I've seen people make the following observation more and more: "you shouldn't build an audience; you should build a community!" Now, there is a lot of truth to that statement. It appears, on the surface, to redirect self-interest towards something more collaborative. It's not about having an audience to sell to, but creating a thriving … Continue reading Audience-building is not Community-Building
Category: Audience
Conversations are at the Core of Engagement
Yelling into the void won't get you anywhere. This is particularly clear while you have zero followers, but it remains true even when you have an audience. Talking about something that people don't expect or want to talk about is just like speaking to them in a language they don't understand: it's a waste of … Continue reading Conversations are at the Core of Engagement
Audience-Building and Relatable Content
When you're building an audience, people will resonate with your content differently over time. In the beginning, when you don't have too many followers, your reputation within the community may not yet be established enough to get away with controversial manifests and content that claims to be the end-all of knowledge on any particular topic. … Continue reading Audience-Building and Relatable Content
Platform Risk and the Three Kinds of Audiences
Imagine waking up one morning only to find your Twitter account suspended. If you're trying to build an audience on Twitter, this is your worst nightmare. And it's an entirely possible scenario. It happened to Jack Butcher just a few weeks ago: Twitter suspended all of his brand accounts, including @visualizevalue and @value, the visual … Continue reading Platform Risk and the Three Kinds of Audiences
Impostor Syndrome and Building Capital
There will be days when you feel like you have nothing to say. You might wonder why you should be the one talking about anything when there are people out there who are much more experienced than you. You feel like you're acting more knowledgeable than you truly are. I have been there. Even now, … Continue reading Impostor Syndrome and Building Capital
Audience Graduation
A third-grade math teacher is particularly good at teaching one specific audience: third-grade math students. Every year, a new group of students appears, and they receive a top-notch math education. Private math tutors, however, have to teach students of all ages. They have to educate a very diverse group of people, using many different educational … Continue reading Audience Graduation
The Goals of Audience-Building
Too many people see audience building as a means to an end: they expect to build a following of people that are just sitting there, waiting to be sold something. The goal of this very limited audience-building approach is to find as many potential sales targets as possible, sell to them, and that's it. I … Continue reading The Goals of Audience-Building
On Re-Using Content
Creating valuable content is hard. Producing it reliably is even more challenging. Many creators are holding themselves back by believing that they need to create original work at all times. They think that re-using content is a cardinal sin. I believe differently. There is incredible value in re-using your content. There is a misunderstanding of … Continue reading On Re-Using Content
Audience Discovery: The Importance of Budget
When founders are looking for that perfect target audience for their business, they often get many things right. They pick audiences that they know intimately, that have interesting problems to solve, and that they really care about helping. However, I see too many founders struggle with a vital part of the Audience Discovery process: making … Continue reading Audience Discovery: The Importance of Budget
Jargon and Community
I've been thinking a lot about the understood meaning of terms in quickly evolving industries this week. I even chose to make a major pivot because of this in renaming the book I am currently writing. I'll get to this in a minute. But first, let's take a little detour into the world of... Opera. … Continue reading Jargon and Community