Hello.

In this newsletter article, I want to present to you the 6 principles to crack the algorithm.

I learned these principles by following Paddy Galloway...

Paddy is the guy known for "cracking" the YouTube algorithm.

And he has worked with media giants like Mr Beast, Noah Kagan and others with millions of subscribers and billions of views on YouTube.

He is very active on X, frequently seen throwing out advice to people who want to become the next YouTube superstars.

As you will see shortly, Paddy is a genius when it comes to understanding how human nature plays itself out on the YouTube algorithm.

But even though he talks mostly about YouTube, his principles are highly applicable to X.

So if you want to become the next X superstar, read on.

Because that's exactly what I will show you in this post.

PS: I've been following him for a while and this is my best attempt at cnsolidating his advice into some key principles that can be applicable to X.

If you're not already following him, I highly recommend it. (@PaddyG96 is his handle)

Don't be short-sighted to think that his advice only works on YouTube.

After all, human nature is the same everywhere. The principles remain the same, only the tactics that differ a little bit depending on the platform you are trying to grow.

1. There is no such thing as the "algorithm"

Paddy's first principle is kinda counter intuitive.

After hyping him up as an algorithm master, his first principle is that there is no such thing as "the algorithm"... It's all about the audience.

As creators, we often think that the algorithm controls what people see on these platforms, deciding which posts go viral and which posts to bury.

But that's only half the story.

Even though the algorithm "picks" the winners and losers, its job is simply to serve the most engaging and interesting posts to the audience.

Sure, there's some complex math behind the algorithm, but at the end of the day, it's all about serving the most engaging posts.

So, if you ever feel like the algorithm is limiting your reach, there is ALWAYS an underlying audience explanation.

• Did you talk about something people don't want to hear?

• Did you fail to make the content relatable and useful?

• Did you deliver your content in a boring way?

Whenever you feel like blaming the algorithm, look for the audience explanation underneath it.

Remember, the algorithm is simply a reflection of the audience. Not the other way around.

2. Lean onto your strengths

It's common for beginners to look at larger accounts and try to copy exactly what they're doing.

But this is a losing strategy for two reasons:

1. Your audience will quickly realize that you don't have the same breadth of experience and your posts lack substance.

This will lead to slow growth and high churn.

2. You're just playing a game of copycat.

Novelty is crucial for capturing attention. Its just how our brain works.

We devote our full attention to new information and completely disregard the rest.

And if you are copying other people's, you are by definition not coming up with new stuff.

Because of this, people won't feel like they have to pay attention to what you have to say. You will be completely ignored.

Again, leading to slow growth and high churn.

But here is where Paddy's brilliance comes once again: The best channels have moats - they have something in them that sets than apart from all competitors. Thus making them impossible to copy.

You see, if you want to set yourself apart from the competition and never be considered noise among the signal, you need to be completely different from everyone else.

You MUST have something to set yourself apart.

Now, chances are, you might not be the funniest or most charismatic person... You might not have funded a unicorn start-up... and you might not have PhD credentials.

And that's okay. This isn't the only way to create a moat.

But you will have to be creative.

For instance, you can take some of your existing skills and merge them with topics in the niche you want to break into.

For example, when I started, there were lots of machine learning experts in the AI space.

If I tried to copy them, it would be nearly impossible because I'm not the best at these things.

But I leaned into my strenghts (copywriting, coding and marketing in general) and merged them to talk about how AI can help people grow and create viral content consistently in the least time possible.

By leaning on my strengths, I am building my brand and my moat.

And even though I'm in the AI niche today, considered "overcrowded" by many, I don't have any competitors because the topics I talk about are so unique that it would be hard for someone to copy me even if they wanted to.

Similarly, all of the other larger accounts that I see have a unique blend of skills and experiences.

They can come up with crazy unique angles to talk about and no one could ever copy them if they tried.

And that's exactly what you want to do.

As the legendary entrepreneur Peter Thiel likes to say: "Competition is for losers."

Set yourself apart so differently from other people by leaning on your strengths and your skills.

3. Have a great idea

You see, when it comes to creating high performing content, the underlying idea of is the most important thing.

So much so, that if your content did not perform as well as you wanted it to, 9 times out of 10 it boils down to it.

You see, we should be spending most of our time coming up with unique, exciting and useful ideas.

Unfortunately, most of us tend to do the opposite.

We spend most of the time stressing over the "writing" aspect of the post and trying to sound clever.

But none of the matters if the underlying idea of the post is bad/irrelevant to begin with.

So give it its due importance.

Spend more as much time as you think is needed to come up with a solid attention-grabbing topic to talk about.

Then the rest will easily fall into place.

4. Retention > Everything else

Most growth advice out there is flawed.

Everyone tells you to nail the hook to get people reading your post.

But that's only half the story. If people start reading your content and they see that your hook was merely a clickbait, they will stop reading.

Do this once, people might let it slide... Do this twice, people will feel disrespected.

You can't overpromise and underdeliver.

But don't you think that retention is only important for the YouTube algorithm.

The X algorithm also deems it as crucial, probably even more so than Youtube's.

Even Elon Musk has emphasized its importance.

If you don't hold people's attention throughout your post, you will have a low average of user time spent on your content and the algo will bury it as a result..

Again , don't forget there is no such thing as "the algorithm".

If your post didn't perform well, either people ignored it entirely or didn't spend enough time reading it.

The algo is simply a reflection of the collective behavior of your audience.

Now, on youtube, retention is easily calculated, as this metric appears on the creator's dashboard.

But on X, we don't have such luxury. So we have to estimate it by proxy.

Look for sentences in your post that are confusing or boring, as these are the places where you'd most likely lose readers.

Then edit them out and make them more exciting and relatable.

5. Value > Packaging

This particular principle is probably even more true on X than on YouTube...

On YouTube, people tend to stress over video and audio quality.

They think that having studio quality videos will make up for the actual substance of the video. And they might be right.

But there’s no such thing on X.

X is 100% information driven, the packaging almost doesn't matter.

Whether you are using an old phone or the latest technological equipment makes no difference. The only thing that matters is the value you provide to people.

If you aren't talking about useful and interesting stuff, you will be ignored.

And if you are providing value, people will pay attention.

It's that simple.

6. Cost signaling

This particular principle was hands-down the most important one I learned from Paddy.

I don't really see anyone else talking about it. But it makes a significant difference.

I think people don't talk about it as often as they should because it takes work.

But if you've read this far, I will assume you aren't afraid of that.

So allow me to spill the beans, no need to sugarcoat anything.

You see, whenever your readers read your posts, they should stop and think: "Wow, creating it must have took a lot of WORK"

People's first gut reaction must be that you gave your very best when creating stuff for them.

You didn't cut any corners and you didn't spare any effort to give them as much value as you possibly can.

This will - in turn - make them engage, bookmark, comment and even repost your stuff out of sheer reciprocity.

Again, and I will borrow Paddy's words here, you need to put tangible effort into your content.

If the readers feel like you are midlessly creating content. They won't really respect what you have to say and they will keep scrolling.

Your audience needs to know that you went the extra mile for them and you always will.

But how does this principle applies to X?

• Use relevant images that prove the points and claims you made during the post;

• Share templates and proof of work with your audience;

• Back up your claims with stats;

Be creative.

Anything that takes effort to do and your audience clearly perceives it that way can be used. (I will probably make a post about this later, this is a topic that needs to be discussed at length.)

Does that take work? Yes, a lot.

But consider this the price you have to pay for growing your account.

Because most of your competitors won't go down this route, and you will.

Now, those were the principles I learned from Paddy Galloway.

As you can see, most of the stuff he talks about is also very applicable to X. And that is precisely why I keep a close eye on what he talks about.

So apply your own version of these principles to X and you will realize that you can't help but start growing your account.

See ya next week.