Is anybody out there? Creating content that lasts and building an
audience that cares
Barrett brooks, fizzle.co
@barrettabrooks @fizzle
@mimatweet #mimasummit #anybodythere
let’s do the social thing
blog, podcast and video content are More
popular than ever
61.8 million wordpress posts published in september 2014
“hundreds of thousands of free podcasts” -apple
100 hours of video uploaded to youtube every minute
and this is just a fraction of the total
content being produced
but watch, read or listen to a given post,
podcast or video…
and find average quality content created
for someone else
which means there is plenty of room for you,
if you do things differently
great content is the best way to build an audience that cares
an audience of raving fans who can’t wait to buy your products and
services
let’s talk about two things
1. understanding your audience
2. creating helpful content
understand your audience
1
the problem: Customer avatars
1 photo by kempton on flickr via avatar movie trailer
i have a secret: dads with 2.7 kids don’t
exist
1
your audience is made up of real humans
1
“The way to succeed in a startup is not to be an expert on startups, but to be an expert on your users and the problem you're solving for them." !
- Paul Graham
http://paulgraham.com/before.html
1
C. experiment
1A. gather
B. evaluate
1
woohoo, aggregate
data! (GATHER)
1
Now I know
everything! (GATHER)
wait…
1 photo by kempton on flickr via avatar movie trailer
(GATHER)1
¯¯¯
What does he/she think & feel? What really counts?
What major preoccupations? Worries and aspirations?
What does he/she see? What’s in the environment?
What do his/her friends look like? What does the market offer?
What does he/she say & do?
Attitude in public? Appearance? Behavior towards others?
What does he/she hear? From friends? From boss?
From influencers?
1
Problem.
1
"We could broadly generalize about our users (savvy, self-reliant, techie, motivated), but we realized that we couldn’t rattle off the four or five archetypical MailChimp users.” !
- the mailchimp blog
how to do audience research like mailchimp1. interview stakeholders to see who you assume your
audience is
2. rank pool of active users by industry
3. identify subjects from popular industries and interview, interview interview
4. analyze what you see and hear
5. share the findings with your team
1
source: http://blog.mailchimp.com/new-mailchimp-user-persona-research/
1
source: http://blog.mailchimp.com/new-mailchimp-user-persona-research/
Is this the audience you want?
(EVALUATE)
1
if no, TRY new audiences
(EXPERIMENT)
1
1
AUDIENCES YOU WANT TO SERVE
AUDIENCES THAT MIGHT
PAY YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO
(EXPERIMENT)
if yes, then we can move on to solving their problems
with valuable content
1
your audience is made Up of human beings.
Understand them first on the individual level.
1
create helpful content
2
2
ME me, me, me, me, me
the problem: most marketers start with
their goals
2
you are not the hero. You are yoda.
2
your content is firepower for your audience
2
IT HELPS GET RID OF THIS IDIOT.
1
“just because it’s important to you, it doesn’t mean that it’s important to your audience. Focus on the latter and not the former.” !
- seth godin
1
“great content is the best seo strategy.” !
- rob flaherty
1
http://www.ravelrumba.com/blog/editorial-seo/
C. experiment
2A. gather
B. evaluate
2
(GATHER)
2
(GATHER)
2
(GATHER)
2
(GATHER)
average time on post ÷words in post = apples to apples
(GATHER)
2
three questions to ask
1. what’s working well?
2. what’s not working so well?
3. what might you do differently?
2
(evaluate)
what to consider
1. length
2. Content type (audio/video/written)
3. Content purpose (teach/inspire/entertain)
4. Relevance to the audience
2
(evaluate)
what to try
1. try new lengths
2. try new formats
3. try to teach, inspire, and entertain
4. try solving a real problem for your audience
2
(experiment)
2 artists
musicians
filmmakers
authors
designers
developers
2
“grow your audience and
promote your work with instagram"
on the gumroad blog
deconstructing the strategy
1. solve customer problems
2. make customers famous
3. ps: gumroad is great for selling
2
create helpful content that solves real problems for
real people
2
Write (Create) for the body of work you want
(your brand) to have in 5 years.
2
questions? what’s on your mind?
1. converting visitors to subscribers to customers
2. growing your audience
3. telling your story
4. onboarding subscribers and customers
5. creating content for customers
My closing thoughts:1. most content is exceedingly average at best
2. there is still room for your content to stand out if you… ✴ care enough to understand the humans in your audience
✴ put in the work to create engaging + valuable art (content)
3. great content is the best way to build an audience who cares
4. audiences who care are audiences who are profitable