How Community Building Genius Daisy Morris landed Apple, Gucci, Adobe & Meta as clients, plus a book deal with just 17k LinkedIn followers and 22.1k Instagram followers.

Read till the end for the 3-Step Blueprint you need to follow in 2025 if you are building a social media presence from scratch.

I can bet $10,000 that you haven’t heard about Daisy Morris.

How would you!

She doesn’t have 100k+ followers on social media.

She has 22k followers on Instagram and 17k followers on LinkedIn.

But, brands like Apple, Meta, Gucci, Adobe, and LinkedIn have lined up to work with her.

Grace Andrews, the Marketing Director of The Diary of a CEO podcast recommends her book – “Community is Your Currency”

Callum McDonell, founder of 7X Content (social first podcasts) calls her “Community Genius”.

How?

Let’s find out.

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Daisy’s Zero to Hero Story:

Daisy Morris studied Fashion Communication at University with a specialization in digital media and online consumer psychology.

She graduated in 2015, and worked for creative agencies for global clients such as Pernod Ricard, Nasty Gal, and Skinnydip London to gain experience.

In 3-4 years, she got frustrated with being humiliated for not knowing complex marketing jargon.

In 2019, Daisy quit her job (with no backup plan) because of the lack of down-to-earth, real, and human advice available for those trying to find their way in the world of digital marketing and social media.

She founded The Selfhood to support creatives in finding their voice on social media.

Its main goal is “to teach business owners and creatives how to share their talents and promote their work online, in the most actionable and authentic way.” [I quote this from her website]

She aims to make URL interactions feel just as human as IRL ones.

That’s what she wants to be known for ultimately.

That's not all.

If you remember like every other 0 to Hero story I have written for Method to Madness, the villain entered the scene in March 2020 – COVID.

LOCKDOWN.

VANISHED CLIENT PIPELINE.

INCOME DOWN TO ZERO.

Daisy did not have enough money to pay next month’s rent in London.

That’s when she decided to go all in on her personal brand.

It meant:

- giving up on the fear of People thinking its cringe

- putting yourself out in the world

- being vulnerable, showing real self

- talking to people in public as an introvert

- pitching her services with gumption

- giving up on stage fear for her public speaking goals

The result?

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Daisy’s Stellar Achievements so far:

1. Global Social Media Awards 2023 Judge

2. Working with prestigious brands as clients like Gucci, Apple, Meta, Adobe

3. Invitation to LinkedIn HQ for a meeting

4. Worked with Meta on their creator conference for the second year in a row,

5. Partnered with Apple on an International Women’s Day event

6. Collaborated on five different projects with Adobe

7. Spoke at London Fashion Week

8. Became a TEDx speaker

9. Delivered talks overseas and worked on some incredible consultancy projects

10. Was offered a book deal by a publisher, now published as “Community is your Currency”

and countless collaborations, media features, and brand deals.

None of these opportunities came off the back of her ‘follower count’ they were all inbound from seeing the work she does with communities.

Daisy’s Income Streams:

1. Selfhood Social media agency

2. One-off strategy consultations

3. Selfhood community events (online + in-person)

4. Public Speaking

5. Training + Workshops

6. Brand Deals

7. Book – Community is your Currency

Daisy’s Content Monetization Strategy:

All of Daisy’s social media marketing business comes from referrals.

That’s why she stresses building a strong reputation and a network.

But social media agency is her side business as she claimed in the podcast with Callum McDonnell.

She focuses more on IRL community events, delivering talks and workshops on social media marketing and branding.

📍For community events, this is Her Funnel:

🎯 Top of the Funnel [REACH]– TikTok (for visibility) 👀👀👀👀

- She experiments a lot here but mainly she talks candidly

- Content Hack – Repurposing content: She goes through her old Insta content, and makes videos on those topics on TikTok

- LinkedIn is also for her visibility

🎯Middle of the Funnel [ACT] – Instagram (for fostering conversations from her community) 🗣️🗨️💬

- Instagram is Daisy’s community space for enriching conversations

- Here she posts more value-focused content about selfhood there

- From Instagram, she directs her audience to her bi-weekly newsletter

- She shares “What she has been up to, and cool things she found on the Internet” in the newsletter

- This feels like a space to make her community feel “at home” with her.

🎯Bottom of the Funnel [CONVERT/BUY] – Community Events 🍽️🍻🍷

- It’s the most rewarding part of her business, like life’s purpose. It ensures a set of buyers always ready to buy from her whether its workshops, book or anything else (even when that's not the only goal)
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🎯Make them Stay part of the Funnel [CONSTANT COMMUNICATION] 🛞

- Map out on which channels you will constantly communicate with them.

- Consider the channels you’re most comfortable with for this.

Daisy’s Social Content Pillars:

Content, Community, Creativity, Public Speaking, and Work-life balance are Daisy's main content pillars as per my analysis.

Her Main Content Topics are around:

1. Community building 101 – How-Tos, Misconceptions, Trends, Case Studies etc.

2. Social Media Trend Updates & Case Studies + Her opinion on them

3. Influencer marketing case studies

4. Personal stories + Behind the scenes of her work life as an agency owner, community creator, and public speaker

6. Branding & Personal Branding Tips

7. Work-life balance, mental health care

8. Public Speaking Tips

9. Her book – Community is Currency

Daisy’s strategies that you can implement in your content strategy:

#1 – Collaboration is the Key 🤝

- If you are a brand, collaborate with other brands instead of considering them competitors

- It will help you unlock new audiences faster.

- The same goes for personal brands – Create content in collaboration with other creators in your niche.

#2 – Empathetic Community Management 📧

- Social media is rented land

- Create your community on a Whatsapp community or newsletter or a community platform where you can own your audience and where you can communicate with them if –

• The social media shuts down or blackouts
• If the algorithm changes
• You get banned (prepare for the worst at least on LinkedIn)

- Take time to genuinely interact with people by –

• Responding to their comments
• Replying to their DMs
• Reaching out to new people via DMs
• Genuinely conversing with and asking insightful questions in In-person events

#3 – Get Creative (off-screen) 🏖️

- Take yourself on a solo date to get creative, no screens allowed.

- Walk, take a bus, exercise, visit an art gallery, spend time alone to let the creative juices flow

Truly the best way to prevent burnout and creative block.

#4 – Always understand the purpose of the post before hitting “Post” 🎯

- Ask yourself or the client, “What’s in it for the person who will be reading/watching it.”

- Accordingly, include the call-to-action in the post too

- Do you want this post to drive-

• DMs/Follows/Comments?
• Download a resource?
• Direct to your other channel?
• Sign up for a newsletter/masterclass?

#5 – Don’t be afraid to Repeat your Message 🫣

- Daisy’s tagline is “Making URL as human as IRL” and she uses it many times in her messaging because she wants to be remembered for that.

- Ask yourself/your client, what you/they want to be remembered for.

- It works equally effectively for a brand and a personal brand.

#6 – Don’t be someone else – Be yourself to magnetize a loyal following 👩‍🦱

- Show them stuff that really impacts your community – Trends, tips, updates, strategies, news

- Bring in your personality

- Bring in your honest opinions on universal themes, industry trends, and news

- Share your knowledge in your signature style – Tone of voice, catchphrases, dressing style.

- Just don’t try to be what you are not just to fit into a certain category. It’s very apparent when you do that.

- There’s something really magnetic about being yourself. Her 1st viral post on LinkedIn was about a stranger returning her rucksack that she had forgotten on the tube while going to work. Check the Viral Post.

- Draw a line. Understand the difference between being vulnerable and oversharing your personal life.

#7 – Stop waiting for Inbound, get going on Outbound 🚀

- Pitch yourself for whatever you are good at.

- It will increase your confidence day-by-day.

- Network with people - reach out and just talk to people.

- Pitch to events for giving talks on which you’re an expert.

- Pitch to that dream client.

- Pitch for that book you want to write.

#8 – Networking is Crucial 🤝

- Build your reputation when in full-time work if you plan on going on your own one day

- All of Daisy’s business comes from referrals – the strong network that she has built over years.

- Be genuine while reaching out to people online in DMs. Mention something that you have in common with them. Appreciate something about their work that you like or find valuable.

This GEM I found is the ultimate 3-STEP-BLUEPRINT you need to follow as your next steps:

Daisy: If I were starting from scratch, trying to enter the social media business, this is what I would do:- Link

#1 – DEMONSTRATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Goal – To show that you know your industry

How – Share your opinions and updates on industry trends and best practice.

#2 – HAVE A UNIQUE FRAMEWORK

Goal – To be memorable for your ideal clients

How – Have a standout approach with your content or service packages or product offerings

If all of these are not possible, I (not Daisy) suggest providing unmatchable customer success support.
Speaking from experience.

#3 – BE REALLY HUMAN

Goal - Don’t overwhelm your audience.

How - Explain to your audience/a potential client “What you do” like a 10-year-old student.

That's it, folks.

💚I hope these research notes help you with the complete picture of Daisy's content strategy.

💚 I hope you have enough ideas to begin your social media growth journey with a bang.

That’s the whole point of this newsletter – giving you a head start on social media with the entire content analysis of the creator on one page.

💚Lastly, How did you find this newsletter? Helpful or Meh?

REPLY to the email with your choice.

💚 Share it with someone who would benefit from this deep dive.

Sincerely yours,
Simran Bellani