When you are 16 years old, you are probably going to get asked a lot of different questions; what school do you want to go to, what will you major in, and many other queries related to the future. However, for Murphy Thomas, the concerns on his mind are how he can help businesses and brands grow through social media. The 16-year old native of Nashville Tennessee has amassed more than 200k followers on Instagram alone, and another 100k on Tik Tok. This large following gives him a massive sphere of influence and to date, he has sold more than $3,000 in ads.
Getting Started
Murphy opened his first Instagram account when he was only twelve. It was a sports-focused sports account where he shared football highlights, and it grew very quickly to 1,000 followers. Eventually, he stopped using the account, but before that he noticed something. There was an opportunity he could leverage to grow his audience and gain some income simultaneously. With that in mind, he started over by creating his new account, @passcode.
This time around, Murphy decided to do things differently and position himself above the competition. He did a lot of research into psychology and human behavior and discovered several tips that could help him grow faster. Implementing these small tweaks to his usual content helped him grow at a breakneck speed.
Building an Engaged Audience
Murphy has a very simple approach to social media, yet it is a highly effective strategy. He understands the power of engaging his audience, and this has had a direct impact on his influencing level. He has built his large following solely by continuously adding value to his audience. Every day, there is something new that they can expect that will either educate, inspire, or entertain them.
Murphy also has a special understanding of how social media connects people. It is a very unique and dynamic space that can be used for personal interactions. However, many brands and individuals miss the point and focus solely on promotions rather than connecting and building relationships.
Helping Brands to Grow
Murphy has experienced his own meteoric social media rise in only three years. Now, he is expanding into helping established and new brands alike, to harness their social marketing strategies and generate more value with their audience. He has helped many businesses move from zero followers to 10K, and is constantly looking for more partners. His philosophy is that businesses that incorporate authenticity into their messaging will see better returns from their marketing efforts.
The Secret to Success and Growth
Murphy explains this best in his own words.
“I believe it is important to be candid about both success and failure. If you never experience a setback, you’ll never learn that lesson and you will never know what would have happened. Personally, I have learned to always keep my head down and stay in my own lane. Don’t let the opinions of other people determine how you do things. Take risks. Never give up, it takes time to grow.”
Murphy can be reached via his Instagram account; @passcode