THINK LIKE A MEDIA OUTLET

We want you to think of your digital platform as if it is your personal media brand—your newspaper. We judge a media outlet by the value of its content and pay attention to those that entertain and inform us. We increasingly put our social media connections through the same filter we use for media based on the options we have (block, unfollow, mute, etc.). We all have friends, family, and other connections that we gloss over when scrolling our Twitter stream or Facebook newsfeed because we don’t value their content. We lose interest for an infinite number of reasons that range from constant promotion to an endless stream of baby pictures or political diatribes.

At the same time, we pay particular attention to certain individuals or brands because their content informs and entertains us. We get value from their updates, and, in exchange, we give them something that truly matters in today’s environment: our attention.

In this age of micromedia, it doesn’t take much for us to change the channel. Because we have more options, we expect more than ever from those we pay attention to. One bad post, one off-target tweet, or one too many promotions and attention wanes or, worse, disappears—often forever. The challenge before you in today’s largely democratized space isn’t getting attention—it’s keeping it.

Think about what kind of newspaper you would value subscribing to. You almost certainly wouldn’t subscribe to a newspaper filled with ads, selfies, or me-first content (okay, unless it was really funny or self-deprecating). You also likely wouldn’t subscribe to a newspaper that is delivered without any consistency—once or twice a month just wouldn’t cut it. We subscribe to newspapers that provide interesting and entertaining content on a consistent, predictable basis. Those that feature interviews, reviews, and other news we can use—the kind of information we can put into practice that day-today make our lives better. You are going to be judged by the same standard we apply to broader media.