60% talking, 30% engaging, 10% links. That’s his social media formula. 📖
At BNLF in Mumbai, I caught up with speaker Christoph Trappe, a former journalist who now helps hospitals share their stories, about why authentic storytelling matters. 🎙️
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 📰 From journalist to storyteller
- 📊 The 60/30/10 formula
- 🛠️ His tools and traffic
- 🤝 Networking and authority
- ✈️ A 29-hour trip to India
🎥 Watch the full episode:
📰 From Journalist to Storyteller
Christoph started as a newspaper journalist, moved through different industries, and now mostly helps hospitals share their stories through blogging and social media. 📰
His unique value: helping people and organizations share authentic stories that make an impact, not just chase the dollar. He blogs weekly at the Authentic Storytelling Project, sometimes sharing personal stories with a joke at the end. For more on telling stories that sell, read how to be successful in your industry. 🔗
📊 The 60/30/10 Formula
He uses Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, but social isn’t just about links. 60% of posts are just talking, sharing from your site without a link. 30% is responding to and sharing other people’s content. 10% is sharing links. 📊
Click-through rates are low anyway, so engaging gets you further than dropping links. “Social media works for any brand,” he says. Even heavily regulated industries just have to work within their rules. For another social media expert’s take, read Jeff Bullas’s interview. 🔗
🛠️ His Tools and Traffic
He uses WordPress for his site, Hootsuite to schedule social posts, and the native Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn apps. 🛠️
He helps clients use paid ads strategically, but for his own blog he rarely spends, beyond an occasional promoted post. Traffic is mostly organic social, with search starting to pick up. His MedTouch team handles blogging and social media for hospitals, and he offers strategy, consulting and training. For more on building authority with content, read Ann Smarty’s interview. 🔗
His influences include Chuck Peters, a regional media CEO, and Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute. He’s long followed Jeff Bullas. On Twitter you can connect with anyone, but it moves fast: after eight hours away, he had 44,000 new tweets. On Facebook he usually connects only after meeting people. 🤝
To build authority: figure out what you’ll talk about and what you know. Push ideas, but not so far out that people can’t see it as possible, “or now you’re just a nutcase.” 🎯
✈️ A 29-Hour Trip to India
It was his first time in India. Starting from a meeting in Phoenix, his trip took about 29 hours. Arriving early to acclimate didn’t quite work, and he admitted he slept a full day. ✈️
He loved the BNLF crowd: hundreds of engaged people, and one-on-one engagement higher than at most conferences. While I was setting up the interview, someone stopped him every two steps with a question or a thank-you. 🙌
📝 Key Takeaways From the Christoph Trappe Interview
- 📖 Tell authentic stories, not just sales pitches
- 📊 Use 60% talk, 30% engagement, 10% links
- 🌐 Social media works for every brand
- 🛠️ Simple tools are enough to start
- 🎯 Push ideas, but keep them believable
❓ FAQs About Christoph Trappe
Who is Christoph Trappe?
A former journalist turned career storyteller and content marketer who helps hospitals share their stories.
60% of posts are conversation without links, 30% engage with others’ content, and 10% share links.
Christoph says yes: brands just need to work within their industry’s rules.
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What’s your ratio of links to conversation on social media? Tell me in the comments. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.