Episode 022: Will Weinbach - Growth Hacking Twitter, Professional Tennis, and Major Interviews

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This is the Rise of the Young podcast, bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

What's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we're, we have the man Will Weinbach here with us today and we're gonna be talking a lot about just social media growth in general. So Will, starting off with every single interview I do, I first let you properly introduce yourself. So for everyone listening right now, number one, who is Will? What has led you to being on this interview? And just tell them a little bit more about yourself.

Yeah, so I'm 16, I'm young like you. I moved out to California from Connecticut when I was like 12, and I created two media channels, tennis Channel and a Golf channel. And then I've commentated on ESPN and I've grown my social media to like a million collective followers between, you know, Instagram and Twitter and all my media channels and everything. And now I'm here on the Rise to the Young podcast. So I've made it.

That's amazing. I know that we met up and I know that I followed you because I saw you at TIES and we just kind of came about, we kind of, kind of linked up on social media, you know, my man Jayden Gross and all that sort of stuff. But my first question to you, I know a lot of people listening regarding just social media growth in general. I know that you have over 400,000 followers on Twitter. So I don't even talk about Twitter that much on my channels. On social media, it's definitely a platform that not many people are huge on because it's just, it's Something super cool, you know. So regarding you and having grown your Twitter audience, number one, just what are some tips for people listening regarding starting to grow with Twitter? How have you been able to continuously grow it? Get great engagement on Twitter. Just kind of just like give us three key points on what would you think about what you want people to know about Twitter?

Yeah. So, I mean, obviously I don't think Twitter's the biggest platform anymore, and I think it's going to continue to maybe drop off, but I mean, it's still press and it's still, you know, follow. And so my big, like, three tips for you to grow your Twitter would one, to be, like, interactive and always comment back with your followers and get down in their DMs. A lot of them really like that actually, to send DMs with them. Sometimes it gets tricky because you have a lot of them. But the more DMs you send, the better if you want to gain followers. Obviously, hashtags. So obviously when you go on Twitter, you'll see the trending hashtags. And that's really where I think Twitter is big is people really use Twitter to make things go viral when it happens. So, like, anything in the news, you'll see, like, hashtag fake news or something. I swear, there's always a Donald Trump hashtag every day. But, yeah, go look at those trending hashtags and try to use them in your, you know, tweets. Those will help get you some views. And then obviously you can do your, you know, follow for follow stuff, which actually, like, really works on Twitter if you're, you know, targeting the right people. I target this one guy, Jeff Emerson, who has this book, and he's an entrepreneur, and 1.14 million followers, and all of his followers seem to follow back. So if you do that and you do all that, the engagement really just comes with it, as long as all of your followers are, like, high quality.

So, yeah, for sure, man. Yeah. Cause I know that you've been killing it on Twitter. So, I mean, moving forward, I know that we have some people in here on the Facebook Live, but if you were to kind of restart your Twitter again, what would be like, the first thing you do to start getting people seeing what you like, seeing what you're putting out there.

If I were to start Twitter over and have zero followers, I think I would probably try to do collaborations with bigger accounts, trying to leverage my following on other social platforms than to, like, you know, do collaborations and have them shout me out, because that's Also, a big way to gain followers is by doing partnerships and collabs. Sort of like this one with our podcast.

I mean, I feel like collaboration with anything, whether that be just doing a podcast like this. I know that you've been to ties. I went to ties. Just different collaboration, different people in your network. Just a lot of people listening to. I feel like a lot of people aren't taking advantage of, like. Like, I always talk about sending a dm. I know that you just covered, like, sending a DM to people, and I've been able to get in contact with, like, a huge amount of people. I got in contact with you, Ty, all these amazing people just through Instagram, direct message. And for everyone listening, I know that I say this a lot, but seven, send DMs to people with a purpose. Make sure that you're staying focused on the message you want to convey. Start getting in contact with people, because that's how new opportunities come. So regarding. I know that you spoke about at the beginning, like, the media channels you've built out. I know that you play tennis. You're. Is it a pro tennis player? I know that you've been killing it.

I'm nationally ranked. I have a national ranking in tennis.

Yeah, that's amazing, man. So for everyone listening when it comes to. I know that you said you've done some stuff with espn, just kind of getting. Give us a brief information about that because, I mean, being on ESPN is a huge deal. So, I mean, that'd be super cool to cover that.

Oh, yeah. That was a crazy experience. So, obviously I built up my media channel, Cross Court tv, which literally, I just post, like, tennis highlights and videos, and it has. I think it has 117,000 followers. And the USTA United States Tennis association found me through that channel, and they wanted me to be their, like, official, like, kid caster. I mean, like, kid, because I'm, like, young. But yeah. So I ended up going. They flew me to New York for the US Open, which is, like, one of the big tennis tournaments, and I interviewed all the top players. And then they also booked me a gig on espn, where I got to commentate on. On some of the matches. That was super cool. And then I kept the contacts with espn. It's important to always follow up, I think, especially with contacts, definitely 100%.

I mean, that's. That's super dope. I know when it comes to, like, sports and everyone listening that whether you're interested in tennis or just watch ESPN, like, the fact that you're on it you're on ESPN, you're 16. Like that's, that's a huge accomplishment. But when it comes to, I know that you've grown your media channel that the tennis niche when it comes to building a page for something that that's not necessarily yourself. So let's say a company or for you, a tennis channel, like a theme page on Instagram or what do you think has been the most beneficial thing to actually grow to that 117,000 followers that you've seen as something that really works well?

I think that first off, you have to be really passionate about what you're growing. So like you grew like We Grind apparel, right?

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of stuff with We Grind. Yep.

Yeah. So like that's your brand, it's like your baby. So you're passionate about it and people like to see that, so obviously they'll follow it. But you know, for me with tennis, I've been playing tennis since I'm, I think since I was like three. So people love to see, I guess my passion for tennis and that's really been the reason I've gotten a lot of my opportunities is because people like how so how energetic I am about it and all of that. And I think that's really the main thing if you want to grow a page is to be passionate about what you do. And if you do that, then it's not work either. It's not work to post, it's kind of fun. And then you can be consistent, which is obviously a big thing on social media. Consistency and content are king. And if you like something, then that's super easy to do and you'll grow pretty rapidly.

Definitely, definitely. I mean, and I think that kind of goes with anything, like people that are saying, how do I grow my social media? Like, consistency. If you think you're gonna grow to 100k in 7 days by just posting 3 pictures and you don't know all the back end strategies, I mean, I think it's huge when it comes to consistency. So I mean, for everyone listening, if you're, whether it be you're trying to grow a niche page, like you said, be passionate about what you're posting about and number one, stay consistent. Because if you do those things for a long enough time, you'll definitely start to grow and get your exposure that you've always wanted. But moving on, I know that you spoke about, I mean, you said you live in la. I know that you've had the opportunity to interview a lot of people. I know that you just started out your podcast as well. So when it comes to. I know that you said you've interviewed tons and tons of tennis players. So for everyone listening, what do you think makes an interview intriguing to someone when you're going up to them? And what are some tips that you would give someone that wants to interview someone as well?

Yeah, so I created my interview channel, I would say When I was 12, I moved out from again Connecticut to California and I wanted to do something different on YouTube and I hadn't really seen people like kids interviewing celebrities and stuff. So that's when I came up for the idea to do that and to get interviews is. It's a pain, I'll be honest. Like, you have to go through agents and publicists, but you need to have a purpose, I think for. I think in everything you need to have a purpose. Like you're not going to go up to somebody who's doing absolutely nothing at the time and ask them for an interview because they won't do it. You have to come up to somebody with maybe a new book or a new television show or something because pretty much an interview is press and that's what these athletes and celebrities want. And in order to make an interview good, you really, I think it's just really important to be personable with that person.

For sure. For sure. Man. And I love that you brought that up. Regarding, like when someone have a book or if someone has a podcast like yourself with people, when people have something they want to get out there. I feel like interviewing people in that aspect always. Like for me, landing some interviews that I'm working on right now, if you have value to offer, whether it be your audience and then same vice versa, if they want to get their book out to someone that's in your audience or just your audience in general, I feel like if you focus on the value more than just I want to get that person on my show or my interview, that's how you really land those other gigs, you know. Yeah.

And with booking, I mean building connections too. Like you can't build a connection if you don't have something to, you know, of value to the other person. People, it's, it's, it's a tough world out there. You need to people like when you can offer them something and that's pretty much the only way you'll be able to build a connection unless they really just like, you know, are like true friends or whatever.

For sure. So regarding, I know that you said nationally ranked tennis player, 16 years old, you've been able to do stuff with ESPN regarding tennis. And number one, coming from that forefront, that's obviously a huge passion of yours. So for everyone listening that has a passion may not be tennis, may not be sports, but it could be or whatever passion that they're focused on. What do you think has allowed you to continue following your passion to get that next level? And what would you kind of give as a tip to people that may not feel like they're going to get anywhere, but they're super passionate about it? What's like some tips that you give someone?

Yeah, so I mean, if you're really passionate about something, you have to have a big idea and a big picture in mind. So for me, obviously I have an end goal, but what I do is I set goals along the way to reach my end goal. Because I know obviously that my end goal is like five years down the road and I'm not going to be able to reach that in like three weeks. But in order to keep me on that path and in order for me to keep going, I like to set goals that I know I can reach in a short period of time because that helps me to stay on track and not lose focus on what my main goal is. So that's what my advice would be. And if you're passionate, then I mean like you should definitely be able to reach those short term goals that you set for yourself if they're realistic.

Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. I feel like for me as well, like a lot of people ask me like daily routine or how do you set goals? And I feel like a lot of people, when it comes for me and like setting goals, I like to do it, whether it be, number one, daily goals. Because if you're not accomplishing stuff daily, how do you think you're gonna accomplish stuff during the month? You know, same thing. If you're not, if you're not accomplishing stuff in a month, how do you think you're accomplish something in a year? So for everyone listening, I would say when it comes to setting goals, I know that he just talked about following your passion, but be passionate daily because if you can turn that passion into something you're focusing on daily, you're executing daily, you're actually getting results daily. Whether it be you're trying to post on three different channels during the day, making that happen is super important to your execution state. And then regarding moving on to the next question, when it comes to the actual documentation of your journey, I know that you said you like setting short term goals. Is there Any kind of daily habits or daily things you like to do to stay focused that you'd want to tell the audience?

Yeah. So what I do is I have a calendar, and I pretty much have things that are on my calendar, like, every single morning. Whether it's like, small things or big things, whether it's like, brush your teeth or whether it's work for five hours on social media or something, I have a daily calendar that I like to plan out. That way, again, I can stay on task. And if I'm able to complete my daily tasks, then, I mean, I don't think that there's anything standing in my way for my monthly goal or anything else. Because again, like you said, if you're able to reach your daily goals, that leads up to your monthly goals. So.

For sure. For sure. Yeah. So, I mean, I would say, that being said, I mean, number one, I appreciate your time. For everyone listening, if you want to know, if you want to learn more about Will, what he's been doing, how he's been able to follow his passion, get the results that he's been wanting to get, and now he's been able to accomplish them. If you want to follow him. I'm gonna let Will kind of drop his social media channels if you're interested, so you can go ahead and plug, man.

Yeah, so my Instagram is at Will Weinbach at W I L L W E I N B A C H. So is everything else. So you can go follow me there and then. Yeah, big shout out to you too, Casey. You're doing a lot of cool things and I know your Instagram's @caseyadams1, so for sure.

Thank you so much, man. Yeah. So for everyone listening, thank you so much for tuning in. This was Will Wine back, and like I said, if you want to know more about him, more about what he does, his information will also be linked down below. But that being said, thank you so much for tuning in. Make sure you subscribe to the Rise of the Young podcast and. And for that, I will see you on the next episode. Peace.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God.

Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.