I. Harassing Laptops and Contributing to Communities

When I first got into creating content I believed the common misconception that what defined success was going viral. It took me back to middle school, where I threw every idea at the wall and hoped something would stick. The anxiety would hit me so badly that I’d delete instagram, only to redownload it 2 hours later, borderline harassing my computer with the frequency of which I would refresh it on my laptop (sorry to my then mousepad). Unfortunately I never had the chops to make it as a child social media star… On the plus side, I had awesome friends who’d always amp me up and reminded me that social media was for connection! Back then, I didn’t appreciate that enough, and I failed to realize that’s kind of the whole point.

Along with great friends I also grew up in a great neighborhood–the Rondo neighborhood– one that was historically separated by the construction of I-94 highway. Growing up I was surrounded by events that aimed to bridge the community back together or educate the youth on the relevance of what happened. I was lucky to grow up around mentors that were passionate about collective care, which shaped how I valued community at an early age. As I matured, I started to realize that it truly is quality over quantity. I apply this thinking to content as well. I’m always aiming to strike that sweet spot: high-quality, community-centric content delivered at momentum-building frequencies.

I first saw this in action when working at a YMCA day camp as a social media director. There, I started a mini-series where we’d interview some of the youngest campers just to get their unfiltered thoughts on #camplife. I didn’t think much of the series. A friend and I threw it together on a whim and the account wasn’t huge by any means. Based in a small rural town in Minnesota, the camp’s Facebook had 1.4k followers, and its Instagram barely cracked 200.

In retrospect, this job was a really important milestone in my career trajectory. It was perfectly unserious enough to allow me to be experimental. The stakes were low, so I could make mistakes and grow. Especially in creative work, I believe that there’s a lot of value in failing or not being held to a high standard too early on.

What I wasn’t expecting was the positive feedback from those followers. The other staff loved the content so much that every Wednesday felt like Sunday for football fans. Even out-of-state relatives found the series light-hearted and entertaining. I once missed a post because I was out sick that week. When I returned, a counselor told me their family had noticed—and was eagerly awaiting the next one. My main takeaway– The content's resonance with the core audience helped it grow organically.

When building Tingz, it was always central to me to communicate that the best-performing content doesn’t just look good—it speaks to the people it’s made for. In part two, I’ll bring in insights from research on the topic of Game Theory—introducing frameworks that help decode content strategy through a new lens. Especially if you’re still figuring out what 'working' really looks like for your brand.

II. How Game Theory Shapes Smart Content Strategy

If you’ve worked with me, you’ve likely heard me say something like, “You’re the expert in your field—you're not meant to also be a full-time content strategist or accountant.” (And trust me, I say that as someone who has taken more accounting classes than any creative ever should.)

Still, many businesses either post inconsistently or post without strategy or goals in mind. Neither of these approaches are sustainable. At Tingz, we use a simple starting framework with every client—content should fall into one (or more (honestly, ideally multiple!)) of three categories: Community-based, Educational, or Entertaining. From there, we develop custom series that actually resonate with their audience. Because good content doesn’t just perform—it connects.

When building out a series, here are a few good questions to ask yourself:

  • What’s the purpose of this series—what’s it doing for me and for my audience?
  • Which of the three content pillars does this fall into?
  • Can I sustain this series long enough to build familiarity and trust?
  • Does this format match the energy or tone I want to be known for?
  • What’s the takeaway I want people to walk away with after each post?

If going viral is a one-time win, building real connection is the long game. And that’s where game theory starts to come in.

III. Signaling: What Your Content Says Before You Say Anything

Game theory teaches us that every action is a signal. When someone lands on your profile or sees your reel, they’re interpreting signals about your professionalism, your values, your taste, and your consistency, even if they don’t realize it. What’s important is that we as creators—and by default, strategizers—understand this and use it to our advantage.

In any space where one party holds more knowledge than another—like a viewer scrolling past your content without knowing your work—there’s a gap. Game theory refers to this as information asymmetry. Signaling is what bridges that gap. In short, your content becomes a proxy for who you are and what you offer.

It’s important to note that not all signals carry the same weight. Economist Michael Spence emphasized that a signal is only effective if it's costly enough that only the truly qualified can afford to send it. In a creative context, the ‘cost’ might be time spent editing a post, money spent on branding, or consistency in tone. That investment is part of what sets a credible creator apart from a chaotic one.

What can be tricky when it comes to signals is that oftentimes creators and companies will send out signals that are all style, no substance. Just like brands get called out for greenwashing, creators can lose trust when their content feels disingenuous. Which is why the strongest personal brands don’t just broadcast—they signal with intent, consistency, and truth.

Signals You Should Be Conscious Of In Your Content:

  • What you're wearing (style, professionalism, relatability, niche identity)
  • Video quality (resolution, lighting, smoothness = effort + credibility)
  • Branding consistency (colors, fonts, logos, layout)
  • Tone of voice (caption style, on-camera delivery, emotional cues)
  • Room vibe/background (intentionality, aesthetic, lifestyle alignment)
  • Camera angle/framing (power dynamics, personality)
  • Music choice (trendy vs. timeless, calm vs. hype)
  • Editing style (minimal vs. cinematic vs. chaotic)
  • Caption formatting (clean vs. cluttered, emoji use, line spacing)
  • Tagging & mentions (collabs, community involvement)
  • Hashtag usage (intentional vs. spammy)
  • Body language/facial expressions (confidence, approachability, vibe)
  • Product placement (what you subtly highlight shows priorities)

IV. Conclusion

I hope this gives you a strong resource to use as a checklist of sorts for the content you’re putting out there. Most importantly, I hope this helps you recontextualize how you interact with your unique community and build those bonds.

Next month we’ll be building off of this and helping you form a well-rounded understanding of each type of content your business puts out there and why you might, for example, choose a reel over a photo. There’s even a chart that will hopefully serve as an easy guide for these comparisons as well (Woot woot, shoutout charts and graphs! – the nerd in me).

Along with the amazing chart I’m putting together, I’ll be giving some tips for staying up to date with the Instagram algorithm and how to utilize collaboration to grow your audience, skillset, and business.

Hope you enjoyed all the tingz covered in this edition of the newsletter. Until next time!