7 Ways to Jumpstart Your Social Engagement….Right Now

Patrick McFadden • August 6, 2013

Engagement is more than a sign of social success—when consumers “Like,” retweet, pin,  +1, share and comment on your content, they’re also generating FREE word-of-mouth for your brand and proprietary media channel. This post will help you learn how to increase engagement immediately with important tips like:

  • Tried and true lessons from psychology that every brand should know
  • Two simple messaging tricks that can spark 90% more engagement
  • Strategies that can boost engagement and subscribers by 100%–180%

These  7 ways to jumpstart your social engagement  show you how to tap into consumers interest, take social interactions to new heights and make your new followers feel like VIPs.

1. The Learners Offer.  Make your offer appeal to the information-empowered consumers who prefer to gather before purchasing. Say things like:

  • “Learn Why Our Software Beats (x).”
  • “5 Things You Need to Know Before Starting a PR Campaign”
  • “10 Things to Ask Your Contractor Before You Start Your Project”
  • “7 Things To Know Before Investing In Business Startups”
  • “What You Can Learn About Content Marketing”
  • Fill out the form to download our__________________ (white paper, survey results, ebook, infographic,video, case study, checklist, podcast, webinar, etc.).

2. The Mutual Favor. Whether you know it or not psychology plays an important role in marketing — especially when you seek to inspire people to take action. One of the  revealing principles of human behavior  is reciprocity which means: If you help someone, they’ll want to help you. So I reward others on Q&A forums by answering their questions and they’ll usually reward me with their permission. See below how I get them to take action:

  • (Their Name) if you found this information helpful, I’d consider it a mutual favor if you’d click here: https://indispensablemarketing.com  and subscribe to my blog or newsletter. You get customer generating and profit increasing marketing advice, and I get to find you when I’ve got something neat to share. 

3. Agree to Disagree.  When you post a picture of something very opinionated always make sure tell people what to do if they agree or disagree with you. Any interaction with your content generates word-of-mouth. Look at the example below:

  • Agree – Share
  • Disagree – Comment

4. Make it Exclusive and Scarce. Create exclusivity and scarcity. People want what they can’t have. Stress your products limited availability and you’ll be sure to increase interest and sales. Say something like:

Fill out the form below to schedule an exclusive product demo. (Only 5 spots left!)

 5. Create “The List”.   Yes, you know the list I’m talking about. The one where you name

  • “The 50 Top ______________ ( in your industry)  People on ________________(Twitter, Facebook, Pintrest, LinkedIn)”

This not only creates top-of-mind positioning for you and your organization but it also gives you access to these influencers audiences because they will share this post with them.

6. Make Others Feel Resourceful.  We are now in a culture of sharing. We share recommendations, expertise, connections, and empathy. And in this culture people want to help. As Don Peppers said in a recent post “Now that the technology is available, unpaid volunteers are in fact creating billions of dollars’ worth of time savings, entertainment, instruction, new information, and knowledge, through a wider and wider variety of social-production enterprises.”

  • You can take advantage of this by having social share buttons on your content that allow others to feel resourceful by sharing this with their audience. Say things like, “Share the Wealth”, or “Share the Knowledge.”

7. Spark Discussion.  Simply put, the conversation starts with you. Ask questions and add your opinion/perspective to existing conversations. Always end your post with a question (see this post) and participate in the “What’s trending?” topics.

Question: What do you think? Have you used any of these already to jumpstart you social engagement? What’s been successful for your business?

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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