I Just Ran a Terrible Social Media Campaign. Here's What I Did Wrong.

Tom Dheere
1 day ago
5 min read

As the VO Strategist, my job is to help fellow entrepreneurs avoid the kind of boneheaded mistakes that can cost them time, money, and momentum. But to do that, I have to be willing to admit when I make those mistakes myself. And hoo boy, did I just make a big one.

For 50 days, I ran a social media campaign called "Inspirational Quotes for Entrepreneurs." The goal was to share some wisdom and grow my audience.

If you haven't already ignored the campaign, you can see it here:

The result? A spectacular belly flop. Crickets. Tumbleweeds. A masterclass in how to get ignored when you're a business of one.

It was a fantastic failure. And that’s why I want to break it down for you, piece by painful piece, so you can learn from my blunders and apply the lessons to your own freelance business.

Autopsy of a Failed Social Media Campaign: 3 Self-Inflicted Wounds

My strategy was flawed from the very beginning. I broke three of the most fundamental rules of social media, and the algorithms rightfully punished me for it.

My First Mistake: I Made My Audience Work for It (And They Didn't)

My brilliant idea was to post a teaser on my social platforms. The post would announce the quote of the day, but to actually get the quote, you had to click a link and watch a video of me saying it on YouTube.

Why I Thought It Would Work: "This is genius!" my brain said. "I'll create a sense of mystery! I'll drive a ton of traffic to my YouTube channel!"

Why It Actually Failed: This created friction.

As a fellow freelancer, you know our audience's time is their most valuable asset. Expecting them to stop, click, leave the app they're in, and go somewhere else just to get the punchline is a terrible user experience. I was asking for their time and effort before providing a single shred of value. And, quite rightly, they collectively said, "Nah, I'm good," and kept scrolling.

My Second Mistake: I Tried to Fight the Algorithm (And the Algorithm Won)

As if that wasn't bad enough, I made the platforms work against me. Facebook's primary goal is to keep you on Facebook. LinkedIn wants to keep you on LinkedIn, etc. The last thing they want to do is help their one of their biggest competitors, YouTube.

Why I Thought It Would Work: "People love my brand, they'll follow me anywhere!" my ego exclaimed.

Why It Actually Failed: The moment a platform's algorithm sees an external link to a competitor, it throttles the post's reach into oblivion. They’re not going to send their users to another party. By trying to funnel everyone to YouTube, I was a solo rower trying to swim upstream against a powerful current.

My Third Mistake: I Put Up a "Do Not Enter" Sign for New Followers

Every single day, the text and the thumbnail for the post announced what day it was: "Day 1 of 50," "Day 2 of 50," and so on.

Why I Thought It Would Work: "This shows consistency and commitment! Entrepreneurs respect the hustle!" my inner marketer declared.

Why It Actually Failed: It created a massive barrier to entry.

Imagine you're a potential new follower and you see a post titled "Day 43 of 50." Your immediate reaction is, "Well, I guess I missed the first 42. Too late now." Instead of being an invitation, it felt like an exclusive club you were already too late to join. For a solopreneur trying to grow their audience, alienating potential followers is a critical error.

The Inevitable Follow-Up Question: "Should I Go Back and Fix the Old Posts?"

After a detailed autopsy like this, the next question is always about the cleanup. Is it worth my time to go back and correct the 200+ posts from this failed campaign?

NO.

As entrepreneurs, our time is our most valuable and finite resource. While the urge to "fix" past mistakes is strong, in the world of social media, it's a terrible idea. Here’s why:

The Algorithms Have Already Moved On

A social media post has an incredibly short lifespan. The platforms decided the fate of those posts within the first 48 hours. Editing them now won't magically push them back into people's feeds. Your effort would be almost completely invisible.

The Opportunity Cost is Too High

This is the most critical reason. The 15-20 hours it might take to correct all those posts is time that could be spent on high-value, forward-looking tasks: writing more blog posts, doing direct outreach to potential clients, or planning your next campaign correctly.

Salvage the content, not the posts.

I will keep my list of 50 quotes and re-launch the campaign correctly somewhere down the road. I will let the old posts fade away as a sunk cost and a valuable lesson learned.

The Bottom Line: The Lesson Every Entrepreneur Needs to Learn

A successful social media strategy isn't about tricking people into visiting your preferred platform. It's about providing native value where your audience already is.

My next campaign won't be a funnel; it will be an ecosystem. The quotes will be posted directly as text or images on each platform. The videos will be uploaded natively. YouTube will be the archive, not the bait. And I will never again start a post with "Day X of..."

Learn from my face-plant. Give your audience value, right then and there, and they'll reward you with their attention.

Make them work for it, and they'll reward you with silence.

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