Sequence platforms and widen a niche

1. Two sequences, and you pick one

There are two approaches to adding platforms. Both start identically and split at step three.

1.1 Depth, then width

Step	What you do
1	Post content on a relevant platform
2	Post on that platform regularly, on a cadence
3	Maximize the quality and the quantity of what you post there
4	Add another platform, and repeat steps 1 to 4 until every relevant platform is maximized

Step one is not a formality. Most people reading this are not doing step one, so do that first. What "maximized" means at step three is a cadence ceiling, and the ceilings are on SOP 26.

What it gets you. The best return on the effort you have. Audiences compound faster the bigger they already are, so with fewer resources this is sometimes the easier route: if you are already good on one platform, more effort spent there will usually get you more reward than starting from nothing somewhere else. When resources are the constraint, that is the whole argument.

What it costs you. You leave low-hanging fruit on other platforms. You have no omnipresence — people can find you in exactly one place and nowhere else. And you become dependent on a single channel, which is a real business risk rather than a theoretical one: post anything the platform dislikes and you can be shut down or have your reach constrained, and if that channel is your lead flow, the lead flow stops with it.

1.2 Width, then depth

Step	What you do
1	Post content on a relevant platform
2	Post on that platform regularly
3	Instead of maximizing that platform, move to another one
4	Continue until you are relevant on all of them
5	Maximize all of them at once

Step three is where this differs from the first sequence, and it has a rule attached: make the next platform the closest one to the platform you are already on. One short video takes very little extra effort to reformat for the other short-video platforms. One piece of short text reformats to the other short-text platforms. If the style you make travels, all you do is format it so it looks like the content that already performs there.

What it gets you. A broader audience faster, and the repurposing costs little.

What it costs you. More skill, more attention, more time and more labor to do well — and often a period at the beginning where you are producing bad content everywhere at once instead of in one place.

1.3 Choosing between them

It depends on you and the skill set you have today.

Where you are	What to run
Resource constrained	Depth then width is likely the better first shot
You have never made content before	Depth then width — do not try to master several platforms without mastering one
If you are starting out	Depth then width, probably
Already somewhat experienced at making content	Width then depth might be the better overall call

2. Widen the subject the same way you widen the platform

The second sequence on this page governs what you are allowed to talk about, and it runs through audiences from the smallest to the largest, one size at a time.

In the beginning, narrowing the scope of your content helps you win, because it puts you against a smaller field. That is an opinion rather than a measurement. The order is deliberate. Start in the smallest audience, against the smallest competitors, and stay until you lead it. Then step up a size and compete with the people there. Then go to the largest. Someone with little standing who starts in the largest audience loses.

Why size matters: credibility. If you run a small local business, you probably should not be making general business content. The objection is not that it is forbidden. It is that you are unlikely to succeed at it, because the people already making general business content have built enormous businesses, and given two pieces of identical content, people listen to whoever is more credible.

So the instruction is to draw a smaller and smaller circle around the thing you are credible about and cannot be questioned on.

The worked path. A plumber in one town first becomes the leading voice on plumbing in that town. Over time that widens to general local business, then to brick-and-mortar chains, then to general business. Each move outward is a small step, taken as credibility accumulates — not a jump.

3. When you have no credibility yet, talk about what happened to you

The hard case is somebody young enough not to have lived much yet — a life coach who is 20 years old. Even if what they say is good it is tough, because the credibility is not there.

There is a way through it, and it is the same move at a smaller circle:

• Talk about the struggles you have actually experienced and come through.
• Talk about the specific people you have helped, one at a time, and what you did with them.
• Do not talk about what people in general should do.

Nobody can question an account of what you did with one person. They may not find it useful, but they cannot attack it. If enough people do find value in it, some of them follow you. Over time that following may grow big enough that you can take a step sideways and go slightly broader — "across everyone I have worked with, this is what I found" — which is still a claim about what you have done rather than a claim about what people should do, and is still unassailable.

4. Say "how I", not "how to"

This is the same protection written into the grammar of every sentence, and it is the easiest version of it to adopt on day one. Switch from how to to how I. It is one of the easiest ways to take your ego out of the work when you are starting out.

Claim shape	Example
How to	This is the best way to generate leads for a business
How I	My favorite way to generate leads for my business
How to	How to build a seven-figure agency
How I	How I built my seven-figure agency
How to	This is the best way to retain people
How I	My three favorite ways to retain people

The difference is small on the page and, on the view offered, large in the reception. A reader facing a "how to" is being told what is best. A reader facing a "how I" is being shown somebody's preference, which is not a claim at all, so there is nothing to disprove and they can simply listen.

5. The order to run this in

Question	The answer
Which platform first	One relevant platform
When to add the second	Depth then width: once the first is maximized. Width then depth: once you are posting regularly
Which platform is second	The closest one to the first, so the format travels
How wide a subject at the start	The smallest circle you are credible in and cannot be questioned on
When to widen the subject	As credibility accumulates, one small step at a time
What a claim looks like while credible ground is thin	What you did, and who you did it with
How long each stage takes	Not established on this page
How many platforms is "all the relevant platforms"	Not established on this page

6. What this page does not cover

How often to post on a platform once you are on it, and the routine for producing that volume, are on SOP 26. What to put inside a piece is on SOP 20, headlines are on SOP 21, topic sourcing is on SOP 22, and retention devices are on SOP 23. How often you are allowed to ask the audience for something, on any of these platforms, is on SOP 24. Reaching strangers rather than an audience you have built is on SOP 27 through SOP 31 for one-to-one contact and SOP 32 through SOP 39 for paid placement.

Platform mechanics are not covered on this page. Turning your best post into a paid advertisement is on SOP 38.