
Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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What's the content?
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Marketing? Well, Brian fans Oh, founder of social fans.
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Digital futurist, virtual keynote speaker on.
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Excited to bring you a fun new customized talk.
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I've never given this talk before for you guys a
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content marking.
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Well, I know I'd much rather be in Cleveland as
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most of you would be.
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A ZX well, events so many fun the last couple
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of years being there at the event.
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But we're gonna make the most of it here in
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virtual. And so I got an exciting presentation for you
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guys today.
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We're gonna have a little fun with it.
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So you guys ready?
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Let's do that.
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All right, So today's talking to me what podcasting and
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Ticktock can teach us about creating empathetic content.
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Now I am the host of two podcasts.
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Now I've hosted actually five podcast over the last nine
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years or so and recently.
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I've done a lot of research with influencers and brands
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on tick tock, but really, the the gist of this
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presentation is not really about podcasting or tick tock.
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It's really about how do we create that empathetic content
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that we all know we need?
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And let's face it, the world definitely needs more empathy
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today. But as marketers, we can't let empathy become a
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buzzword because we have the power as marketers to connect
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and reach and build these authentic conversations and relationships with
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our audience through different mediums, from blogging to social media
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to podcasting.
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But we also have toe take that with that responsibility,
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a newfound approach because, let's face it, 2020 is a
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year unlike anything else we've ever experience.
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And it's now upto us to kind of leave that
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way. And so what I really gonna talk to you
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guys today about is shifting our perspective.
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And I know for a lot of us, like this
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perspective that we've always had is that you know, hey,
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we're empathetic because we reply to tweets or we are
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connected with our audience because, you know, we have a
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big following.
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But let's face it for what we've really been doing
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and what this is really kind trying to demonstrate here
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on this little diagram is we've been creating content for
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for us, hopefully for our audience.
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And I think one of the things that we're gonna
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have to shift and hopefully I'm gonna open your mind
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set to that today.
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Is this idea off?
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How do we reinvent what an experience is from the
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perspective of our audience?
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So rather than creating content that we think is valuable
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understanding our audience and creating that empathetic content that are
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not only allows us to feel with our community but
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allows us to connect, communicate, communicate, collaborate and and really
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pushed these things forward because in uncertain times, which were
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no doubt living in at the moment, the one of
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the things that have really kept us together is that
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ability to connect that that ability toe, have that community
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around us.
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And so I'm gonna kind of break down how this
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shift in perspective works.
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And and funny enough, like I'm gonna be using, You
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know, a technology has been around for forever with the
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radio and podcasting And then, of course, ticktock that, you
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know, kids dancing app.
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And so first, let's jump into kind of the radio
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or podcasting.
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I think this is a very funny, you know, interesting
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medium, because when I think about empathy or creating empathetic
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content, the first thing that comes to mind for me
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is that do you wanna have that It's not an
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immersive feeling or not a buzz word.
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It's an intimate relationship with your audience and all way
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back to the radio, as the radio started.
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It's a very interesting idea that because we're able to
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consume something audio and we're listening to the radio or
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we're having, you were listening to a podcast.
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What really happens?
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There is the audience.
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The listener gets the paint, the picture in their mind
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off what they're visualizing, right?
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So when you hear people talk about listening to the
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radio for Babe Ruth's home run, or maybe listening to
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the radio for the landing on the moon and then
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listening to the radio in your car every morning like
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you have this like intimate connection and that intimacy is
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really where that empathy could be born and something that
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we, as marketers have struggled to create with social media,
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even live video, YouTube, podcasting, our block like that, that
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idea of that intimate connection and the thing about podcasting
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that I always tell people is that you know, as
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a podcast or myself, I love connecting with fans and
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followers a different events.
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I speaking about 60 65 events, a year.
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But I always said the podcast listeners that I have
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when they give me a hug when they come in
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and give me a hug they hugged me stronger, right?
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Like it's like because you have that, like, intimate.
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You're in their ear, you're consistently showing up, but you're
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also it's that connection that you're allowing them to visualize
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a story where on video or on a lot of
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the other mediums, we give them a picture or we
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as the video creator, we decide what they need to
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actually visualize, um, in their content.
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And then, you know, as we take this kind of
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a step further, I want you to think about this
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and I'm gonna come back to in a second.
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So this is for you guys that are watching, actually,
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for those that are watching live right now, put into
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the comments.
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I'm curious.
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Do you remember as a child your favorite TV station?
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Or do you remember your favorite radio station that you
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grew up?
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Thio. Think about that for a second, because when I
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look at podcasting and I look at radio and I
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look at that audio, that audio connection to create empathetic
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content. What we're looking at here is consistency, community relate
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ability and access.
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And what I mean by that is inconsistency.
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As you know, someone that listened to the radio show
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like I live here in Northern Virginia right now, and
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the junkies sports radio has been on since I went
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to college for, I think, 15 years ago, right.
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And I know that if I tuned in during this
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hour, these hours that I'm gonna get the junkies and
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I know who the junkies are and they show up
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right. Growing up in Virginia Beach, I had a radio
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station that I listened to every single morning on the
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way to school and then on the way to the
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beach when I went surfing.
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And that consistency is really valuable because it not only
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creates that loyal fans because we know they're gonna show
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up, But let's face it, like radio DJs and podcasters
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like my friend Mitch, Joel has been podcasting.
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Like he's gonna episode every week for like, since I
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was in diapers.
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No, not since I was in diapers.
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But Mrs Goals consistency is beyond impressive on showing up
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and having a podcast episode every single week, so your
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audience doesn't have to follow you on social media.
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They don't have to subscribe to our email newsletter.
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They know if they show up on this time, you're
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gonna be there.
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And that's what radio taught us about that embassy intimacy.
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Now community is one that I think it's also really
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important from radio and podcast because the localization of radio
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allowed us to feel like we knew that D J.
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We understood who that person was.
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They would be at the local baseball event.
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I lived in Virginia Beach and we didn't have a
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pro sports team, but we had a double a Norfolk
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Tides baseball team, and I remember always being like, Oh,
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I know the DJs from a local radio station and
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I'd be there and that, like, localization community made me
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feel like they knew me and I knew them and
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they were, ah, part of what we were going through.
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And I thought that was that such an essential thing.
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When we're thinking about empathetic content and what you're creating,
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how can you create that localized community feel?
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The third one that we have is a relatability, right?
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Not only was it relatable for us to be able,
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you know, the person would go in the, you know,
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in the morning.
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Show me, like, right up here in Northern Virginia.
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We have Elliot in the morning and Elliott a tw
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5. 42 every morning.
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Um, he starts his radio show and he had and
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he's kind of off color, a lot of fun.
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He's really the one that I've listened to, probably the
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most of all the DJs.
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And you knew he was gonna He was gonna has
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his his like, little squarely, uh, laugh.
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Hey, always talked about random things, but he was also
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one of those other things that really sticks out to
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me. Was that who didn't want to be a radio
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deejay? Like I remember.
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I was like, I wanna be a radio deejay.
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I even went into college and wanted to learn how
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to work on the radio.
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And then I realized, like our little suck and the
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money is not great, right?
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So then, of course, but like that relatability like, Hey,
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I could do that job.
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Hey, I could be That is really valuable.
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When you're thinking about empathetic content, I'm gonna talk about
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that when I talk about ticktock as well, Because one
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of the things that we struggle with as marketers is
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how do we, you know, convey our message?
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How do we command our authority?
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But how do we make ourselves relatable so that the
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audience can feel like, Hey, I can do that.
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Hey, I can be a part of that and that's
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a very big struggle for us.
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And then the last one I have there is access
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right, giving us access to who they are, what they're
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all about, right?
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Like I mean, did you ever think about this?
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People would wait on hold.
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I've done it before for an hour and a half
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to call into a radio show to request a song,
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right? And for those that are under the age of
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25 you got to look up.
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What radio is I know you're on Spotify and Pandora.
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You're live streaming, and you could get any music you
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want. But for us, you know, Pedro wearing millennial and
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those that gen X and baby boomers, you know the
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idea of calling into a radio show like think about
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that from a standpoint of like if your audience is
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so engaged in so intimate, you allow them to participate
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in the content and you're giving them access into helping
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decide what's our favorite song or giving access through contest
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right? Those contests on radio contests on podcast really are
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something that builds that report with our audience.
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And so I asked you guys before, Do you remember
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your favorite TV station or your favorite radio station now
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for me?
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I can tell you, as soon as I thought about
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this, I was like, I know all the radio stations
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and I don't even tell you.
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Like I think it was like Fox five or I
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couldn't tell you my favorite TV station as a kid,
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but my favorite like I'm a music music of all
- 10:07 - 10:09
types like my favorite radio station.
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Growing up was Z 104 today's best music, and I
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can even almost play the jingle right and think about
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that as that intimacy and connection, where it is an
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audio format that makes us feel that that loyalty, that
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consistency, part of the community and podcasting is no different,
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Right? Like my favorite podcast right now that I do
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not miss an episode for even Block My Calendar is
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armchair expert.
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I absolutely love what Dax Shepard's done with that podcast,
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and it's a long podcast, but that that connection, we,
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of course, have Pat Flynn.
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And I love the podcast that, ah, lot of the,
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you know, content marketing institutes putting out with Robert Rose
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and Joe Losey.
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And if you think about that, think about we.
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When when we talk about podcasting, we always and I
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always talk about this as well.
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Like, how do you discover a new podcast?
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You have to find it from another podcast listener, right?
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Like we don't really find it from marketing on block
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post like even us is, marketers would believe, like to
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believe that we do.
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But we usually like Oh, you like podcast.
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What's your favorite?
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That person will then advocate heart like Oh my God,
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you don't listen to armchair expert like Dax Shepherd talks
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about his struggle with a and he gets these celebrities
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to open up and talk about stories that they've never
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talked about before.
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Right, like you become the champion, you become the fan
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that become the marketing, and I think when if we
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look at, You know the examples of empathetic content and
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I'm here.
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Thio kind of give you guys practical advice.
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One of the things you have to think about if
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you believe you're creating empathetic content today right now, ask
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yourself, What would your audience be able to talk about
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what you do or what that piece of contents about?
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Would your audience when asked, Hey, what's your favorite blawg
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or what YouTube channel do you subscribe to?
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Would they be able to not only describe it, but
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would they feel empowered to do so?
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And I believe radio and podcasting have done that.
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Hopefully, from what I see in the comments and I'll
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be down there in the comments throughout this presentation, I'll
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be fun to see everyone's different radio stations.
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We also had 96 X in Virginia Beach, where I
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grew up.
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I'm born and raised in Pittsburgh.
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I know Cleveland doesn't like that.
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I mean, we have W D v e like I
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mean, I have a Myron Cope bobblehead, uh, somewhere over
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here, e the radio at this little impromptu.
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The radio person was such a prominent person in Pittsburgh
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that way, gave him his own bobblehead.
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He's the one that invented the terrible towel, and you
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think about this like that's that connection, that empathetic connection
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that we want to strive for.
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And so now we're gonna talk a little bit about
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Ticktock, and I can tell you when I first heard
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of musically or ticktock like I love music and I
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love podcasting.
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I love creating content, but I don't dance an old
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saying I'm musically challenged as far as playing an instrument
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right when I was like Oh, this is cool.
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It's like musically and the kids can dance and all
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those kind of things.
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But the more I got onto Ticktock, the more I
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started to discover really what Ticktock was all about.
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And what I mean by what Tic Tac was all
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about was.
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I mean, it has this community and connection.
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But it also has this this newfound discovery of social
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media and I've heard it's related to the early days
- 13:18 - 13:20
of Twitter, and I was on Twitter in the early
- 13:20 - 13:22
days, but I was using it, actually just for Pittsburgh
- 13:22 - 13:25
sports. So my Twitter handle, which I still use today,
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is Pittsburgh, underscore fans and I loved being able in
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Virginia Beach to be connect with my friends, my friends
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and fellow Steeler fans in Pittsburgh.
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But I wasn't part of that, like that Twitter community.
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But when I think of it, I can relate it
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to the live streaming movement like to me, the greatest
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in the greatest moments of my social media marketing connection
- 13:45 - 13:48
in my life was the first year of live streaming.
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We had the periscope summit, which you guys see here
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this picture of we had blabbed, which only lasted about
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a year.
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Meerkat was out.
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Everyone was supporting and celebrating.
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People were empowering.
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And so, interestingly enough, ticktock isn't new as far as
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that, like discovery and growth.
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But what I find is very interesting.
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Is that what I What is really stood out?
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That I think we all have to figure out how
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to integrate in our content and in our marketing is
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Ticktock has empowered a newfound group of of creators and
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storytellers, and it's allowed people to connect with their tribe.
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And yes, I worked in cybersecurity for nine years.
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I know the China part and there's the band.
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We're not gonna talk about that.
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We're gonna talk about what we can learn from ticktock
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that can help us become better marketers everywhere else.
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And so I took my thief all of last year.
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I'm I'm kind of a big geek for data as
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a digital futurist.
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And so I spent about It's not about six months
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not posting, wants to tick tock kind of doing it
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in the shadows consuming.
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And then I spent almost a year consuming ticktock content
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but building relationships through the comments with some of the
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biggest quote unquote non traditional ticktock influencers those that you
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wouldn't consider your traditional influencer lawyers, doctors, military police, stay
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at home moms.
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I thought, you know, construction workers, all of this, this
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entire group that what I would what I would feel
- 15:15 - 15:18
was Wow, I don't think they they're posting on Instagram
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like they're not active on Facebook.
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So I see them on Twitter.
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And so what I did was I interviewed a little
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over 30.
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I think my final numbers 38 different influencers and I
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really just started breaking out, asking them questions because I
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wanted Thio understand, Like, why are you creating on tick
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tock? But not on Instagram like, Why are you doing
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four videos a week with these amazing transitions.
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But you're not posting on YouTube.
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You never had a YOUTUBE channel.
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And so I'm not kind of walking through some of
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my lessons from that because I think this is gonna
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connect very nicely to that empathetic contact feel.
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And the first one was almost every person I talked
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to said I'm not a creator.
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I've never thought of myself as a creator.
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I never thought of myself as a storyteller.
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I didn't like video.
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It wasn't really on video.
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But what they would say in a different forms would
- 16:03 - 16:05
be. I know I have a story to tell, and
- 16:05 - 16:07
I know I love when I'm with my friends and
- 16:07 - 16:10
my family e neither the center of attention or I'm
- 16:10 - 16:11
someone that can connect.
- 16:11 - 16:14
Or when I find my people, you know, I really
- 16:15 - 16:17
love your sharing stories and experiences.
- 16:17 - 16:19
And so one of the things that I thought was
- 16:19 - 16:22
really interesting was that that idea that no one, none
- 16:22 - 16:24
of these, um, influence is not one of them identify
- 16:25 - 16:28
themselves as thought of a creator, right?
- 16:28 - 16:30
So when I would say, like, why aren't you on
- 16:30 - 16:32
Instagram? They're like, Well, I'm not a photographer, and I'm
- 16:32 - 16:34
not, You know, I don't consider myself pretty, and I'm
- 16:34 - 16:35
not great with filters.
- 16:36 - 16:37
So, like I'm not there And they're like, I'm not
- 16:37 - 16:40
on Twitter because I can't figure out like Hashtags in
- 16:40 - 16:40
140 characters.
- 16:41 - 16:44
And YouTube was too complicated or like YouTube like they're
- 16:44 - 16:46
like, Oh, YouTube is first celebrities, right?
- 16:46 - 16:47
I heard a couple people talk about that and like
- 16:48 - 16:49
I'm not a celebrity, I'm gonna stay at home, Mom
- 16:49 - 16:51
or one of the guys, Scott, who I interviewed.
- 16:52 - 16:53
He was like, Hey, I worked the power lines.
- 16:54 - 16:57
But when I connect with people that have a similar,
- 16:57 - 17:00
you know, positivity vibe like I really break that down.
- 17:00 - 17:02
And so I thought that was an interesting piece.
- 17:03 - 17:05
Another one was many, many of them talked about.
- 17:06 - 17:08
They got on the app because, like they were checking
- 17:08 - 17:10
on their kids or ah friend told them the download.
- 17:11 - 17:14
But they're as they started using the tool in the
- 17:14 - 17:17
algorithm because the algorithm on tick tock is unlike anything
- 17:17 - 17:17
else that exists.
- 17:18 - 17:21
They started to find their people or their tribe.
- 17:22 - 17:24
And when they what I kept hearing over and over
- 17:24 - 17:25
again, was I just found my people.
- 17:26 - 17:29
And then I've decided, like, Why tune into Instagram when
- 17:29 - 17:30
I don't even know what's going to show up on
- 17:30 - 17:30
the feed?
- 17:31 - 17:33
Facebook is like all my my family and friends that
- 17:33 - 17:34
might judge me.
- 17:34 - 17:36
I don't write content.
- 17:37 - 17:37
I don't.
- 17:37 - 17:39
What I found was a lot of them were coming
- 17:39 - 17:42
back and saying, because I found my people and I
- 17:42 - 17:45
knew when I would log into the app, the people
- 17:45 - 17:48
that I wanted to consume, we're going to be there.
- 17:49 - 17:51
It had me coming back for more, and I think
- 17:51 - 17:53
if you think about that right, like when we think
- 17:53 - 17:56
about influence or marketing or creating that empathetic content through
- 17:56 - 17:59
collaboration, it's about that trust, right?
- 17:59 - 18:01
Like they didn't tune in the ticktock for ticktock stars.
- 18:02 - 18:04
They tune in for the people that they could trust
- 18:05 - 18:07
that look like them, that act like them, that understand
- 18:07 - 18:07
who they are.
- 18:08 - 18:10
And I think we could all think about how we
- 18:10 - 18:11
can integrate that into our content.
- 18:12 - 18:14
The third thing I learned there was most of them
- 18:14 - 18:15
were like I would say that I would ask, Are
- 18:15 - 18:16
you scared of video?
- 18:16 - 18:17
Is like video intimidating.
- 18:17 - 18:19
They're like no video wasn't.
- 18:19 - 18:22
I wasn't scared of it, but I never posted a
- 18:22 - 18:24
video. I don't like face timing like Ah, lot of
- 18:24 - 18:25
them would say that.
- 18:25 - 18:27
But then I would ask, like, how did you How
- 18:27 - 18:29
did you believe you got into video?
- 18:29 - 18:31
And they're like, Well, I never would do like an
- 18:31 - 18:33
instagram story because I never knew how to, like, figure
- 18:33 - 18:35
out like it was I never wanted to like talk
- 18:36 - 18:37
and I don't know what to talk about.
- 18:37 - 18:38
I don't know how long do I hold the button
- 18:39 - 18:41
down? And I, of course, would fire back like Tik
- 18:41 - 18:43
TAKS buttons are a little bit unique as well.
- 18:44 - 18:47
They would make the comment that said they looked at
- 18:47 - 18:51
Ticktock, that it allowed them to be the gateway to
- 18:51 - 18:51
creating video.
- 18:52 - 18:53
They would say things like, Well, I don't want to
- 18:53 - 18:54
create video.
- 18:54 - 18:56
I got on there just to watch, and then I
- 18:56 - 18:57
found like a song that I really liked.
- 18:58 - 19:00
So I clicked it, and I did a video and
- 19:00 - 19:02
e. I wasn't scared because I didn't have to talk
- 19:02 - 19:04
and it wasn't my content or a couple of them
- 19:04 - 19:07
would say, Well, I'm not good at knowing what to
- 19:07 - 19:10
share on social media or what I should put out
- 19:10 - 19:11
to the world.
- 19:11 - 19:13
But I didn't have to think about that on tiptoe
- 19:13 - 19:15
because there would be a trend and the trend.
- 19:15 - 19:18
Would everyone be doing a certain dance or they be
- 19:18 - 19:19
all sharing a certain type of content?
- 19:20 - 19:21
Therefore, I didn't have to think about strategy.
- 19:22 - 19:23
I didn't have to use my voice.
- 19:24 - 19:25
All I had to do was be my own creative
- 19:26 - 19:28
self, and it became the gateway, and people went from
- 19:29 - 19:32
lip sinking to doing the trends toe all of a
- 19:32 - 19:35
sudden turning their own audio on to getting comfortable on
- 19:35 - 19:38
video to the point where people are doing crazy transitions.
- 19:39 - 19:40
They're doing 3 to 4 videos a week.
- 19:40 - 19:43
And so what I found that was so interesting that
- 19:43 - 19:45
I think is like what Every social network.
- 19:45 - 19:47
What all of us have to think about is how
- 19:48 - 19:51
do we how do we empower the non creator and
- 19:52 - 19:55
give them the pathway to start creating and sharing?
- 19:55 - 19:58
Because you know it's great to turn people into a
- 19:58 - 20:01
fan, but if you're fan can't celebrate what you do,
- 20:02 - 20:04
and it's not easy for them to talk about what
- 20:04 - 20:04
you do.
- 20:05 - 20:07
It's gonna be a real struggle for that to be
- 20:07 - 20:08
that to be really valuable to you.
- 20:09 - 20:10
And then, of course, a lot of them were mentioning
- 20:11 - 20:13
that it was tried driven trends.
- 20:13 - 20:15
The trends really got them excited on where things were
- 20:15 - 20:19
going. Um, every single one of the creators could name
- 20:20 - 20:24
at least three hashtags that were smaller hashtags that they
- 20:24 - 20:25
absolutely loved.
- 20:25 - 20:27
Like one of them was like Mom's over 50 right?
- 20:27 - 20:29
Another one was divorced dads.
- 20:30 - 20:32
Another one was working with our hands, right.
- 20:33 - 20:35
They like the blue line, and then you have the
- 20:36 - 20:36
different military ones there.
- 20:37 - 20:37
Lots of.
- 20:37 - 20:40
And what I found that was interesting is like I've
- 20:40 - 20:45
always believed that hashtags are the glue to disconnected conversations
- 20:47 - 20:50
that bring people together that have a similar purpose or
- 20:50 - 20:51
share a common passion.
- 20:52 - 20:55
And because ticktock algorithm the you know, the more videos
- 20:55 - 20:58
you watch of a certain genre, it feeds you more
- 20:59 - 20:59
of those right?
- 20:59 - 21:01
The more hashtags you follow feed you more of those.
- 21:01 - 21:03
I found it really interesting, and I I need to
- 21:03 - 21:06
come in a couple times like, oh, did you know
- 21:06 - 21:09
hashtag from Instagram and Twitter and a couple of them
- 21:09 - 21:10
made comments like weight.
- 21:11 - 21:13
We can use hashtags on Instagram.
- 21:14 - 21:15
So think about that right.
- 21:15 - 21:18
These people have millions of followers on tick tock building
- 21:19 - 21:21
loyal audiences that that that will jump and do anything
- 21:22 - 21:22
that they ask.
- 21:23 - 21:24
And they didn't look, they didn't understand.
- 21:25 - 21:27
Ah, lot of the things they're going around in our
- 21:27 - 21:30
marketing space until they found their tribe and became comfortable.
- 21:31 - 21:33
The other thing, a lot of them would say was
- 21:33 - 21:34
they liked how it was personalized and customized.
- 21:35 - 21:37
They could be creative their own way.
- 21:37 - 21:39
But they didn't have to, like, do things that were
- 21:39 - 21:40
like they have to buy fancy technology.
- 21:41 - 21:43
Most of them talked about the only thing that they
- 21:43 - 21:45
have is a tripod and a ring light, right?
- 21:45 - 21:49
They they Although they like, they upgraded from standing in
- 21:49 - 21:52
front of their favorite window to using a ring light.
- 21:52 - 21:53
It was kind of a big change for them.
- 21:53 - 21:55
And then last, but not least, which I think is
- 21:55 - 21:57
one that's really gonna tie us back to this.
- 21:57 - 22:02
Um, this empathetic content is it was vulnerability inspired And
- 22:02 - 22:03
what I mean by that ah, lot of them would
- 22:03 - 22:06
say, Well, my most popular videos the ones I screwed
- 22:06 - 22:09
up on or my out takes or like, a popular
- 22:09 - 22:12
trend on tick tock is you post one of your
- 22:12 - 22:15
draft one of the ones that you you actually made
- 22:16 - 22:16
a couple of months ago.
- 22:17 - 22:19
But then you posted out there and what I heard
- 22:20 - 22:22
was it wasn't people saying that it was okay to
- 22:22 - 22:25
fail. It was more like we could learn.
- 22:26 - 22:28
We could put things out there and we could all
- 22:28 - 22:29
be human, right?
- 22:29 - 22:31
We could all you know, you know, the one person
- 22:32 - 22:32
was talking about like transitions.
- 22:33 - 22:35
And they're like they're like, my first, like, 10 transition
- 22:35 - 22:37
videos. I didn't know what I was doing, but each
- 22:37 - 22:40
time I posted, my community would give me ideas and
- 22:40 - 22:42
tips and and that peace And and so when vulnerability
- 22:43 - 22:49
is empowered, not judged, it allows that that connection at
- 22:49 - 22:50
at our deepest level.
- 22:51 - 22:52
And I've said this for a long time that I
- 22:52 - 22:56
believe the true connection point for us as marketers, as
- 22:56 - 23:00
brands, as entrepreneurs, as as leaders is through our vulnerability
- 23:01 - 23:03
is not our strengths, because we are a lot more
- 23:03 - 23:07
alike than we are different And because of that, we
- 23:07 - 23:09
have to look at the ways that we connect with
- 23:09 - 23:09
people, right?
- 23:09 - 23:11
I talk a lot about my a d h d
- 23:11 - 23:12
and my struggle with a d h d.
- 23:13 - 23:15
All the most popular videos I have on my tic
- 23:15 - 23:17
tac account, which I don't have a big following over
- 23:17 - 23:19
there on Tick Tock is about my a d h
- 23:19 - 23:22
d and my Adderall and and and getting those, uh,
- 23:22 - 23:24
subscriptions. And it was so funny.
- 23:24 - 23:26
So many people were in my comments like, Hey, I
- 23:26 - 23:28
was diagnosed in my thirties as well, one that he
- 23:28 - 23:30
said she was diagnosed in her late forties, and so
- 23:30 - 23:34
that connection through vulnerability is extremely valuable.
- 23:35 - 23:36
And so I talked about Ticktock.
- 23:36 - 23:38
We talked about podcasting and radio.
- 23:38 - 23:40
But now let's think about okay, what can we do
- 23:41 - 23:44
in our content to make it more empathetic to push
- 23:44 - 23:45
this really forward?
- 23:45 - 23:47
And the first thing is, we want our audience to
- 23:47 - 23:48
feel now.
- 23:49 - 23:51
We've heard that before, But what you want to start
- 23:51 - 23:53
thinking about is how do I let my audience know
- 23:54 - 23:55
that they are heard right?
- 23:55 - 23:56
I hear this all the time.
- 23:56 - 23:57
Like Brian E.
- 23:57 - 23:59
Don't have you know, I'm working with some big fortune
- 23:59 - 24:01
500 brands on creating virtual events.
- 24:02 - 24:03
Right? That's one of the big things I'm doing now
- 24:03 - 24:05
is I'm building virtual event strategy and, like, we don't
- 24:05 - 24:08
really have the time to reply and answer every question.
- 24:09 - 24:11
And I always fired back and say You don't have
- 24:11 - 24:12
to reply to everything.
- 24:12 - 24:14
You don't have to answer every single question.
- 24:14 - 24:17
But what you do have to dio what you have
- 24:17 - 24:19
to start thinking about is what you need to acknowledge
- 24:20 - 24:22
and let them know that their voices heard either.
- 24:23 - 24:26
Hey, letting people know, you know, podcasters to this great
- 24:26 - 24:28
like thanks everybody who emailed I had hundreds of emails.
- 24:29 - 24:30
I'm gonna read three of them, right?
- 24:30 - 24:31
It's letting people know.
- 24:31 - 24:34
I heard all of your emails and here are the
- 24:34 - 24:34
three that I use.
- 24:34 - 24:37
They didn't read all 100 I think that's something that
- 24:37 - 24:39
we often overlook is that we get we make the
- 24:39 - 24:40
excuse, like I don't have time for that.
- 24:41 - 24:42
And I think if we really want to create that
- 24:43 - 24:46
empathy, remember, empathy requires us to be able to be
- 24:46 - 24:49
in someone else's feet, like in their shoes like put
- 24:49 - 24:52
on their shoes and feel what they feel.
- 24:52 - 24:54
Understand who they are.
- 24:54 - 24:56
The things that impact them, why they do what they
- 24:56 - 24:58
do and and making sure that we let them know
- 24:59 - 25:01
that they are heard is a big piece of this
- 25:01 - 25:04
and something that is essential when it comes to understanding
- 25:05 - 25:05
that empathy.
- 25:06 - 25:07
The other one is what I started off this talk
- 25:08 - 25:08
with, right that intimacy.
- 25:09 - 25:11
How do I create an intimate experience?
- 25:12 - 25:14
Part of that is by putting a human face on
- 25:14 - 25:17
it, right, making sure that your blogged has someone's picture
- 25:18 - 25:18
on it.
- 25:18 - 25:19
And that person, right?
- 25:19 - 25:23
Like I love seeing bloggers that are on live video
- 25:23 - 25:26
because I get to know them through live video.
- 25:26 - 25:29
And then when I'm reading the blogged, I can hear
- 25:29 - 25:31
their voice, and I understand who they are.
- 25:31 - 25:33
I trust them at a deeper level.
- 25:33 - 25:34
Okay, Trust.
- 25:35 - 25:35
Right. Okay, that's perfect.
- 25:36 - 25:36
Segue, Trust.
- 25:37 - 25:38
It's almost like I built this myself.
- 25:39 - 25:40
Uh, trust is another one, right?
- 25:41 - 25:43
Like, how do we building trust through our empathetic content?
- 25:44 - 25:45
And I like this is like my soapbox.
- 25:46 - 25:49
This is where I give a keynote around the world
- 25:49 - 25:50
called digital Empathy.
- 25:50 - 25:51
Right? How do we?
- 25:51 - 25:54
How do we think about the fact that we don't?
- 25:54 - 25:58
We can't be more empathetic by unplugging or using digital
- 25:58 - 25:59
or social media less.
- 26:00 - 26:03
It's about understanding how we prioritize each and where it
- 26:03 - 26:05
fits. And a lot of that prioritization has to come
- 26:06 - 26:11
through authenticity, vulnerability, simplicity and then making it relatable.
- 26:12 - 26:15
Think about that as Why do we connect with the
- 26:15 - 26:15
radio deejay?
- 26:16 - 26:18
Because we all could picture ourselves being a deejay, right?
- 26:19 - 26:20
Why? What is that simplicity?
- 26:21 - 26:24
Really think about the sympathy simplicity on tick Tock is
- 26:24 - 26:25
Hey, I like that song.
- 26:25 - 26:27
You click on the song, you hold down the button
- 26:28 - 26:29
and you're creating video, right?
- 26:29 - 26:31
How do we make that same connection?
- 26:32 - 26:35
How do we make that same really deep trust with
- 26:35 - 26:35
our audience?
- 26:35 - 26:38
And then, of course, authenticity is one that you know
- 26:38 - 26:38
for me.
- 26:39 - 26:40
Is everything right?
- 26:40 - 26:42
Like it's how do we admit when we're wrong?
- 26:43 - 26:44
How do we talk about what we don't know?
- 26:44 - 26:46
How do we share our vulnerabilities and kind of break
- 26:47 - 26:48
down that wall?
- 26:48 - 26:50
And I think that's where we have to think about
- 26:50 - 26:52
this when it comes to connection, right And one of
- 26:52 - 26:54
the talks I give is called shrink the distance.
- 26:54 - 26:59
How do we shrink the distance between ourselves and our
- 26:59 - 27:00
community? The audience?
- 27:00 - 27:02
How do we not let the screens that we're using
- 27:04 - 27:06
disrupt this experience that we're creating?
- 27:06 - 27:08
And I think this is one that we all kinda
- 27:08 - 27:11
have toe figure out ourselves and so connection, I thought
- 27:11 - 27:14
was really valuable because when you know, if those that
- 27:14 - 27:18
saw the Charlie D'Amelio um, collaboration with Dunkin Donuts it
- 27:18 - 27:18
was amazing.
- 27:19 - 27:21
I went toe Dunkin Donuts twice when it was going
- 27:21 - 27:23
on, and they had stickers outside the window.
- 27:24 - 27:28
But Charlie was drinking these her caramel latte, caramel ice
- 27:29 - 27:32
coffee with extra sugar, whole milk on a regular on
- 27:32 - 27:33
tick tock.
- 27:33 - 27:34
And then they combine and they collaborated.
- 27:35 - 27:38
And when I look at the partnerships, the influencer connections
- 27:39 - 27:41
on tick tock, they're not campaigns.
- 27:42 - 27:45
Their collaborations, they're really that connection, right?
- 27:46 - 27:49
Like how doe I build a collaboration with this influencer
- 27:50 - 27:52
with these people, and I think that's an important piece
- 27:52 - 27:53
of this, and it really connects with that community.
- 27:54 - 27:57
And then, of course, that that one being curation, right,
- 27:57 - 27:58
like you don't have to.
- 27:58 - 28:00
Most of the, you know, us don't think of ourselves
- 28:01 - 28:03
as creators, but we will curate.
- 28:03 - 28:05
We will take something that someone else has done.
- 28:06 - 28:08
Or like I love taking like my favorite block post.
- 28:09 - 28:10
And then when I posted, I put my own opinion
- 28:11 - 28:12
above it, and I share the block post.
- 28:12 - 28:14
Therefore, I don't have to write an entire new block
- 28:15 - 28:18
post. I still get to share my authority, but I
- 28:18 - 28:21
also get to support and celebrate those that are in
- 28:21 - 28:22
my community and collaborate.
- 28:22 - 28:24
And of course, I mentioned Relatability Relatability.
- 28:25 - 28:26
I said this last year.
- 28:27 - 28:27
A content marketing on stage.
- 28:29 - 28:32
I believe relatability is the future of marketing, right?
- 28:32 - 28:34
How do we relate with our audience?
- 28:34 - 28:35
How do we shrink that distance?
- 28:36 - 28:38
And that, to me, comes out in a connection, trust,
- 28:39 - 28:39
empathy and feeling.
- 28:40 - 28:41
And then I think this is one where I think
- 28:41 - 28:43
we have to take it a step further, right?
- 28:44 - 28:47
Where in 22,020 so many things going on in our
- 28:47 - 28:49
world, of course, especially the US, we have the elections
- 28:49 - 28:50
coming up, a ZX.
- 28:50 - 28:52
Well, we have to start thinking about how are we
- 28:52 - 28:55
empowering our audience to not only be our fans and
- 28:55 - 28:58
our marketers, but to be better people to what be
- 28:58 - 28:59
good people, right?
- 28:59 - 29:00
Like, what about my shirt says.
- 29:01 - 29:03
And so I think when we think about empowering, how
- 29:03 - 29:06
do we become the gateway for people to do things
- 29:07 - 29:08
they never thought they were going to do, like right?
- 29:09 - 29:11
All those creators I was listening, I was talking to
- 29:11 - 29:13
They never thought they would post on social media creates.
- 29:14 - 29:17
And now their millions of followers, a couple of them
- 29:17 - 29:18
in, like, 15 million, 18 million followers.
- 29:19 - 29:23
And they're doing so now because they it was talk,
- 29:23 - 29:24
enable that gateway.
- 29:24 - 29:26
It was a simplistic, um, you know, conversation.
- 29:27 - 29:30
And we can also make this empowering piece there through
- 29:30 - 29:31
educating and creativity.
- 29:32 - 29:34
And so last but not least, where I want to
- 29:34 - 29:37
end this presentation on his attention, right?
- 29:37 - 29:41
Empathetic content is about content, community and connection, and I
- 29:41 - 29:44
firmly believe that we are greater than me.
- 29:45 - 29:47
And in that bigger picture, that's something we all have
- 29:47 - 29:49
to think about right together we can change the world.
- 29:50 - 29:53
But when we think about this empathetic content conversation, what
- 29:53 - 29:57
we need to shift our perspective on is how do
- 29:57 - 29:58
we look at attention, right?
- 29:58 - 30:01
It's not about getting just the attention of our new
- 30:01 - 30:02
customers, our community.
- 30:03 - 30:06
But how do we activate our current people that we
- 30:06 - 30:06
have attention, Right?
- 30:07 - 30:08
How do we capture that new attention?
- 30:09 - 30:13
How do we inspire people to get us MAWR intention
- 30:13 - 30:16
and then even more so how do we get that
- 30:16 - 30:17
empowered attention?
- 30:18 - 30:20
Which is where I think we turn fans into influencers,
- 30:21 - 30:25
influencers into brand ambassadors or even employees into that same
- 30:25 - 30:26
piece. And so this is where I think we have
- 30:27 - 30:29
to go if we really want to understand that power
- 30:30 - 30:32
and importance of empathy and empathetic content.
- 30:33 - 30:35
So with that, I hope you guys enjoyed my session.
- 30:35 - 30:37
My name's Brian fans so you can find me on
- 30:37 - 30:40
social media under I Social fans with a Z or
- 30:41 - 30:42
zed on all of your favorite social networks.
- 30:43 - 30:45
Check out my podcast press the damn button is the
- 30:46 - 30:49
interview podcast I do every week, uh, studying, understanding what
- 30:49 - 30:51
buttons people have pressed in their lives that have allowed
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them to get to where they're at.
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And then my weekly foam Oh fans is where I
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give you 30 or 45 minutes of content on a
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wide range of topics.
- 30:59 - 31:00
So thank you content marketing?
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Well, thank you guys.
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So much for showing up and being a part of
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my session.
- 31:05 - 31:06
I wish you guys all the best.
- 31:07 - 31:08
Remember, Together we can change the world.
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We are greater than me.
- 31:11 - 31:13
We have to put that empathetic content hat on.
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We have to think about what is our role and
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in all of these different facets and hopefully together we're
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gonna make this a better place.
- 31:21 - 31:23
And when we come, better marketers and let's say, let's
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face it, let xgo our businesses together.
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Cheers, my friends.