Digital Marketing And Social Media PR – The Future Buzz

Techdirt is running a great experiment on a business model concept that is applicable to anyone who produces digital content.  It would be useful for musicians, photographers, video producers, bloggers or anyone in between to take notes here.

The formula is simple:

Connect with Fans (CwF) and give them a Reason to Buy (RtB).

or

CwF+RtB=$$$

If you checked out the experiment but aren’t a reader of Techdirt, what they are selling probably won’t make sense to you or be of interest.  Why on earth would someone want to purchase a T-shirt which says “Looooooots of T-shirts” on the back?  Why would you want to spend a day with the Techdirt team?  If you weren’t closely connected with them, you wouldn’t.  And that’s exactly the point – they aren’t offering things for everyone, only that which is compelling to their core fans.

The community which has more than half a million subscribers and hundreds of thousands of visitors monthly gets it.  That’s all that matters.  Techdirt has built a thriving, interested group they connect with multiple times daily and are now giving them a reason to buy.  It’s not the company’s core model, but it’s something very possible for both organizations and individuals in a world where you can build meaningful, global connections at scale.

What a few people missed in the thread about the experiment but I’ll clarify here is that it isn’t directly about Techdirt trying to make money, rather they want to provide a groundwork for the next generation of digital content producers by showing them what is possible.

There’s something else at play here too.  If you read Seth Godin’s book Tribes this should make instant sense:  Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt/Floor 64 is not just connecting with fans and giving them a reason to buy, he’s leading a tribe.

It’s also worth noting Techdirt/Mike embrace:

Content marketing – their blog attracts not just clients and press but also community members for Floor 64, their insight company.

The fact that every business is now a media business – the content they publish and community they have built are without question the draw for new business and connections.

Providing value – Mike provides consistent value to his community and readers without expecting anything back.  And for it, his brand is rewarded in spades.

Listening - As a community member, it’s especially cool that Mike took notice of my experiences as a creative commons artist and shared them with the rest of the community.  They read/listen to everything relevant the community shares or submits and if they use it they always attribute, making their blog a pretty special platform.  Most other bloggers at this level (6 figure subscribers +) don’t do nearly as good a job at bringing community ideas, feedback and submissions into the editorial mix.

I’m looking forward to reading the results of the CwF+RtB experiment, and would encourage other artists, digital content producers and business to engage in their own community experiments.

Here’s a quick presentation on what the inspiration was for the CwF+RtB formula which provides greater context:

[youtube Njuo1puB1lg]