How can your videos compete with the larger players in your industry?
Channel: George Kao
Date: 2017-11-03

Read the article here:
https://medium.com/@georgekao/how-can-your-content-compete-with-the-bigger-players-in-your-industry-a6758bb40bc2

A reader asked me:
“How can my free content compete with the likes of Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle? Why would anyone want to watch my videos or read my articles?”
(This person creates content about spiritual development, hence naming those teachers.)
A great question, isn’t it?
Why would (or should) anyone pay attention to your content, when there are lots more famous bloggers / experienced thought-leaders who generously give free content online?
You are actually in a position to answer this question, because I will turn it around and ask it of you:
Why do you pay attention to my articles / videos, when there are many other business/marketing thought-leaders online, who also share lots of free content, and they are more well-known, smarter, more experienced, more entertaining than George Kao? :)
I would love your thoughts. Why is it that you read my articles, when you have many other choices of content?
Go ahead and comment below…
…then continue reading for my guesses.
Here’s what I think your answer might be:
You first came across my articles / videos because someone else — a friend, or another thought leader — recommended me. Word of mouth from an individual, or from one of my joint ventures / collaborations. Another possibility is that you randomly saw one of my Facebook posts (because I regularly boost my best posts on Facebook) and you decided to give me a chance… you gave me 3 seconds of your time… which interested you enough to spend another 10 seconds reading/watching, leading to another 30 seconds etc… until you found my ideas/presence interesting enough that you developed an initial trust in me.
After that initial experience, you probably saw another post from me because either you started following my content, or you saw one of my boosted posts (since I regularly boost posts to you who have read my articles or watched my videos, whether or not you are following or have “liked” my page.)
Then, the reason you’ve continued to give me your limited time, rather than use the same minutes to read other, more well-known thought leaders, is because almost every time you’ve commented on my stuff, I comment back with gratitude, or sometimes I’ll add additional insights.
In other words, I engage with you. More well-known thought leaders no longer have time to individually engage with initial followers like you. Or they may outsource that job to a team member, or even to a chatbot.
Getting direct access to me: this makes my content unique to you.
Let me know if that’s accurate? I look forward to your comments below.
This is one reason I hope I don’t grow my audience too quickly.
I truly value being accessible to people… to be among the people, instead of on a pedestal / guru.
Since my audience is growing at a very gradual pace, I’m able to keep up with the engagement, since there will always be followers/subscribers who leave after awhile (this is normal, there’s a natural “churn rate”) which therefore allows me time to engage with new people.
In other words, I do things that don’t scale… because I’m not interested in scaling rapidly or “growth hacking.” I’m more interested in relating truthfully and relevantly to my people, and having a calm, fulfilling business.
To answer the reader’s original question at the top of this post…
People will follow your content, and not just well-known thought leaders, because:
1. You are more accessible than the gurus.
While your audience is still small, you are willing (and hopefully, happy) to be directly accessible to people who are checking out your content. To demonstrate this, you engage with almost every comment, reply supportively and appreciatively to almost every email from your readers.
To be even more effective and out-standing, you individually reach out to at least some of your new followers and subscribers, to thank them, and ask how they came across you, and what question you might answer for them. With an email list, I think it’s reasonable to automate 1 email that goes out to all new subscribers with that message. Then when they reply back to that initial “how did you hear of me” email, I personally replay back, thank them again, and answer any questions they have.
As you continue doing the above, some of your readers will come to see you as a “friend” and not just some thought leader. As a result they will keep following your content because they care about you — because you first cared about them — and not following you just for your content’s sake.
This is different from gurus, which some readers may eventually discover “they don’t really care about me as a person… I’m just a number to them.”

Read the article here:
https://medium.com/@georgekao/how-can-your-content-compete-with-the-bigger-players-in-your-industry-a6758bb40bc2