Case 003

the case files of new york art detective

Walter Lin P.I.

A Hard Sell

screenshot of jerry potter’s d.a.t.e. system social media flow chart

Social media. It’s like walking down a dark alley with no streetlights, knowing someone might be watching, but you can’t see them. You post, you hashtag, you tweak a reel, hoping it catches someone’s eye, but most days, it feels like shouting into an empty room. Success, they call it—driving traffic, racking up sales—but it’s a word that sounds better in theory than in practice.

Me? I’m still trying to figure out how it works. Most days, it doesn’t. I’ve smashed my head against the same brick wall, grabbing advice from books I never finish, watching videos that only confuse me more, and fiddling with hashtags like they’re the combination to a safe that won’t open. The results? Let’s just say they’re less than impressive.

This week, I watched a video by Jerry Potter, a guy who claims to have the answers. Runs a channel called *Five Minute Social Media*, though his seminar stretched a full hour. He’s got a method, calls it D.A.T.E. Breaks down the platforms—posts, reels, the lot—and tells you who to target, when to target them, what to say. It made sense, in the same way a crime scene makes sense after the evidence is explained. Trouble is, I don’t know how to take what I learned and use it. Feels like holding a map to a place I can’t find.

And so it goes. Another question to throw on the pile, another puzzle with missing pieces. That’s the thing about this journey—it’s not clear, it’s not clean. It’s a mess, a slow crawl through the dark, hoping the next step gets you somewhere you recognize.