Mike Hanley

former blue check. founder @acontentengine I write a newsletter on digital communications. We have fun, you could join us here 👇

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

This is the future of B2B media in one image:

It came from a convo I had with @eriktorenberg on my pod

To create a media machine:

1. Research
2. Create sharable media
3. Repurpose the media across platforms and mediums (video, text, audio)
4. Collect the data
5. Distill the insights

The hierarchy of B2B media (h/t @jrdnmix on this):

1) Eyeballs ($): the top of the funnel to find the niche customers

2) Data ($$): very valuable to a superniche group of people.

3) Insights ($$$): actionable for a TINY superniche of people.

My big epiphany is this:

The eyeballs are the LEAST interesting part when it comes to B2B media

The insights are what you're after.

You package those insights into product, services, software, paid communities people pay for.

I think we'll look back at this time and realize...

Media businesses are wildly underrated in an AI world.

--
Full 58 minute chat is below, enjoy.

https://t.co/PgzJC2GroD

https://t.co/IZNENlSieU

https://t.co/4Sdz3y8Lte

And I'm hiring people who want to build this future, DM me why you're a good fit (looking for writers, creators, product designers etc)

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

The future of building startups:

- MVP speed (1x per month)
- AI-accelerated
- Superniche is the new niche
- Community 1st, software 2nd
- No-code 1st, some code 2nd
- 10x more automated
- Global teams, localized products
- 95% dominated by solopreneurs and microentrepreneurs (teams less than 12)
- Pop-up digital experiences (apps that only work on certain times)
- Needs the marketing holy-trinity to hit escape velocity: 1. product/market fit, 2. content/market fit and 3. community/market fit
- Team is half robots 🤖, half humans 👨‍🦰 (cc @youneedarobot)
- Accelerated by "boring marketing" (cc @boringmarketer)
- Multiple revenue streams
- Design matters. The bar is high
- Partnered w/ creators (creators are the distribution)
- Feels like a game (levels, status, badges, in-app currency, challenges, collectibles/items)
- Purpose-driven moonshots: societal impact matters
- Productized agencies to generate cashflow (ex design agency @DispatchDesign)
- Product studios become the norm
- 99% of MVPs won't need VC

[Cat Noone @imcatnoone]

"In the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency."

— @shaneparrish

[Mike Hanley @mikeh101]

Same

[Kevin Farzad @KevinFarzad]

Was I very productive this week? No. But was I able to rest and relax? Also no. But was I gentle with myself about all of this? No

[Amanda Goetz @AmandaMGoetz]

Yesterday a video went viral on TikTok when a woman shared the inside of her car after it caught on fire

Including her Stanley cup - still in tact and with ice in it!!!

The president of Stanley stitched the video in < 24 hours offering to replace her cup…..and her car.

This company will now get likely 1B earned media impressions and positive brand awareness + knowledge of the quality of their product through this one quick response and 30 second video.

1. Listen to your social team
2. Moved fast
3. Care about your audience

Great marketing move, Stanley!!!

[James O'Brien @mrjamesob]

This is very good. The best articulation I’ve heard.

[Mike Hanley @mikeh101]

SBF On the Unpredictable Calculus of 'Expected Value' | Sequoia Capital. These people 🤦🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/VPzfq1eWXK

[Mike Hanley @mikeh101]

Reinstate Deputy Mayor of Waverley after sacking him for his condemnation of bombing Gaza - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/MC7YvklXRs via @ChangeAUS

[Yuval Noah Harari @harari_yuval]

Don’t be intellectually lazy, don’t be emotionally lazy, don’t see just part of this terrible reality.

The full interview with @zeitonline: https://t.co/Slmpvxxa5H

[🌏 Zali Steggall MP @zalisteggall]

Important #abc730 report exposing links between No campaign and right-wing group Advance Australia.

The referendum has been hijacked by a campaign of fear &amp; disinformation by shadowy groups who aren't who they seem.

Australia needs truth in political advertising!
#Yes23 #auspol

[🌏 Zali Steggall MP @zalisteggall]

The thousands of lobbyists representing fossil fuels, gambling and pharmaceutical companies are effectively an anonymous voice to parliament!

@damongameau brilliantly articulates the absurdity and deceitfulness of the no campaign.

Puts things in perspective.
#VoteYes #Yes23

[Alzheimer's Research UK @AlzResearchUK]

Not all fairytales end the way we expect.

Share now to help us change the ending #ForACure.

https://t.co/EKBE5uf5QU

[Joseph Fasano @Joseph_Fasano_]

A mother sent me a poem that her 16-year-old autistic child wrote with one of my poetry prompts. I think I will read it every day.

[Tom Red Memes @TomRed43]

This by Lauren Dubois is one of the best VOICE explainers so far. If you have confused, reluctant or sceptical family or friends, spend three minutes watching it with them. #Insiders #auspol23 #auspol

[Anthony Albanese @AlboMP]

A powerful voice saying Yes.

[ulurustatement @ulurustatement]

OUR NEW AD IS LIVE!

You’re the Voice that will make history.

On 14 October, we know we all can stand together with the power to be powerful.

#HistoryIsCalling, so #VoteYes. Are you in? John Farnham is.

#UluruStatement #StayTrue2Uluru #YoureTheVoice #VoteYes

[Sam Altman @sama]

“give yourself a lot of shots to get lucky” is even better advice than it appears on the surface.

luck isn’t an independent variable but increases super-linearly with more surface area—you meet more people, make more connections between new ideas, learn patterns, etc.

[Paddy Galloway @PaddyG96]

I've directly worked on YouTube videos with a combined 10 billion views.

Here are some random insights & unconventional thoughts I have around growing a channel:

The idea of the ''YouTube Meta'' is a myth

I always like to tell the channels I work with, there's no ''one way'' to grow on YouTube. YouTube is so expansive, anything can work. People always want to follow one singular ''meta'' but that doesn't exist. There's no template.

Advice that focuses too heavily on one style is often unhelpful and limiting.

There are some universal truths, but you can make this stuff up as you go along too. Try stuff.

Just like business, the best channels have moats

A lot of the top channels have some form of competitive advantage, whether that be knowledge, domain expertise, specific access.

Even as a small creator, look at what are things you can do that others can't. Sometimes the best moat is just being yourself (cringe) and using your own world to create uniqueness.

The game is attention, you're competing with everyone and no one at the same time

One thing I've learned a lot over the years. We can often fall into cycles of over-obsessing over our ''rivals'' but the reality is everyone on YouTube is competing for shelf space. Everyone. Your viewers probably watch 100s of other channels each month.

Stop obsessing over one competing channel and play a bigger game.

Viewers can be built up over years, and lost in minutes

''Viewer churn'' can happen gradually or all at once. Don't think you ''own'' your viewers. You don't. You earn them each time you upload.

I've seen creators ruin their reputation with one bad decision. Respect your viewers above everything.

TV viewership should be on everyone's mind

For many channels I work with, TV viewership accounts for 40%+ of traffic right now...that's mind blowing.

Yet most creators are still in the mindset of making videos for mobile viewers. I often put the TV experience first in my mind and make sure content also translates well to mobile, not the other way around.

The YouTube lifecycle can be broken

YouTubers typically have a shelf life. Often we see creators have a slow start, blow up, peak, plateau and then enter the infamous youtube death spiral.

However, the reality is a lot of these ''downward'' spirals were preventable with the beauty of hindsight. Failure to innovate, being intoxicated with success or just other distractions claim many victims, but it doesn't have to be that way.

People like MrBeast and MKBHD show how long a career on YouTube can be. I imagine both of those creators will be making content at the top of their niches in another 10 years too.

YouTubers should be compared to small businesses/start ups... not musicians/actors

This one has been said before, but is so true. YouTube is like a small business, it's hard, it takes time, chance of success is low, but upside is the best career in the world.

Comparing creators to traditional entertainers is unfair (to the creators), they do so much more & luck and ''connections'' play much less of a role in success.

YouTube can be the greatest business model in the world

If you build a bigger product/offering/service, the YouTube business model is unbeatable. You basically not only get free marketing, you get paid for your marketing.

The trust you build with your audience, the instant distribution, the leverage it gives you... It's insane.

If you have millions of views per video, if you launch a product you're in a better position then a VC backed start up with millions of dollars for advertising...

--

Just some random thoughts that I typed out in under 10 mins.

I am so lucky and privileged to have been in this space for over a decade now, will continue to share my insights as I go. So follow me @PaddyG96

This information isn't free unfortunately, you pay with a like and a retweet is your tip. Cheers.

[annie-mai @anniemaisocial]

no one in marketing has all three:

· sanity
· approval from legal
· the ability to make good memes

[Linus ✦ Ekenstam @LinusEkenstam]

Social selling factory in Indonesia 🤯

This is UGC industrial mass production. This is a freaking factory.

Selling things online is changing so fast. Everything is changing so fast.

This is unreal