Would you send a welcome card to a new competitor in your market? Maybe you should: - **Substack founder Hamish McKenzie** wrote an open letter to Facebook and Twitter as they entered the newsletter field. Strategically, this gave him an excuse to pu
Would you send a welcome card to a new competitor in your market? Maybe you should:
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Substack founder Hamish McKenzie wrote an open letter to Facebook and Twitter as they entered the newsletter field. Strategically, this gave him an excuse to publicly affirm the unique value Substack offers.
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Instagram > Facebook > Twitter? When it comes to increasing organic engagement, The Gram is king.
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Gumroad ditched Zoom for Clubhouse, ushering in what may be a new trend in team communications.
As always, you can submit a section for us to include in a future newsletter. —Channing
👋 Substack Welcomes Facebook and Twitter to the Newsletter Biz
from the Indie Economy newsletter by Bobby Burch
Generally, you don't send a welcome card to someone who's planning to steal your business.
Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie decided otherwise, extending a warm welcome to Facebook and Twitter as they enter the newsletter market:
Facebook and Twitter… have enormous influence and can make a big positive difference in the world by taking the lessons from Substack to heart. This is about more than just doing the right thing for writers; it's about improving the entire information ecosystem.
The no-background: Twitter acquired Revue, an editorial tool for writers, and plans to offer subscription options, tipping, and ticket sales.
Facebook is also building a newsletter tool specifically for writers, publishers, and content creators. Facebook hopes to launch its newsletter platform in the summer of 2021, and will allow users to curate lists and manage paid subscription services.
What it means: Facebook and Twitter are ready to compete with Substack's newsletter service. Substack currently has ~500K paid subscriptions, and the top ten writers are collectively making more than $15M a year.
Twitter and Facebook's massive user bases (330M and 2.8B, respectively) will likely mean rapid adoption of their newsletter tools when they launch.
Emotional intelligence on display: Hamish used big tech's entry into the newsletter industry as an opportunity to empathize with users and reinforce Substack's value to its customers. Both values (empathy and social skills) demonstrate high emotional intelligence.
While some may scoff at his hospitality, Hamish's letter was as much a welcome note as it was a trust-building strategy.
Analysis: Take, for example, Hamish's mention of the attention economy. The term was coined by economist Herbert A. Simon, and introduced the idea of attention as the "bottleneck of human thought." The hope is that empowering writers and other thought leaders will decrease purely attention-seeking behavior across media, and encourage critical thinking frameworks.
In addition to noting the problems that engagement-based platforms have caused society, Hamish details the creator-empowerment ethos that catalyzed Substack:
It is undeniable that our addiction to social media is having negative effects on both individual and collective thought. As individuals, we fret about doomscrolling and watch in hopeless horror as we become rage-monsters in the digital public square.
As a society, we wonder how it has come to pass that a conspiracy theory-addled mob can overrun the Capitol. However, we at Substack… have set out to show that platforms that put writers and readers in charge are just better."
Focused on the customer and mission: Hamish's letter elevates Substack's customer base: writers. It emphasizes their work as being a key to addressing society's most puzzling issues, and reminds them of the high esteem in which they are held.
In the last 10 years, the voices of writers and creators have been diminished in favor of strategically-crafted content designed to increase session duration. While this is not inherently wrong, Hamish contends that our information ecosystem incentivizes a "dopamine hit" rather than thoughtful reflection.
His solution? Empower writers with a space that rewards trust:
On Substack, writers succeed when readers feel that their trust is being rewarded, and we, the platform, succeed only when writers do well. We're not hoping you become addicted to our feeds or that you will trade sleep for content consumption so we can sell your attention to advertisers. Instead, we hope that readers find amazing things to read and that the writers who produce that stuff make a ton of money.
The takeaway: Hamish's letter serves as an example of how indie hackers can address competitors and differentiate themselves.
Rarely is any industry purely a zero-sum scenario. Rather than becoming frustrated with a new competitor, focus on competition as an opportunity to grow, connect with customers, or accentuate your value. An attitude that embraces competition can be incredibly useful in building and sustaining a business.
Banking on consumer ignorance isn't a viable strategy, especially for digital products, because your prospective customers will always be able to access your competitors. Being honest and transparent about your mission, challenges, and competition will build trust that will only help your business in the long run.
Discuss this story, or subscribe to Indie Economy for more.
📰 In the News
⌚ Apple Watch can predict COVID-19 up to a week before testing, according to a new research study.
🛑 China has blocked Clubhouse based on the app's failure to comply with government internet regulations.
💸 Dating app Bumble prices its IPO at $43 per share. Bumble joins Match as the second public dating company.
🧙 Harry Potter and Wonder Woman join forces in a new ad campaign to promote wearing masks.
☺ Pokemon trading cards are experiencing unprecedented demand as the series celebrates its 25th anniversary. Older cards are going for as much as $375K.
👑 Instagram is King of Organic Engagement
from the User Acquisition Channels newsletter by Darko G.
One of the cardinal rules of social media is that engagement matters more than followers. But when it comes to cultivating organic engagement, the platform you're using could be hurting more than helping. Here's what we'll cover in user acquisition today:
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Facebook/Instagram/Twitter Organic Reach: A social media analytics company has looked into 22M posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter across 35 industries. Find out which social network had the best organic reach.
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Google Ads: A recent Google update made it easier to narrow down consumer habits.
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Twitter content Marketing: Twitter just released a content calendar for ten major countries and two regions.
For authentic engagement, use Instagram
A major research report analyzed 22M posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter across 35 different industries, and Instagram came out on top for authentic connections.
The data: In 2020, the average engagement rate per post on Facebook was 0.26%, Twitter reached a mere 0.06%, and Instagram posts scored an average rate of 1.16%:
What this means for you: If you're looking to grow your audience, consider focusing on Instagram instead of Facebook. By doing this, you'll reach 4x more people on average. Twitter lagged behind with dismal engagement rates, making it the platform with the least potential for organic engagement. This, of course, also depends on your specific audience or industry, as certain niche areas could be an exception to this rule.
Google Ads improves keyword searches
The no-background: The key to success with Google Ads is to focus exclusively on high-intent keywords and avoid irrelevant phrases. For example, if you're a resume writing service and are bidding on "resume service," the last keyword you want to appear (and be charged for) is something like: "what are some customer service skills to put on a resume."
What's new: Google just released an update that will reduce the chances of being matched with irrelevant keywords. The company is ending support for the broad match modifier keyword, and is migrating it to the phrase match modifier.
What this means for you: This modification will give founders a better chance to reach the right customer in a Google search for something related to their products. Google provided the following table to showcase the change:
Twitter releases a 2021 content calendar
Twitter recently released a content marketing calendar containing all major global events and holidays in 2021. Twitter said:
Use this calendar to discover opportunities to connect with your audience year-round through relevant events, occasions, and trends.
There is also a custom version of the calendar for ten separate countries: US, UK, Spain, France, Canada, Germany, Australia, India, Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
Additional Twitter content calendars cover two major regions: Southeast Asia and Middle East/North Africa.
What this means for you: If you're out of ideas for what to post, consult these calendars for inspiration. Here are the upcoming events for February, for example:
Will you be incorporating any of these suggestions into your acquisition plan? Share your thoughts.
Discuss this story, or subscribe to User Acquisition Channels for more.
🤖 Idea Bot Beep Boop
from IdeasAI by Pieter Levels
Looking for a startup idea? I'm a GPT-3-powered business idea generator built by Pieter Levels. Here are today's top ideas:
To explore more ideas, subscribe to IdeasAI.
📞 Gumroad Ditches Zoom for Clubhouse
from The Indiependent newsletter by Rosie Sherry
Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia recently announced that the company will now be using Clubhouse instead of Zoom for team meetings. Could Clubhouse be the next platform for team communications?
Potential new trend for Clubhouse
The overview: Clubhouse is known as a platform for conversations and audience-building. Following Gumroad's announcement, we may see an emerging trend among founders looking to use the platform to conduct team meetings and conferences.
Clubhouse is the first audio-based company with a powerful network effect. It recently achieved a $1B valuation, making it the fastest growing startup ever. Clubhouse's growth is thought to be due, in part, to people being more restricted due to COVID-19.
Gumroad plans to use Clubhouse for all team conversations, and will also host public conversations for its customers and supporters.
Clubhouse's advantages over Zoom
Gumroad took several factors into consideration in making the switch to Clubhouse:
- Zoom is hard, not user-friendly, and there's no compelling social effect. Clubhouse is the opposite.
- Using Clubhouse turns the Gumroad team into content creators; this very much aligns with Gumroad's values and community.
- The switch will allow Gumroad to reach their customers in a more open and helpful way.
The takeaway: Sahil believes that Clubhouse will provide a more seamless, open channel of communication for the Gumroad team and customers. He also points out that, on Zoom, people are fixated on the need to record everything. In using Clubhouse, he hopes to return to the simplicity of just talking without being caught up in the pressure of the current expectations for Zoom calls.
As Clubhouse continues to grow, there will likely be a vast expansion of uses for the platform. There could be many opportunities for founders to simplify company communications, or even offer support, via this new channel.
Would you use Clubhouse for team communications? Why or why not?
Discuss this story, or subscribe to The Indiependent for more.
🐦 The Tweetmaster's Pick
by Tweetmaster Flex
I post the tweets indie hackers share the most. Here's today's pick:
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Special thanks to Jay Avery for editing this issue, to Nathalie Zwimpfer for the illustrations, and to Bobby Burch, Darko G. and Rosie Sherry for contributing posts. —Channing
