SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

In Friday 5s: Follow the steps to build a solid ground for your community. Discover how many creators say it’s their business in a new Adobe survey. Plus, 5 Things To Read, Watch, or Hear.

5 things to do

An audience and a community aren’t the same thing. As Mark Master explains: “An audience is made up of people who agree to receive information from you. If the content is good enough, more people come on board. You can monetize; you can connect; you can grow.”

While an audience is necessary, a community isn’t required. However, it’s a good choice to build a network eager to connect, and ultimately, spread the word about your content mission. Here are five things to do to create a strong community:

1. Write a community mission statement: Think about how the community fits into your business model. What do you want to achieve through your community? Then, think about the potential community members. How will they benefit by joining the community?

2. Decide on admission criteria: Will your community be open to anyone? Or will you limit it to subscribers to your content? Or do you want to have a paid-only community? Can community members invite others to join? Will you have different tiers or access levels?

3. Establish and enforce guidelines: Set the ground rules for community interaction – from behavior (i.e., no personal attacks) to topics (i.e., no self-promotion or advertising). Identify the penalties for not following the guidelines, such as issuing a warning, deleting content, or removing the person from the community. Ask community members to agree with the guidelines when they first sign up. Then, enforce them every day.

4. Pick a primary platform: Don’t expect your members to show up on Facebook, Discord, Slack, your website, etc., to participate in the community. Select one gathering place. If it’s a third-party platform, make sure it’s a place where your audience likely already gathers for other communities. Asking them to use an unfamiliar platform adds an unnecessary hurdle.

5. Do a soft launch: Get the conversations going before publicizing the community to a wide group. Invite your most engaged audience members and fans to join you in a pre-public launch. Post conversation starters, encourage them to respond, reply to their comments, etc. Then, when the public launch occurs, prospective community members will better understand what to expect.

More resources:

5 things at the tilt

Joe shares two very important rules for content creators who would ever consider selling to another company. [Content Inc. podcast]
Joe and Robert talk about the future of Trump’s Truth Social. [This Old Marketing podcast]
Struggling with technology decisions? Check out what The Tilt uses in their Tech Stack.
Have you received your $TILT coin reward? Please be sure that we have your Rally Network ID so we can send rewards your way!
ICYMI: Successful Creators Know If They’re Wearing the Sales or Brand-Building Content Hat

5 things to know

Money

Full-time ingredients: Only 17% of creators are business owners, while 39% aspire to become one, according to Adobe’s global survey on the creator economy. (Adobe)
Tilt Take: Aspiration is great, but making a commitment to invest time to be a content entrepreneur is a must.
Twitch ads: More partner and affiliate-level Twitchers say they expect a boost this month in the platform’s ad incentive program. (Dexerto; h/t tubefilter)
Tilt Take: More ad revenue seems like a boon to creators, but it also could cost them a decline in viewers.

Audiences

Viral virality: The Viral Post Generator asks users to answer two questions and select a cringe-worthy level. It then creates a LinkedIn post for users to screenshot and post. (Taplio)
Tilt Take: The fun, interactive, and completely unnecessary tool is getting a ton of traction on social media. It’s a smart marketing play for Taplio, the company mentioned in the small print that provides real viral ideas. Could you do something similarly engaging?

Tech and Tools

Easier ads: YouTube Studio adds a Promotions tab to help users run their ad campaigns from there instead of Google Ads Manager. It’s rolling out on desktop first. (Social Media Today)
Tilt Take: It’s always nice to eliminate unnecessary steps to save you some time in marketing your business.

And Finally

NFT access: Facebook and Instagram now let users connect their digital wallets to the apps so they can access their NFTs. (Engadget)
Tilt Take: The news is ho-hum, but it’s one more step for Meta’s plans to create a marketplace for NFTs (and remember, you don’t need to use NFTs as digital art vehicles. They also can work well for long-term relationships like a Never-Ending Ticket).

5 things to read, watch, or hear

Creating content based on your personal experiences and knowledge draws an audience. But what does that mean when your sweet spot is a subject like mental health?
Who are nimcels? The Washington Post tackles a fairly new category of creators – niche internet micro celebrities.
Great listen from Joanna Penn: Lessons Learned From 11 Years as an Author Entrepreneur. [podcast]
After 17 years doing podcasts, Tom Webster crafts this Twitter thread with 17 things his listeners have taught him.
Short-form content isn’t a long-form killer. It’s a precious ally. [new content from The Tilt]

the tilt team

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Pam Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony with an assist from Alberto Cabas Vidani.

Community Readiness – September 2, 2022