SaltStrong Social Media

In 2022, like many brands, SaltStrong saw a sharp decline in organic reach—legacy channels that once brought steady traffic were now producing a fraction of their previous views due to the shift toward short-form content.

My analysis revealed a hidden cost: our CRM costs had nearly doubled. Why? We were relying more heavily on paid ads to cold traffic instead of re-engaging our warm audience.

To reverse this trend, I partnered with our content team to rethink our entire top-of-funnel strategy. We focused on high-performing content types (like knot-tying tutorials), optimized hook writing for short-form platforms, and aligned topics with what the algorithm—and our audience—actually wanted.

The results:

• 28% drop in CPMs by deploying top-performing organic content as TOF ads

• 2x increase in ad CTR (2% → 4%) by building a creative testing culture that prioritized hooks and fast iterations

This shift didn’t just bring our audience back—it brought our costs down and performance up.