JUNE 18, 2021

Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-a-week newsletter for content creators who want to be or already are content entrepreneurs. We talk aspiration, inspiration, revenue, audiences, tech, trends, and more to help your content business thrive.

full tilt

Content Curation Can Be Your Business Strategy

With so much content out there, you don’t always (or ever) need to start from scratch. Your content business could be more like a museum – a really cool museum that people want to visit.

Think about it. Museums are in the business of curating a variety of artifacts to tell a story. You can be in the business of curating content to tell fresher stories.

Look at the Newsette, which curates “news from beauty to business and beyond” and packages it in a newsletter with their unique spin. Take Mortified, the podcast that curates stories of adolescent cringeworthy moments.

The content-curation-as-a-product possibilities are endless.

Tilt Advice

To do content curation well, you should have a tilt – giving that curated content a point of view that resonates with your audience. You also can tilt the format, transforming it into a newsletter, a podcast, a livestream, etc., that will resonate better with your audience.

How do you find the content to curate? If you’re not already deep into content and communities around your niche, now’s the time.

Think about the presentation too. If you’re a visual brand, transform text-based content into a great visual story. Maybe that’s an infographic or cartoon series. If you’re a video creator, you could mix graphics and narration to give your curated content a tilt.

The point is to be creative – to deliver curated content that is refreshing, not redundant, to your audience.

– Ann Gynn

To learn more specifics about how to find content to curate and how content curation can be a marketing tool for any business, read the longer story.

Cozy Corner of Instagram Promises Unique Content, Profitable Niche

Entrepreneur: Austin Rutland

Biz: Austin Rutland

Tilt: Cozy content (capturing calming moments)

Channel: Instagram (36.9K)

Other Channels: TikTok (1.7K)

Rev Streams: Sponsored content

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

Pivot with a purpose: Austin found his tilt when he evolved from general personal to men’s fashion and eventually cozy, calming images.
Roll the reel: Instagram’s short video feature is a blockbuster success for Austin, who sees great organic reach with some reels accompanied by a growth in followers.
Monetize organically: By partnering with brands that fit with both his content and his life, Austin avoids the mistake of “selling out” for any sponsored content, something his audience appreciates.

Some of the Story:

Content entrepreneur Austin Rutland designs content to combat that swiping fatigue and to give followers a place to rest their heads – or their thumbs.

Austin, 25, specializes in cozy content, comforting images of his morning coffee, charming bookstores and coffee shops, videos of rainy days, and sweet interactions with his cat, Fig.

“There are certainly other creators that fall into the niche of calm, cozy content, but when looking at social media as a whole, I would definitely say that it is a less common niche,” Austin says.

It wasn’t until Austin transformed his personal Instagram account to a men’s fashion page that he began to get noticed by brands. About a year after making the switch, packages from public relations firms and free products began appearing at his door.

His first paid brand collaboration happened in 2019. Since, he’s collaborated with giant names like Panera Bread, financial service Point Card, and Pepperidge Farm. Each piece of sponsored content, though, fits directly into Austin’s cozy routines, from morning coffee to vacation escapes.

“As a whole, sponsorships have allowed me to connect with brands that I have been a loyal customer to for years,” he says. “In my experience, brands reach out to creators that most closely align with the product that they want to promote.”

Austin has truly mastered the art of a stunning, cohesive Instagram feed. Now, his attention has turned to Reels, Instagram’s TikTok competitor. The short videos give him a chance to experiment more with sound while he uses the new platform to grow his following.

“I’ve had a couple of reels pass 200k views each, and each time it results in about 500 to 750 new followers, so the impact is significant,” he says.

– Kelly Wynne

All the Story: To learn more about Austin Rutland, the content entrepreneur and content business, and his advice on what content creators should not do, check out the longer story.

quick talk

Caught on … Twitter

“1K true fans are more powerful than a large disengaged following.” – Alex Garcia

things to know

Money

Spotify goes green: Spotify’s launch of its new live audio app and first social media platform Greenroom came with news of a creators fund. Registration is open to participate. Payouts won’t come until late summer 2021. (The Verge)
Tilt take: Um, we’re not really sure because Spotify has been vague in its explanations. It says it bases payouts on several factors, including consumption of the creator’s live audio content and audience size. Well, that doesn’t clear up much. Proceed with caution.
Dollars up on social: There are “more potential monetization opportunities than ever before for creators (on social media), and that’s because they’ve proven over the last few years that they are driving business for brands and platforms alike,” says Victoria Bachan of Whalar Talent. (DigiDay)
Tilt take: The growing interest (and investment) in content creators from social media platforms indicates the big potential content entrepreneurs have with brand deals on AND off those platforms.

Audiences

It’s all in the name: Always write your YouTube title based on how the audience would search for it. Unsure of the better word choices? Ask them in a poll through your YouTube Community tab (must have at least 1K subscribers). (Social Media Examiner; h/t Tim Marshall)
Tilt take: Put your audience at the center of all your content creation thinking. Unsure what they want? Ask them, whether it’s a YouTube or Twitter poll or even a real-life chat.
Play the games: An involved audience is one that is likely to come back to your Twitch channel. Sure, you can (and should) chat. But don’t stop there. Do contests, mini-games, and quizzes to boost interest and engagement. (Restream)
Tilt take: Some viewers may not want to chat. A game gives them a fun reason to interact with you.

Tech and Tools

Your input wanted: Twitter wants your input on possible privacy changes. The early concepts are designed to control unwanted attention, such as the ability to unmention yourself and get notified when you get lots of mentions so you could consider changing your settings to stop escalation. (Dominic Camozzi, Twitter)
Tilt take: We’re glad to see Dominic from Twitter ask for input on privacy issues. And we’re even more eager to see what comes out of that conversation. Oh, and if you have a suggestion or support for their plans, tweet him.
Go big: The folks at We Are Creators have been busy. They put together a master toolkit – over 250 tools – for content creators, from podcasters to writers to video makers and newsletter owners. (Product Hunt)
Tilt take: If you’re frustrated by a tool you’re using, chances are you can find one that better fits your need. Or if you’re just starting, spend a few minutes with this free guide.

And Finally

Promotions hell: Newsletter creators who have subscribers with Gmail addresses are challenged by the Google system. The Promotions tab is “a sort of liminal purgatory into which the mailbox platform casts emails too bad for the inbox and too good for the spam folder.” Unsurprisingly, Google isn’t saying much about its Gmail algorithm. And Gmail users have found getting their Promotions emails into their inbox can be a big challenge. (LA Times)
Tilt take: Reach out to your subscribers with a Gmail address to let them know they may need to have to work harder to find your content. You could even suggest they change their subscription email to a non-Gmail address.
New era for influencers?: “We’re entering the ‘post-influencer’ era, where declining trust in influencers (and in each other) and the oversaturation of the term are leading to backlash and degeneration of the concept.” (Entrepreneur)
Tilt take: Well, given the volume of brands (and dollars) built around influencers, we don’t expect a big downgrade soon. Though this vision is a good reminder that authenticity and transparency should be at the root of any influencer monetization model.

we’re a stan for Josh Richards

TikTok titan Josh Richards didn’t gain his 25.2M followers overnight. Three years ago, the digital native spent months watching videos on the app, mentally noting what went viral. It paid off when the then-16-year-old learned he could gain traction by posting tutorials and pranks on his account.

After this discovery, the dancer and lip-syncer created his first how-to video, drawing 70M viewers. As he uploaded tutorials, his Gen Z audience flooded the comment sections requesting similar videos.

Later, Josh moved from making 60-second videos to hosting livestreams. There, fans would leave questions or comments along with donations. Today, he reportedly makes nearly $1K a minute for every TikTok live session. He also does sponsored posts with brands like Cash App.

He isn’t only a TikTok star. The influencer is now a venture capitalist and is co-founder of a talent management agency TalentX. About a year ago, he became the chief strategy officer for Triller, overseeing the new app’s livestreaming and monetization tools. He says he eventually plans to leave TikTok and publish only on Triller.

Why we’re a Stan: In his early teen years, Josh didn’t just watch TikTok. He viewed to learn what worked and what didn’t. As a late teen, his TikTok channel has 1.7B views. More importantly, Josh diversified into being a business mogul, co-founding a talent agency, becoming a venture capitalist, and leading strategy for a new music video app.

the business of content

This week on the Content Inc. podcast. Joe shares an in-depth interview with Accidentally Wes Anderson founder Wally Koval on how he built his 1.5M Instagram presence … and how he’s driving an entire business model around it.

In the latest This Old Marketing, rants and raves include a rant from Joe on Facebook’s new watch. Robert raves on Bo Burnham’s new Netflix show, called Inside.

the tilt team

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, and Dave Anthony, with an assist from Kelly Wynne, Shameyka McCalman, and Don Borger.

Guardians of the Content Galaxy – June 18, 2021