MAY 27, 2022

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

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In this issue:

• Full Tilt: Troll-Battling Advice​
• Stan: 12 Years on YouTube​
• Tilt Education Free Course: Web3 in 30 Minutes​

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Trolls and harassers thrive online. It’s a fact of life for many content creators. “Your very existence is disrupting for these people,” Kelli Dunlap, a clinical psychologist, game designer, and community manager for Take This, a games-focused mental health nonprofit.

We checked in with several content entrepreneurs to find out what they do when haters enter their business.

Blogger Molly Stillman says most of her community is extremely kind and generous. When haters do slide in, they often attack her faith, personal beliefs, and appearance.

“I would be lying if I said that it doesn’t bother me,” she shares. “Over the years, I’ve learned how to better deal with them and to remember what these people say about me actually says a whole lot more about them than it does me.”

Replying to the trolls never helped. Now she has a block-and-delete strategy. “I wouldn’t allow someone to come in my house and just start saying awful things to me,” she says.

Twitcher BarefootTasha has been told to die because she’s Black and had people make fun of her appearance. She recently partnered with Color of Change to end hate speech on Twitch, promoting this open letter asking the platform to do better. “In my mind, I picture trolls as actual trolls … Most times, I make a joke out of them or gauge a funny response out of them, so my community and I all laugh together about the things they say instead of letting it dampen the mood of the stream.”

When Twitcher VantanArt encounters a troll, it’s usually someone attacking his looks, his assumed sexuality, or his Blackness. Most are racially motivated.

“When you understand your strengths, your weaknesses, and what makes you you, people can’t use them against you negatively,” he says. “It’s your job to arm your peace and your community with confidence.”

​Brynta Ponn, a body positivity content creator, deals with a lot of fatphobia and racism on her pages. When trolls reveal themselves, she usually just blocks them. “I just don’t have the energy to contribute to those negative conversations,” she says. “However, I do love turning that negativity into something more productive and entertaining like a TikTok video or photo.”

​Instagrammer and TikToker Corey Rae, an activist, storyteller, and the world’s first openly transgender prom queen says TikTok, not Instagram, is where the trolls are for her. Most of the time, she just ignores them. If the comments are truly harmful, she’ll block them.

“On very rare occasions, I’ll debate them if I think it could truly help,” she says. “If not for them, then for anyone else seeing the comment thread.”

​Instagrammer Heather Kirk says the trolls usually are strangers to her page who find her content through Reels or the occasional anonymous burner account. “For me, it’s all about remembering that these people don’t truly know you, and ultimately, it’s pretty sad that they’re choosing to use their time to bring others down,” she shares. “You have to just stay positive and focus on the larger group of people who love you.”

– Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

​See the troll-reactionary content from these and other creators.

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What is Web3? How would you describe Web3 to your friends? Why does it matter to me as a creator? What are those NFT things?

Join us on a quick and informative journey down the Web3 rabbit hole. Learn why Web3 is important, how social tokens can create community, and exactly why NFTs are a huge opportunity for creators.

​Sign up today for our FREE Web3-in-30-minutes course – sponsored by Web3ContentLab.io – powered by Ghostmarket.io.

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Entrepreneur: Jenn Im​

Tilt: Trendy and seasonal fashion YouTuber-turned-lifestyle-content guru

Scene: Website, YouTube (3.16M), Instagram (1.7M), Facebook (493K), Twitter (109.9K)

Snack Bites:

• Jenn Im wanted to make her first iteration – Clothes Encounter – a blog, but opted for YouTube because she thought there were too many blogs in the space. That was 2010.
• She prefers to work with brands that have already done their homework and know her content tilt before pitching her.
• Jenn knows her authentic content is what builds the trust that keeps her audience coming back to view again and again.

Why We’re a Stan:

Jenn took a personal passion, hunting for unique fashion and following the latest beauty trends, and shared it on video with her followers. She evolved her content strategy, so she was more selective about what she highlights on her platforms, causing her online community to trust her product reviews.

– Shameyka McCalman

​Get more of the story on Jenn Im. ​
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Caught on … Winning the Race for Creator Talent [gated study]

“There seems to be an emerging ‘badge value’ to achieving success as a creator without the endorsement of corporate overlords.” – MarketCast​
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• ​Execution, Not Ideas (Content Inc.)
• ​DarkWing84 & Other Marketing Conspiracies (This Old Marketing)
• ​10 Pitch Decks Used by Creator Economy Startups To Raise Millions (Yahoo! Finance)
• ​4 Must-Read Books for Budding Entrepreneurs (Inc.)

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Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony, with an assist from Angelina Kaminski, Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, Shameyka McCalman, Kimmy Gustafson, and Don Borger.