MAY 31, 2024

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

Collect What Really Counts

You bask in your follower counts.

Adding up your Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, Threads, YouTube, and LinkedIn followers creates a nice total audience to talk about in your media kit.

But then, a platform gets effectively banned. Another changes its algorithm so it surfaces less of your content to those who opted to see it. One platform gets bought by someone who makes so many upsetting changes that users leave in droves. Still, another misinterprets your content’s intent and removes it from the channel.

That beautiful total audience turns out to be a mirage. They’re not your audience; they’re their audiences – the social media platforms where you build your content business.

But what if you turned the tables on them? What if you used social media channels as a marketing tool instead of the foundation on which you build your business?

Here are five things to do to convert social media followers into real-life audience members you can contact directly.

1. Host giveaways: What could you give your audience that will prompt them to give their email address to enter? The key to answering that question is your audience. If the prize is too great and too universal, everybody in the world would want to enter. The resulting email list will be less effective because many entrants would have no interest in your business.

You don’t have to have a big budget (or any budget) to offer an incentive or prize your audience would want. Sure, a Starbucks gift card is a nice idea, but the point is, what can you offer that few others could? Perhaps it’s a free one-hour consulting or AMA session. It could be a complimentary admission to a course. Maybe it’s an item from your merch store. Perhaps the prize could be a shoutout on an upcoming video.

Get creative and keep your eye on your prize – collecting email addresses. Then, put together the sweepstakes details, including entry requirements, start and end dates, entry methods, and winner selection process.

And make sure to follow the laws in your jurisdiction and platforms.

2. Gather to learn: If you interview people for your content or create how-to videos, consider hosting webinars to attract email conversions. Webinars have a longer lifespan than a livestream. You can host the live version that enables the audience to ask questions or share their perspectives, too. You can use it for on-demand viewing later.

For example, Rock Content hosts a webinar series – Jam Sessions – that requires viewers to register to watch. They create a landing page for each episode as they did for this webinar with The Tilt founder Joe Pulizzi. On the page, they explain who Joe is and outline a handful of points the two will discuss.

3. Create a bonus: Think about what content your audience might find useful that relates to your content tilt. Is there some content topic or type that doesn’t fit your normal format they would find valuable?

Though Erika Kullberg built her business on YouTube, where she now has over 2M subscribers, she makes a concerted effort to grow her email list with this and other free content opportunities.

The attorney and personal finance expert offers a multitude of downloadable content in exchange for an email address (and mobile number in some cases). At the bottom of her website, she promotes two of them – a legal guide called Plug and Law (the name of her legal tech startup) and a YouTube guide.

If you distribute video and audio content, consider exclusive bonus episodes that require the viewer or listener to share their email address to get access.

4. Do an ebook: Bigger than bonus content, ebooks allow you to provide a deeper exploration of a relevant topic to your audience. They don’t have to be novel length – a few thousand words or a designed-heavy dozen or so pages might be enough. The point is that your audience finds significant value in it.

If you think an ebook can seem like a big challenge, online course creator and bestselling author Dorie Clark has a thought: “They can be done the easy way or the hard way.”

Look through your blog articles, Instagram posts, online courses, podcast episodes, etc. What could you pull together into an ebook? What content could be curated with a little original content thrown in to tie it into a cohesive reading experience?

Dorie’s ebooks came from the questions at the end of her book chapters.

5. Gather at the same time: Host a virtual get-together if your community checks in or regularly interacts with you and/or others in the audience. Set up a video conference. Then, invite your community on your social platforms.

While you could just show up for the gathering, an agenda will be helpful to guide the conversation. Share it with potential participants beforehand so they have an idea of what to expect and, if necessary, prepare.

Helpful Resources:

• ​10 Best Social Media Contest Tools for 2024 (Tried and Tested) (BloggingWizard)
• ​Contest and Sweepstakes Laws in Every U.S. State (Gleam)
• ​Million-Dollar Authors Share Their Secrets To Growing Content Brands With Ebooks (The Tilt)
• ​Why a YouTube Creator Has Focused on Email as a Way To Connect Directly With Her Fans (Insider)
• ​How To Create a Webinar From Scratch in 10 Simple Steps (Convince & Convert)​
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• We’re talking about celebrations at 12 p.m. US EDT Tuesday during Tilt Your Business: A Mastermind for Content Entrepreneurs.
• As a content entrepreneur, you have the power to choose where you engage/create and where you won't. You don't have to be everywhere. Perhaps you shouldn't. (Content Inc.)
• Joe and Robert talk about what the Google leaked documents mean for the future of search. (This Old Marketing)
• Matt and Lauren discuss how to determine the optimal list price for your book and what factors to consider. (Publish & Prosper)
• Are you ready to see your name on a book cover? 👀 We can make that happen! At Tilt Publishing, our services are designed for newsletter creators, podcasters, YouTubers, and content innovators like you who are eager to expand into print, ebooks, and audiobooks. Find out more here.