Today I want to tell you about the Hour of Power and why it is so important. So what is the hour of power? It is the first hour that comes after you post a piece of content. It could be a video, a photograph or even a blog.
Approximate read time four minutes
Let’s use Linkedin as an example. You post a new video to Linkedin. Linkedin’s robot computer minions get notified of your new post and they turn their attention to it. For that first hour, they will monitor your post to see how people are interacting with it. Is it getting likes, shares and comments? The first hour is called the hour of power because this is your chance to show those bots who is boss.
You also need to be monitoring your post. If somebody comments you should be replying to that comment straight away. Get a conversation going. Ask them a question so that they have to reply to you. The bots love the interaction. The more action that happens with your post the more they will push it out to others. Your audience will increase and you could pull in new potential clients. It’s not enough to just post and walk away in the hope that someone sees it. You need that wider audience. You need to reach people who don’t know you exist.
I have run my video production company in Sydney for 10 years and I am only now just learning of the power of this. I felt deflated when I posted a video and it would only get a couple of likes. As soon as I started engaging with people, likes, shares and comments all increased. If someone just gave me a like then I would go through to their profile and follow them. If it was through Linkedin I would connect with them. If they have shown a tiny bit of interest in what you do then there is a strong possibility that you could work together in some way. You either are similar to them or you can solve a problem that they have.
Once that first hour is over then the bots start looking elsewhere. They are busy little things you know with all that content to go through. They will have given your content a score and decided where to place you in the rankings. This is why some videos go viral. The bots see how popular the post is and push it out to more people wherever they can.
I had a recent video go viral. It was drone footage of a huge pod of dolphins near my home in Sydney, Australia. I posted it on a couple of platforms and watched it for the first hour. I replied to people who commented with as much information as I could and got conversations going. It went OFF! I had 45K views in the first couple of hours. There was no blatant plug or sales pitch. I just watermarked the video with my logo. I got a heap of new enquiries and followers and have made some serious connections that we are discussing potential projects with. If I had left it and not utilised the hour of power would it still have been popular? Probably yes, it is dolphins after all! But by me being there and being a human having conversations it definitely gave it a real boost. If you’re interested in that video you can check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxh9-rTI4xg P.S. It wasn’t even shared to Youtube when it went viral!
People buy from people and not faceless corporations. It is called social media for a reason so be social. There is no point in creating content if only your mum and a couple of friends see it. They aren’t going to buy from you. So take the time and set aside that first hour of power. If at first results are slow, do not give up. The social media channels don’t know you yet. The more consistent you are with popular posts the more those bots will boost your content. And you need to be consistent. I’m guilty at the moment. I had a huge boost in work after COVID started to ease. I stopped marketing and stopped posting because I was “too busy”. Now that I am steady again I have seen my engagement rates dropping. I need to build up again and show the bots what I am made of. It takes time but it is totally worth it.
Thanks for reading!
Gareth Carr
Cinematographer & Photographer based in Sydney, Australia
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Website: https://www.exposedwolf.com
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Exposed Wolf is a video production & photography company based in Sydney, Australia. With over 20 years of industry experience, they can help you with planning, shooting and editing your projects to give you months of powerful content to raise your business and brand.