Choice architecture turns scrolls into off-platform sales

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As a creator, you’re building an audience. That requires a lot of elbow grease, and you’re getting likes, follows, and views for your hard work. That’s great, right?

Yes and no.

Here’s the hard truth about building a platform on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube: you don’t actually own any of it.

Your millions of views on TikTok? The algorithm could change tomorrow. 💨 Your YouTube ad revenue? One policy tweak and it’s sliced in half.

We’ve all watched creators go from red-hot to radio silent in a single update. That’s the danger of building your business on rented land. 😬

And yet, this is where most creators stop. They keep feeding the platform, hoping it keeps feeding them back. But the real wins — the sustainable, build-an-empire kind — come when you start pulling people off-platform and into your own world.🌎

Off-platform is where you can actually build something sustainable: courses, memberships, products, communities, and revenue streams you control.

That’s the endgame. And choice architecture is how you get there.

In this newsletter, you’ll learn why you need to monetize off-platform (even if you’re already making a killing on TikTok) and how the psychological principle 🧠of choice architecture can help you make the switch.

Today, we’ll break down:

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If you’ve built your whole audience on social platforms, you don’t actually own it. It’s just a matter of time before the platforms do you dirty:

Platforms change. Audiences drift. Algorithms don’t care.

If you want long-term stability, you need to get people onto platforms you own, like your email list, course platform, or shop.

The problem, though, is that your audience is busy, distracted, and allergic to extra steps.

Choice architecture helps you gently guide them off-platform and to places where you’re in control. 🗺️

Choice architecture is how you structure the environment where people make decisions.

It’s why:

It’s not trickery. It’s psychology.

For creators, this means setting up your offers so the choice to join, subscribe, or buy feels like the most obvious next step.

Because right now, the most obvious next step is usually just… more scrolling. 🤳 And that doesn’t put money in your bank account.

It’s not about manipulation, but making the choices you want people to make the easy, obvious, and natural ones.

Marketers use choice architecture everywhere:

As a creator, you can design your own “mini choice architectures” to guide your followers to become actual customers.

Here’s how you can apply choice architecture principles to nudge your audience off-platform and into your owned ecosystem, where the real monetization magic happens.🪄

Right now, joining your newsletter or buying your product is probably hidden three clicks deep in your Instagram bio.

Flip that. Make it the default next step after someone watches your content:

People stick with whatever’s easiest. Make your personal platform the easiest one.

Bundling reframes leaving TikTok or Instagram as a reward, not a hassle.

When someone signs up for your email newsletter or exclusive community, offer sign-up bundles like:

With anchoring, you show a higher price first so your real offer feels like a deal. That might mean:

You’re not inflating prices here. You’re framing how your followers judge your value.

Every extra click is an exit ramp. Make it incredibly easy for followers to switch from Instagram or TikTok to your website.

To do that, you need a smooth, annoyance-free experience, which means asking yourself:

Smooth paths convert. Clunky ones don’t.

We trust what other people trust. 🫂Your followers might not want to be the first people to switch to your newsletter, app, or website, so give them a little reassurance:

Social proof lowers risk. If others love it, it must be safe to try.

Your social content shouldn’t be a dead-end that keeps people on one platform. It should be a map that leads your followers somewhere beyond the algorithm — somewhere you control.🫅

Sure, you can make money on existing platforms, but you don’t own your content or your audience (and it could go poof overnight).

Choice architecture gently guides your audience to platforms where you have more control. You’re not just posting content for funsies on social media. This is a business, which means getting strategic about where and how you make a living.

Your move: Pick one of these five tactics and implement it this week. Then watch what happens when your audience finally has a clear path to follow.

As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.

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