Elon Musk wants X to replace your bank account.

That’s the message the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, communicated to his employees on Thursday.

“When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,” Musk reportedly said.

X is reportedly developing new features to turn the platform into a financial hub. The goal is to let users send money anywhere in the world instantly WITHOUT needing a bank account.

CEO Linda Yaccarino predicts that this will roll out in 2024, so we’ll find out soon enough if this is more than a fantasy…

Here’s the rundown for today…

• Instagram Ad Upgrade - New Features For Reminder Ads

• Is X Growing? - Official & Unofficial Numbers

• Threads Not Dead After All - Approaches 100 Million Users

• Get Started With Influencer Marketing - 9 Steps Revealed

• New Niche-Selection Framework - 3 Steps To Pick YOUR Unique Niche

Lurn Bytes: Your Daily News Download

Instagram Upgrades Reminder Ads - Now, these ads will not only appear in your feed, but also in Stories, and you can create them directly in Ads Manager. The Reminder Ads will send you three alerts for upcoming events to help boost engagement and awareness…

X Reports Strong User Data - X, formerly known as Twitter, is apparently doing well. According to new information released by CEO Linda Yaccarino, the X platform has over half a billion monthly users who spend an average of more than 32 minutes per day on the platform. This is higher than other estimates reporting far fewer sign-ups and engagement…

Meanwhile, Threads Approaches 100 Million Users - While X may or may not be growing, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, said that their Twitter-like app, Threads, is doing well with just under 100 million monthly active users and plans to grow it further…

How To Get Started With Influencer Marketing

Many businesses are using influencer marketing to generate traffic or just enhance their brand.

The basic idea is that you get an “influencer” - someone who has an audience - to endorse your product or service.

There are influencers on many platforms - Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, etc - but the general steps you need to follow are similar.

This article from Hootsuite gives a wonderful overview.

TLDR - Influencer Marketing Guide

1. Determine Your Goals

First, know what you want to achieve with influencer marketing. Most companies aim to reach new customers. Make your goals clear and measurable so you can track how well you're doing.

2. Know Who You're Trying to Influence

Understand who your target audience is. Create "audience personas" to know who you want to talk to. Then find influencers who have followers that match your target audience.

3. Understand the Rules

There are laws about influencer marketing. For example, in the U.S, influencers need to clearly tell people when they are paid for a post. Make sure you and the influencer follow these rules!

4. Consider the Three Rs of Influence

Look for influencers who are RELEVANT to your business, have enough REACH to get your message to lots of people, and create RESONANCE by engaging well with their audience. All three are important for a successful campaign.

5. Compile a Short List of Influencers

Pick influencers who are trusted and respected by their followers. You can tell they're trusted if they get a lot of likes, comments, and shares. Make sure their style and tone fit well with your brand.

6. Do Your Research

Look at what content the influencer is posting. If they post too many sponsored things, their audience might lose interest. So, get to know the influencer well before you reach out, and make sure they're a good fit for your brand.

7. Reach Out Privately, and Personally

Start by engaging with the influencer's posts in a natural way. When you're ready, send them a personal message, not a generic one. Explain CLEARLY why partnering would be good for both you and them.

8. Collaborate on Content

Let the influencer use their skills to create content that fits their style and your brand. Give them some guidelines, but don't try to control everything. This way, the posts will feel more genuine and appealing to their followers.

9. Measure Your Results

Don't just look at likes and comments. Use special tracking links (UTM parameters) or discount codes to really measure how successful the campaign is. This helps you see if you’re getting a good return on your investment.

This summary is a great place to start. However, he goes into MUCH more detail in the full article. Check it out!

Daily Hack - 3 Steps To Pick Your Unique Niche

Picking the right niche is crucial to your success as an entrepreneur.

If you pick the wrong niche, then it doesn’t matter how good your product or marketing is - you’ll have a tough time.

If you pick the right niche, then you’ll set yourself up to be successful.

This Niche Compass Framework can help you identify your own unique, authentic niche where you can make an impact.

You still need to do research to confirm that it’s profitable, but it’ll give you a SOLID place to start.

There are 3 simple steps…

Step #1: Pick One Of The “Big 4” Niches

Most information businesses are built within one of these big 4 mega-niches: Wealth, Relationships, Health, and Hobbies.

Try to go at least one level deeper and think about specific outcomes you can help people get.

For example instead of just “health,” think “weight loss” or “manage chronic back pain.”

Instead of “wealth” think “outperform the stock market” or “get more clients.”

Instead of “relationships” think “get more dates” or “prepare for marriage.”

Instead of “hobbies” think “take fantastic photographs” or “lower your golf handicap.”

Step #2: Identify Your Strengths

Through your education, work, life, and hobbies, you’ve collected information, skills, & knowledge.

You’re probably taking them for granted & thinking everyone knows what you know, but that’s not remotely true!

Take out a piece of paper & list out everything you’ve done, studied, learned, know, tried - no matter how insignificant you may think it is.

Try to draw from every part of your life - what your strengths are in your career, your relationships, your own personal development, skills, and so forth.

Step #3: What Makes You Unique

People prefer doing business with people they can relate to - with whom they have something in common. Your story - and your unique traits - help people connect with you

Answer these important questions:

What are your unique life experiences?

What are some pivotal events that have shaped your life?

What are your most important values?

What are some of your personal traits that shape who you are?

Put Them Together

Look for the intersection of the 3 steps. This will point you in the direction of your unique, authentic niche.

For example…

Niche: Weight Loss (Health mega-niche)
Strength: Yoga
Unique Trait: Busy working mom
Your Niche: I help busy moms lose weight with yoga

Niche: Investing (Wealth)
Strength: Unique approach to day trading
Unique Trait: Started Investing with $200
Your Niche: I use a unique day-trading system to help small-time investors outperform the S&P 500

Niche: Parenting (relationships mega-niche)
Strength: Sleep training
Unique Trait: Mother of 5
Your Niche: I help parents get their kids to sleep through the night

ICYMI - The Biggest Stories You May Have Missed

LinkedIn Closes In On A Billion Users - Microsoft's Q1 2024 update indicates that LinkedIn has reached "record levels of engagement" with 985 million members. Interestingly, the majority of LinkedIn’s recent growth comes from India…

New TikTok Ad Video Series - TikTok has launched a new video series showing how top ad agencies are using the app to generate leads. If you’re interested in driving traffic from TikTok, these videos are worth checking out…

Yelp Gets An AI Boost - Not many marketers talk about Yelp, but it is a popular way to search for businesses. Recently it was announced that the platform is getting new AI tools to help customers, businesses, and advertisers…

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