DECEMBER 28, 2021

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs. Each edition is packed with the latest news, strategies, and tactics, plus inspiring creator stories and exclusive education, all to help you create, grow, and monetize better.

Features in this issue (view online):

• Full Tilt: End-of-Year Wrap Up
• Entrepreneur: Content Business Does Double Duty​
• Stan: Diversification Is Key for This Lifestyle Content Business​

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We know how much you like Spotify’s Unwrapped and other end-of-the-year popularity stories. So, we created The Tilt version for you. Here are the Full Tilt features that you and your fellow content creators and entrepreneurs found most open-worthy in 2021. (It’s only nine since The Tilt just launched in April.)

Interestingly, they cover various topics, from NFTs and creator coins to marketing, distribution, SEO, and more. Want to know the most opened title? Head to July.

April: Demystifying NFTs and Creator Coins​

Should you get in the token game? Not if you see it as a get-rich-quick solution. Creator coins and NFTs are long but important plays for content entrepreneurs. How do you start? Create an extremely loyal audience and following.

May: Adding This 1 Thing Can Make All the Difference​

The one thing? A content mission statement. Grounded by your content tilt, create it by answering these three questions: Who is your specific target audience? What will you deliver to your audience? What’s in it for the audience?

June: Sorry, Marketing Mandatory​

We recommend a more-than-one-channel focus for your marketing. Go to where your audience already is talking and sharing about your topic. Interest-specific groups on social media can be great for this. Get a feel for the room, then start talking. But don’t talk all about yourself.

July: Check Mark Me

Fortunately, many of the principles to grow a solid content business are what’s needed to get verified by Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitch. You need to have an audience and credible content that attracts the attention of third parties on and off the platform. (The full article includes the step-by-step instructions for each.)

August: Sparks Igniting Entrepreneurial Flame​

In the first-ever 2021 Benchmark Study on Content Entrepreneurs research, the most frequently picked answer to the benefits of content entrepreneurship? Freedom (78%).

Right behind freedom? Pursuing their passion, cited by 73%.

September: 1 Channel or Bust

Only one in four full-time content entrepreneurs say they have a primary content distribution platform, according to The Tilt’s 2021 benchmark content entrepreneur research. Seventy-two percent say they do not.

Pick a primary content distribution platform. Devote most of your time, effort, and money to growing your audience through that channel. And if you’ve been reading The Tilt, you know the next piece of advice: Make that primary channel one that you own.

October: Why Solo Creators Have the Edge

The Tilt founder Joe Pulizzi returned to the event that started it all, Content Marketing World. Afterward, he shared his keynote takes. Frankly, because content entrepreneurs have no politics or red tape, you can make decisions faster, almost immediately, which is a huge advantage over what larger enterprises can do. The next great media models are coming from small players like us, no doubt.

November: Optimize Now​

SEO for content creators can help you attract traffic to your relevant, high-quality content who are more likely to take an action you want them to take. That’s probably why, according to The Tilt’s 2021 content entrepreneur benchmark research, SEO (56%) is the most frequently used tactic by content entrepreneurs.

December: Gift Me​

With The Tilt community’s input, recommended gifts for content entrepreneurs included fountain pens, paper, subscriptions for coffee, health monitors, and $TILT coin.

– Ann Gynn

Go to the article’s web version and bookmark it, so you can read up on what you may have missed.

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Tilt News

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The Creator Economy Expo. The only event of its kind made for creators, by creators.

Join us May 2-4, 2022, in Phoenix, AZ. In-person only.

​Early bird rate of $495 ends soon, so register today.

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Entrepreneur: Katie Grissum

Biz: Katie and the Snoots

Tilt: Pet advocacy

Time to First Dollar: 2 years

Primary Channel: TikTok (2.3M)

Other Channels: Instagram (19K)

Rev Streams: Sponsorships, viewer donations, TikTok Creator Fund

Our Favorite Actionable Advice:

• Combine personal and professional: Find an opportunity to grow your individual content brand in a way that also connects with your employer. (Just make sure it’s OK with them first.)
• Add more meaning: Katie was sharing videos of her dogs when she realized the power of that viewership and connected it to her advocacy for pet adoption.
• Go for revenue quickly: Though you won’t be able to quit your day job, apply for the platforms’ creator funds as soon as you meet the criteria to jumpstart your revenue.

– Kelly Wynne

All the Story: To learn Katie Grissum’s advice for content entrepreneurs and what content really resonated, check out the longer story.

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us. Or email tilt@thetilt.com.

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Caught on ... Twitter​

“Be easy to work with and make it easy for brands to pay you.” – Dennis Kennedy

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​Sarah Stevenson picked up her camera and began vlogging her life in 2013, frequently mentioning her hormonal skin-care issues, fitness routine, and healthy eating habits. The Aussie’s channel, ironically titled Sarah’s Day, has maintained a strong following over the years, garnering thousands of views on most of her videos and gaining 1.53M YouTube followers.

Over the last five years, the wife and mother of one (soon to be two) transitioned into more family-friendly content, such as daily excursions with her son and life running multiple businesses. She also began The Health Code podcast with her now-husband Kurt. The content creator also has an activewear collection, White Fox, named after her son, Fox.

Why we’re a Stan: Sarah’s early and primary work centers around her content with a YouTube channel, Instagram handle, and podcast. But she also has expanded her products to encompass a clothing collection and products inspired by her healthy lifestyle.

– Shameyka McCalman

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• ​7 Keys to Building a Loyal Audience with Content [Special Episode] (Content Inc.)
• ​NFTs, Advertising, and Football Collide (This Old Marketing podcast)
• ​7 PR Growth Strategy Tips for Startups in 2022 (Entrepreneur)
• ​The Biggest Small Business Story of 2021? Blockchain (The Guardian)

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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, Kelly Wynne, Shameyka McCalman, and Don Borger.

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