I’ve been tricked into working for social media platforms for free.

And so have you.

Every time you post on social media, you’re creating content for them to monetise. They position Ads around your content and they keep the Ad revenue.

Sometimes, they even get you to pay to put content on their platform, by paying to promote that content more widely. Which boosts their Ad revenue.

This isn’t how the platforms frame it, of course. You’re encouraged to see all this as ‘getting your content in front of your audience’.

But it’s not really your audience. When you build an audience (followers, subscribers) on social media, you’re paying to reach them, either through promoted content or simply in the time it takes to show up and play the game.

So why do we still do it? In this video I explain another, more effective way to connect with people.