When I decided to start a content collective, I thought the biggest problem would be growth. Getting enough eyes on the content that was pouring in from our contributors.
Want to know what the real problem ended up being?
Getting enough content from our contributors.
See, if you're like me, you have content. Lots and lots of content. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of social media posts, plus blogs and podcasts and newsletters. All scattered around the internet, collecting digital dust.
But when you need a piece of content? When you need to share a framework or a method or a phrase or something you've put out there before?
Good luck actually finding it.
There is no centralized library of your content, and most social media platforms make it next to impossible to see the things you used to post.
So when you want to contribute your content to things like:
- Your accounts, pages, and profiles
- Blogs and email newsletters
- Your brain, to come up with new ideas, or even
- A content marketing collective...
You are forced to start over from scratch and write something new, every time. Your old posts are so inaccessible and unsearchable that it is almost more difficult to find the old stuff than it is to write new.
This is on purpose.
Meta, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google, they don't want you repurposing your old content. If posting content is easy and efficient, you don't have to scroll through the whole platform to find inspiration. You can just post, do some light engagement, and go.
More time on platform? Sell more ads.
More new content? Sell more ads.
Never know what is going to perform? You'll create even more.
And again, more fresh new content from you?
Sell more ads.
Not having a library of your past content makes all sorts of things more difficult. It's harder to...
- Be consistent, because you're always having to start from scratch
- Create new resources, because you have to write them from zero
- Create ads, because you have to start from a blank page
- Move to a different platform, because everything you've ever written is stored on theirs
- Write lectures, workshops, and books, because your knowledge is all in your head instead of in an accessible, searchable resource
I decided to solve this problem.
In spite of the barriers that these companies put up, it's actually not THAT difficult to build a cohesive database of your content.
The difficult part is organizing it. Finding the themes, making it searchable, making it USEFUL as a content tool.
But once you have it . . .
You own your content again.
That's why I created ALEX.
Originally my "CMO in your pocket" marketing strategy tool, I've been working away adding a suite of features to ALEX to make it into a full-fledged autonomous content marketing agent.
So far, we have:
- Improved the strategist features of ALEX, so it gives you more concrete, updated content marketing strategy
- Built a profile out of the strategy the chatbot gives you, so that it can inform your future content choices
- Created a database that can hold thought leadership content from a wide variety of platforms in contextual "chunks", like frameworks and phrases
- Built a search function that can find what you need, when you need it, based on that context
ALEX the chatbot is live now.
The profile, database, and search are in final testing for Monday, along with an improved version of the chatbot embedded in our dashboard.
The next phase?
Making ALEX a master content marketer.
In the next phase of development, beginning after next week, I'll be adding features like:
- Content calendar generation, based on your profile + library
- Content calendar population, filling said calendar from your library of content
- Content approvals in a Tinder-style interface, so figuring out what to post next week is as simple as swiping left or right
Phase three? Bringing in SEO, social media trends, and even scheduling.
Why do this instead of just training ChatGPT to write everything?
Hallucinations, copyright issues, and frankly, thought leadership requires... Thoughts. Which LLMs don't have.
I'm using this to run our whole content collective. Members can submit their content database, and we can use it to populate our social feeds and blog.
But I'm also making it available to you.
Next week, ALEX will be $200/mo in a cancel-anytime, month-to-month subscription. That's less than 10% of the cost of any half-decent social media agency, and it'll actually know your content.
Just one new client per year will completely cover the cost of ALEX for most consultants, creatives, and creators.
Right now, however, I'm running a birthday special.
You can lock in an annual subscription to ALEX for just $1k/year, for as long as we run it, with unlimited use and access to all features.
That's less than $3/day to safeguard your entire content library, and make sure you never have to stare at a blank post box and force yourself to create something just to avoid disappearing in the algorithm.
Your content baseline is handled - permanently - and everything else you create can be inspired and of-the-moment.
Click here to get a pre-sale annual pass to ALEX.
Now, I meant to send this email out in December. And then two weeks ago. And last week. But life (and the fun parts of development) kind of got away from me. So this sale was supposed to end tonight, at midnight.
But since I didn't give you a fair shot, I'm extending it through til Monday just for people who get my newsletter.
I started with 10 Founder spots. There are 4 left, and they must be claimed by Monday, January 19.
That's the day I'm taking the search + database of ALEX live for our Founders and lifetime access holders. You won't want to miss it.
Click here to get in on the pre-sale.
Or hit reply if you have questions. I'm here, coding away, making all of our content dreams come true. At least, that's the goal 😂
