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i
Awards for first edition

WINNER: American Book Fest Best Book
Awards 2020 – Marketing and Advertising category
WINNER: NYC Big Book Award 2020 – Business: Small

Business and Entrepreneurship category
WINNER: BookAuthority Best New Book to Read
in 2020 – Social Media Marketing category
ii
PRAISE FOR
THE END OF MARKETING
Carlos Gil is a marketing visionary who I am proud to call a friend. His

book is in a league of its own.
Jeff “Ja Rule” Atkins, rapper and entrepreneur
Is your marketing failing? Study this book. Carlos Gil reveals a strategy
for developing a loyal community in an age where loyalty is hard to
come by.
Michael Stelzner, Founder and CEO, Social Media Examiner
Carlos Gil’s illustrious career makes him expertly positioned to help

readers navigate the ever-changing world of marketing technology. It’s
exciting to find a book that provides both a strategic road map as well
as detailed common-sense advice. It’s a must-read for both seasoned
marketers and those who are just starting the journey to build a
personal brand.
Bonin Bough, Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Bonin Ventures
Razor-sharp, insightful, and unafraid to say it like it is. Carlos Gil paves
the way for a new era in marketing.
Gerard Adams, Co-founder, Elite Daily
Carlos Gil is one of the most brilliant marketers I’ve ever had the
pleasure of working with and his insights and knowledge are critical to
succeeding in business today. The End of Marketing is essential
reading for entrepreneurs and marketers alike. The author is right:
marketing is dead; human connection and emotions are what drive
people and their actions.
Josh Machiz, Head of Client Engagement, Nasdaq
iii
Second Edition
The End of
Marketing
Humanizing your brand
in the age of social media
Carlos Gil
iv
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this
book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot
accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for
loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of
the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.
First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2020 by Kogan Page Limited
This edition published in 2022
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or re-
view, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may
only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior per-
mission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accor-
dance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street 122 W 27th St, 10th Floor

London New York, NY 10001 4737/23 Ansari Road
EC1V 3RS USA Daryaganj
United Kingdom New Delhi 110002
www.koganpage.com India
© Carlos Gil, 2022
The right of Carlos Gil to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBNs
Hardback 978 1 3986 0136 9
Paperback 978 1 3986 0134 5
Ebook 978 1 3986 0135 2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gil, Carlos, author.
Title: The end of marketing: humanizing your brand in the age of social
media / Carlos Gil.
Description: Second edition. | London; New York, NY: Kogan Page, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021030871 (print) | LCCN 2021030872 (ebook) | ISBN
9781398601345 (paperback) | ISBN 9781398601369 (hardback) | ISBN
9781398601352 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Marketing. | Marketing–Technological innovations. |
Internet marketing. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / General
| BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / Multilevel
Classification: LCC HF5415 .G465 2022 (print) | LCC HF5415 (ebook) | DDC
658.8–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030871
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021030872
Typeset by Integra Software Services, Pondicherry

Print production managed by Jellyfish
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
v
CONTENTS
About the Author x

Acknowledgments xi
01 Marketing is dead 1
Everyone is an influencer, and everyone is a competitor 9
References 21
02 Stranded in a digital ocean 23

Write this down: attention is the commodity, not
followers 24
Getting social media users to engage 27
Be where your customers are 30
Analyze what content works 33
Less promotion, more interaction 36
References 39
03 How to be savage AF—like Randy 41

Be likeable but be a savage 47
Finding your brand mentions 49
Finding your brand mentions alongside competitor
brands 50
Finding your competition’s mentions in specific
contexts 51
Using industry mentions to find prospective customers 53
Monitoring reviews of your brand 54
Engaging with your competitors’ social media ads 55
Strategies to change how your company is perceived
on social media 56
References 62
vi Contents
04 Don’t be mad at Facebook; you just suck

at marketing 63
Don’t hate Facebook—get better at marketing 66
Understanding Facebook’s algorithm 68
Types of content to avoid posting on Facebook 71
How to growth hack your Facebook content 73
Create content that converts 76
Conducting an audit of your Facebook pages 77
References 80
05 Swipe right: sales and marketing is no different

from finding your match on Tinder 81
The start of Snapchat 83
Don’t overly rely on platforms 88
Living in a Tinder world 90
Carefully map out your story, aka “storyboarding” 91
Write short one- or two-sentence captions 92
Ask open-ended questions to maximize engagement 93
Ditch stock photography and replace it with real-life
user-generated moments 93
Marketing is like dating 94
Reference 100
06 Growth hacking your way to greatness 101

Cheating isn’t winning 103
Growth hacking 104
Facebook Groups 112
LinkedIn Groups 113
Facebook Watch Party 114
Native blogging 115
How to frame content for maximum engagement 115
Create Instagram and Twitter pods 116
Automate engagement with bots 117
Contents vii
07 The celebrity effect: key lessons marketers need

to learn from A-list celebrities 120
Being genuine is key to creating content that
connects 128
Can brands create their own Shiggy challenges? 129
Five key points for social media success 130
Ten steps to telling the perfect story 134
Reference 139
08 Transforming your advocates into the faces

of your brand 140
Why does employee advocacy really matter? 145
Getting buy-in throughout the company 146
Keys to successful employee advocacy program
rollouts 149
How to keep up momentum after launching 151
How HR can turn employees into advocates 157
Why HR should get involved 157
Key steps for HR 158
References 159
09 Bringing it all together 160

How to hack the Facebook algorithm 163
Cracking the code on Instagram 164
Turn customers and employees into advocates 165
Have a strategy for each platform 167
Tools to use 167
FAQs 170
Above all, be social 179
10 The power of personality and persuasion 180

Meet “The 5Ps of Success” 182
Add rich media content 194
Update often and monitor 196
Join LinkedIn Groups 197
viii Contents
Find relevant groups 197

Introduce and engage 197
Create industry thought leadership 199
Create video content 200
Have a plan and be consistent 202
You can’t post once a day and walk away 202
Each channel requires its own strategy 203
What to do in between posts 203
Reference 205
11 Judgment day: the battle of AI versus

humans 206
Machine learning 207
Predictive analytics 207
Artificial intelligence 208
The future is happening now 208
Buying “fake” followers and “fake” engagement 213
Following and unfollowing tactics 214
Auto-like and auto-comment 214
References 220
12 As social media evolves, marketers must

evolve or die 221
Evolve or die 223
How to continue to engage new audiences 225
Millennials and the C-suite 227
The platforms 227
Final thoughts 228
The new marketing department 231
Create your influencers 232
Conversational marketing 233
How to tell your story and gain organic reach on
TikTok 233
Tapping into the TikTok community 234
Contents ix
Your hero’s journey 235

Using text overlay 236
Making your music count 237
Following the trends 237
Understanding the TikTok algorithms 238
The story of Doggface 238
The end of video marketing 239
Conclusion 239
References 240
13 Marketing in a post-pandemic society 242

Lead with empathy 251
Be open and honest 253
Humanize your brand 254
Personalize social media channels 256
Finding new customers and sales opportunities 257
Put in the work now to reap rewards over time 258
References 260
Afterword by Brian Solis 263

Index 266
x
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C arlos Gil is an international keynote speaker and award-

winning digital storyteller with over a decade of experience
leading social media strategy for global brands including LinkedIn,
Winn-Dixie, Save-A-Lot, and BMC Software. A first-generation
Cuban-American, Gil’s work has been featured by Social Media
Examiner, Inc., and Entrepreneur, in addition to dozens of trade
publications. As a social media consultant, Gil has worked with
notable Fortune 500 clients, including Hertz, DocuSign, Western
Union, Fiverr, Kay Jewelers, and Green Dot Bank. As an influencer,
Gil has been hired for campaigns in partnership with Nationwide
Insurance, Facebook, Snapchat, MGM Resorts, Southwest Airlines,
and WeWork.
xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
F irst and foremost, thanks to God for His blessings. Thank you
to my family, including my wife, Paola, and five children,
Carlos M., Gabriela, Genesis, Galileah, and Alexander, for being
part of this journey. Although I haven’t always been present be-
cause of the mediums I write about in this book, I realize more
each day that no matter the number of followers or ‘Likes’ one has
on social media, nothing matters more than one’s family. Thank
you to my parents, Carlos Sr. and Millie Gil, for being my biggest
fans since day one. Thank you to Chris Cudmore and the team at
Kogan Page for giving me another opportunity to update The End
of Marketing. When the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on the
momentum of the first edition only six months into publication, I
was passionate about updating the book to speak to today’s mar-
keter. Finally, thank you to every person who has supported my
work by purchasing either the first or second edition of this book;
without your support, this book would not have received the
awards and accolades it has. Community is king.
xii
I dedicate this book to my children, Carlos M.,

Gabriela, Genesis, Galileah, and Alexander.
Daddy loves you.
1
01
Marketing is
dead
F or years, social media has shifted away from its social roots to
become more of a branding marketplace. A place to sell.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic swung the pendulum back in
the social direction.
During these difficult times, more people came to appreciate the
value of a real community, not just the number of likes on a post or
what their favorite brand was selling.
Now, in this new age of business, brands need to adapt to the
current environment, which often means building relationships—
and ideally whole communities—rather than trying to go for the
sale.
Consumers don’t want to be sold to any more than you do; they
want to be engaged through stories and dialogue, making them feel
closer to you and your brand.
To understand marketing today is to know psychology, culture,
and human behavior (i.e., know what people want to see, what’s
trending, and make your content look the most appealing to cap-
ture someone’s attention and on a deeper, human level).
Marketing isn’t a tactic; it’s a science.
Marketing is also a numbers game that requires a considerable
amount of time, patience, money, and understanding of what your
customer desires to see in their newsfeed.
Marketing is manipulation.
And… marketing, as we know it, is dead.
2 The End of Marketing
Now, as you read this, you’re probably saying to yourself: “Yeah

right, marketing isn’t dead—it will never die.” But then, ask your-
self a sincere question: when the entire world was on lockdown
throughout most of 2020, did you care what your favorite brand
had on sale, or did you rush to social media to feel connected to
another human? When Black Lives Matter protests were happen-
ing worldwide, and people took to social media to show solidarity,
at that moment, did it matter what your favorite designer was
posting if it was unrelated to that moment in time?
We now live in an era where digital influence reigns supreme,
not how big your marketing budget is or how many followers you
have on a platform.
To be blunt, most of the time, when you post content on a social
network, it goes unseen by 99 percent of your followers anyway.
Marketing to someone is highly ineffective, whereas marketing
through someone is the opportunity.
While billion-dollar corporations blindly advertise to a digital
abyss, there is a 16-year-old kid somewhere in the world making
six figures per month with an Instagram meme account and a
Shopify store while drop-shipping products like t-shirts and
nutritional supplements without owning a single printing press or
warehouse.
When was the last time that you saw an ad—whether it was on
TV or online—and immediately pulled out your credit card and
made a purchase solely based on impulse? If you can’t remember,
it’s because the likelihood of a single ad influencing you to convert
to becoming a customer hasn’t happened—ever.
However, I’d be willing to bet that in recent times you’ve prob-
ably been influenced to do one of the following:
●● You purchased bitcoin despite not knowing a single thing about

cryptocurrency… because Elon Musk, along with other global
elites, added $BTC to their Twitter profiles, and you didn’t want
to feel left out.
Marketing is dead 3
●● You invested your hard-earned money or possibly your stimulus

check during the middle of a global pandemic on sports cards…
because Gary Vee said, “it’s the next big thing.”
●● You purchased stocks of failing brands GameStop and AMC
movie theaters on Robinhood… because a unanimous account
known as r/WallStreetBets posted “GME to the moon!” on
Reddit, and you wanted to be part of this movement.
●● You won an online raffle for a pair of new sneakers and
immediately shared a screenshot of your purchase… because
you want to be perceived by your internet friends as “cool.”
●● You downloaded a song on iTunes or Spotify that someone you
follow on Instagram shared onto their Instagram Stories… and
suddenly it’s your favorite jam because everyone else is into it.
●● You took a dream vacation to a popular destination because
your go-to YouTube personality showed you what an amazing
time they had at the resort where they stayed… and then you
told anyone who would listen about the incredible experience
you had.
●● You likely participated in the “10 Year Challenge,” “In My
Feelings Challenge,” “Ice Bucket Challenge,” “Mannequin
Challenge,” or the “All-In Challenge” of 2020… because notable
celebrities like Drake and Arianna Grande were part of it.
●● You asked around your network for an invitation to join
Clubhouse after seeing countless screenshots on Instagram
Stories… because you didn’t want to feel left out of the party.
●● Last but not least… you may have been one of the unlucky
individuals to spend thousands of dollars on a ticket to the now-
infamous Fyre Festival because an orange tile on an Instagram
account sold you on the experience of a lifetime.
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you are the consumer
that the company you work for is desperately trying to engage but
fails miserably to do so in the process. This isn’t marketing
a nymore—it is psychology used as a tool to sell and monetize. And

it works.
Call it “fear of missing out” (otherwise known as “FOMO”),
but today’s consumer wants to be part of something bigger than
their everyday life.
If you don’t believe me, look no further than the failed Fyre
Festival as an example of the impact that influencer marketing can
have on a brand, along with the effect on the lives of everyday
consumers.
While the festival’s back-end operations led to its demise, the
marketing execution through social media on the front end created
excitement for the festival as an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime ex
perience to rub elbows on a remote island with celebrities, models,
and influencers.
One of those models was Kendall Jenner, who was compensated
$250,000 to endorse the music festival through an Instagram post,
which has since been deleted along with 400 other influencers re-
ferred to as “Fyre Starters,” who also promoted the festival to their
millions of followers. Kendall cited “So hyped to announce my
G.O.O.D Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival,” in
the now deleted post (Voytko, 2020).
From Bella Hadid to Hailey Baldwin, the disruptive method of
posting an orange tile simultaneously on Instagram was done by
design to capture the attention of those scrolling through their
newsfeed and it worked.
As a result, millions of dollars in ticket sales were generated al-
most instantly. Sadly, the festival itself never occurred, and those
who bought into the influencer hype later realized they fell for a
strategically executed marketing campaign.
While one can make a case that Fyre Festival represents every-
thing that can go wrong on social media, from a marketing stand-
point, you cannot deny that it showcased the power of influencer
marketing and, in the process, created a framework for brands
everywhere.
Marketing is dead 5
In the aftermath of 2019’s Netflix and Hulu documentaries, I

spoke with hip-hop artist Ja Rule at a conference in Cleveland,
Ohio, about the fallout from the festival, to which he shed light on
the origins of the orange tile, saying it was “ridiculous” (Gil, 2019)
to pay $250,000 for an Instagram post. He also said, “people want
to be cool,” (ibid) which ultimately drove consumers to buy into
being part of the festival.
Spotlighted in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Social
Dilemma, social media has become an addictive drug of sorts.
However, to put it briefly, for many, their life is more exciting on-
line and pretty boring offline.
Millions of people gravitate to social media every waking mo-
ment not because they are natural extroverts and enjoy interacting
with strangers. Instead, it is to escape the realities of the ordinary
lives we all live, stuck in between a 9-to-5 job, kids, spouses, and
hobbies.
However, who we are on social media is not real life. Our digital
avatar is a curated snapshot of what we want others to know us for.
We watch reality television for the same reason we subscribe
and opt in to follow digital influencers and celebrities—to escape
reality. Social media doesn’t just connect us to people; it connects
us all to a parallel universe where we are suddenly more popular,
have more friends, and have voices that travel outside of our com-
munities and cities.
As of January 2021, 59.5 percent of the world’s population has
internet access—that’s an estimated 4.6 billion people who have
access to a digital world that primarily exists on a cell phone or
computer (Statista, 2021).
With this online community’s size, today’s internet isn’t just a
place to shop or research. Unlike other forms of mass media like
television, radio, and newspapers, where the communication primar-
ily flows from one to many, the internet—and social media in par-
ticular—naturally facilitates multiway communication, providing an
interactive place to chat about celebrity gossip and politics, rant and
rave about our favorite sporting events and awards shows, or react
to brand campaigns and social movements like Black Lives Matter.
Because of how social media facilitates multiple communication
forms, including one-to-one and many-to-many, consumers today
instinctively only care about your latest ad campaign if their friends
are also speaking about it. These conversations might start online
and then flow to offline communication, fueling more online
conversations.
Since communication has shifted, marketing must too.
Some marketing professionals are still pessimistic about social
media because you can’t advertise and sell to consumers the same
way you would historically have run a print or TV ad.
In the “old days,” pre-social media, iconic brands like Nike,
Coca-Cola, and others didn’t have to do much to convince the
masses to buy from them. They either showed up on your TV or in
a magazine with their globally recognized logo, a celebrity figure-
head endorsing them (i.e., like Fyre Festival did), a catchy slogan
that an advertising agency came up with, and you had lightning in
a bottle.
Today, marketing and advertising require a new way of thinking
and an understanding that the digital landscape is built on genuine
communication instead of mass communication—especially post-
COVID, whereby consumers’ expectations of the brands they fol-
low should be to engage with empathy first.
Nobody wants to be sold to, and if you use social mediums to
be overly promotional, you’re going to be quickly filtered out. Do
you personally look forward to seeing an advertisement on social
media from your favorite brands? Probably not.
To that point, consumers today want to be a part of a movement,
not a marketing campaign. For example, the “All in Challenge,”
which as of 2021 has raised over $59 million to provide food to
those in need, such as children, the elderly, and frontline heroes,
leverages celebrities as the faces of the charitable initiative (Fanatics.
com, 2021). The challenge is a virtual fundraiser where celebrities
offer up experiences in an auction or giveaway. Donors have a
Marketing is dead 7
chance to star alongside Kevin Hart in an upcoming movie or

receive a personalized performance by Justin Bieber for as little
as $10.
Your challenge isn’t how to market to your target consumer;
instead, your objective should be how to engage your target demo-
graphic to become an advocate for your brand and, in return, have
them convince their friends to join—similar to how the “All in
Challenge” has built up a roster of celebrity advocates.
The good news is that this form of scaling your message
shouldn’t be entirely new to marketers: it’s similar in principle to
messaging in the 1980s and 1990s, such as teenagers showing off
their latest clothes and sneakers to friends at the mall, thereby en-
couraging a broader group to buy more.
Brand awareness alone in the form of an iconic logo doesn’t
equal business success anymore; just ask every corporation that
has gone out of business since 2020. Thanks to technology, those
days are behind us. The shopping mall arcade and food court aren’t
the cool, hip places to hang out anymore. Instead, it’s a group dis-
cussion on Twitter spaces, TikTok, or Clubhouse.
For Generation Z, it’s a Fortnite group online party whereby
teenage kids like my son are using mom and dad’s credit card to
ensure that their character is perceivably cooler than their friends’.
According to its developer Epic Games, Fortnite grew to over 125
million players from 2017 to 2018 (The Fortnite Team, 2018). Yet
when you run a quick search on Twitter for “Fortnite” there’s a
noticeable lack of companies interjecting their brand into a conver-
sation among a community of gamers that attracts over 40 million
players per month.
If you’re McDonald’s, PepsiCo, or a brand that appeals to teen-
agers or young adults, tapping into this audience is as easy as creat-
ing an account on Twitch, branded by your company and inviting
micro-influencers, in this case the gamers, to play on your account.
You could then cross-promote on your Facebook page, Instagram
account, Twitter channel, and email list.
It’s that easy, but so far, it’s not being done.
What is disappointing about this is the lack of awareness that

comes from the C-level at many companies, which seem to choose
to think of social media as a secondary or even tertiary medium for
marketing and advertising. Most major corporations employ doz-
ens of highly educated, annual six-figure earners to work in their
marketing departments, yet by not tapping into the potential of
social media, they’re not getting the most out of their employees.
That disconnect is because we often fail to separate who we are as
consumers from who we are as professionals.
What we want as consumers often doesn’t align with what we
expect as marketers from our customers.
While marketing as we know it is dead, clearly consumerism is
very much alive and well. People will always need goods, products,
and services. Even when cars become autonomous, we will always
need vehicles and transportation, no differently from how we will
still need clothing to wear, places to visit, and people to see. Because
we are not robots—we are humans.
And as humans, we all feel a need to be acknowledged, wanted,
and loved. As such, brands need to do a better job of making their
customers feel valued, and that requires understanding who your
target customers are and where to connect with them.
Whether you are a service provider, a talent who is hungry for
work, or a brand, social media makes it easy to find and directly
connect with customers.
Imagine being able to go to Google right now and type “Find
customers who are looking to buy XX” and seeing real-time search
results. It already exists. By tapping into Twitter or Instagram as
search engines, you can run searches to find your ideal audience.
But before you start implementing these strategies and use social
media to its fullest potential, it’s important to first understand the
ethos behind why it can work so effectively.
It’s a challenging notion, and one that can be difficult to imple-
ment. And this is the notion I want to convey to you: we are living
in a new era whereby people have the power to influence the masses
Marketing is dead 9
from an iPhone anywhere in the world. The game of marketing is

no longer played exclusively by billion-dollar corporations.
Everyone is an influencer, and

everyone is a competitor
However, if you want to win the game, you need to make people—
not your logo—the face of your brand.
The reason I have dedicated over a decade to educating profes-
sionals about the power of social media is that I believe in its im-
mense ability to transform lives, careers, and businesses as a result
of what social media has meant to me, both personally and
professionally.
In 2008, I was laid off from the banking industry due to the
United States’ financial crisis. Despite my layoff, social media was
a catalyst in helping me rebuild my career and build up a network
of invaluable connections. Through those connections and invest-
ing countless hours devoted to studying “the game” of social media
marketing, I built a following for myself. I also founded my first
business at the age of 25. Despite not having any formal education
in this field, I figured out that eventually, a few of those connec-
tions will convert into paying customers if enough people know
that you exist. Ultimately, companies started to pay me to teach
them what I knew about the space, which was relatively new at the
time. I went to work for corporations, including LinkedIn, where
I was responsible for leading social media teams. Fast forward a
few years, the personal brand that I started grooming over a dec-
ade ago was critical to helping me become a bestselling author in
under 24 hours when The End of Marketing first hit Amazon for
pre-ordering. Then, in 2020 when the pandemic put my momen-
tum on pause temporarily, it was social media, the connections
formed, and my personal brand that helped me quickly pivot
into e-commerce by launching Outlaw Masks seamlessly because
I already had built up a following with genuine connections.
Throughout my career in this industry, both as an employee and

consultant, I’ve encountered numerous C-level executives who
don’t fully buy into social media. The best way to sell an executive
on the value social media provides is to show them how easy it is
to find real customers with a quick search on Instagram or show
them what their customers are saying about their company through
a Twitter search. Then, sell them on the point that their employees
can engage in real time with those users and turn them into
customers.
For example, suppose I want to find people who like business or
marketing books to get them to buy The End of Marketing. In that
case, all I need to do is go to Twitter and run a search for “best
business book,” which will reveal hundreds of tweets from users
who at some point recently tweeted out with the phrase “best busi-
ness book” somewhere in their tweet. From there, I have a qualified
list of users to whom I can directly tweet and introduce them to my
book. It’s that easy.
Whether in person at a conference or privately through LinkedIn,
I am approached frequently by professionals who are still trying to
make sense of tools that aren’t new but are constantly evolving.
My answer to them is always to understand the fundamental ethos:
less selling, more listening and engaging.
I believe wholeheartedly that, as Baby Boomers and Generation
X become supplanted by Millennials and Generation Z as the pri-
mary economic drivers of global consumerism, if brands want to
survive—and thrive—through the next industrial revolution, being
AI, they need to find a way to personify who they are and step from
behind the digital curtain.
In the future, Coca-Cola will need to be a person I can relate
to—a real face that personifies the brand and convinces me to buy
Coke instead of Pepsi. Nike will need to be a team of athletes that
I and others should aspire to be like and teach me how to work
out. Whole Foods will need to be a series of people who teach me
how to make better choices in how I eat. American Airlines will
need to be a group of travel influencers who show me the world
through their camera lens.
Marketing is dead 11
The fact is, for every fitness influencer, for every beauty blogger,
for every travel influencer that exists, that is one more person who
is taking market share away from your company. You are compet-
ing for digital reach with the same influencers you are temporarily
hiring to endorse your brand. And this model doesn’t work. This is
a new world order… of business. You only have to look as far as
AOL and MySpace to see what happens when your audience grows
up and you don’t grow up with it.
Thanks to technology, consumers are the media. Today, with an
iPhone and an Instagram account, every person is an influencer.
This is part of the reason why brands, and the marketers behind
them, don’t buy into social media: because the brand is no longer
superior to the consumer in the eyes of the consumer. It’s about
control—but it shouldn’t be. Of course, you can’t control what
people say about you—but you can steer the conversation in the
direction that you desire, should you choose to engage and be a
part of it. That’s the key—brands should be aiming to be a part of
the movement and avoid falling into the trap of trying to be the
movement itself.
To a certain extent, control has been relinquished not to the
entity that has the most marketing budget to spend but rather to
the people whose message goes the furthest.
Brands shouldn’t view these platforms as their biggest enemy.
They are also your biggest ally, and today, one that you cannot live
without.
Facebook is one of the most—if not the most—powerful corpo-
rations on the planet. Mark Zuckerberg and company have trans-
formed the way that we communicate, consume news, and enjoy
entertainment. The online social world is becoming more a part of
our day-to-day lives and allows us to keep up with how individuals
are living their lives, rather than only relying on mass communica-
tion media like TV and radio to get a glimpse of what’s going on in
the world. That leads us to the good news—what’s old is new
again. Since the beginning of time, relationships have been at the
forefront of everything we do.
Building relationships isn’t done through Facebook ads or brand

campaigns exclusively; they’re formed individually one by one.
Social media gives you the power to identify consumers who are
speaking about your brand and your competition as well as the
ability to engage them directly. But these relationships need to be
carefully fostered. Importantly, the relationship that you form with
your customer needs to be a two-way dialogue, otherwise you’re
pushing out content for the sake of creating noise.
There are a few things to keep in mind for engaging digitally
connected customers. Here’s the formula:
Know your audience—who are they and what

channels are they on?
If you’re trying to engage younger consumers, you’re more likely to
find them on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, and TikTok. Whereas if
you’re trying to sell to a working-class Millennial or older, it’s most
likely going to be on Facebook where you can reach them. You
should spend your time on the platforms where your customers
live.
What value do you bring to your intended

audience?
Do you have a product or service that solves a problem? If so, find
people who are openly speaking about that problem and hook
them directly. As a consumer, if I complain about a company and
their competitor immediately swoops in to help me, I am more
likely to take my business to that company or brand. Every com-
pany and product or service has a target customer who has needs;
your job is to connect those needs by listening and engaging
directly.
Who are your references?

If you own an apparel brand and are selling t-shirts on Shopify,
who is buying them? Seriously ask yourself: who are these people,
and do they have any influence whatsoever digitally? Going for-
ward, start keeping track of your customers digitally to see who
they’re connected to and form a dialogue with them in an attempt
to leverage their influence within their circles. If someone buys
from you and has a good experience, they’re immediately a
reference.
Who has perceived influence among your target

consumers and how can you align with them?
Who are the influencers that exist right now within your indus-
try? These don’t have to be international celebrities but can in-
stead be thought leaders in your industry or local figures who
have important influence within their communities. For example,
when younger consumers think of “Yeezys,” they aren’t proudly
representing Adidas but rather Kanye West. Speaking of Kanye
West and influencers, pay close attention to how the music indus-
try is benefiting from the shift of brands being corporations to
people being brands. Songs go viral too. Today, whenever a new
album drops, people are taking to Instagram to share a screenshot
of a hot new song playing on their iPhone from iTunes or Spotify,
or TikTok, where they create a short video featuring the new
music. For the launch of West’s album titled Ye, a private listening
party was held in Wyoming, which included several notable influ-
encers. The exclusive experience was one that could only be ac-
cessed digitally through social media, and it made the album an
overnight success. Again, as documented earlier (i.e., Fyre Festival
and the “All in Challenge”), movements and experiences are what
people crave to be a part of—something bigger than themselves.
In early 2020 at the start of the pandemic, while in quarantine,
my brother-in-law and I started Outlaw Masks to offer consumers
a stylish alternative to paper masks. Like any startup, creating

awareness and attracting our first customers was a challenge. As
fate would have it, the NBA resumed its season nearby in Orlando,
Florida, labeled “The Bubble.” Looking for a way to get our brand
known, we sent every player a mask. We viewed the guerilla mar-
keting tactic as the equivalent of a Facebook ad buy. If a single
player was seen on social media wearing our mask, the return on
investment (ROI) of that post would outweigh the investment of
giving away products. Before sending off our masks, we personally
directly messaged every player letting them know that our masks
were on the way. Many players replied, much to our delight, and as
the masks arrived, our brand was seen on the faces of several high-
profile athletes and the social media accounts of the teams.
Whoever is influential to your brand, you should be finding
ways every day to form relationships with them; social media pro-
vides you with the opportunity to directly connect with and catch
the attention of these individuals, rather than having to connect via
a third party such as an agent.
Create your own influence

The power of influencers extends beyond the music industry or
sports into all sorts of other businesses, and brands have a prime
opportunity not only to connect with the largest influencers but also
harness the power of smaller influencers, such as employees and
customers. Everyone has influence within their own circles and tap-
ping into these networks can help grow your reach exponentially.
Yet consider the travel industry, where a quick YouTube search
for “Best places to vacation” doesn’t reveal a single video from
Marriott, Hilton, Expedia, or even an airline, but rather videos
with millions of views from creators—who are hired by brands—
to show consumers how a trip to a place like Bora Bora will change
their lives, improve their marriage, or make them happier. This
kind of escape from reality is the dream that influencers are selling
to the masses. Every brand can do this, and they should. In fact,
having an employee or customer share their best vacation stories
could be even more relatable and therefore powerful.
These examples are real-life instances that demonstrate the
point I introduced earlier in the chapter: that today’s brands aren’t
limited to billion-dollar corporations, but everyday people steering
other people down the path of purchase.
The beauty of social media is that it gives power to all. However,
what an entity does with that power is another story.
In 2016, Donald Trump became the President of the United
States of America. In the lead-up to the election, his social media
presence included a heavy dose of Facebook and YouTube ads.
With a massive campaign budget, Trump was able to ensure that
more people were mentioning his name—good or bad—than his
adversary Hillary Clinton, in addition to seeing his campaign con-
tent. This was a demonstration of the power of social media at its
finest. Meaning, with the right mix of charisma, a large following,
and content that those loyal followers and ad budget amplify, any-
one in the future might have the formula to enhance their cam-
paign for political office via social media. Pretty scary, huh?
However, in 2020 Donald Trump failed to become re-elected due
to public criticism on social media around how he handled the
COVID-19 crisis and his use of Twitter, which eventually led to
Trump becoming permanently banned from the platform. Once
again, the users of the platforms hold the power.
What is even more eye-opening than Trump’s social-media-
assisted election victory, and later on his re-election loss, is that the
world’s largest brands based on revenue are less influential (digi-
tally) than the likes of hip-hop star DJ Khaled, Kim Kardashian
West, Kylie Jenner, and… an egg.
In 2019, an unknown group of social media influencers banded
together to create a social experiment on how quickly you can
manipulate human behavior. An Instagram account labeled
“World_Record_Egg” set out to see if they could get the most en-
gagement on an Instagram post, ever—a world record previously
held by Kylie Jenner. It worked. Not only did the post gain over 50
million “likes,” but the account itself received over 9 million fol-
lowers. So yes, you could extrapolate this to conclude that a dull,
brandless egg today is more engageable than your average con-
sumer packaged goods (CPG) or consumer brand.
To that point, the most followed Instagram accounts as of April
2019, outside of Instagram itself, were owned by Cristiano Ronaldo
(163 million), Ariana Grande (152 million), Selena Gomez (149
million), The Rock (140 million), Kim Kardashian West (136 mil-
lion), Kylie Jenner (133 million), Beyoncé (127 million), Taylor
Swift (116 million), and Lionel Messi (115 million) (Trackalytics,
2019). The only brands that even come close in follower size on
Instagram are National Geographic (108 million) and Nike (87
million). On Facebook, some brands have built up similar-sized
followings, such as Samsung (159 million) and Coca-Cola (107
million), yet these two brands only have a combined total of 6 mil-
lion Instagram followers. It’s safe to say that people gravitate to
platforms like Instagram to follow celebrities, influencers, and their
friends.
So, is brand marketing a lost cause on social media? Not at all.
Many companies have still found success, and the majority of con-
sumers have made a purchase through a social media channel
(Avionos, 2018).
It’s no secret that social media offers a competitive advantage to
corporate brands who are willing to invest time, money, and peo-
ple in building a community. However, if companies want to thrive
in this new era, they must change their approach and be less a
brand and more human.
Social media is just a tool—it’s not the strategy, and it’s not
perfect.
Still, social media marketing can be challenging, and as such,
many marketers try to justify their lack of success. The follow-
ing common phrases, uttered around workplaces everywhere,
are just some of the challenges the modern marketer faces every
day:
“The platforms are constantly evolving.”

“Nobody knows how the algorithms work.”
“What worked last year doesn’t work this year.”
“I have thousands of followers but low engagement.”
“It’s not free.”
Struggling with these challenges is understandable—it is tricky

new territory to be navigated. Social networks are a big business
whereby we, the consumers, are trying to transact on rented land.
Think of Facebook like you would a casino—nobody knows the
house rules better than the house. Nobody can beat the house at its
own game. However, like poker, you can play by the house rules
and still come out victorious over those who aren’t as skilled or
knowledgeable about how the game is played.
It took me the better part of a couple of years in the early 2000s
to figure out that building a personal brand was an asset that could
lead me to gain press and notoriety for my then startup. With an
own brand came connections and awareness, through connections
came cash and opportunities.
If you’re still reading, there’s a high likelihood that you are using
social media in your business already. I applaud you. But I also
implore you to consider carefully exactly what you are doing with
it. With the rise of social media, digital advertising, brand building,
and social media influencers, the business of growing businesses is
not linear. There may be stops and starts along the way, and the
role of a marketer is far from easy, but it helps when you know the
formula and the systems. Where do your customers go to consume
information? Go there with them. Be a part of their life. Speak to
them in the manner that they are being spoken to by their friends.
Chances are their Facebook buddy isn’t saying, “Hey Steve, want
to know what the secret is to losing weight? Click on the link
below to download my five-step program!”
Just as consumers have become accustomed to flipping the chan-
nel any time a commercial airs, we now swipe or scroll past a brand
that we perceive to be advertising to us. As such, it’s more impor-

tant than ever to speak like a human rather than a brand that is
selling something.
The most effective marketers that I have encountered personally
over the last several years are entrepreneurs who follow me across
various platforms: they know what I do for fun, they know what
my habits and hobbies are, and they wait for that right moment—
for me to say something along the lines of… “Need to lose a few
pounds, any recommendations?”—before they slide into my DMs
to offer me a free 15-minute coaching call before upselling me to
join their virtual fitness boot camp. That’s not sales. That’s not
marketing. That’s being present in someone’s life. And guess what?
It isn’t something that you can automate.
Most brand marketers that I meet want to have the biggest
Instagram account in their industry. They think that if they don’t
have a Facebook page with millions of “likes” they’re not hitting
critical mass, but they’re wrong. You don’t need thousands or mil-
lions to succeed in this game. But you do need people who care
enough about your company to tell their friends about you. It’s no
different from network marketing or multi-level marketing.
Several months ago, I had a conversation with a chief marketing
officer (CMO) who told me that she was looking for an agency
who could help her brand engage with their 30 million Facebook
page followers. My immediate answer to her wasn’t in the form of
a plan to engage 30 million followers, because I know for a fact
that would be impossible. Instead, it was to educate her on why
engagement is low, in several points:
●● Facebook reach is 1 percent or less organically—that’s 29.7

million people gone.
●● Even then, these remaining 300,000 people, on average, are not
“seeing” the brand’s content much less engaging with it because
the brand is always in hyper-sales mode.
●● As a brand, they would have to spend massive amounts of cash
to reclaim the desired reach she was seeking.
●● I suggested that she should utilize my company, to focus on

engaging 0.1 percent of their total community to identify who is
of influence and who cares about the brand.
To be candid, my agency didn’t land the account, probably because

I was too blunt and didn’t over-promise on something that I know
isn’t realistic, whereas another agency may have offered that CMO
the answer she was looking for.
The 0.1 percent represents an audience of 30,000 Facebook
users, which of course is far smaller than their 30 million followers
and even the 300,000 who might organically see their posts. But
even with that smaller group, only about 1 percent can realistically
be expected to not just see the content but actively engage with it.
That’s 300 people, not 30 million.
Now, we are talking about a micro-fraction of a brand’s audi-
ence—which is laughable to most executives—but let me break
this down for you even further. If I were to put 300 people in a
room right now, you wouldn’t be able to speak to 300 people in an
hour and carry meaningful dialogue. It’s just not possible. It’s a lot
of people in “real life.”
Let’s say out of those 300 Facebook users who care about this
brand, you are now able to form a relationship with 10 percent of
them—that’s 30 people who are your “super fans.” We just went
from your company having 30 million worthless Facebook page
followers to 30 people in this world who personify your brand
each day. If I went to any CMO and brought them 30 advocates, I
don’t know of a single one that would say “no.” But this is a weird
space that we’re in.
Every decade there is a change of the guard in technology, there
is a new medium by which we grow and scale and monetize and
reach masses. To profit and benefit you need to be aware of where
the current is headed.
For every person who is upset because Facebook is making it
harder to reach critical mass, go back and re-read the formula that
I just broke down for you. The only numbers game that is in play
here is who is a qualified follower versus another random vanity
metric. I like it when my colleagues doubt the power of social

media because they aren’t getting the engagement that they want
on social media. It means there’s more market share waiting to be
consumed by those who do get it.
If I, a high-school dropout who didn’t go to college to get an
MBA in marketing, can figure out how to make sense of social
media to grow a startup before social media was “a thing” for most
businesses, so can you. It’s not hard, and it’s not rocket science, but
there is a science behind it, which is what I’m here to teach you.
Everything is easy if you understand the systems and where the
current is headed.
While there are plenty of business books and resources that will
teach you the basic principles of internet marketing and personal
brand building, I’m not here to repeat what’s already been said; I’m
here to give you the guide that’s going to keep you in business or a job.
This book’s purpose isn’t to make you a better marketer but
rather to make you a better businessperson and teach you how to
leap your competition by building relationships at scale while
using technology as your rocket ship. It’s all about embracing new-
school tools with old-school rules. Historically, relationships were
formed over drinks and golf. Today, Facebook is the hotel lobby
bar and Twitter is the golf course. Marketing, as we know it, is
dead.
The only choice you have is to evolve or die, and if you choose
to change, you must learn the playbook that is actively being used
by every successful influencer and agency around.
Until then you are just swimming in a giant digital ocean hoping
to find your way.
Before you turn the page to Chapter 2, a critical next step is to
conduct a social media audit, so below, I have listed out the frame-
work that I use whenever I work with clients.
Write this down:
1 Why am I on social media?

2 What do I want to accomplish (i.e., brand awareness, leads,
etc.)?
3 What platforms are my customers on?

4 What is my competition doing well versus what I am doing
well?
5 What do I want to see as a consumer from the brands I follow?
6 What value can my brand give my audience?
7 What purpose does my content serve?
8 What are my key performance indicators (KPIs) (i.e., website
clicks, views, new followers, etc.)?
9 What is my current advertising spend?
10 Who is influential to my brand?
As you will quickly discover, the purpose of an audit is to gather

insight that you can then apply in developing your new strategy,
which I hope you will implement at this book’s conclusion. For
now, hang onto these answers and revisit them as you proceed
through the book.
Remember, social media is a business strategy that should align
with your overall goals and objectives.
You don’t have to be on every social platform to be successful,
but you need to have a plan and be strategic—otherwise, social
media can be a big waste of time and money.
References
Avionos (2018) Avionos releases new data revealing how consumer
expectations are driving retail strategies, April 23, www.avionos.com/
avionos-releases-new-data-revealing-how-consumer-expectations-are-
driving-retail-strategies (archived at https://perma.cc/A7DT-VKBQ)
Fanatics.com (2021) ALL IN Challenge, www.fanatics.com/all-in-
challenge/x-12589906+z-9713580-3838082054 (archived at https://
perma.cc/RMW2-SKTP)
Gil, C (2019) Ja Rule explains what really happened to Fyre Festival
[video], YouTube
Statista (2021) Global digital population as of January 2021, www.

statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/
#:~:text=As%20of%20January%202021%20there,the%20inter-
net%20via%20mobile%20devices (archived at https://perma.cc/BP5S-
3EQU)
The Fortnite Team (2018) Announcing 2018–2019 Fortnite competitive
season, Epic Games, 12 June, www.epicgames.com/ fortnite/en-US/
news/announcing-2018-2019-fortnite-competitive-season (archived at
https://perma.cc/S72M-TAE8)
Trackalytics (2019) The most followed Instagram profiles, April 24,
www.trackalytics.com/the-most-followed-instagram-profiles/page/1
(archived at https://perma.cc/ZNM4-JHMP)
Voytko, L (2020) Kendall Jenner settles Fyre Festival Instagram post lawsuit
for $90,000, Forbes, www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/05/20/
kendall-jenner-settles-fyre-festival-instagram-post-lawsuit-for-90000
(archived at https://perma.cc/S663-KUAA)
23
02
Stranded in a
digital ocean
O ne of my favorite movies of all-time is Cast Away, starring

Tom Hanks. In the film, Tom Hanks’s character is involved in
a plane crash over the Pacific Ocean during a storm. As the sole
survivor of the flight, Hanks’s character washes ashore on a de-
serted island where he’s left for dead as he has no contact with
anyone. Although Hanks’s character learns how to survive on the
island where he remains for years, he becomes lonely as he doesn’t
have anyone to engage with besides an imaginary character named
“Wilson” portrayed by a volleyball.
Unless you’re crushing it on social media, your brand is like
Tom Hanks’s character in the movie Cast Away. From an aware-
ness standpoint, you are isolated and speaking aloud in a “noisy
digital ocean,” where hardly anyone is paying attention.
Today most brands are speaking to themselves whenever they
post content. Few people are genuinely paying attention, hence
why engagement numbers appear to be significantly dispropor-
tionate to the number of followers a brand seems to have.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet was already
a noisy place. Now, post-pandemic, it’s louder and thus more chal-
lenging to capture the attention of a consumer who is quickly
scrolling through their newsfeed in between Zoom meetings.
The COVID-19 pandemic put into overdrive our civilization’s
dependency on the internet. From virtual conferences and office
work to remote learning, more aspects of people’s daily social and
professional lives have permanently moved online. Now, as we be-
come more connected in an “always-on” world, companies like
Facebook and Google aim to gain more control over how we con-
sume digital content and communicate. Let’s not leave streaming
services such as Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime too far
behind, as these mediums also contribute to diverting consumers’
attention toward their platforms.
Write this down: attention is the

commodity, not followers
Before we dive into strategy and tactics, let me share a story that
blew my mind years ago.
In 2018, I attended F8, which is the annual Facebook developer
conference. As I sat in the audience and listened to Mark
Zuckerberg, what stood out to me the most was the company’s
plans to bring Wi-Fi to communities around the world that didn’t
have internet access. Since then, Facebook has partnered with in-
ternet service providers and mobile network operators to carry its
Express Wi-Fi product called “Express Wi-Fi by Facebook” to four
continents and 19 countries per its website expresswifi.fb.com.
I am still fascinated by this move because, if Facebook can oper-
ate like the utility company that provides me with an internet con-
nection in my home, can they replace cable television through
Facebook Watch? Can they replace my cellular phone provider,
too, if my iPhone has a permanent internet connection allowing me
to use WhatsApp or Messenger for phone calls and text messag-
ing? More importantly, can they have unlimited, 24/7 access to
what I am talking about to others and searching online, and use
this data to serve me custom ads? The answer is yes—they could,
and to an extent they already are.
At the same Facebook F8 conference, I experienced virtual real-
ity social media for the first time through Facebook’s Oculus tech-
nology. In virtual reality, I interacted with other users, went on
Facebook Live, and even took a selfie while disguised as a cartoon-
ish avatar. Imagine when the world that we live in today allows
Stranded in a digital ocean 25
you to go online not as yourself but rather as an avatar, which you

design to your liking.
Facebook aside, if you want to go down a deep rabbit hole, go
to decentraland.org. Decentraland is a fully decentralized world
controlled by its cryptocurrency called “DAO,” where you can buy
virtual real estate, clothing for your avatar, and even have a virtual
job in which you can earn real currency. Do you think marketing
on Twitter is challenging right now? One day you’ll be marketing
to people’s avatars in a virtual world.
The lines between reality and virtual reality are becoming in-
creasingly blurred. Eventually, Mark Zuckerberg will fulfill his ob-
jective of “bringing the world closer together” (Zuckerberg, 2017),
which in many aspects he already has. To put the numbers into
perspective, there are 7.9 billion people on the planet as of March
2021 (Worldometers, 2021). And as of February 2, 2021, there are
2.8 billion monthly active users on Facebook (Facebook, 2021).
But, what if there’s more to Facebook’s potential for world
domination that neither you nor I can see yet? I’m not a conspiracy
theorist by any means, but I do look at life through an objective
lens and always feel that there’s more than what meets the eye.
Many marketers and people who use social media in their busi-
ness fall into the trap of only thinking about right now. You might
currently be asking yourself:
●● How am I going to meet my sales numbers?

●● How am I going to obtain KPIs?
●● How am I going to get more engagement?
These short-term questions are obviously important and under-

standable for anyone who’s trying to grow their business. But there
is also a single, long-lens question that you need to continually ask
yourself: how am I going to stay relevant?
The answer lies in part in harnessing what makes your brand
unique. In the digital ocean of social media, you need a way to
stand out, because there are so many brands as well as individuals
on social media today contributing to the overload of content.
While you might see some 17-year-old kids who have more clout
than the Ferraris they rent, or make-up artists on YouTube that
have more fandom than MAC Cosmetics, standing out on social
media is not easy by any means—especially for a brand.
We are all competing against each other for consumers’ limited
amount of time and attention.
Adding to the challenge of standing out is the difficulty of stand-
ing the test of time. Very few posts have long shelf lives; instead, the
lifespan of content on social media can range anywhere from a few
seconds to a few minutes on average. And if you don’t immediately
get engagement on your posts, it’s as good as you never posting at
all. However, there are ways to improve shelf life by posting and
engaging more like a person than a brand.
To better understand this concept, try doing this as a “test.”
Look up two or three of your favorite brands on Instagram and
analyze the following:
●● When was the last time that they posted?

●● How far apart are their three most recent posts?
●● When was the last comment?
Now, go to Facebook and see how long it takes for you to see any
brand in your newsfeed with a non-sponsored, “organic” post. See
when that post was created and compare it against the first 10
posts in your newsfeed. Do the same for Twitter while you’re at it.
In conducting this test, there’s a good chance you’ll find spo-
radic organic posting from brands, compared with the frequency at
which individuals post and engage. People check on their social
media accounts throughout the day, often posting and coming
back multiple times a day to follow up and converse. They are the
ones who are carrying the conversation on social media, while
brands, in many cases, are not genuinely socializing. Many brands
only post once every few days, and when they do, they’re often try-
ing to get you to buy something from them. Even if they are post-
ing daily, it often looks as if they are posting because they have to,
such as tweeting out a link to a product page, and as a result, the
brand gets little to no engagement.
If you are a personal brand or represent a corporate brand and are

becoming increasingly frustrated because whenever you post, it seems
as if nobody is paying attention, the reality is you don’t have a social
media presence. Instead, you are on social media making noise, and
sadly nobody is paying attention. Don’t feel bad; you are not alone in
this challenge. As an entrepreneur or business owner, social media can
be mentally draining, and as a corporate marketer, it’s not any easier.
It’s a lot of maintenance and more complex than people assume.
The fact is that no matter how good your content is, you can’t
bank on one single post going viral and walk away; instead, you
need to find ways to consistently be in your followers’ newsfeeds to
remain relevant to them.
Now, if your content resonates and appeals to enough people,
these people will “like, comment, and share,” and this is when you
need to dive in further. You must be prepared to engage within
your posts by commenting on other people’s comments. Every
touchpoint is an opportunity to build advocacy with those who are
genuinely paying attention to your content.
Remember how I said before that a post’s life expectancy ranges
anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes? The next time you’re
on any social network, refresh your newsfeed and see how fast the
content displayed changes. Your feed could look completely different
within just a few seconds. But post engagement is how you combat
this. For every occasion where there’s an engagement action on that
post, it gives your post a “bump” within the algorithm, giving it added
priority in newsfeeds and extending the life expectancy ever so slightly.
Engagement is oxygen to a social media post—write that down.
Getting social media users to engage

It’s clear you want people to engage. Now, how do you get them to
engage?
From my experience, any time that I publish a thought-provoking
post, it tends to get people talking or commenting. I called this
“engagement bait.”
Questions tend to be particularly useful for getting your audience

to respond rather than just thinking about the post. For example,
you can ask questions like:
●● What’s your favorite social network?

●● Who do you recommend as a graphic designer?
●● What’s the best investment you made in the last year?
●● What type of content would you like to see me create?
●● What’s a brand that’s over-delivering on social media?
●● How may I help you?
●● What’s your favorite emoji?
These are all elementary, entry-level posts that are text-based,

which I’ve used throughout the years to gain what I refer to as
“cheap engagement.” Still, it’s engagement that bumps your ac-
count or username into valuable digital real estate—the newsfeed.
The other tactic is what I refer to as “edutainment,” otherwise
known as giving your target audience “Did you know?” facts, fig-
ures, or tips to help them become better at marketing or whatever
activities your audience engages in. It’s also not uncommon for me
to read an article in TechCrunch related to social media and then
take to my “Social Media Masterminds Group” on Facebook or
head over to Twitter and share my thoughts as a way of giving in-
sights to my followers. Brands can similarly comment on trending
news stories or share fun facts, such as a software company posting
productivity hacks or commenting on work–life balance debates.
These are all forms of “value add” presented in an easy-to-understand
manner.
The point is, if any of these social networks detect that people
are engaging with your content, you are automatically perceived to
have some influence. Whether that’s true or not is less relevant; it’s
an algorithm that you’re going up against.
Let’s break down the strategy of these posts.
I work in social media marketing, and I own a marketing agency.
Therefore, it’s in my best interest to start conversations with people
in my industry who share similar interests. Correct?
In some cases, I use short, text-based, thought-provoking posts

as lead generation or to gather ideas for content which I can, later
on, monetize through ads or course sales. This is the purpose of
social media—it’s socializing first and foremost.
Shortly after sharing one of my smart “engagement bomb”
posts, I follow up with a new video or photo-based post intended
to drive an end-user to my website or a third-party website
YouTube. To be clear, this tactic of giving upfront value through
info-sharing or conversation-starting primarily works on Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Facebook. On a platform such as Instagram or
TikTok, you must lead in with an eye-catching photo or video.
However, the same principles apply to posting a question in your
caption to get people commenting.
Regardless of what industry you work in, if you want to grow a
following, you should be taking to social media to speak more
about the space you’re in and the products or services you sell—
again, you should be socializing. That means not just sending out
content in the hope it reaches someone, but taking a targeted ap-
proach and starting conversations with specific people, e.g., via the
direct message (DM) feature available on many social platforms.
For example, since joining Twitter in April 2009, I can’t tell you
how many times I’ve tweeted and immediately shared that tweet
with 50 to 100 of my closest followers privately via DM to get an
organic bump in engagement within the first few minutes of push-
ing out a tweet. The same goes for Instagram, where I’ve created
various “share groups” to get my content in front of users within
seconds of a post going live on my page in the hope they will like
and comment within the post.
These tactics might seem over the top or take you out of your
comfort zone, but it’s all part of the game of standing out in a noisy
digital ocean. You either sink or swim.
This strategy has always been a secret of how I run my social
media presence. To be candid, everyone who’s someone online is
breaking through the digital noise using a combination of Facebook
ads, engagement pods, buying likes, auto-engagement bots, and
virtual assistants. However, one fact remains clear—content is
queen and community is king, and they need to work together to

create an empire. If you aspire to stand out in the crowded and
noisy digital ocean that is social media, you can’t just sit idle; you
must have genuinely good content, self-promote, and then slowly
build a tribe of followers who will promote for you.
The reason why many people and brands fail on social media is
that despite doing “all of the right things” (i.e., posting daily across
multiple social networks, creating visually pleasing content, etc.),
hardly anyone is paying attention to them, or if some are, they
aren’t being engaged in a meaningful dialogue or relationship by
the brand.
Once again, we are all the digital equivalent of Tom Hanks in
the movie Cast Away sending SOS signals for “help!” In our worlds
as marketers, whenever you tweet or post and get little to no en-
gagement, you’re speaking to your version of “Wilson” the volley-
ball—yourself. Your digital SOS signal on social media stands for
“same old stuff” in the hope that someone sees your content and
takes action. So, let’s change that.
Be where your customers are

Getting others to receive your signal starts with having a presence
where “they”—your customers—are. Don’t be everywhere for the
sake of trying to reach everyone because you can’t possibly be on
every social network and be above average. The likelihood is that
you work in an industry or offer a solution or service that appeals
to a specific demographic, therefore you should only be on the one
or two social networks where your target audience has the most
significant presence.
By placing yourself on the social networks where your target
demographic spends their time and removing yourself from the
others that don’t make sense for your business, not only will you
have more time to dive deeper into certain social networks, but you
will also immediately be competing with fewer people for digital
eyeballs.
For example, if your business is B2B (business to business), you

don’t necessarily need to be on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok,
but LinkedIn is a must-have. Depending on your business, you
might be able to go “all in” on LinkedIn only and resort to
Facebook for just ad placement.
The flipside of this argument, however, is centered around using
your employees to broaden your reach. Your business overall can
benefit from multiple social networks if your employees engage on
these platforms as representatives of your brand in some way. For
example, assume that you’re in a B2B organization with 50 sales
representatives. I would highly recommend that you stick to one
corporate social network, making that your go-to platform to
spotlight customer stories and other relevant insights that your tar-
get customer would find valuable first. Then, have your employees
hit social media hard across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and
LinkedIn as the faces of your brand, versus trying to create corpo-
rate channels everywhere and come across as mediocre.
There’s more to come on the topic of employee advocacy in
Chapter 8. However, you need to start thinking about activating an
army of employees singing your company’s praises across a wide
network, so that even if you only focus on one corporate channel,
you can still reach customers where they are. I look at standing out
on social media as an orchestra. I’m one person, and you are one
person; alone our voices and instruments can only go so far and
might not sound all that amazing. But together, we can amplify our
voices and create a symphony of sound. Imagine that concept mul-
tiplied by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of employees who can
help spread your message across their networks.
Gaining this reach takes time, but unfortunately, I’ve worked for
and with many brands that only focus on achieving an instant ROI.
If that’s what you’re looking for, you’re in the wrong business.
Instead, the focus should be on creating long-lasting relationships
digitally with customers. Likewise, if you don’t like people, you’re
definitely in the wrong place.
That’s not to say that it’s easy to focus on the long term. In the
past, I’ve been guilty of falling into the trap of looking for instant
results instead of genuine, interested engagement.
Many times, in previous corporate roles my team and I would

spend months coming up with social media communication plans
for key stakeholders, which would outline to a T what we were
going to post or share across the various social networks. We’d
have this grandiose plan, which would begin with an initial post on
campaign launch day, followed by more posts throughout a spe-
cific time frame, followed by measuring the results and reporting
up the chain of command to our leaders. To be truthful, I always
found ways to spotlight the good but never the bad—and it’s an
easy fallback I still see many social media managers make.
Enthusiastically, I’d report to our CMO the millions of impressions
that we generated and thousands of engagements—many of which
were gamed or automated by bots that would “engage” with a post
which contained specific hashtags. A lot of it was “fluff” to mask
the obvious: nobody cared, and nobody was paying attention.
But like anything else in life, you learn over time how to opti-
mize and improve. If there’s one thing that working in social media
for over a decade has taught me, it is that we are operating at the
mercy of the social networks themselves. And this means brands
need to constantly adapt—especially after COVID-19.
For example, I firmly believe that if Facebook wants you to suc-
ceed, they will make you successful. Now, how do they measure
you versus me versus the next person? It’s in time spent. If you’re
driving people to YouTube and keeping them around—even if they
click away from your channel—you’re helping Google serve up
more ads; therefore, you are an influencer in the form of a referral
source to them. Have you ever wondered why Influencer A on
YouTube doesn’t have as active a presence or as big a following on
Facebook? Meanwhile, Influencer B has a million followers on
Instagram, yet they have a smaller audience on YouTube. It’s in
Google’s best interest to build up “stars” on their platform
(YouTube) than to allow them to venture off to Facebook. And vice
versa, the same rules apply to Facebook.
Likewise, focusing only on driving people off these networks
and to your site could backfire. The networks themselves are not
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
upon the enemy was complete.
{612}
"At 2 p. m. on this date, the 11th, the surrender of the city

was again demanded. The firing ceased and was not again
renewed. By this date the sickness in the army was increasing
very rapidly as a result of exposure in the trenches to the
intense heat of the sun and the heavy rains. Moreover, the
dews in Cuba are almost equal to rains. The weakness of the
troops was becoming so apparent I was anxious to bring the
siege to an end, but in common with most of the officers of
the army I did not think an assault would be justifiable,
especially as the enemy seemed to be acting in good faith in
their preliminary propositions to surrender. On July 11 I
wrote General Toral as follows: 'With the largely increased
forces which have come to me, and the fact that I have your
line of retreat securely in my hands, the time seems fitting
that I should again demand of your excellency the surrender of
Santiago and of your excellency's army. I am authorized to
state that should your excellency so desire the Government of
the United States will transport the entire command of your
excellency to Spain.' General Toral replied that he had
communicated my proposition to his general-in-chief, General
Blanco.
"July 12 I informed the Spanish commander that Major-General

Miles, commander-in-chief of the American Army, had just
arrived in my camp, and requested him to grant us a personal
interview on the following day. He replied he would be pleased
to meet us. The interview took place on the 13th, and I
informed him his surrender only could be considered, and that
as he was without hope of escape he had no right to continue
the fight. On the 14th another interview took place, during
which General Toral agreed to surrender, upon the basis of his
army, the Fourth Army Corps, being returned to Spain, the
capitulation embracing all of eastern Cuba east of a line
passing from Acerraderos on the south to Sagua de Tanamo on
the north, via Palma Soriano. It was agreed commissioners
should meet during the afternoon to definitely arrange the
terms. … The terms of surrender finally agreed upon included
about 12,000 Spanish troops in the city and as many more in
the surrendered district. It was arranged the formal surrender
should take place between the lines on the morning of July 17,
each army being represented by 100 armed men. At the time
appointed, I appeared at the place agreed upon with my general
officers, staff, and 100 troopers of the Second Cavalry under
Captain Brett. General Toral also arrived with a number of his
officers and 100 infantry. We met midway between the
representatives of our two armies, and the Spanish commander
formally consummated the surrender of the city and the 24,000
troops in Santiago and the surrendered district. After this
ceremony I entered the city with my staff and escort, and at
12 o'clock noon the American flag was raised over the
governor's palace with appropriate ceremonies."
Annual Reports of the War Department, 1898,

volume 2, pages 157-159.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898

(July-August: Army administration).
Red-tape and politics.
Their working in the campaign.
"The Cuban campaign had been foreseen by intelligent officers

for more than a year, but the department which clothes the
army had taken no steps toward providing a suitable uniform
for campaigning in the tropics until war was declared. The
Fifth Army Corps, a comparatively small body of 17,000 men,
was concentrated at Tampa on the railroad within reach of all
the appliances for expediting business. Between April 26, when
war was declared, and, June 6, when the corps embarked for
Cuba, sufficient time elapsed to have clothed 1,000,000 men if
the matter had been handled in the same manner a wholesale
clothing firm would handle similar business. Yet the corps
went to Cuba wearing the winter clothing it had brought on its
backs from Montana, Wyoming, and Michigan. It endured the heat
of the tropics clad in this, and was furnished with light
summer clothing by the department to wear for its return to
Montauk, where the breezes were so bracing that the teeth
chattered even when the men were clad in winter clothing. The
only reason for this absolute failure to properly clothe the
army was that the methods of the department are too slow and
antiquated for the proper performance of business. There was
no lack of money. It was a simple case of red-tape delays.
There can be no doubt that the intention was that the summer
clothing should be worn in Cuba and that there should be warm
clothing issued at Montauk. It was issued after the troops had
shivered for days in their light clothes. The delays
unavoidably connected with an obsolete method caused great
suffering that should not have been inflicted upon men
expected to do arduous duty. A sensible man would not put a
heavy blanket on a horse to do draught work on a hot day; but
the red tape of an antiquated way of doing business caused our
soldiers to wear heavy woolen clothes in torrid heat, when every
nerve was to be strained to the breaking point in athletic
exertion. This is not pointed out in a fault-finding spirit.
The men are proud to have been in the Fifth Corps and to have
endured these things for the country and the flag; but these
unnecessary sufferings impaired the fighting strength of the
army, caused much of the sickness that visited the Fifth
Corps, and might have caused the failure of the whole
expedition. …
"The difficulty here depicted was one which beset the

department at every turn in the whole campaign. It is a
typical case. Transports, tentage, transportation—it was the
same in everything. With the most heroic exertions the
department was able to meet emergencies only after they had
passed. This was caused partly by lack of ready material, but
mainly by an inelastic system of doing business which broke
down in emergencies. This, in turn, was caused mainly by the
illiberal treatment accorded to this, as well as to every
other department of the army by Congress. It uniformly cuts
mercilessly all estimates of this, as of every other
department, and leaves no margin of expenditure or chance of
improvement. It dabbles in matters which are purely technical
and require the handling of expert executive talent. …
"Plans for war should be prepared in advance. This was

especially true of the last war, which had been foreseen for
years and considered a probability for several months. All
details should have been previously worked out, all
contingencies foreseen before hostilities began. Such plans
would require some modifications, of course, but would form a
working basis.
{613}
Neither Santiago nor Manila Bay would have been foreseen; but
any plans for war would have involved the consideration and
solution of the following problems: How to raise, arm, equip,
organize, mobilize, clothe, feed, shelter, and transport large
bodies of soldiers. The point where the battle might occur
would be a mere tactical detail to be worked out at the proper
time. The above problems could all be solved in time of peace and
should have been solved. The general staff performs this
function in foreign armies, but we had no such body in our
service and nothing to imperfectly take its place. …
"The most urgently needed reform is the absolute divorcement

of the army in all of its departments from politics. … No
department of the army should be more exempt from political
influence than the staff. This points at once to the most
urgent reform, viz., make the commanding general the real
working head of the army, instead of the Secretary of War. No
good results have come to the service by the extension of the
Secretary's powers in Grant's first administration. Most of
the evils of the service can be traced to the fact that the
general commanding has since that time been practically
deprived of his proper functions, and the real head of the
army has been a politician."
Lieutenant J. H. Parker,
Our Army Supply Department and the need of a General Staff
(Review of Reviews, December, 1898).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (July-August: Cuba).

The War with Spain.
Sickness in the American army at Santiago.
Its alarming state.
Hurried removal of troops to Montauk Point, Long Island.
"After the surrender of General Toral's army General Shafter

urged the War Department from time to time to hasten the
shipment of the Spanish prisoners to their homes, in order
that the American Army, whose condition was now deplorable,
might be transported to the United States. At this time about
half the command had been attacked by malarial fever, with a
few cases of yellow fever, dysentery, and typhoid fever. The
yellow-fever cases were mainly confined to the troops at
Siboney, and the few cases found among the troops at the front
were at once transferred to that place. … There was great
fear, and excellent grounds for it, that the yellow fever, now
sporadic throughout the command, would become epidemic. With
the command weakened by malarial fevers, and its general tone
and vitality much reduced by all the circumstances incident to
the campaign, the effects of such an epidemic would
practically mean its annihilation. The first step taken to
check the spread of disease was the removal of all the troops
to new camping grounds. … It was directed that the command be
moved in this way every few days, isolating the cases of
yellow fever as they arose, and it was expected that in a
short time the yellow fever would be stamped out. … But the
effect produced on the command by the work necessary to set up
the tents and in the removal of the camps increased the number
on the sick report to an alarming degree. Convalescents from
malarial fever were taken again with the fever, and yellow
fever, dysentery, and typhoid increased. It was useless now to
attempt to confine the yellow-fever cases to Siboney, and
isolation hospitals were established around Santiago. It was
apparent that to keep moving the command every few days simply
weakened the troops and increased the fever cases. Any exertion
in this heat caused a return of the fever, and it must be
remembered that the convalescents now included about 75 per
cent. of the command. The Commanding General was now directed
to move the entire command into the mountains to the end of
the San Luis railroad, where the troops would be above the
yellow fever limit; but this was a physical impossibility. …
"The situation was desperate; the yellow-fever cases were

increasing in number, and the month of August, the period in
which it is epidemic, was at hand. It was with these
conditions staring them in the face, that the officers
commanding divisions and brigades and the Chief Surgeon were
invited by General Shafter to discuss the situation. As a
result of this conference the General sent the following
telegram giving his views [and those of the General Officers
and Medical Officers]. … 'In reply to telegram of this date
[August 3], stating that it is deemed best that my command be
moved to end of railroad, where yellow fever is impossible, I
have to say that under the circumstances this move is
practically impossible. The railroad is not yet repaired,
although it will be in about a week. Its capacity is not to
exceed 1,000 men a day, at the best, and it will take until
the end of August to make this move, even if the sick-list
should not increase. An officer of my staff, Lieutenant Miley,
who has looked over the ground, says it is not a good camping
ground. … In my opinion there is but one course to take, and
that is to immediately transport the Fifth Corps and the
detached regiments that came with it, and were sent
immediately after it, with the least delay possible, to the
United States. If this is not done I believe the death-rate
will be appalling. I am sustained in this view by every
medical officer present. I called together to-day the General
Officers and the senior Medical Officers and telegraph you
their views.' …
"On August 4th instructions were received from the War

Department to begin the removal of the command to Montauk
Point, Long Island. Some of the immune regiments were on the
way to Santiago, and other regiments were at once ordered
there to garrison the district as General Shafter's command
was withdrawn. The first of the fleet of vessels to return the
Spanish troops arrived in time to be loaded and leave August
9th, and by the end of the month nearly all were transported.
"After the surrender the relations between the American and

Spanish troops were very cordial. There could be little or no
conversation between individuals, but in many ways the respect
each had for the other was shown, and there seemed to be no
hatred on either side. Most of the Spanish officers remained
in their quarters in town, and they shared in the feeling
displayed by their men. Salutations were generally exchanged
between the officers, and American ways and manners became
very popular among the Spaniards. …
{614}
"By the 25th of the month General Shafter's entire command,
with the exception of a few organizations just ready to
embark, had departed, and, turning over the command to General
Lawton, he sailed that day with his staff on the 'Mexico,' one
of the captured transports, and at noon September 1st went
ashore at Montauk Point, Long Island."
J. D. Miley, In Cuba with Shafter,

chapter 12 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (July-August: Philippines).

Correspondence between the General commanding
United States forces at Cavite and Manila,
and Aguinaldo, the Filipino leader.
On the 4th of July, General Thomas M. Anderson, then
commanding the "United States Expeditionary Forces" at Cavite
Arsenal, addressed the following communication to "Señor Don
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, Commanding Philippine Forces":
"General: I have the honor to inform you that the United

States of America, whose land forces I have the honor to
command in this vicinity, being at war with the Kingdom of
Spain, has entire sympathy and most friendly sentiments for
the native people of the Philippine Islands. For these reasons
I desire to have the most amicable relations with you, and to
have you and your people co-operate with us in military
operations against the Spanish forces. In our operations it
has become necessary for us to occupy the town of Cavite as a
base of operations. In doing this I do not wish to interfere
with your residence here and the exercise by yourself and
other native citizens of all functions and privileges not
inconsistent with military rule. I would be pleased to be
informed at once of any misconduct of soldiers under my
command, as it is the intention of my Government to maintain
order and to treat all citizens with justice, courtesy, and
kindness. I have therefore the honor to ask your excellency to
instruct your officials not to interfere with my officers in
the performance of their duties and not to assume that they
can not visit Cavite without permission."
On the following day Aguinaldo replied:
"General: Interpreting the sentiments of the Philippine

people, I have the honor to express to your excellency my most
profound gratefulness for the sympathy and amicable sentiments
with which the natives of these islands inspire the great North
American nation and your excellency. I also thank most
profoundly your desire of having friendly relations with us,
and of treating us with justice, courtesy, and kindness, which
is also our constant wish to prove the same, and special
satisfaction whenever occasion represents. I have already
ordered my people not to interfere in the least with your
officers and men, orders which I shall reiterate to prevent
their being unfulfilled; hoping that you will inform me of
whatever misconduct that may be done by those in my command,
so as to reprimand them and correspond with your wishes." …
To this communication General Anderson returned the following

on the 6th: "General: I am encouraged by the friendly
sentiment expressed by your excellency in your welcome letter
received on the 5th instant to endeavor to come to a definite
understanding, which I hope will be advantageous to both. Very
soon we expect a large addition to our forces, and it must be
apparent to you as a military officer that we will require
much more room to camp our soldiers, and also storeroom for
our supplies. For this I would like to have your excellency's
advice and co-operation, as you are best acquainted with the
resources of this country. It must be apparent to you that we
do not intend to remain here inactive, but to move promptly
against our common enemy. But for a short time we must
organize and land supplies, and also retain a place for
storing them near our fleet and transports. I am solicitous to
avoid any conflict of authority which may result from having
two sets of military officers exercising command in the same
place. I am also anxious to avoid sickness by taking sanitary
precaution. Your own medical officers have been making
voluntary inspections with mine, and fear epidemic diseases if
the vicinity is not made clean. Would it not be well to have
prisoners work to this end under the advice of the surgeons?"
…
On the 9th of July General Anderson reported to the War

Department at Washington: "General Aguinaldo tells me he has
about 15,000 fighting men, but only 11,000 armed with guns,
which mostly were taken from the Spaniards. He claims to have
in all 4,000 prisoners. When we first landed he seemed very
suspicious, and not at all friendly, but I have now come to a
better understanding with him and he is much more friendly and
seems willing to co-operate. But he has declared himself
dictator and president, and is trying to take Manila without
our assistance. This is not probable, but if he can effect his
purpose he will, I apprehend, antagonize any attempt on our
part to establish a provisional government."
On the 17th the American commander caused another

communication to be addressed to "General Emilio Aguinaldo" as
follows: "Sir: General Anderson wishes me to say that, the
second expedition having arrived, he expects to encamp in the
vicinity of Paranaque from 5,000 to 7,000 men. To do this,
supply this army and shelter, will require certain assistance
from the Filipinos in this neighborhood. We will want horses,
buffaloes, carts, etc., for transportation, bamboo for
shelter, wood to cook with, etc. For all this we are willing
to pay a fair price, but no more. We find so far that the
native population are not willing to give us this assistance
as promptly as required. But we must have it, and if it
becomes necessary we will be compelled to send out parties to
seize what we may need. We would regret very much to do this,
as we are here to befriend the Filipinos. Our nation has spent
millions of money to send forces here to expel the Spaniards
and to give good government to the whole people, and the
return we are asking is comparatively slight. General Anderson
wishes you to inform your people that we are here for their
good, and that they must supply us with labor and material at
the current market prices. We are prepared to purchase 500
horses at a fair price, but can not undertake to bargain for
horses with each individual owner. I regret very much that I
am unable to see you personally, as it is of the utmost
importance that these arrangements should be made as soon as
possible."
To this communication there seems to have been no written

reply until the 24th; and, on the 20th, the Chief
Quartermaster reported to General Anderson "that it is
impossible to procure transportation except upon Señor
Aguinaldo's order, in this section, who has an inventory of
everything. The natives have removed their wheels and hid
them." On the 23d General Anderson repeated his request, as
follows:
{615}
"General: When I came here three weeks ago I requested your

excellency to give what assistance you could to procure means
of transportation for the American Army, as it was to fight
the cause of your people. So far we have received no response.
As you represent your people, I now have the honor to make
requisition on you for 500 horses and 50 oxen and ox carts. If
you can not secure these, I will have to pass you and make
requisition directly on the people. I beg leave to request an
answer at your earliest convenience."
The next day Aguinaldo replied: "I have the honor to manifest
to your excellency that I am surprised beyond measure at that
which you say to me in it, lamenting the nonreceipt of any
response relative to the needs (or aids) that you have asked
of me in the way of horses, buffaloes, and carts, because I
replied in a precise manner, through the bearer, that I was
disposed to give convenient orders whenever you advised me of
the number of these with due anticipation (notice). I have
circulated orders in the provinces in the proximity that in
the shortest time possible horses be brought for sale, but I
cannot assure your excellency that we have the number of 500
that is needed, because horses are not abundant in these
vicinities, owing to deaths caused by epizootic diseases in
January and March last. Whenever we have them united (or
collected), I shall have the pleasure to advise your
excellency. I have also ordered to be placed at my disposal 50
carts that I shall place at your disposition whenever
necessary, always (premising) that you afford me a previous
advice of four days in anticipation."
Meantime, General Anderson had written to the War Department,
on the 18th: "Since reading the President's instructions to
General Merritt, I think I should state to you that the
establishment of a provisional government on our part will
probably bring us in conflict with insurgents, now in active
hostility to Spain. The insurgent chief, Aguinaldo, has
declared himself dictator and self-appointed president. He has
declared martial law and promulgated a minute method of rule and
administration under it. We have observed all official
military courtesies, and he and his followers express great
admiration and gratitude to the great American Republic of the
north, yet in many ways they obstruct our purposes and are
using every effort to take Manila without us. I suspect also
that Aguinaldo is secretly negotiating with the Spanish
authorities, as his confidential aid is in Manila. The city is
strongly fortified and hard to approach in the rainy season.
If a bombardment fails we should have the best engineering
ability here." And, again on the 21st, he had written: "Since
I wrote last, Aguinaldo has put in operation an elaborate
system of military government, under his assumed authority as
dictator, and has prohibited any supplies being given us,
except by his order. As to this last I have written to him
that our requisitions on the country for horses, ox carts,
fuel and bamboo (to make scaling ladders) must be filled, and
that he must aid in having them filled. His assumption of
civil authority I have ignored, and let him know verbally that
I could, and would, not recognize it, while I did not
recognize him as a military leader. It may seem strange that I
have made no formal protest against his proclamation as
dictator, his declaration of martial law, and publication and
execution of a despotic form of government. I wrote such a
protest, but did not publish it, at Admiral Dewey's request,
and also for fear of wounding the susceptibilities of
Major-General Merritt, but I have let it be known in every
other way that we do not recognize the dictatorship. These
people only respect force and firmness. I submit, with all
deference, that we have heretofore underrated the natives.
They are not ignorant, savage tribes, but have a civilization
of their own; and although insignificant in appearance, are
fierce fighters, and for a tropical people they are
industrious. A small detail of natives will do more work in a
given time than a regiment of volunteers."
On the 24th General Anderson received from the Philippine

leader a very clear and definite statement of his attitude
towards the "Expeditionary Forces of the United States," and
the intentions with which he and the people whom he
represented were acting. "I came," he wrote, "from Hongkong to
prevent my countrymen from making common cause with the
Spanish against the North Americans, pledging before my word
to Admiral Dewey to not give place [to allow] to any internal
discord, because, [being] a judge of their desires, I had the
strong convictions that I would succeed in both objects,
establishing a government according to their desires. Thus it
is that in the beginning I proclaimed the dictatorship, and
afterwards, when some of the provinces had already liberated
themselves from Spanish domination, I established a
revolutionary government that to-day exists, giving it a
democratic and popular character as far as the abnormal
circumstances of war permitted, in order that they [the
provinces] might be justly represented, and administered to
their satisfaction. It is true that my government has not been
acknowledged by any of the foreign powers, but we expected
that the great North American nation, which struggled first
for its independence, and afterwards for the abolition of
slavery, and is now actually struggling for the independence
of Cuba, would look upon it with greater benevolence than any
other nation. Because of this we have always acknowledged the
right of preference to our gratitude.
"Debtor to the generosity of the North Americans, and to the

favors we have received through Admiral Dewey, and [being]
more desirous than any other person of preventing any conflict
which would have as a result foreign intervention, which must be
extremely prejudicial, not alone to my nation but also to that
of your excellency, I consider it my duty to advise you of the
undesirability of disembarking North American troops in the
places conquered by the Filipinos from the Spanish, without
previous notice to this government, because as no formal
agreement yet exists between the two nations the Philippine
people might consider the occupation of its territories by
North American troops as a violation of its rights.
"I comprehend that without the destruction of the Spanish

squadron the Philippine revolution would not have advanced so
rapidly. Because of this I take the liberty of indicating to
your excellency the necessity that, before disembarking, you
should communicate in writing to this government the places
that are to be occupied and also the object of the occupation,
that the people may be advised in due form and [thus] prevent
the commission of any transgression against friendship.
{616}
I can answer for my people, because they have given me evident
proofs of their absolute confidence in my government, but I
can not answer for that which another nation whose friendship
is not well guaranteed might inspire in it [the people]; and
it is certain that I do this not as a menace, but as a further
proof of the true and sincere friendship which I have always
professed for the North American people, in the complete
security that it will find itself completely identified with
our cause of liberty."
In the same strain, on the 1st of August, Aguinaldo wrote to

United States Consul Williams, as to a "distinguished friend:"
"I have said always, and I now repeat, that we recognize the
right of the North Americans to our gratitude, for we do not
forget for a moment the favors which we have received and are
now receiving; but however great those favors may be, it is
not possible for me to remove the distrust of my compatriots.
These say that if the object of the United States is to annex
these islands, why not recognize the government established in
them, in order in that manner to join with it the same as by
annexation? Why do not the American generals operate in
conjunction with the Filipino generals and, uniting the
forces, render the end more decisive? Is it intended, indeed,
to carry out annexation against the wish of these people,
distorting the legal sense of that word? If the revolutionary
government is the genuine representative by right and deed of
the Filipino people, as we have proved when necessary, why is
it wished to oppress instead of gaining their confidence and
friendship?
"It is useless for me to represent to my compatriots the

favors received through Admiral Dewey, for they assert that up
to the present the American forces have shown not an active,
only a passive, co-operation, from which they suppose that the
intentions of these forces are not for the best. They assert,
besides, that it is possible to suppose that I was brought
from Hongkong to assure those forces by my presence that the
Filipinos would not make common cause with the Spaniards, and
that they have delivered to the Filipinos the arms abandoned
by the former in the Cavite Arsenal, in order to save
themselves much labor, fatigue, blood, and treasure that a war
with Spain would cost. But I do not believe these unworthy
suspicions. I have full confidence in the generosity and
philanthropy which shine in characters of gold in the history
of the privileged people of the United States, and for that
reason, invoking the friendship which you profess for me and
the love which you have for my people, I pray you earnestly,
as also the distinguished generals who represent your country
in these islands, that you entreat the Government at
Washington to recognize the revolutionary government of the
Filipinos, and I, for my part, will labor with all my power
with my people that the United States shall not repent their
sentiments of humanity in coming to the aid of an oppressed
people.
"Say to the Government at Washington that the Filipino people

abominate savagery; that in the midst of their past
misfortunes they have learned to love liberty, order, justice,
and civil life, and that they are not able to lay aside their
own wishes when their future lot and history are under
discussion. Say also that I and my leaders know what we owe to
our unfortunate country; that we know how to admire and are
ready to imitate the disinterestedness, the abnegation, and
the patriotism of the grand men of America, among whom stands
pre-eminent the immortal General Washington."
United States, 56th Congress, 1st Session,

Senate Document Number 208.
In an article published in the "North American Review,"

February, 1900, General Anderson discussed his relations with
Aguinaldo very frankly, in part as follows: "On the 1st of
July, 1898, I called on Aguinaldo with Admiral Dewey. He asked
me at once whether 'the United States of the North' either had
recognized or would recognize his government—I am not quite
sure as to the form of his question, whether it was 'had' or
'would.' In either form it was embarrassing. My orders were,
in substance, to effect a landing, establish a base, not to go
beyond the zone of naval co-operation, to consult Admiral
Dewey and to wait for Merritt. Aguinaldo had proclaimed his
government only a few days before (June 28), and Admiral Dewey
had no instructions as to that assumption. The facts as to the
situation at that time I believe to be these: Consul Williams
states in one of his letters to the State Department that
several thousand Tagals were in open insurrection before our
declaration of war with Spain. I do not know as to the number,
yet I believe the statement has foundation in fact. Whether
Admiral Dewey and Consuls Pratt, Wildman and Williams did or
did not give Aguinaldo assurances that a Filipino government
would be recognized, the Filipinos certainly thought so,
probably inferring this from their acts rather than from their
statements. If an incipient rebellion was already in progress,
what could be inferred from the fact that Aguinaldo and
thirteen other banished Tagals were brought down on a naval
vessel and landed in Cavite? Admiral Dewey gave them arms and
ammunition, as I did subsequently, at his request. They were
permitted to gather up a lot of arms which the Spaniards had
thrown into the bay; and, with the four thousand rifles taken
from Spanish prisoners and two thousand purchased in Hong
Kong, they proceeded to organize three brigades and also to
arm a small steamer they had captured. I was the first to tell
Admiral Dewey that there was any disposition on the part of
the American people to hold the Philippines, if they were
captured. The current of opinion was setting that way when the
first expeditionary force left San Francisco, but this the
Admiral had had no reason to surmise.
"But to return to our interview with Aguinaldo. I told him I

was acting only in a military capacity; that I had no
authority to recognize his government; that we had come to
whip the Spaniards, and that, if we were successful, the
indirect effect would be to free them from Spanish tyranny. I
added that, as we were fighting a common enemy, I hoped we
would get along amicably together. He did not seem pleased
with this answer. The fact is, he hoped and expected to take
Manila with Admiral Dewey's assistance, and he was bitterly
disappointed when our soldiers landed at Cavite. … A few days
thereafter, he made an official call, coming with cabinet and
staff and a band of music. On that occasion he handed me an
elaborate schedule for an autonomous government which he had
received from some Filipinos in Manila, with a statement that
they had reason to believe that Spain would grant them such a
form of government.
{617}
With this was an open letter addressed to the Filipino people
from Pedro Alexandre Paterno, advising them to put their trust
in Spain rather than America. The day before, two German
officers had called on Aguinaldo and I believed they had
brought him these papers. I asked him if the scheme was
agreeable to him. He did not answer, but asked if we, the
North Americans, as he called us, intended to hold the
Philippines as dependencies. I said I could not answer that,
but that in one hundred and twenty years we had established no
colonies. He then made this remarkable statement: 'I have studied
attentively the Constitution of the United States, and I find
in it no authority for colonies and I have no fear.' It may
seem that my answer was somewhat evasive, but I was at the
time trying to contract with the Filipinos for horses, carts,
fuel and forage. …
"The origin of our controversies and conflicts with the

Filipinos can … be traced back to our refusal to recognize the
political authority of Aguinaldo. Our first serious break with
them arose from our refusal to let them co-operate with us.
About nine o'clock on the evening of August 12, I received
from General Merritt an order to notify Aguinaldo to forbid
the Filipino insurgents under his command from entering
Manila. This notification was delivered to him at twenty
minutes past ten that night. The Filipinos had made every
preparation to assail the Spanish lines in their front.
Certainly, they would not have given up part of their line to
us unless they thought they were to fight with us. They,
therefore, received General Merritt's interdict with anger and
indignation. They considered the war as their war, and Manila
as their capital, and Luzon as their country. … At seven
o'clock I received an order from General Merritt to remove the
Filipinos from the city. … I therefore took the responsibility
of telegraphing Aguinaldo, who was at Bacoor, ten miles below,
requesting him to withdraw his troops and intimating that
serious consequences would follow if he did not do so. I
received his answer at eleven, saying that a Commission would
come to me the next morning with full powers. Accordingly the
next day Señors Buencomeno, Lagarde, Araneto and Sandeco came
to Division Headquarters in Manila and stated that they were
authorized to order the withdrawal of their troops, if we
would promise to reinstate them in their present positions on
our making peace with Spain. Thereupon I took them over to
General Merritt. Upon their repeating their demands, he told
them he could not give such a pledge, but that they could rely
on the honor of the American people. The General then read to
them the proclamation he intended to issue to the Filipino
people. …
"There is a great diversity of opinion as to whether a

conflict with the Filipinos could not have been avoided if a
more conciliatory course had been followed in dealing with
them. I believe we came to a parting of the ways when we
refused their request to leave their military force in a good
strategic position on the contingency of our making peace with
Spain without a guarantee of their independence."
T. M. Anderson,
Our Rule in the Philippines
(North American Review, volume 170, page 275).
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (July-August: Porto Rico).

Occupation of Porto Rico.
"With the fall of Santiago the occupation of Porto Rico became

the next strategic necessity. General Miles had previously been
assigned to organize an expedition for that purpose.
Fortunately, he was already at Santiago, where he had arrived
on the 11th of July with reinforcements for General Shafter's
army. With these troops, consisting of 3,415 infantry and
artillery, 2 companies of engineers and 1 company of the
signal corps, General Miles left Guantanamo on July 21st,
having 9 transports, convoyed by the fleet, under Captain
Higginson, with the 'Massachusetts' (flagship), 'Dixie,',
Gloucester,' 'Columbia' and 'Yale,' the two latter carrying
troops. The expedition landed at on July 25th, which port
was entered with little opposition. Here the fleet was joined
by the 'Annapolis' and the 'Wasp,' while the 'Puritan' and
'Amphitrite' went to San Juan and joined the 'New Orleans,'
which was engaged in blockading that port. The major general
commanding was subsequently reinforced by General Schwan's
brigade of the Third Army Corps, by General Wilson with a part
of his division and also by General Brooke with a part of his
corps, numbering in all 16,973 officers and men. On July 27th
he entered Ponce, one of the most important ports in the
island, from which he thereafter directed operations for the
capture of the island. With the exception of encounters with
the enemy at Guayama, Hormigueros [the Rio Prieto], Coamo, and
Yauco and an attack on a force landed at Cape San Juan, there
was no serious resistance. The campaign was prosecuted with
great vigor and by the 12th of August much of the island was
in our possession and the acquisition of the remainder was
only a matter of a short time. At most of the points in the
island our troops were enthusiastically welcomed.
Protestations of loyalty to the flag and gratitude for
delivery from Spanish rule met our commanders at every stage."
Message of the President of the United States

to Congress, December 5, 1898.
"During the nineteen days of active campaign on the island of

Puerto Rico a large portion of the island was captured by the
United States forces and brought under our control. Our forces
were in such a position as to make the positions of the
Spanish forces, outside of the garrison at San Juan, utterly
untenable. The Spaniards had been defeated or captured in the
six different engagements which took place, and in every
position they had occupied up to that time. The volunteers had
deserted their colors, and many of them had surrendered to our
forces and taken the oath of allegiance. This had a
demoralizing effect upon the regular Spanish troops. … The
loss of the enemy in killed, wounded and captured was nearly
ten times our own, which was only 3 killed and 40 wounded."

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The End of Marketing Humanizing Your

Brand in the Age of Social Media 2nd

The End of Marketing Humanizing Your Brand in the Age

The Indestructible Brand Crisis Management in the Age

Recognition in the Age of Social Media 1st Edition

The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Marketing 1st Edition

Social Media Strategy: A Practical Guide to Social

Social Media Marketing: Strategies in Utilizing

Sentiment Analysis for Social Media Carlos A. Iglesias

Awards for first edition

WINNER: NYC Big Book Award 2020 – Business: Small

Carlos Gil is a marketing visionary who I am proud to call a friend. His

Carlos Gil’s illustrious career makes him expertly positioned to help

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About the Author x

02 Stranded in a digital ocean 23

03 How to be savage AF—like Randy 41

04 Don’t be mad at Facebook; you just suck

05 Swipe right: sales and marketing is no different

06 Growth hacking your way to greatness 101

07 The celebrity effect: key lessons marketers need

08 Transforming your advocates into the faces

09 Bringing it all together 160

10 The power of personality and persuasion 180

Find relevant groups 197

11 Judgment day: the battle of AI versus

12 As social media evolves, marketers must

Your hero’s journey 235

13 Marketing in a post-pandemic society 242

Afterword by Brian Solis 263

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

C arlos Gil is an international keynote speaker and award-­

I dedicate this book to my children, Carlos M.,

Now, as you read this, you’re probably saying to yourself: “Yeah

●● You purchased bitcoin despite not knowing a single thing about

●● You invested your hard-earned money or possibly your stimulus

a­ nymore—it is psychology used as a tool to sell and monetize. And

In the aftermath of 2019’s Netflix and Hulu documentaries, I

chance to star alongside Kevin Hart in an upcoming movie or

What is disappointing about this is the lack of awareness that

from an iPhone anywhere in the world. The game of marketing is

Everyone is an influencer, and

Throughout my career in this industry, both as an employee and

Building relationships isn’t done through Facebook ads or brand

Know your audience—who are they and what

What value do you bring to your intended

Who are your references?

Who has perceived influence among your target

a stylish alternative to paper masks. Like any startup, creating

Create your own influence

“The platforms are constantly evolving.”

Struggling with these challenges is understandable—it is tricky

that we perceive to be advertising to us. As such, it’s more impor-

●● Facebook reach is 1 percent or less organically—that’s 29.7

●● I suggested that she should utilize my company, to focus on

To be candid, my agency didn’t land the account, probably because

metric. I like it when my colleagues doubt the power of social

1 Why am I on social media?

3 What platforms are my customers on?

As you will quickly discover, the purpose of an audit is to gather

C arlos Gil is an international keynote speaker and award-

a nymore—it is psychology used as a tool to sell and monetize. And