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something that has come up in conversation with other writers recently is audience development and where to put your efforts so that your audience grows / stays engaged / buys what you're selling (i.e. shares your articles, subscribes to your newsletter, buys your book)
i know that it's not really considered a good thing to talk about the business and strategy of audience development in art circles, because we all want to seem like this shit happened for us organically
BUT i care a lot about discussing the business of being a writer, so let's have a quick talk about how a basic marketing funnel works for anyone developing a platform on social
first, and publishers will probably disagree with me on this, but for the sake of YOUR longevity, audience engagement > followers
let me repeat: ENGAGEMENT MATTERS MORE THAN FOLLOWER COUNT. people who are into what you do consistently > random follows for the jokes.
let me repeat: ENGAGEMENT MATTERS MORE THAN FOLLOWER COUNT. people who are into what you do consistently > random follows for the jokes.
now, let's talk about a sales funnel and how it functions for you, the writer/creative, on social media —
1. awareness sparks --> of you/(r) work (the initial "follow")
2. interest develops --> some engagement
a sale DOES NOT HAPPEN in the first two stages!
1. awareness sparks --> of you/(r) work (the initial "follow")
2. interest develops --> some engagement
a sale DOES NOT HAPPEN in the first two stages!
3. desire --> lots of engagement, a free newsletter subscription, someone sending you an email because they're interested in a manuscript consult
most people pitter out before they get to stage #3; remember, it is a FUNNEL
most people pitter out before they get to stage #3; remember, it is a FUNNEL
4. action --> this is where all of your paid newsletter subscribers, students and freelance consultations, and the people who buy your book live
we are toward the very bottom of the final at this point! there's a lot of audience investment that has to happen before people buy.
we are toward the very bottom of the final at this point! there's a lot of audience investment that has to happen before people buy.
5. loyalty
final stage — the rarest & most precious — but you also know exactly what it's like to live here, because there are some writers for whom you are in this loyal base of folks who will sign up for and buy everything they do.
this is audience trust developed over time.
final stage — the rarest & most precious — but you also know exactly what it's like to live here, because there are some writers for whom you are in this loyal base of folks who will sign up for and buy everything they do.
this is audience trust developed over time.
i hear way too many creatives say they're concerned about income (stage #4 of the funnel — action) but then, in seeking to solve it, focus on amassing new followers... who are just going in at the top of the funnel and have weeks or months or even years to get to the action stage
tl;dr invest in your audience; growth and especially TRUST are slow and incremental and happen over a long period of time, especially at the beginning
i know this is an incredibly unsexy thread because we are all just supposed to be here for fun and it's all natural and organic or whatever, but also my years of working in marketing at NYC tech startups live rent-free in my brain and i hope it is useful to someone
also, just a reminder to get people over to your newsletter/blog/website as much as you possibly can because we own **nothing** we post on twitter, instagram, tiktok, or wherever
and i'd be remiss if i didn't plug my own newsletter, which is admittedly pretty niche — astrology for writers! exactly what it sounds like! — but if that's your jam, see you there http://jeannakadlec.substack.com
