with a single platform. And content isn’t equally discoverable – even an embarrassingly bad series on Netflix will have better exposure than an independently distributed masterpiece. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that its biggest competitor was sleep. With a brand operating at the limits of human biology, it’s not likely that you’re going to be disturbing Hastings’ sleep anytime soon. But there’s a secret to content success. Want to hear it? Sure you do. Your job is not to find an audience for your content. Your job is to find an audience to make content for. Human need is one thing that has no limit. People always need something – we’re need machines. That’s what we do; we need. Psychologist Abraham Maslow made
stickiest combinations to retain eyeballs. It would seem Netflix commissions series based on what its data tells it people will watch. But that’s not the same as giving people the content they need. Imagine making dinner for someone you want to impress. If you put down every single dish in your mind, eventually you’ll hit on a meal they really like – maybe something they absolutely love. Will they like, learn who they are, then channel that through your own training, intuition and cooking technologies? You may have the start of a lifelong relationship – one where they’re interested in being with you, not just in the flavour of the meals you serve. Finding your audience and learning about your audience means getting out there and talking to people – and, more importantly, listening to people. Being a good content maker means being, first and foremost, a student of people. DATABASE, I LOVE YOU It’s a cliche, but it’s true – your database is your most important tool. There are loads of articles in FEED about gathering customer data and how to use it. But the most important thing a database can be is a way to communicate with your audience – or potential audience. You can send them regular bits of content, blog posts, questionnaires, stickers or even animations on their birthday. Every data point you have on them should be a conversation starter that you can use to mind-map better ways of providing better content. There are no magic, algorithmic love potions that will allow you to shortcut your way to profitability – at least not in a sustainable way. You have to spend time with your database to see the needs behind the numbers, and it’s not a job for IT people. The skill set required is more like that of an archaeologist, forensic psychologist, or an esports champion able to see how everything is set to play out based on a few bits of simple information. come back for a second date? Maybe, if they really want that meal again. But what if you find out about them, learn what they Find some people – maybe even people with similar interests to yours. Learn as much as you can about them, then get creative as hell about giving them the content they need. Content is no longer king. People are.
a hierarchy of these needs, revolutionising elements of twentieth-century advertising. Your job is to find an audience, learn about them, find out what they need (and want), then create the content that most benefits them. If you do that, you can get ahead of most of the content produced.
CONTENT IS NO LONGER KING. PEOPLE ARE
A huge portion of our content universe is still based on platforms trying to coerce viewers into watching. The big platforms – from Netflix to YouTube – have a pretty good understanding of what people are watching, but the success of both platforms relies on algorithms trying to find the
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