Summary

The article discusses a non-technical growth strategy inspired by Waffle House's marketing approach, which led to a 300% increase in the author's Twitter audience within 30 days.

Abstract

The author draws a parallel between Waffle House's successful marketing strategy, which leverages strategic proximity to Wal-Mart stores to attract customers without significant advertising spend, and their own Twitter audience growth. By identifying and engaging with "digital Wal-Marts" or influential accounts in their niche, the author managed to significantly increase their Twitter presence. The strategy involves creating valuable content that either reflects, magnifies, or continues the themes of larger accounts, thereby tapping into existing traffic. The author emphasizes the importance of publishing valuable comments, analyzing engagement data, and repurposing successful comments into original posts. This methodical approach is presented as a way to grow an online audience organically and efficiently, requiring only about an hour of work per day.

Opinions

The author believes that traditional advertising is not necessary for substantial growth, as demonstrated by Waffle House's revenue success.
New content creators often overestimate their visibility and need to redirect traffic from established sources to grow their audience.
Engagement is crucial, and content should be tailored to add value to existing conversations within one's niche.
The strategy advocates for the repurposing of successful comments into full-fledged content, leveraging data to inform content creation.
The author suggests that this growth strategy is repeatable and can lead to consistent audience expansion with minimal time investment.
There is an emphasis on the importance of strategic engagement with larger accounts to gain visibility and traction in a competitive online space.

My Twitter Audience Grew 300% In 30 Days After Using This Non-Tech Growth Strategy

Most writers have zero clue this exists and works repeatedly

You can make billions without spending a dime on advertising.

At least, that's the case for an inconspicuous family restaurant.

In 2017, Waffle House reported annual revenue to top $1.3 billion. They spent next to nothing on advertising (aside from a handful of billboards you might see on the Interstate Highway system).

How do they do this?

I'll share that with you later.

Better yet, I'm also going to share with you how I've used that same strategy to grow my Twitter audience 3 fold and added an extra income stream.

All only working an hour or so a day.

60 seconds to explain the Waffle House Marketing Strategy

Whoever is behind Waffle House's marketing strategy, give that guy or gal a raise.

You see, Waffle House doesn't spend its time focusing on:

R&D-ing new menu items
Return on ad spend
Copywriting

They merely focus on setting up their restaurants in specific and strategic locations.

Near Wal-Mart stores.

Why?

Because Waffle House knows Wal-Mart is going to get 'X' amount of traffic. They know Wal-Mart shoppers:

Shop with the entire family
Drive a considerable distance (commonly in rural locations)
Need a place to eat before/after the shopping

They can just "slap" their store nearby and the heavy lifting is already done for them.

How you can use this to increase your audience

New creators think they're special.

I was one of them. I would write and publish and hope an audience would flock to my life-changing message. Every time I published, however, what happened? Crickets.

When you're just starting out, no one knows that you exist.

What's more, no one cares that you exist. When no one cares, clicks and reads are impossible. It's a vicious cycle to break free from.

A brief history of my growth

To grow my audience, I used digital "Wal-Marts" and redirected their traffic.

Let's put my experience under the microscope…

At the beginning of March, my Twitter account was as follows:

68.2k tweet impressions
9,564 profile visits
167 mentions
285 followers

I only started publishing on Twitter in January of 2022, so while I was experiencing growth — it was at a snail's pace.

Fast forward to today, my Twitter account reads:

176k tweet impressions
29.9k profile visits
376 mentions
626 followers

To reconcile this growth, let's turn to the marketing strategy.

Step 1: Find your "Wal-Marts"

I write in the copywriting, marketing, and creator spaces.

Naturally, this means I need to follow larger accounts that also publish in those areas.

I use Twitter Lists and other tools to help me refine and curate my feed so I'm only looking at those relevant accounts.

Step 2: Slap your Waffle House content

You need to publish content to attract attention.

Let me rephrase that actually…

You need to publish valuable content to attract attention to your profile.

There are 3 ways I do this:

Horizontal content:

This is content that reflects what's being said by the creator but for a different niche.

For example:

A creator might write,

"3 Things That Make Your Landing Page better:

thing 1

thing 2

Thing 3"

A horizontal comment would be (using my niche):

"3 Tips That instantly Improve Your Writing:

thing 1

thing 2

thing 3"

Magnify a single theme:

A lot of writers like to publish lofty ideas.

Hell, they get engagement.

But there are gaps in the content that opens an opportunity for you to further expand.

For instance, a large account might publish:

"How to get more done in a week than most do in a month

Outline precise goals

Adopt relentless focus

Learn copywriting"

I just made that up…

But when you read it, it offers up to 3 different opportunities to create valuable content.

Here are 3 example headlines for comments you can use to create magnified content out of the prompt in front of you:

"3 Ways To Outline Precise Goals"
"How to Develop Focus Like a Shaolin Monk"
"3 Copywriting Hacks That Will Help You Print Money On-Demand"

See how you use small ideas in their content and magnify it to add value?

Continue the list:

Lists do very well with online content.

Many writers and creators use lists to attract attention. When they do this, you'd be stupid not to continue their list (this is how I made a boat-load of growth).

A very well-known Twitter writer created a thread entitled,

"23 Sentences That Will Improve Your Writing More Than 12 Years of English Class"

So I continued the list (see image):

This continuation comment did pretty well in terms of engagement:

Now, you might be saying to yourself,

"Jon, I thought you said this strategy helped grow your audience, you only got 1 follower!"

The analytics don't update in real-time (they're delayed a day). See the next image and notice the dates:

Step 3: Repurpose the comment into an organic post/thread

Data shows you which ideas are worth pursuing.

When I saw that this comment resonated with an audience, it was time to further test the idea on my own.

Using that same prompt, I created a thread that magnified on those questions.

What were the results?

Courtesy | Author (this is the day after my thread was published)

There's no guessing involved

It's purely following the data.

I spend about an hour a day and publish 10–30 "Waffle House" comments on accounts greater than me.

When one "hits" I analyze the data and create organic content that magnifies the ideas.

It's a lather, rinse, repeat system.

Here's a concise recap

Audience building on Twitter is simple.

Don't hope and pray that you'll be able to generate your own organic traffic (at least in the beginning).

Use the "Waffle House" marketing strategy and grow on autopilot.

Here's the strategy:

Find large accounts
Publish value-added comments (10–30 daily)
Analyze and track the most engaged
Repurpose into organic content
Repeat

Because your content is valuable.

You just need to get in it front of the right people and this strategy will help you do it.

Ready to make more?

If you want to excel and earn more than what you’re currently making by doing what you love — regardless of your experience — check out my guide.