About the Episode:
Dakota Robertson is the founder of Growth Ghost, a social media ghostwriting business with high-profile clients that include best-selling authors, prominent influencers, and 7 and 8 figure entrepreneurs. He scaled this venture to generate $30,000-$50,000 per month within its first nine months, then transitioned to his current role as a personal brand consultant after two successful years.

Now with an audience of over 550,000 followers and generating monthly earnings exceeding $100,000, Dakota's mission is to help others to achieve freedom and make an impact through their content and online businesses. He offers a free personal branding course for creators, coaches, and business owners.

In this episode of DTC Pod, he shares his strategies for creating viral content, emphasizing the importance of sharing personal experiences, addressing pain points, and providing actionable advice to connect with audiences. He also discusses his ‘what-why-how’ writing framework, his content repurposing workflow, and the value of ghostwriting for those who struggle with content creation.

Today, we'll cover:
- The art of simplifying your message and leveraging psychology in copywriting to create compelling content
- The critical roles that relevance and curiosity play in content consumption and purchasing decisions
- Dakota Robertson's proven "what, why, how" framework for creating highly engaging content
- The growing importance of ghostwriting in the social media space and how it can help clients achieve their goals
- Strategies for building a content funnel to nurture relationships and convert followers into customers

What You'll Learn
1. Techniques for Creating Engaging Content
2. Social Media Growth and Ghostwriting
3. Content Creation Workflow
4. Repurposing Content
5. Building a Personal Brand
6. Relevance and Curiosity in Content
7. The “What, Why, How" Framework
8. Funnel Strategy and Long-Form Content

Timestamps
00:00 Dakota Robertson’s background
02:22 How Dakota Robertson started on socials
05:15 Two important copywriting lessons
07:24 Inciting relevance and curiosity in social content
10:47 Dakota Robertson’s what-why-how framework
14:19 On ghostwriting as a career path
16:08 Creating content yourself vs employing a ghostwriter
19:18 Dakota Robertson’s content workflow
22:41 Ways to think of content ideas
25:06 How to create a transparent relationship with your audience
29:23 Sales funnel offers and how to convert with content

Understanding the Audience’s Pain Points: “Imagine you're in a desert and you have no water. It's scorching hot. You've been walking for days, and then someone has a little water bottle. How much would you pay for that? You’d probably empty your entire bank account. Opposed to, if you're just walking on the street, you're not thirsty, you're fine. It's like, you probably won't even buy it. The only difference is the context of the pain you're in. So something is showing, ‘Hey, like, I can solve this pain point for you,’ then it's gonna be more relevant to the person.” — Dakota Robertson [00:08:30 → 00:09:02]

Creating and Sharing Personal Content: “I find a lot of people in business, they're so focused on, you know, giving value and actionable stuff, and they totally neglect the personal side of things. So I think there should be more of a focus on personal stories, worldviews, and opinions, even if it's polarizing, because that's the stuff that's gonna make people love you, even if it means other people hate you.” — Dakota Robertson [00:24:44 → 00:25:06]

Impact of Long-Form Content on Conversion: “If someone consumes a three-second tweet, it's like, okay, but if someone consumes a ten-minute YouTube video, you're taking up more real estate in their mind, and you're nurturing that relationship way more because they can see and hear you. And that's the stuff that converts way better, is long form. So I'm always thinking about how can I convert my short-form content to long-form and ideally get them on my newsletter so they can have a direct line of access?" — Dakota Robertson [00:32:01 → 00:32:29]

Show notes powered by Castmagic

---

Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?
Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.

Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?
Check out our newsletter here.

Follow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!

Castmagic Instagram
Castmagic Twitter
Castmagic LinkedIn

---

Blaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Ramon Berrios - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Dakota Robertson - Founder of Growth Ghost

61: Open-Source and Bootstrapping