MARCH 15, 2022

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.

In this issue:

Full Tilt: Marketing the Merch
Content Entrepreneur Spotlight: “Househusband” TikTok Success
Please Complete This Survey on the State of Content Creators

full tilt

How To Promote Your Merch Shop

Setting up a merch shop can be a monumental task. Keeping it going, however, takes intentional, deliberate, and strategic work.

It’s easy for merch shops to quickly go dormant as the busy creators move on to other projects and opportunities. “They can die on the vine,” says Caleb Dempsey of Hello Streamer.

We checked in with Caleb and Damian Skoczylas at ICON talent agency for tips on how to promote your merch store.

Give exclusive access: Select fans for exclusive preview access – to the store or new merchandise – so they share the news. Twitch streamer Leesh Capeesh, who opened her merch shop last year with Caleb’s help, let her moderators shop her collection early, so they could take pictures of themselves wearing her T-shirts and sweatshirts in advance and help promote it.

“The launch of your merch or the launch of the new drop of your merch is an event,” Caleb says. “People are buying it to celebrate you and the place you created for your community … so lean into that. It doesn’t need to be just a tweet; it needs to be an event. So, make it an event.”

Get your sponsors involved: If you have partnerships with brands, don’t shy away from asking them for help during the merch drop.

“This is the perfect time to say, ‘Hey, I’m having a huge event. My community is going to be there in an abnormal amount because this is a big thing happening. Do you want to sponsor this?’” Caleb suggests. “Make it an opportunity for a brand deal.”

Do limited sales: Take a page from retail companies and fall back on some of their sales tactics, including limited-time deals or a limited number of T-shirts in a unique design.

Ensure your merch store vending partner keeps you posted about available quantities in real time. That way, during a stream or in a post, you can promote a special sale or trigger a flurry of purchases on a low-quantity product.

“Tell people things are going to go away or they’re limited, and people are more apt to act,” Damian says.

– Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Read all the merch marketing tips.

content entrepreneur spotlight

Biz: Darcy Michael

Tilt: Comedic and life as a househusband

Primary Channels: TikTok (2.6M), Instagram (136K)

Other Channels: YouTube (9.89K), podcast

Time to First Dollar: 5 months after TikTok launch

Rev Streams: Sponsored ads, merch, Cameo, upcoming comedy tour

Our Favorite Actionable Advice:

Watch the reactions: A comedian, Darcy gave glimpses into his family life. When those videos gained traction, he added more. Now, his husband works full time on the content business.
Know your numbers: Analytics help you understand your audience’s behaviors across platforms. Pay attention when they take a rise or drop, and adjust accordingly.
Do deals deliberately: Darcy isn’t interested in making every dollar possible. He says no to sponsorships with brands and products he doesn’t believe in.

– Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Read all about Darcy Michael’s thriving content business that’s now a full-time job for his husband.

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us. Or email [email protected].

quick talk

Caught on … Twitter

“The creator economy is disrupting traditional industries just like the gig economy disrupted taxis, hotels and deliver(y) service.” – Matthew Taub

things to know

Money

Taking a bite: Production company Rooster Teeth and Warner media offer mentorship and a one-year contract for those accepted into its new digital creators program. Focused on creators from underrepresented communities. Must have between 1K and 300K social media followers.(tubefilter)
Tilt Take: Quality mentorships can sometimes be more valuable than monetary deals. This offers both.
Token alignment: Members of token-gated communities are incentivized to protect and add value, resulting in a deep alignment. That differs from traditional noisy, spammy online communities. (Trends.vc)
Tilt Take: When people have a direct stake in a community, they are likely more committed to its mission, interactions, and more.

Audiences

Amazing number: Over 43% of creators don’t use anything other than social platforms to reach their audiences. (eMarketer; h/t Michelle Morgan)
Tilt Take: Don’t be in that 43%.
Talk it up: Twitter published The Conversations: Twitter Trends 2022 based on its analysis of billions of tweets in past two years. Two of the top three topics? Fan-built worlds and finance goes social. (Social Media Today)
Tilt Take: Another indicator of the rise of the NFT culture in art and community, and crypto in finance.

Tech and Tools

Lab coat: Instagram is the newest in social to launch its Creator Lab. They share video conversations on lessons about expressing yourself, building community, and growing long term. (Instagram)
Tilt Take: Instagram uses creators in its platforms to do the talking and teaching. Audiences love to hear from people who’ve been there, done that.
Repeat visitors: YouTube’s Rachel Alves shares that the algorithm optimizes recommendations based on how often viewers return to your channel. (Social Media Today; tl;DR marketing)
Tilt Take: Plan content that entices a viewer to come back – ongoing series, multi-part videos, etc., might work well.

And Finally

Creator or …: Colin and Samir ask: What’s another word for creator? Among the responses: Content entrepreneur, says Jon Bardos. And Treyton agrees, noting: “Being a successful creator is more than just creating content. It’s modern-day entrepreneurship.” (Colin and Samir)
Tilt Take: We couldn’t agree more!
Newsletter know-how: Want to start a newsletter? Check off these things first: Which niche am I in? What’s my point of view? Am I in love this topic? (Total Annarchy & catch Ann Handley at CEX: Creator Economy Expo)
Tilt Take: You must be deeply interested in your creation or you’ll abandon it the first chance it gets to be hard.

the business of content

Don’t Do What Disney Just Did (Content Inc.)
Disney’s New Streaming Mistake (This Old Marketing)
Want To Dramatically Increase Your Chances for Startup Success? Ask for This Specific Type of Advice (Inc.)
10 Tips for Navigating the Early Days of Your New Small Business (Small Business Trends)
How To Prepare for 5 Common Challenges Every Entrepreneur Faces (CNBC)

the tilt team

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony, with an assist from Angelina Kaminski, Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, and Don Borger.

Sellout – March 15, 2022