How Businesses Can Win on Social Media

Last week, I wrote about how I used 'effort' to make an animated vitamin ad more engaging. While that post focused on artists, the same principle applies to business advertising in general.

Check out this post from Logan's Candies (above). It has an astonishing 51M views! Not bad for a family-owned candy shop based out of Ontario, California. And this isn't an outlier - they have dozens of videos with 10M+ views.

What I think they've done tremendously well is hone in on the 'effort' of their process. 'Effort' in this context refers to visually highlighting the skilled, hands-on process that makes your work impressive.

There's an immediate, captivating tension to seeing an expert at work. What's more, this tension sets up a basic storytelling arc that keeps us watching:

• Beginning: what's he making?

• Middle: wow, he's really good at that!

• End: beautiful candy!

Obviously, Logan's Candies has an advantage in that their process is super visual (and delicious), but you can see how starting with points of effort opens the door to more engaging posts that are easier to create.

More Singles, Less Homeruns

Too many businesses think success on social media means 'going viral', but that’s a terrible strategy. It’s unpredictable and unsustainable.

The real goal should be consistently staying on your customers' radar while naturally earning attention.

Logan's Candies has mastered this approach. By focusing on the 'effort', they've tapped into an endless stream of content. At this point, they’re essentially on autopilot - repeating the same format while keeping the audience hooked on the reveal of each new candy.

Conclusion

Showing a barista expertly pouring the foam on a cappuccino is more engaging (and endlessly repeatable) than a boring exterior shot of a coffee shop. Just look at Pike Place Fish Market getting 33M views on a TikTok by throwing and deboning a fish.

👉 You probably don't run a handmade candy company and most likely don't throw fish, but there has to be at least one pain point in your process that requires human expertise. What is it? Film it.