Millennial Marketing Secret #1 : Complain on Social Media

Danny Capaccio
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

Many creatives and entrepreneurs of all varieties today struggle to effectively reach their audience and get paid for their products and services. Typically, people advertise by creating attractive digital ads, leveraging social media, and trying innovative new approaches to marketing. But I’m going to give you a tip that is tried and true, and is often overlooked as a lucrative source of traffic — complaining.

It’d been months since I had inundated my social media profiles in self-promotion and asked my family and friends to support a new project, so I thought the time had come to finally cash in. You see, several months ago my band released our first album and a couple music videos completely on our own. We made everything ourselves and really put everything into the project. The initial response from the solemn few who dared to listen was strong. But soon afterward the buzz died and no one really spoke about it for the next few months. So, downtrodden and emotional, I decided to write a scathing multi-paragraph rant about how no one really helped us and no one valued art anymore. And you know what, IT WORKED.

Suddenly, my classmates from high school decided against paying their rent and instead bought 10 copies of the album to give away to their friends. My family decided they’d buy 20 T-shirts EACH and wore them everywhere to generate buzz. Strangers covered our songs and shared us with all their friends and random people on the street. We went viral on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Breitbart, CNN, MTV, TMZ, CSPAN, CSPAN2, BBC, and Infowars.

It was so liberating and awesome! Finally being acknowledged, not for the merit of my art or the callouses on my hands, but because I complained about an obvious issue that is well-known.

Our last show as that small, local band no one cared about.

The landslide of support since has been an utter blur. Our album went 10x Platinum, we booked our 4th international tour, signed on for a 10-record contract with a major label, and our favorite bands are opening for us. I no longer have to work a normal job and it’s all because I took the leap of faith and ranted about the lack of financial support for my specific art.

A typical turnout for one of our shows now.

So remember…

People don’t care about your products. No one wants to listen to your band, buy your art, follow your YouTube channel, or back your Kickstarter. Good content doesn’t cut it anymore in our over-saturated digital lives. But what people do care about is, how awful the roads are, how their spouses steal the sheets at night, and what the president is doing wrong. So instead of trying to create riveting, innovative content — you should just complain. It worked for us. It will work for you.

Danny Capaccio

Written by

Artist. Programmer. Musician. Co-Founder at http://polyrhythm.studio Guitarist/Singer at http://analogbandits.bandcamp.com Denny @ DennySpennyBS Burger Podcast.

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