Cracking the Attention Code
I saw an Instagram post from an artist friend about how he almost completely sold out of a recent limited edition print series and stated that 70% of the buyers came from his hometown. He was grateful the prints sold, but he wondered how he could increase his reach to people beyond the borders of his city.
Jump to:
The Answer Is Make Content!
More specifically, a newsletter would help, but of course, that would require him to find new people outside of his normal realm of influence, which can be done by making content in other places.
And this is where I get the pushback.
“I’m already doing so much on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and [insert random app name]. I can’t handle another platform.”
I get it; the world seems to revolve around those apps, but let me ask you three questions.
How many new people do you reach regularly?
Do the apps make you feel seen by your followers?
Do your followers even interact, or are they only double-tapping your posts and moving on to the next person?
Writing blogs, making long-form videos, and sending newsletters isn’t a magic bullet to attention and sales, but as someone who's been making all types of content for years now, it remains king.
And I may have stumbled upon the real magic bullet to content creation.
Keeping You In the Loop
With the plushest velvet hammer, I will hit you over the head with the content strategy right now…
Did you catch the latest episode of the Makercast? Of course not, because it’s exclusive to Makers; you didn’t upgrade your subscription. Make sure you do so by June 30th to get in on the best pricing you’ll ever get.
That snippet above is both deliberate (that deadline is real) and poignant. You may have considered leaving this post by now, but I allowed you to read more of mine instead of leaving to consume someone else’s content.
Usually, that snippet wouldn’t be behind a paywall, something more accessible to everyone. Still, if you chose to upgrade to Maker status (you should), you would see another snippet at the end of that post that leads you to a special goodie that only Makers get.
I’ve been doing something similar on my YouTube channel for years, considered a standard practice on that platform. Anytime I end a video, I try to find a way to lead viewers into the next bit of content that will benefit them. Sometimes it’s specific content and other times, I let YouTube’s algorithm choose another video the viewer hasn’t watched yet.
I refer to this strategy as an open loop where there is the potential to find your way back to where you started, but more likely, I’m taking you on a journey from one piece to the next.
It’s more like you’re orbiting around my content, moving in different directions, and my goal is to keep you in that orbit as long as possible. With each article, newsletter, video, or social share, I can present you with an opportunity to contribute, share, or buy from me.
And the content better be good because if not, I lose you, and you may never return to this side of the universe.
A Non-Creator’s Guide to Content Loops
This section could probably be an entire post unto itself, and I may write that post eventually (which I will then post as a snippet at the bottom when I do write it), but I’ll truncate the concepts for you here to help get you started.
Also, the examples below are based on using long-ish written content on blogs and newsletters, but you can use some social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Medium are suitable for this. Instagram and TikTok are not great.
The only way to use Instagram and TikTok as a content loop is to reply to comments from some of your other videos in new videos, even if the comments are your own. However, you cannot link out directly to other content on different platforms from Instagram or TikTok, so that loop can only be self-contained within the apps.
All the other platforms can link to internal posts and external sources, where you can send people to your blog or newsletter sign-up form.
However, social media is terrible for engagement and content saturation. Fewer people will read your Facebook posts than anyone on your email list. Also, you can’t take your list of Facebook followers with you to another platform like you can your email list. The same goes for Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social apps.
If you haven’t started an email list, get on that immediately.
Pick a Newsletter Provider
If you’re using a service like Substack, Beehiiv, or ConvertKit, these allow for your newsletters to become blog posts that you can reference later automatically. This is essential for the content loop because you want a space that readers can return to time and again.
To my knowledge, services like Mailchimp and Aweber do not have this functionality. When you send an email blast, there’s a link to view the message in a browser window, but this doesn’t allow readers to review an archive of messages.
Substack is free, and Beehiiv and ConvertKit have a free tier depending on how many subscribers you have on your list. Substack works great for me now, but some elevated functionality with the others can help grow your list, and I may eventually jump to one of those platforms once I’ve reached a specific subscriber count.
Content for Non-Writers
At this mark, this post is over 1,000 words, and I wrote it over a few hours, which may seem daunting to some. You do NOT need to write long articles like this to engage readers and create the content loop.
Also, you don’t want to always talk about your new work or what you have for sale. To turn readers into collectors, you’ll want to engage them more with posts that engage, inspire, and inform. Here are just a few ideas:
Share creative challenges or prompts your audience can participate in, encouraging them to explore new ideas and expand their artistic horizons.
Highlight successful collaborations between artists from different disciplines, sharing the behind-the-scenes stories and lessons learned from these creative partnerships.
Explore various sources of inspiration outside the art world, such as books, movies, nature, or travel, and discuss how they can ignite creativity.
Conduct interviews with fellow artists, both established and emerging, delving into their artistic journey, techniques, and experiences to inspire your audience.
If you have an art history background, dive into anecdotes or lesser-known stories from history, shedding light on remarkable artists, movements, or significant artworks.
Share tips, techniques, and practices to help artists nurture their well-being, manage creative blocks, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Discuss different art supplies, tools, or techniques, reviewing their pros and cons and providing practical tips for your audience to experiment with them.
Highlight upcoming art exhibitions, events, or festivals in your area or worldwide, offering recommendations and insights on why they are worth attending.
Discuss how art can be integrated into everyday life, such as home decor, fashion, or even cooking, inspiring your audience to infuse creativity into their daily routines.
Share curated lists of valuable resources, such as books, podcasts, online courses, or websites that can enhance your audience's artistic journey and learning.
Start simple and work your way to deeper content as you get more comfortable with the process, or keep it simple.
The Hungry Artist started as a short list of interesting, cool, funny, or educational links.
has been doing this for years.Entrepreneur Shaan Puri shares a weekly list of 5 tweets he found interesting, leaving a short commentary between each one.
Danielle Krysa (The Jealous Curator) shares a collection of art images and a concise snippet about each artist.
Making the Content Connection
Learning to see opportunities within your posts to get viewers into the loop takes practice. I still need to remind myself of it with each post. The trick I’ve found is to find words that make good triggers leading to previous content. Where that gets tough is remembering the subject of earlier articles and how far back you wrote about them.
In #10 of the list of blogging ideas above, I put a link on the word resources, and if you click, it takes you to my list of resources. You'll see a button at the top of that list to subscribe to The Hungry Artist if you weren’t a subscriber already.
SIDEBAR: A few affiliate links are within that list of services I use and highly recommend. Though those links take people out of the loop, those links help keep the lights on here at HQ. If there are services that you use which you often recommend to others, and the service has an affiliate program, consider becoming an affiliate partner.
The process of adding to the content loop gets easier the more content you share, but there’s no reason you can’t share the very last thing you wrote:
Link to previous posts, YouTube videos, social media posts (preferably ones that send people back to your newsletter/blog), or even posts where others have written about you. People who write about you usually do you the favor of linking back to your shop or content so the loop stays intact. You can even ask them to update your link to a specific post you’ve created for people coming from that other article—next-level content creation.
Keep It Simple
It would be easy to get overwhelmed by all of this, but this doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Write simple posts about you and your work, share your wisdom, and find ways to be helpful to others. Within each update, strive to include one link back to something else you’ve shared.
Over time, you’ll bring in more readers than you ever could using social media, and if you’re sharing cool stuff, you’ll keep them around longer.
If you want to light a fire under others, be bold.
See what I did there?