Own Your Audience Across Platforms
Build relationships on so many channels that no single algorithm can shut you down.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 90%
Schaefer stresses owning your audience rather than renting it from social platforms. When co-founder Sal was removed from Facebook and Instagram for six to eight months during COVID, Mind Pump had its best revenue run of the time because their foundation was the podcast and email list, not social. He treats each platform as a way to build a relationship deep enough that the audience will find them even on a brand-new platform. His biggest regret was waiting two years to build an email list, wrongly believing social media had replaced it; email now drives about 40% of MAPS Fitness product revenue every month.
Origin
Schaefer heard horror stories of people making big money on Facebook or Snapchat who lost tens of thousands overnight when algorithms changed, so Mind Pump deliberately built relationships across many channels; the lesson was confirmed when Sal's deplatforming barely dented revenue.
Core principles
- 01Owned channels like podcast and email are worth far more than rented social followers.
- 02Never place all your value on a single platform you do not control.
- 03A strong direct relationship survives deplatforming and algorithm changes.
- 04Email marketing is not dead; it can drive a large share of monthly revenue.
How to run it
- 1
Establish an owned foundation
Anchor the business on channels you control, such as a podcast and an email list, rather than any social feed.
- 2
Start the email list immediately
Capture emails from the beginning; do not assume social media has replaced email marketing.
Pro tip Email can drive around 40% of monthly product revenue.
Watch out Schaefer's biggest regret was waiting two years to build an email list.
- 3
Diversify to de-risk platforms
Connect with your audience across enough platforms that a single one going weird, changing its algorithm, or shutting down cannot break your revenue.
Watch out People who put everything on one platform lost tens of thousands overnight when algorithms changed.
- 4
Deepen relationships until they follow you
Build the relationship so strongly that a good portion of your audience will find you even if you move to an unknown platform.
Pro tip Spotify Wrapped showed 40,000 people ranked Mind Pump their #1 listen for the year on just one of their smaller platforms.
In the wild
During COVID, Sal was removed from Facebook and Instagram for six to eight months despite having the biggest, most-engaged page of the founders.
→ Mind Pump had its best revenue run of the period and kept scaling, proving social was a tool, not the foundation.
Schaefer had assumed social media killed email and delayed building a list for two years, then reversed course.
→ Email marketing now drives about 40% of MAPS Fitness product revenue, hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly.
Common mistakes
Believing social replaced email
Schaefer thought social media had replaced email marketing and lost two years of list-building; the two channels are entirely different monsters.
Placing all value on one platform
Depending on a single rented platform exposes the whole business to sudden algorithm changes or deplatforming.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creator-entrepreneurs whose livelihood depends on audience access and who face platform risk.
Not ideal for
Businesses with no direct-audience component or no capacity to run owned channels.
From the transcript
“we always agreed that we wanted we wanted to own our audience”
“the email marketing which I thought was dead is responsible for about 40% of maps fitness products revenue every single month”
From the episode
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