Jay Acunzo has been creating content material on the Web for a lengthy time. His journey on social media started when, as a sports activities journalist in 2005, he began a weblog whereas interning and writing for a scholar paper.
When he moved into advertising and marketing, his sports activities weblog referred to as “Weblog, Don’t Lie” (named after the notorious quote by NBA participant Rasheed Wallace) shifted focus to writing about sports activities writing. He wrote about different creators who had been writing about sports activities, connecting with and celebrating their work. And to seek out these individuals, there was no higher place than social media.
Because of his early begin on social media and his deep understanding of the connection between advertising and marketing and creativity, Jay brings a singular perspective from which creators and entrepreneurs can study so much. On this article, we dive into the teachings from Jay Acunzo for the fashionable creator.
Your job isn’t to talk clearly – it’s to create connection
It’s straightforward to get sucked into the numbers and metrics and make that the main focus of your work as a creator or marketer. Your viewers doesn’t have that perspective, and so your content material could not carry out effectively since you suppose the job is to create content material.
Nonetheless, the job is to create connection, and one of the simplest ways to do this is to be sure that your individual private artistic fingerprints are everywhere in the work. Infuse your private perspective, your lived experiences, and your tales, and also you turn out to be irreplaceable within the eyes of your viewers.
In different phrases, share the belongings you lived via, noticed, or keep in mind that led to a significant expertise or perception. That is what efficient storytellers do.
You may be questioning how sensible “creating connection” is, however Jay shares an effective way to reframe your perspective: “Sure, you’ll be able to measure issues you should buy. Or the issues social networks say you must prioritize. However you can even measure the issues you need to earn – and entrepreneurs do not do the second almost sufficient.”
So you should buy downloads to a podcast, however you need to earn episode completions. You should purchase site visitors to your web site, you need to earn repeat guests. You should purchase emails in your listing, you need to earn replies to your e mail. These are the indicators that your work issues and resonates since you created connection together with your viewers.
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Key Takeaway: Give attention to making real connections together with your viewers by infusing your private perspective and experiences into your work.
In the event you’re frightened about AI, you’ve received all of it improper
There are two sides to the coin in relation to the usage of AI in content material creation and advertising and marketing – those that use it to produce their work as a substitute of to unblock or facilitate it.
On one aspect, in the event that they suppose the job is to create content material, will fear about or use AI as a creator substitute. They are going to let it create entire items of content material for them, basically outsourcing their creativeness.
Nonetheless, the opposite aspect, in the event that they know the job is to create a connection, will use the identical instruments doubtlessly, however in numerous methods to unblock their creativeness as a substitute of outsourcing it. They’ll use it to boost what they’re making an attempt to do. They lead, and the instrument serves them.
And in everybody else’s case, after they suppose the job is content material, they appear to be serving the instrument, which is not sensible. In what world does a chef ask the carrot to prepare dinner?
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Key Takeaway: Somewhat than outsourcing your creativity to it, use AI to boost your creativity and unblock your creativeness.
Resonance > attain
Now, usually, when entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about progress, they suppose they’ve a attain downside when actually they’ve a resonance downside. In the event you can attain some individuals, and people individuals aren’t actually excited and going and discovering the others for you thru phrase of mouth, then you’ve got a resonance downside, not a attain downside.
In case your work would not matter, no quantity of selling will change that. And a simple instance is that we are able to all attain some individuals very simply, very effectively, if not at no cost. Are these few individuals responding in large methods? If not, the typical marketer says, “We gotta go attain extra individuals.” However the storyteller, and not using a advertising and marketing hat on, would say, why would we go attain extra people who find themselves whole strangers? These are the folks that like and even belief us, they usually’re not excited? Should not we get them excited?”
Begin with one factor and make it actually good. If it deserves to be unfold, it should unfold simpler. You will not really feel like you need to beg for consideration as a result of you have realized to resonate.
So the primary hurdle to get from attain to resonance is: are you creating something that issues to a few individuals? If you cannot try this, do not make investments any extra time or price range into making an attempt to get in entrance of extra individuals – deal with getting these few individuals to care.
If you are able to do that, you need not widen the highest of the funnel as a result of each particular person who meets you adores you, buys from you, takes motion with you, and is worked up to share you with the individuals they know.
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Key Takeaway: Guarantee your content material resonates with a couple of individuals earlier than making an attempt to achieve a bigger viewers. Resonating deeply with a small viewers is best than being ignored by a big one.
Persona ought to be current in all of your content material
Jay is a storyteller above anything, and his private perspective is hardwon. He described his work saying, “I inform tales and attempt to extract sudden insights from these tales for individuals who wish to produce high quality work. My mission is to assist individuals make what issues to their careers, to their firms, and to their communities.” However he wasn’t all the time this clear on his positioning. He shared that he began out imitating quite a lot of his heroes earlier than he was capable of outline his personal voice.
“The issue with many creators is that they by no means attempt to escape of the sameness and discover a distinction of their class. There’s quite a lot of commodity content material, there’s quite a lot of copycat considering, and there is quite a lot of sameness on the market.”
Lots of people who wish to stand out from that sameness suppose that their job is to get more and more loud, outrank, or outhype the competitors. However, as he places it, “I really suppose that the job is to resonate deeper, so it’s essential to beg for consideration much less.”
In the event you’re engaged on one thing, even should you’re ticking a guidelines, somebody ought to discover should you stopped engaged on that undertaking as a result of one thing about your execution made it totally different and distinct.
The concept you’ve got issues in your life that no language studying mannequin (LLM) or AI has been skilled on – they can not entry that stuff, so use it. Your perspective and persona – the whole lot that makes you you – is your distinctive, unfair benefit.
Most individuals haven’t been utilizing that benefit absolutely, even earlier than AI burst into reputation. We predict we have now to be a vessel that creates what “works” for the “viewers”. So we search out lists of the perfect hooks for TikTok or probably the most participating Twitter Thread format.
The issue with that strategy is that you simply begin creating generic content material and not using a perspective or standpoint and with out an experiential differentiator to it, so AI is your substitute. But when you know the way to imbue your work with private perspective and persona, AI turns into your intern.
Jay thinks we must always look more durable on the individuals who aren’t frightened about AI as a result of they’re letting their private views, beliefs and frustrations, and imaginative and prescient for the world and their work lead as a substitute of leaving it to likelihood that in some way they’re going to present up within the work.
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Key Takeaway: Your distinctive perspective and experiences make you irreplaceable within the eyes of your viewers, so let your persona shine via your content material.
Course of, Posture, and Follow
Whenever you’re enthusiastic about creating content material, and also you get stumped, return to your roots. Create the belongings you want existed, and go discover the others who additionally need that to exist. To cite Jay, “Decide your viewers, decide your future.”
Most individuals strategy content material creation by considering, “What do individuals need?” After which they run right into a wall as a result of they’ve a monolithic concept of “individuals” and “viewers” and “content material”. They’re going, “Our “viewers”, desires “snackable short-form movies.” Do they? Or will they eat something you create as a result of there’s a persona that shines via the content material?
A number of entrepreneurs (and creators) consider themselves as having mastered the craft of content material. What they’ve mastered, although, is Course of, outlined by Jay as the workflow, methods, and instruments to information your work. However there are two different items that not sufficient individuals contemplate: Posture and Follow.
Posture is the way you see your self and the world. It’s the messy bag of humanity that you simply deliver with you to your work, your confidence, your model, your tone, your lived experiences, and your reminiscences.
Then there’s Follow, which sees you delivery on a constant, coherent schedule, not for work or as a result of somebody gave you permission, however as a result of it is Wednesday, and on Wednesday, you ship an article or tweet or submit simply to get higher at it. That is the place you grasp your craft.
Course of is one thing somebody fingers you – it requires the least quantity of effort. And if that is all you are good at, quickly you will not be wanted as a result of AI is basically good at Course of. However when you’ve got a Posture and once you’ve labored at it via Follow, and once you use all three in tandem, you turn out to be irreplaceable. You develop a perspective, a tone of voice, a method, and folks begin coming to you, not due to your content material, however as a result of it is you.
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Key Takeaway: Grasp your craft by specializing in the workflow, methods, instruments, and private components you deliver to your work, and constantly create content material on a schedule (Buffer may help with this final bit) 😉
Need to area of interest down? Develop a premise
We have a tendency to consider niches when it comes to demographics – who your probably viewers is, their job title, their sector, their expertise stage, and so forth. Layered onto which might be psychographics or ideas and emotions of your viewers. Jay describes such a niching as a filter that you simply arrange in the way in which you place your self and present up on the earth that brings the best individuals all the way in which to you and repels the improper individuals.
Nonetheless, Jay proposes another strategy to choosing a distinct segment: growing a premise. He defines the premise as “the particular, defensible goal in your content material that’s pulled out of your private imaginative and prescient for the viewers.” It’s a tipping level from individuals being loyal to individuals being tremendous followers as a result of you appear irreplaceable to them. There’s not one more exploring what you are exploring.
What makes a robust premise? Hrishikesh Hirway began a podcast about music in 2014 referred to as Tune Exploder. The class was crowded even again then, however there was quite a lot of sameness in it. Hrishikesh noticed each musician being interviewed with generic questions. He needed to listen to these individuals speak about one thing particular: their craft. So Tune Exploder requested musicians to take aside a single track and, piece by piece, inform the story of how they made it.
You may simply pitch that podcast with a defensible premise: “This can be a present about music. In contrast to different exhibits about music, solely Tune Exploder asks their music visitors to take aside a single monitor and, piece by piece, inform the story of the way it’s made.”
The system is well replicated in what Jay dubs the ‘XY Premise Pitch’:
This can be a [Project type] about [Topic]. In contrast to different [Project types] about [Topic] solely we [Unique Proposition].
Your XY premise informs the whole lot about your content material. It motivates subscribers, shapes tradition, and helps promote your concepts by sharing your worldview with the viewers. And should you or your viewers can’t determine what it’s, you haven’t discovered your area of interest but. It is not straightforward to provide you with one thing like that, however the perfect media firms and storytellers know that it is price placing within the work to develop a resonance together with your viewers.
One pink flag to be careful for as you develop your premise is should you begin evaluating your self to others, saying, “In contrast to different exhibits, we *really* dive deep to get you the actual ways and practitioner language.”
As an alternative, you must say, “In contrast to different content material that explores these matters, solely we [Unique Proposition].”
It is not what you discover however how you discover it.
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Key Takeaway: Differentiate your content material by creating a singular and defensible goal that units it other than others in your area of interest. Use the XY Premise Pitch to obviously talk the distinctive proposition of your content material.
Jay asks you to contemplate, “What are you doing to compel individuals to wish to spend extra time with you and join with you on a stage that’s not doable on social media?”
Social media is a landlord that may change the foundations or kick you out at any second. It prioritizes the loud minority of utmost views or attention-grabbing gimmicks at scale, not giving the platform to individuals with nuanced and significant issues to say.
It’s additionally actually good at creating interchangeable personalities at scale. So although some individuals stand out, they’re nonetheless combating to be seen, albeit amongst a smaller class than everyone else. Wherever you look, you’ll discover subgenres popping out of each broader style constructed and influenced by social networks. They usually all appear replaceable – if one shuts off, you could possibly discover one other, and it won’t be actual, however it’d be fairly shut.
As creators and entrepreneurs, our job is determining the best way to turn out to be our viewers’s favourite – their most popular decide for a selected goal. Whenever you’ve piqued their curiosity on social media, you’ll be able to deliver the actually engaged members of your viewers extra into this worldview by directing them to your owned platforms. Now you’re left to contemplate what these owned platforms are.
Social media must turn out to be merely a solution to uncover you – a window into the deeper, extra connective work you are doing via newsletters, podcasts, memberships, e mail lists, and issues that you could management with higher certainty.
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Key Takeaway: Social media ought to be a window into your deeper work, so deal with transferring your viewers from social media to your owned platforms.
Takeaways
TL;DR? Listed here are the important thing takeaways from our interview with Jay Acunzo:
- Prioritize making real connections together with your viewers. How are you going to do that? By infusing your private perspective and experiences into your work.
- Use AI to boost your creativity and unblock your creativeness to not outsource your creativity
- Take a look at your concepts with a small viewers earlier than searching for a big one. In case your content material doesn’t resonate with the small however loyal subset of your viewers, it received’t work simply since you enhance the dimensions of your goal.
- Your distinctive perspective and experiences make you irreplaceable within the eyes of your viewers, so let your persona shine via your content material.
- Differentiate your content material by creating a singular and defensible goal that units it other than others in your area of interest. Use the XY Premise Pitch to speak the distinctive proposition of your content material.
- Social media ought to be a window into your owned platforms – prioritize constructing one thing that is yours so that you don’t have to fret about social media no matter its future.
- Give attention to the workflow, methods, instruments, and private components you deliver to your work, and create constantly.
Jay’s parting phrases are, “Try to be the non-public most popular decide in your viewers by growing a robust premise and showcasing your distinctive perspective.”
