MARCH 26, 2024

Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Reminder: Don’t forget spring pricing for Content Entrepreneur Expo ends this Sunday. Register today to save $100.

full tilt

Most creators are or will get an AI assist in their content businesses this year. Deloitte says it’s 62% of creators. It’s even higher (76%) with The Tilt audience.

Deloitte’s recently released research finds creators plan to use generative AI to help them in:

  • Generating content ideas (58%)
  • Managing workflow/production (50%)
  • Writing captions (49%)
  • Reducing time spent developing content (43%)
  • Editing photos (29%)
  • Conducting competitive analysis (25%)
  • Automating audience interaction (23%)
  • Creating alter egos (9%)

How are the experts presenting at the CEX this May using AI in their businesses? What advice do they have for their fellow entrepreneurs? Read on.

“I recently trained an AI chatbot on all my videos, articles, and course material and gave it to my students as a ‘sponsorship assistant.’ I’m super excited about the potential to use AI during the research and pitching phases to augment what I’m teaching my students.” – Justin Moore, founder of Creator Wizard

“I use it to help generate content related to vocabulary and idioms. It’s pretty good at coming up with content ideas and sample sentences. It always needs some editing, but it saves me a lot of time in initial research and typing.” – Rachel Smith, founder of Rachel’s English

“I’ve used AI to create different types of templates (forms, emails, proposals) to quickly gather best practices from specific experts in a space (e.g., growth marketers focused on SaaS companies). I also use it to narrow the focus for deeper research I plan to do later. In addition, I have it draft web content I can revise and augment later, outline and draft blog posts based on target keywords and blog post templates, and write job descriptions.” – Austin L. Church, author and founder of Freelance Cake

“I use it for everything from quick ideation to reworking old content into new inspiration to doing keyword research and writing FAQs.” – Michelle Martello, founder of Minima Designs

“Generative AI helps largely with brainstorming and summarizing huge articles or text which may otherwise take me a while to read through. – Christopher Mitchell, founder of travelingmitch

“I’m using it to build digital doppelgängers that mimic and imitate my style, voice, and tone for tasks I find I dread. Small, squirrel-sized tasks. My advice to anyone trying generative AI is to limit the scope of the task and focus on the AI’s ability to mimic your style.” – Andrew Davis, bestselling author and internationally acclaimed speaker (Andrew will share his doppelgänger story in his keynote at CEX.)

Austin says he views AI as a tool to help him save time on tasks so he can spend more time doing what he does best. He offers two tips for creators considering using AI. First, when you plan a new project, take a step back and ask: “Which parts can AI handle without sacrificing quality?”

Second, think of the growing and dazzling assortment of AI tools as your “thinking partner.” Austin says, “They won’t do your thinking for you. They probably won’t give you a better strategy than you could come up with on your own. But they can help you generate more ideas, enrich your thinking, and add “Oh yeahs!” to your strategy that you might otherwise have forgotten.”

Michelle shares many people fear AI when they should appreciate its great potential. “I think the best thing you can do is stay on top of what’s working now. Block out time each week for your own education. Watch videos, read newsletters, and talk to colleagues and peers to find out how they are using the latest tools. Then take action and start implementing for yourself,” she says.

Helpful Resources:

– Ann Gynn


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content entrepreneur spotlight

Entrepreneur: Rachel Smith

Biz: Rachel’s English

Tilt: Helping non-native speakers improve their spoken English and listening comprehension

Primary Channels: YouTube (5.3M), Facebook (2.5M)

Other Channels: Website, podcast, Instagram (1M), Facebook (2.5M), newsletter

Time to First Dollar: 13 months

Rev Streams: Courses, coaching, book (ebook), YouTube, Facebook

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

  • Pick the best format: As a speaking coach, Rachel knew a text-based format would never work well for her audience. So, she turned to video and began a YouTube channel.
  • Pay attention to the audience: In her early days, Rachel used viewers’ comments as fodder for the topics of her next video. She says learning their stories and what is happening in their lives helped her help them and reminded her why she was doing it in the first place.
  • Learn and build: Understand that you are building a business. Some things you invest your time and energy in are not going to work out. And that’s OK. Don’t look at other people who are 10 years in and compare yourself to them. Perfectionists don’t last as content entrepreneurs.

Marc Maxhimer

Read Rachel Smith’s story.

Meet and learn from Rachel Smith in person when she speaks at CEX May 5 to 7. Register by Sunday for spring pricing savings!


things to know

Money
  • Big hits: Podcasts could hit a $43B ad valuation by 2032, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 14.5%. [Radio Ink]
    Tilt Take: Advertisers and sponsors see big value in a one-to-one content product like podcasting.
  • Bigger benefits: TikTok’s working on perks to entice paid subscribers to creators, including performance requests, live shoutout prompts, priority comment responses, and more. [Social Media Today]
    Tilt Take: Will benefits like that draw people to pay for subscriptions? Or should the creator encourage paying clients to buy their off-TikTok products and memberships?
Audiences
  • Quick learning: New research finds between 30 and 50% of the first TikTok videos watched by new accounts are based on what the platform has learned about them, including whether they like a similar video and who they follow on the platform. [Fast Company]
    Tilt Take: Delivering what the audience wants to see is the holy grail of any content platform.
  • Tuned in: Podcast daily listening has grown to an average of 28 minutes in 2024, up from 16 minutes in 2020. [eMarketer]
    Tilt Take: Explains the first news item about podcasting valuation.
Tech and Tools
  • Hashtag aid: Instagram now lets users see search results by simply tapping on the hashtag. [Adam Mosseri, Instagram]
    Tilt Take: Making hashtags easier to search helps hashtags retain their viability on Instagram.
  • Save, save, save: YouTube says deleting videos is a bad decision. Getting rid of them also deletes your channel connection to the audience who watched them. [Todd B, YouTube]
    Tilt Take: Rethink thumbnails, descriptions, etc., instead of deleting them, and attract a wider audience to your videos.
And Finally
  • Book to film: Humberto G. Garcia self-published Mustang Miracle. In April, the movie based on his story of a group of 1950s Mexican American caddies will hit theaters nationwide in The Long Game, a film starring Jay Hernandez and Dennis Quaid. Humberto participated in a book-to-screen pitchfest to showcase his work. [AuthorHouse]
    Tilt Take: Good stories matter more than the channel through which they’re produced.
  • Spoiled yet: An article titled Is the Creator Economy Past Its Sell-By Date? says the moral of the story: “Always err on the side of authenticity. Audiences notice the cracks in a false partnership.” [Financial Mail]
    Tilt Take: No, the creator economy isn’t past its sell-by date. It’s just separating successful products from bad ones.


the business of content


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