The reason we create content is we want to help people. So how do you ensure more people watch and listen? I’ll give you 3 strategies in this episode.

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Big Ideas

Disappearing Content [1:03]

In our TRIBE community, we recently had a number of questions that came up on the topic of how to drive more consumption of your membership content? There are a variety of things that we can do, particularly inside of our membership, but they’re just as relevant for a free Facebook group or anywhere else that you publish content.  

The first strategy I want to share with you is called Disappearing Content. Ivy Oscarson in our community mapped out her entire content plan and shared it within our TRIBE community. She talked about a strategy that she’s using – she’s posting content that’s only available and posted for a certain period of time, and then she removes it. 

I first learned about this strategy years ago from Sean D’Souza. When you have content and you post it out there, people take it for granted that it’s going to be there forever. There’s no sense of urgency to go and consume it. But when you remove that content and your community knows that it’s only going to be posted for a certain period of time, there’s more urgency. So people actually go and consume it. Because if people aren’t consuming it, then they’re not going to get the value of what you’re providing. And if they’re not getting the value, then why are we doing this?

Mega Phone [3:52]

The second strategy is called the Mega Phone. When you put a piece of content out there, don’t just put it out there and think that because you’ve published it, that everybody in the world is going to know about it, hear about it, see it, and consume it, because that just ain’t true. You and I know that we need to communicate when we put something out there.

For example, in our team, we are constantly developing new features for our software platform, Searchie. And I always tell my team that I don’t just want to just release it, I want to communicate about these new features. I want to publish the new features, but then, I want to use our mega phone.

When you publish content, you want to let people know in as many different places as possible that you have just published. If you publish a new podcast episode like this, you want to let people know via email, Facebook, perhaps even a Facebook banner or Facebook Live or inside of your community. When you’re publishing new content inside of a membership or a free community, you want to do the same thing. If you want to drive engagement and consumption of your content, you’ve got to do both creation and promotion, make it part of your mix. Think about all the platforms that you’ve got, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, a podcast, email, Facebook groups, whatever. Use that mega phone.

Content Challenge [6:48]

Strategy number three, I shared with you a couple weeks ago in Episode Number 195, where I was talking about 5 Juicy Ideas for Any Membership Site. I talked about how Andrea Ames shared an idea during our TRIBE Mastermind, which was a content challenge. Most of us have seen a lot of the different challenges that have been created, or we might even have created a challenge on the front end to drive engagement. But Andrea took the challenge concept and she made it part of her onboarding process for her membership site. So, she has a challenge for people to consume content in the first 24 hours, then in the first five days, and then in the first 30 days. And she gives out different rewards for doing so.

The thing I love about it is that consumption is built into that whole process. And this is like one of those little hidden treasures, where people are going to get the benefit of not only going through the challenge and finding more of the content, but they’re actually consuming it and getting the benefit of what we’re sharing.

How could you make consuming your content more fun? How could you wrap it around a challenge? How could you reward people as they go through your content?

Create Anticipation [10:15]

I got one final bonus idea for you. When you’re coming up with a new piece of content, if you know that something good is coming down the pipeline and you’ve been working on it, then create some anticipation for it. Don’t just put it out there. Create a little build-up for it.

For example, we’re coming up on our 200th episode. Did you know that? So, to celebrate, on the Marketing Your Business podcast, we’re doing something special. I’ve invited a number of people to come and join me for the 200th episode. You’re going to love this because I’m asking them one specific question. And you’re going to get rapid fire awesomeness throughout the entire episode.

Memorable Quote

“Make consuming your content fun.” – Stu McLaren

“When you want to drive consumption of your content, it’s equal parts the creation of it and the promotion of it.” – Stu McLaren

Resources

5 Juicy Ideas for Any Membership Site by Stu McLaren

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