I’m just going to ask you straight:
Are you writing online?
And if not, why?
I’m not talking about political ranting on X, or long-winded emails to your colleagues (much as these are splendid examples of online writing).
I’m talking about thoughtful original commentary about your industry, for an audience. It could be via social posts, a blog, a newsletter, or even on a forum. Doesn’t matter. It just needs to be:
- Relevant
- Regular
- And in public
Honestly, I can’t understand why everyone isn’t doing this. It’s not only the highest ROI activity I can think of – but it has zero downside. It’s impossible not to profit from it, and so to my way of thinking is about as close to “free money” as you can get.
Now I know that this might sound a bit fanciful, but that’s only because most people misunderstand what writing online is actually for.
Most think it’s about one thing:
Building an audience.
…and so they rightly shy away from it. After all, building an audience is extremely difficult, time consuming, and worst of all carries no guarantee of success. I’m not one of those people who’s gonna tell you that if you keep “showing up” the audience will come. No, it’s quite likely they won’t. And so I wouldn’t blame you for avoiding that game.
But here’s the thing: that’s not what writing online is about.
If you start to build a following for your writing, that’s awesome. But it’s just a bonus. The real reasons you should be doing this are actually the following:
- Idea generation
- Communication practice
- Credibility
Let me briefly break down each one:
Idea generation should be pretty self-explanatory. If you’re writing about your industry, that means you’re thinking about your industry. And if you’re thinking about your industry, you’re uncovering new angles, new insights, new opportunities. Things that can directly effect the bottom line.
Communication practice is all about building fluency in talking about your topic. This is paydirt whether you’re communicating with your team, your customers, whoever. Because communication is always a precursor to action. The slicker it is, the more people will act.
Credibility is about simply looking like you mean business to anyone who might be checking you out online. You might not have an audience, but many potential customers will Google you before buying, and if you’ve got an impressive body of thought for them to find that’s always gonna throw shade on competitors who don’t.
None of this stuff is about become an “influencer”.
It’s just about taking your business seriously. Engaging with it. Growing in it.
I mean just think about it a sec. How much of your life are you dedicating to this topic. 30%? 50%? 70%? No matter how you cut it, it’s a massive chunk. And yet you’re telling me you don’t actually think about it? You don’t meditate on it? You evolve your opinions, develop theories, and try to advance them in some way?
That’s not just bad for business. That’s actually kinda sad.
So, to make this easy, I’d start just like this:
- Begin on either X or Linkedin, because these are the two text-based (i.e. low effort) social media platforms. It’s better to do social than a blog initially, because you get live feedback to see what resonates – free market research!
- Write down 20 opinions you have on your industry. The more provocative the better. These represent your initial content “pillars”. Do a post on each one and why you think it.
- Get in the habit of capturing interesting thoughts the moment you have them. You can either punch them into a note taking app and post them later, or use a scheduling tool to handle the posting for you.
- Start using the platform as your notepad – with no ambition greater than capturing your thoughts. That way you won’t care so much if nobody responds. (Remember, they don’t need to).
- That said, still watch for what gets traction. Even if that just means 7 likes when you normally only get 2. Take those topics, and write another couple of versions of them, exploring them from different angles. Maturing them.
- If you’re keen you can also build them out into blog posts or newsletters (this very piece started as an X post that got 5 likes, which is above average for me!)
…then you’re cooking.
This should be a routine discipline like checking your emails or holding team meetings. Except unlike those things, most of your competitors won’t be doing it.
What exactly do you have to lose?
