Let’s Go Linkless 🔗

This week I posted about links on LinkedIn.

(If you saw that post, don’t worry – we’ll go way deeper here.)

You might not know it, but links are significantly limiting your social media success.

It’s the one thing I try and tell everyone we work with:

If you’re asking people to click a link in bio, you’ve already lost.

For two reasons:

Firstly, algorithms hate it.

Social media organisations don’t want you to leave their app.

Less time in app = less ad revenue for the platforms.

So their algorithms deprioritises any content that tries.

Secondly, users hate it.

Despite what we think, very few people want to leave the app either.

They’re on social media for escapism, entertainment and inspiration.

They don’t want to navigate your averagely-optimised mobile website.

(More on that another time.)

But even those two explanations aren’t the main reason why you should stop littering your social media schedule with links. There’s a much more noble, inspiring reason to stop:

It forces you to do proper marketing.

Anyone can shout demands at their audience day in, day out. “Come to this event”, “Buy this thing”, “Support our cause”, “Read this blog”, “Download this resource”, “Sign up to this newsletter”. It’s easy and, to be really honest with you, weak marketing.

If you stop shouting, you have to make them feel something.

You have to delight them, value them, connect on a level beyond demands.

But it’s really hard.

So brands often default to the easy path – ask, ask, ask.

And audiences feel less valued, more exploited and they switch off.

The answer? Adopt a zero click strategy.

That means sharing full value in the social media post itself.

No need to click away to benefit.

Everything stays in platform, on app – happy algorithm and happy users.

What you lose in traffic you gain in trust and attention, and when people get value first, they remember you.

It’s a scary tactic, I know.

And you might face resistance from leadership and stakeholders who depend on you driving conversions.

If you want to do it effectively, here’s some tips:

#1 – Check your data – Use Google Analytics to work out how many website conversions are actually coming from social media. I’ll bet it’s close to zero. Use this data to help convince leadership of your shift to zero-click

#2 – Know your value – Spend time thinking about the unique value you offer. Bring the value of your product/service directly onto social media and help people where they’re at. Don’t gate keep – share all of your gold on socials.

#3 – Divert your asks – I’m not crazy. I know you have to do the hard sales somewhere. Ask away on email, digital ads, podcasts, etc. If you REALLY have to sell on social media, use Instagram/Facebook stories.

#4 – Connect your channels – This is the hard bit. Map your channels into a journey and work out how to grab new audiences on social media and connect them to your other spaces that can be more salesy.

#5 – Value your content – Get a social media strategist and listen to their advice. Invest in your graphic design and video creation ability. High-performance on social media requires expertise and investment.

We’re bullish on this.

The team works across dozens of social media accounts, and we see the pattern.

Brands who go zero-click win, those that don’t lose.

That’s all for today.

✌️

Welcome to Neighbourhood Post – easy to implement digital marketing ideas, straight through your metaphorical letterbox.

I hope you’ve had a good week.

Today we’re talking about how we can overcomplicate things, and I got to play with Lego. Win-win.

Less > More 🤯

Are you ready for a Friday morning brainteaser?

It’s an easy one.

Look at the photo below. It’s a bridge made of Lego.

Using only what you see, how would you balance the bridge?

You added the spare brick to the left hand column, didn’t you.

I knew you would.

You’re correct, well done! ✅

You made the same move as 99% of people.

But did you spot the alternative solution: remove a brick from the right hand column?

The result would be the same.

But only 1% of people take a brick away.

It’s an illustration of how the human brain naturally looks to solve problems – through addition not subtraction.

If the situation clearly calls for subtraction, we’ll subtract.

But if we’re faced with an equal choice of addition or subtraction, we’ll always add something.

It highlights the importance of knowing how our brain works when we make decisions.

What if, against all our better instincts, less is better?

You may have heard of the Pareto Principle (AKA the 80/20 rule).

80% of output comes from 20% of input, or in marketing terms 80% of success comes from 20% of your activity.

The problem is working out which 20%.

It begs the question:

What if the answer to your sales and marketing challenge is to do less, rather than more? To spend time understanding what you can leverage to bring disproportionate results.

Sometimes doing less can be a competitive advantage.

Rick Rubin, author and founder of Def Jam Records, takes a minimal approach to social media – posting once per week and archiving each post after seven days, so his Instagram profile always shows just one post.

Posting less becomes a compelling reason to pay attention to what he says.

In a world that demands more, less is a competitive advantage.

Let’s take this from the theoretical to the practical…

If you’re juggling 6 different marketing channels, ask yourself:

“If I spend twice as much time on half the channels, would results go up or down?”

Chances are you couldn’t be 100% confident one way or the other.

So test it for a short period of time.

You might be surprised.

That’s all for now.

Until next week.

✌️

Welcome to Neighbourhood Post – easy to implement digital marketing ideas straight through your metaphorical letterbox.

I hope you’ve had a good week.

I’ve got a real treat for your ears this week, so grab your headphones and have a listen as we chat about the past, present and future of social media.

The 3 deaths of social media 💀

I’ve always been told I’ve got a face for podcasts.

So it was an absolute pleasure to join Michael Gough on his podcast “Why It Matters”.

In just 40 minutes we cover:

• Two decades of social media shifts
• The demise of community
• The only way to get success on social in 2025
• How to build social media strategies
• Why we should be ignoring ROI for social media

If social media is any part of what you do, or you’re interested in its broader trends, have a listen:

> Spotify
> Apple Podcasts

I met Michael early in my freelance journey – he’s a brilliant brand strategist and marketing mind. Take a look at his other podcasts and articles.

That’s all for today.

See you next week.✌️