be great, but I want to get the algorithm warmed up as much as possible prior to that. So, you know, and I didn't actually mean to do this. It just happened. I've been posting pictures of people on my boat recently because look, when you have a boat, anybody that has a boat takes pictures on their boat, right? And it's funny because when I take pictures of my boat because it's a 60-foot luxury catamaran, $2 million yacht, some people get kind of butthurt about it. And it's like, so if I have a crappy boat, it's okay to post pictures. But if I have a nice boat, you can't do that. You know? So, so I post pictures of the boat, and for weeks I was posting pictures, my family, my mother, my father, videos and images of them saying, you know, Oh, how great it was. You know, I like literally had tons and tons of content out there from my family, right?
And then one day I decided to have a Superbowl party, and I invite some, some friends of mine. Some employees, a photographer that I use and, they invited some girlfriends. I had a few guys on there as well. There's probably like, I don't know, seven girls, maybe five guys. And we had a nice Superbowl party. And at one point during the party, the girls asked to take a picture, and they said, Hey, Dan, come here in the picture. I said, okay, I didn't even think of it, right? I just got in the picture and took a picture. And so I posted it, not even thinking about anything, right? Just not even really thinking about it. And then, all of a sudden, I start getting these negative comments and these people going, " I don't know, Dan. Dan must be going, Dan Blazerian now." And, "You know, he used to be professional and, now he's doing this whole thing with women and yachts."
It's like one picture where prior to that, all the pictures are of my family, my mother, you know, my sister. And I think it was because the women in the picture happened to be attractive and, I guess thin, you know? And, look, St. Pete and Tampa is a very healthy city. There are tons of like health clubs and stuff. And I don't know. Maybe it was just that the girls who happened to be on the boat that day were all in shape, so whatever. And everybody freaked out about it. And I noticed this and I went, Ooh, okay. All right. People are kinda going nutty over this. So I said, all right. Let me press here. You know, 'cause I knew that if I did and look, let's face it, this is completely irrational, right?
I've seen comments where people are accusing me of all kinds of sexist stuff, saying, Well, you said this. And it's like, no, I didn't. I never said that. Somebody else said that who looked at a picture, who said something to somebody else and, then all of a sudden, you're assuming I said that. But that's great because people are just going completely out of their minds over this. So I decided to stoke the fire. So I made a post after this, and I said, Hey, I'm going to be hiring some models or some girls for the music video shoot because the music video we're doing is a parody of another video, which requires, you know, a few girls to make the video make sense.
And so people like freaked out about that and, I knew they would, and so that's why I posted it. I already pretty much knew who I was going to hire, but you know, people are like, Oh, well, they should get paid. And it's like, well, yeah, I know they should get paid. I never said they wouldn't. But again, like, this is what happens online people, their intelligence drops like a fricking rock, and they don't realize that there's so much context outside of a picture or a ten-word post, you know? How do you know what it's for, you know? You don't know if a person is paying or not paying, or if it's a music video that's about this or about that. You have no context.
So, but people make judgments and, then when people make those judgments, other people defend, and it goes crazy, and you get hundreds and hundreds of comments. So I stoked it that way. And then I did another post where I was like, "What's wrong with having attractive women in an ad or music video? Are you hot phobic?" And I knew that would really just drive people nuts. And again, I'm not going to lie to you. I do it on purpose because I think it's super silly to react negatively to one single picture in the first place and make assumptions that are just absolutely ridiculous. So if you're going to be ridiculous, I'm going to at least going to leverage your ridiculousness to increase my reach and grow my company and get my message out there. You know?
So that's the thing, people will do absolutely ridiculous things to try to hurt you. And it's sort of like, I envisioned Steven Seagal in my head, "Redirect the energy and use it against them," you know? And it's like, okay, fine. If you're going to be ridiculous and you're going to just be super hyper-sensitive, and you're going to take things out of context, fine. Help me get paid. Okay? Help me hack the algorithm. Let's go. So, you know, I make these posts, it increases the reach because everybody's arguing and, the irony, and the funny thing about this is that they have no idea what a video is about or whether or not I'm paying. And of course, I'm paying models. I'd rather pay models, so they show up, you know? But I know they're going to make these assumptions because people just don't use their brains. A lot of times, when they see posts, they just make assumptions.
And those assumptions create debates and arguments and comments and engagement and reach. And I know that if I do this, it's going to increase my reach, so the next time I post something, more people will see it. More people will talk about it, and when I do finally premiere that video, there'll be a lot of eyeballs and attention on it. I'm even thinking about doing some sort of like world premiere thing, or maybe doing a contest where like, we give like a monetary prize randomly to people who share it or something. I dunno. I'll figure it out. But yeah.
You know the point is that look, you're going to have controversy because we live in a world now where everybody's offended by everything. They're offended by the air, the humidity, the molecules. They will find something to be offended by. And so you have three choices.
You can let it get to you. You can engage, and you can just let it get into your head, which is dumb because, you know, they're being ridiculous. They don't even know the context. Why are you taking their opinion seriously?
Or you can completely ignore it, which is what I do most of the time. Or you can leverage it, and you can leverage it to hack the algorithm to get more reach. And look, you might say, well, Dan, don't you feel bad about that? No, I don't because they're going to do it anyway, right? If they don't do it on my post, they're going to go on somebody else's posts make assumptions, and I mean, do you know how many comments I responded to where somebody said, well, you're saying this, or you did this. And I go, actually, I didn't. And they go, Oh, Oh, well, in that case, you know what I'm saying? So they're going to do it anyway. So it might as well be on my profile.
I might as well get the engagement from it because, you know, and keep in mind that what is the goal here? The goal is to spread our message, right? And you can't spread a message without making one person super-happy without making another person disgruntled, right? That's the thing about polarity. If I teach people how to grow their business and make more money, I'm going to make people who are anti-business, who are anti-wealth angry. Now, if I go and I say I'm going to help people lose weight. I'm probably gonna make some people who don't want to lose weight angry because they think there's something wrong with that.
I mean, I remember seeing a story about a woman who had a bunch of kids, and she was like a fitness person. She's like a fitness model. And she, I think she went on, I don't remember the details, but she was on the cover of a magazine. And she had like abs, and she looked really good, and it was within, I don't know, six months or a year of her having kids. And she just really worked hard to, you know, to get that body after having kids. And she got completely just ridiculed for it because, you know, they say, Oh, that's unrealistic. And it's like, well, yeah, it's unrealistic if you don't go to the gym. But if you go to the gym every day and you work your butt off, it's realistic because it just happened. She's not a robot. She's not an Android. She did it. So it's obviously realistic. She did it, you know?
And so for me, it's like, I already know people are going to go crazy over things that are going to take them out of context. They're going to make assumptions, and so if they're going to do it, you might as well do it on my post so that I can get more engagement so that I can spread my message so that I can help more people. Okay? Because ultimately that's the thing, I'm going to take something negative, and I'm going to turn it into a positive, and I live my whole life like that. I call it the 180-degree rule. Almost anything negative you can turn into a positive. And so if people are going to hate on me and they're going to comment, and they're going to say stupid stuff, cause they take things out of context.
Fine, but if you're going to do that to me, I'm going to leverage you to make more money. And there's nothing you can do about it unless you just shut up and don't talk about me, but you can't do that because you just can't help yourself. You just can't help yourself, and I know you can't help yourself. And I know that if you're one of those people and you're listening to this podcast right now, even though I'm telling you I'm literally doing it on purpose. And I'm literally telling you, you're helping me grow my business. You're still not going to be able to resist the urge to continue to do it. And then you're going to say, well, no, I'll go and comment on his post and say, see, he did a podcast episode where he said, he's doing it on purpose. This is all a sham. Why would you follow this guy? Why would you give him money? It's a sham. He even said so. He even admitted it. Okay, good, go do that so that people go listen to the podcast episode and learn this technique so they can help grow their audience and their business through polarity and controversy and hacking the algorithm. Please go, you know, go frolic amongst the social media world and do said thing. And even though I'm telling you this, and I'm telling you that it's going to help me, you're still going to do it. You're still gonna do it 'cause you just can't help yourself. It's human nature.
And I think that on a side note, on a serious note, there is a little bit of comedy in this, in this episode. But ultimately, I think at the end of the day, we just need to give our fellow humans more grace. Because at the end of the day, think of all the hate and think of all the controversy and, all the bad byproducts of people feeling bad and, and wasting their time, arguing with people and being insulted and being called names because, you know, they took something out of context or made an assumption that just isn't true. Or they were super sensitive about something. I'm sorry. But if you have a lingerie line and you hire models to model the lingerie, and then you cry women objectification. Well, what about the women that volunteer for that job, 'cause that's how they pay their bills and they work hard and, they work to be a model, and that's their career? Like, what do you say to them? Like, I mean, and I'm not saying right or wrong, what is objectification or what isn't.
Look, I'm a business, I'm an entrepreneur. I'm not a social psychologist, or I'm not a political figure. So I don't know the answer, right? Like, I don't know where the line is. Like, I try not to get super deep into that because that's above my pay grade, right? Like, I don't know a lot of those things, but I can tell you that it's an issue. I can tell you that if you say you can't do this, it's going to hurt people. It's going to hurt the market. It's going to hurt people who do that for a living. You know? So I will just say this, all that said, please try to give your fellow humans a little bit more grace, try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Try to understand that they probably don't mean what you think they mean and what you're assuming probably isn't the case. Maybe it is, but you don't know. And instead of accusing and labeling and calling names, ask for clarification and ask it in a nice way. And also, let me just, one more thing for those of you that follow me and are fans of mine. I really want to ask you, and even though I know it helps the algorithm, and I know it helps hack.
Please don't name, call people that are ridiculous. And I get it. They're ridiculous. I've seen so many comments where people say, Oh, you know, you're being like Dan Bilzerian now, and I'm going to stop following you because it used to be all about family for you, Dan. And now it's not. Which look, I know it's ridiculous because I get it. I posted one picture. There were some girls on the boat, and people made assumptions. And all of a sudden, I'm Dan Bilzerian. Even though there were dozens and dozens of photos of my family, I know it's ridiculous. I know it's stupid. It is dumb. It is absolutely stupid. But that doesn't mean that when somebody comments that, if you're a fan or a follower of mine, you should call them a name or cuss at them or whatever because when you do that, you're basically saying, Hey, I have just as little class and, I'm just as ignorant as you are just in a different categorical way. And it doesn't make you look good.
And I could choose to say, yeah, do it, give them hell. And yes, that would increase the algorithm even more and, or would hack the algorithm even more and give me even more reach. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I do have a line. I have a moral and ethical line. And so I just want to tell all of you who are fans of mine, please just don't be rude to people. Like you can be assertive, but don't sit there and tell people that they're, you know, a piece of this or that, or cuss at them or call them names just because they're being a bit ridiculous. And they're taking things out of context. That's not to say that they're not being ridiculous. They are, but you can still treat them with respect while being okay with disagreements. And so I just want to say that.
That said, guys, I hope this was helpful. That this podcast was helpful, and don't forget to subscribe, and I'll see you the next one. And don't forget that video is coming soon! So stay tuned.