Book: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
Author: Seth Godin

The Pearls

1) Inspiring if you create content for a living, “Linchpin” is about creating your own success by putting in the emotional labor of an Artist in everything you do. It’s an amalgam of other, more innovative works, like “The Gift” and “The War of Art.”

2) The first half of the book is an argument for becoming a Linchpin. If you don’t need to be convinced that you are awesome, then start at page 150 to get into Art as a gift.

3) It feels contradictory, on the one hand Godin disparages the industrial systems of better, faster, cheaper. On the other he praises people who master the system and victimize the other folks who can’t ( or won’t) work their way out. From page 86, “The real artists are the people who dreamed up this system…But not the painters. They’re virtually helpless victims of a large system that pays them very little for the talent they bring to work each day.”

The Transcript

Talmadge Boyd : Hi, everyone this is Talmage Boyd and I just got done reading LINCHPIN by Seth Godin and Linchpin is about success.

Talmadge Boyd : It’s about engaging the emotional labour of an artist in order to escape being a cog in the mass industrial complex.

Talmadge Boyd : He does spend the first half of the book making arguments for Linchpin, so things really don’t start getting good until about page 150 where he brings in the gift culture using art as a gift, which is really not a new idea but it is an integral part of this argument for being a Linchpin.

Talmadge Boyd : I find the book inspiring yet, contradictory because in one instance he will say that we need to throw away the complex but at the same time the artist, the true artist engages those systems and actually creates systems that victimize the very people that are subject to the complex and need to escape. So I find that contradictory but you know I am not a great smart guy like Seth Godin.

I just read books.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Title:The Benefits of Looking Ahead
Source: www.archive.org
Collection: Prelinger Archives
Producer:Coronet Instructional Films

Title: Design For Dreaming
Source:www.archive.org
Collection: Prelinger Archives
Producer: MPO Productions

Title:Applause
Source:www.archive.org
Collection: Ourmedia
Producer: Apple

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I believe it was this article by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan on TechCrunch that sent me down the ‘Context is King’ path.

Among other things, the article points out that 45% of video content is ‘discovered’ and the remainder of the time (55%) we find content randomly – “the truth is, only half of all of the content consumed is actually searched for, the other half is stumbled upon, meaning you actually have to distribute it widely enough to increase the likelihood that people even notice it, let alone give a damn!”

Now that Google Buzz has made it’s debut, we’ve got to start creating content that fits into all levels of our customers’ lives.

Creating Content For The Universe of Buyers

It is extremely likely that people will find your content outside of the old AIDA standard, but for the interest of this post let’s keep this conversation around sales content.

According to the very smart people over at Future Now, content should be created for three types of buyers,

- Just Browsing
- Knows Approximately
- Knows Exactly

Who fall into four temperaments:
- Competitive
- Spontaneous
- Methodical
- Humanistic

So, we can start with this as a baseline. Either our customers are looking for something we sell or not. If they are looking in our baileywick, then we should help them through the purchase process.

If a potential customer is not looking for a product then there must be something about our content that is discoverable, shareable, and potentially modifiable based on the audience’s context.

So what is contextually relevant content? What follows is meager attempt to categorize the types of contexts ( or temperaments) in which we find content important.

I Have A Problem

This is the SEO approach. A potential customer has a problem or a question, does a search and your content, keyed to the right terms, with the appropriate number of links will show up as an answer. This is the backbone of an inbound strategy and it’s pretty hard to beat.

Beauty

On the other side of the answer seeker is the person looking for form over facts. This is the person who shares content just because it looks cool. Within your audience is there a subset of customers who want to pass along sheer beauty or emotion?

The Gearhead

This consumer is going to be interested in the nitty gritty details of the products in your niche. They might find technical specs and videos outlining every detail of a product to be completely fascinating.

Seasons

Direct marketers are keenly tuned to the sounds of the seasons. There are all kinds of seasons too – Spring, Fall, Football…Your audience is following an internal clock and your content could be following it.

Trends

We’re not just talking about the weekly Twitter meme here. Trends in your industry become relevant to your audience about once a quarter.

Social Networks

This goes without saying. Our social networks are probably the most important when it comes to finding and sharing content.

So, how do you create for it?

Creating content for contextual creatures fascinates me.

Brian Solis points out on Duct Tape that PR professionals must evolve with the shifting sands of social technology.

I agree with him here. As content creators we have to produce contextually relevant content that’s riding with our customers ambient streams.

Danny Flamberg concurs that we have to “organically” enter our customers streams.

I agree, but I think we can go further. And if we don’t manage for massive network effects we’ll get a spaghetti bowl of Century 21 agents.

The more interesting trick will be ‘curation’ not only of our messages but of the messages that our customers create.

What’s your context distribution strategy? How do you manage it?

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The Pearls:

1) As marketers, we are Content Creators.

2) As humans (and customers), we are Context Creators.

3) How are you blending your content with your customers’ online contexts? How are you riding on their Ambient Streams?

The Transcript

You can download this transcript on Scribd.

TALMADGE BOYD: Hey, its Talmadge Boyd, and I woke up thinking about this, and so, as marketers, we are content generators, right, but as humans, and, as customers ultimately, we are context generators, right, so, we have these narratives by which we navigate throughout their lives, right, so what I would like to know is:

TALMADGE BOYD: 1. How do you know what the context that your customer is what are they going through everyday, and 2. How are you blending your content with your customer’s context, so I’d love to hear your thoughts do you have any methods, or processes that you follow in order to bring those two things together.

TALMADGE BOYD: Anyways, Talmadge Boyd, talmadgeboyd.com, and have a great day. Bye bye.

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Book: Get Seen, Online Video Secrets To Building Your Business
Author: Steve Garfield

Steve Garfield’s book, Get Seen is absolutely inspiring for the new content marketer.

Note: Steve is donating some of his books and will be speaking at VideoCamp Austin, which I am helping to spearhead. But, seriously, this is a great book.

The Pearls:

1) The depth and breadth of Steve’s knowledge is staggering. I don’t think there is a piece of new video software that he hasn’t touched.

2) The interviews within the book contain true nuggets of wisdom for creating video that gets found and shared.

3) Buy the book as a real, honest-to-god, book. You’re going to want to take notes and keep coming back to it as a reference.

The Transcript

You can download the Get Seen book review video transcript on Scribd.

TALMADGE BOYD: Hey everyone, it’s Talmadge Boyd, with talmadgeboyd.com, and I just got done reading “Get Seen” by Steve Garfield, and, whether you want to call him an evangelist, uh, or a prophet, the, the depth and breadth of knowledge that Steve has about online video is absolutely staggering.

TALMADGE BOYD: What “Get Seen” is really about is exactly that, right, it’s about you getting seen with online video, and, Steve’s premise is very basic and very fundamental, and that’s pick up a camera, figure out if its got video on it, and then go shoot something.

TALMADGE BOYD: And then, from, selecting that camera, selecting the right audio equipment, selecting the right lighting equipment, and then through the myriad of software that you can use to distribute, the book covers it all.

TALMADGE BOYD: He sits down with Amanda Congdon, with Izzy Video. I mean, he asks them, you know, what is the secret to producing video that gets found, or video that gets seen, and without a doubt, the resounding answer is, persistence.

TALMADGE BOYD: Get your video out there, get it distributed, but keep producing content. And, I think that comes back to his fundamental premise of: don’t be afraid of the camera, and just shoot something.

TALMADGE BOYD: This is Talmadge Boyd, with talmadgeboyd.com. I hope you enjoyed this book review of “Get Seen”, and have a great week.