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You know that feeling when you stumble on a new trend and think, ‘Damn, I wish I’d thought of that’? That’s the feeling you get when you find a Rebellious Innovator leading the pack.
Whether you ended up here because you want to know how they do what they do, or you scored The Rebellious Innovator by taking the Anti-Hero Social Media Marketing Archetypes quiz, this blog tells you everything you need to know about this anti-hero archetype.
Inside the Mind of The Rebellious Innovator
The Rebellious Innovator Anti-Hero Social Media Marketer is the marketing disruptor. While others are focused on perfecting what already works, you’re trying new tools, testing new workflows and coming up with new ideas that end up being tomorrow’s marketing trends.
You’ve likely never seen a trend you didn’t question or try to reverse engineer into something new. You often test systems that aren’t mainstream yet and rebuild them to suit your needs.
The Rebellious Innovator sees stagnant marketing tactics like a blinking red light. You notice flaws in the ‘way things have always been done’ and instantly start crafting a smarter alternative.
You think ten steps ahead, but you’re not paralyzed by overplanning. You stay in motion, always building, always refining, always driven by a mix of curiosity and logic.
When a new platform drops, you’re on it immediately, trying new things and seeing how you can make it work for your business. While others might wait to see what happens and wait for someone to tell them how to use it, you’re racing forward to incorporate new technology into your workflows. You might be the one they’re waiting for, actually.
You love the potential you see in the world and you don’t chase novelty for its own sake. Your brain thrives on iteration, version updates and what’s coming next.
Your phone (or in my case, your WordPress draft folder) is full of thoughts and ideas and half-formed posts ready to be sent out into the world. And you know your audience is watching, excited to see what you come out with next.
Your Natural Behaviours On Social Media
You might not always look polished online, but your content is never careless.
- As a futuristic thinker, you’re constantly testing new workflows and technology to keep yourself productive and relevant.
- You’re a little disruptive. If there is a trend that doesn’t make sense, you’re likely to pull it apart and show people how it could have been better.
- You’re experimental. What looks like a quick post is often the result of two weeks of experimentation and three abandoned workflows.
- You often question how things have been done. Whenever you consider a new trend, you reverse engineer it so it works for your brand, instead of you working for the trend.
- You’re always trying out new tools to hack your productivity online. You’re very tech savvy, often helping others find what works for them based on what’s been working for you.
- Your feed probably includes glimpses of early-stage frameworks, tool walkthroughs, screenshots from a messy back-end build, or testing notes disguised as “hot takes.” You often share the kind of strategic insight that only comes from hands-on play.
You’ve been known to unexpected ways to use features and trends. You’re the one using a poll for market research, a reel to test a theory, or a carousel to map a system. And while you might be two steps ahead of your audience, the clarity and originality in your work keeps people watching, saving, and returning for more.
Your Strategic Edge
Rebellious Innovators aren’t following trends, they’re predicting them. You’re not asking yourself ‘what’s new’ when you’re planning your social media tactics, you’re asking ‘what’s next?’ and ‘How can I make this system even better for myself and my audience?’
Where others cling to inspiration boards and aesthetic grids, you focus on optimization and efficiency. Your audience trusts you because your content is grounded in experience and experimentation, not just copied and recycled content.
You’re the person who turns a broken set of tools into a streamlined system, then generously explains how you did it.
Your work gets attention not because it’s flashy, but because it works. And your ability to deliver insights before the crowd catches on gives you a rare kind of credibility. People don’t just want your ideas. They want your entire brain.
Potential Pitfalls
While trying new things, iterating and experimenting is your superpower, it comes with some potential pitfalls to keep an eye on:
- Your brain is brilliant, but fast. So fast that you sometimes forget to slow down and bring your audience along for the ride.
- You’re often three iterations ahead of what anyone has seen, and while that’s exciting for you, it can be confusing or alienating to others.
- The biggest challenge you face isn’t a lack of content or ideas. It’s communication. Make sure to stay connected with your audience in the comments before running after the next big thing.
- You get so deep into your frameworks, workflows, and experiments that you forget to document your thought process. Make time to share behind-the-scenes content that will foster a connection with your audience.
- You assume people will understand, but they haven’t seen the version 1 or version 2 that makes version 3 make sense. Make sure to think about things from your audience’s perspective; based on their knowledge, not yours.
- You’re also a perfectionist. Unlike the Maverick Anti-Hero Social Media Marketer, who thrives on messy action, you want to make sure what you’re building actually works before you release it. You keep polishing. Keep editing. Keep tweaking. It’s not procrastination so much as a devotion to making something better. But it comes at the cost of a drafts folder full of ideas 95% ready to launch, yet still unpublished. Remember: your audience can’t benefit from your brilliance if they never get to see it.
Your Social Media Strategy, Anti-Hero Style
Your social media strategy should work like your brain does: fast, flexible, and built for testing. You don’t need strict rules or recycled templates; you need systems that let you explore and adapt, with just enough structure to help your audience keep up. Try these:
- Share your thinking process, not just the finished result
- Introduce tools and workflows with clear, real-world examples
- Treat your feed like a lab report: test, track, adapt, repeat
- Ground every insight in a relatable challenge your audience faces
- Accept that not everyone will get it. Focus on your IDEAL audience.
While you may be driven to innovate, remember some tactics are trendy because they do work. If you’re busy, try recycling some of your old ideas or put together a quick look behind the scenes. Don’t feel like you need to post something cutting edge all the time to stay top of mind.
Try This Tactic: Low Effort, High Impact
Choose a tool, feature, or workflow that’s still flying under the radar…something you’ve been using in your own business but haven’t seen many people talk about. Record a quick 60-second explainer where you break down what it is, how you’re using it, and why it matters.
Use a caption like:
“TIL (Today I Learned), not many people are using this tool. I’ve been using it behind the scenes for a while to do X. Thought you might find it useful.”
This kind of post does everything you need it to. It demonstrates your curiosity, shows proof of concept, and positions you right where you belong, as someone who’s already solved the problem most people don’t even know they have yet.
Strategy Isn’t Optional, Even When You’re The Pack Leader
You’re not out there trying to impress the algorithm; you’re trying to outmaneuver it. And staying ahead of the game means constantly coming up with and testing new tactics.
But without a strategy, there’s no way to tell if all your effort in social media is actually paying off.
That’s exactly why the Social Media Strategy for Anti-Heroes Course was created. To help my students take all the tactics that are working for their business and build the consistency needed to succeed online.
Are you ready to build the system the rest of the internet will be copying next year? Find out more here.
