JUNE 6, 2023

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

full tilt

LinkedIn Can Work Even If You Have Another Job

As a content entrepreneur, you face a critical task to fuel your business’s growth: Find partners.

They could be brands interested in doing deals, entities with similar audiences interested in cross-promotions, investors, or even enthusiastic fans.

Entrepreneurs who have content tilts in the professional space will find LinkedIn can work well in your partner exploration strategy, particularly given the vastness of its membership – 930M in over 200 countries.

But how do you maximize your LinkedIn presence? And how do you straddle the fence if your content business isn’t your only full-time job?

Among the tips to consider:

Build a strong profile to showcase your expertise and purpose to indicate to potential partners that you are the right person.
Boost your discoverability by using keywords in your headline (i.e., that space many people use to simply list their title) and summary.
Create a hit list, an idea shared by Tilt founder Joe Pulizzi in this article (it’s No. 5.) Identify the people with whom your dream audience hangs out. Then, hang out with them, commenting on their content. Not sure who should be on your list? Use LinkedIn’s search feature for your keywords, locale, industry, etc.
Publish LinkedIn content regularly. Connect with possible partners by engaging with their content and creating content that may attract their interest. Quote them in your LinkedIn content when appropriate and tag them to let them know you did.
Send invitations and personal messages to potential partners. Don’t make your ask in your early correspondence. Use the opportunity to explain why you’re interested in them, their business, or their content. Ask questions to learn more about them and their activities.

That strategy all sounds good. But how do you do that if you have a traditional full-time job on your LinkedIn profile?

Determine if your LinkedIn profile must focus on your non-content business work. I don’t mean you should delete your experience to hide the fact you’re employed elsewhere. (Most potential partners won’t care. They realize people in the creator economy aren’t always full-time entrepreneurs.) I mean, would the people in your current professional life (i.e., employer) be OK if your LinkedIn profile wasn’t all about them? If so:

Create an employment entry for your content business.
Use your headline and cover image to tell the story of your content business.
Publish articles and engage with a network relevant to your content business.

If your employer can’t know about your content business or you want to expand your LinkedIn presence, create a company profile page. It lets you tell the story of your content business. It also lets the audience know you think of your business as a company, not just you, the entrepreneur. Then, similar to how you use a LinkedIn profile, you can post and comment on behalf of the company.

How do you use LinkedIn to grow your content business network? Tag us @TheTiltNews on Twitter or LinkedIn.

– Ann Gynn

we stan Jade Weatherington

Entrepreneur: Jade Weatherington

Tilt: Online writing course network for youth; online course creation classes

Scene: Website, Outschool, Facebook (1K), Instagram (236)

Snack Bites:

Jade turned years of cobbling together online teaching side hustles into a full-time content business bringing in $10K monthly.
In 2020, Jade added a new revenue stream to her one-on-one online teaching – a writing academy hosted on the Outschool platform.
By 2022, she expanded the business by adding seven teachers to her writing academy and creating a new service to help others learn how to teach online.

Why We Stan: Jade took a while to commit to being a full-time content entrepreneur, but she embraced the business model quickly. She added multiple products and viable revenue streams, developed passive income, and used her expertise to help others do the same.

– Ann Gynn

All the Story: To learn more about Jade Weatherington, read the story.

things to know

Money

Cha-ching: YouTube gets top marks when compared to Instagram and TikTok. Aspire’s survey found 50% of YouTube creators earn at least $500 a month, but only 40% of Instagram and 36% of TikTok creators do. (Search Engine Land)
Tilt Take: YouTube likely makes the bigger bucks because it delivers much, much higher engagement (50% on average vs. 3% on TikTok and 2% on Instagram).
Third-party tunes: More podcasters seek third-party subscription platforms like Supporting Cast and Supercast so they don’t have to rely on Apple and Spotify and can get more access to their listener data. (Digiday; h/t Sounds Profitable)
Tilt Take: That all makes sense. The only challenge, though, is a big one. Apple and Spotify are where audiences already are.

Audiences

Subs don’t matter: A video got 60K views and climbing, but it didn’t come from the YouTube channel’s subscribers. Only 0.6% of them viewed it after getting the bell ring. Watch history, satisfaction, watch time, and more are better signals. (Professor Nez)
Tilt Take: It’s an anecdotal lesson that should prompt you to look more closely at your analytics to see what works and why.
Flying growth: Mr. Green hit 100K followers after his Twitter experiment – tweet regularly, engage with others, and run ads promoting his profile. The campaign led to 150 million-plus views. (Mr. Green; h/t The Lead)
Tilt Take: Paid social can help build an audience. Just make sure it’s part of a comprehensive strategy.

Tech and Tools

Legally in line: The recently launched AI-informed Viral Nation Secure lets brands (and creators) know if the creator- or user-generated videos contain copyrighted content. (Tube Filter)
Tilt Take: Copyright is an issue all creators should take seriously. Otherwise, it could cost you – and your brand partners – big bucks.
Help is here: Google expanded its small business coaching program to 10 more states. (Social Media Today)
Tilt Take: Make the click to see if the free help is offered in your neck of the woods.

And Finally

AI-created creator: Myntra introduced Maya, a virtual fashion influencer. She’s joining its curated set of content creators. (Financial Express; h/t Influence Weekly)
Tilt Take: We wonder if influencers are as worried as content creators about AI taking away their jobs. (BTW, it won’t if you adapt and evolve now.)

the business of content

Joe and Robert talk about the 22-word statement from the creators of AI. Simply put, we are in big trouble. (This Old Marketing)
Joe discusses adding a nonprofit purpose to your content business. (Content Inc.)
Join The Tilt’s Marc Maxhimer as he talks with InPeak about the future of the creator economy. It starts at noon EDT, Thursday, June 8.
Check out Niche Media Publishing by The Tilt’s friend Chris Young. Discover how to build, grow, and monetize any digital content – from a successful online magazine publisher.
Have you picked up the phone for new business? (Small Business Trends)

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Partnership Connector – June 6, 2023