content marketing vs world-building — kening zhu

instead of “building an audience,” build a world. build a digital garden-ecosystem, that exists — first and primarily — for itself. a world that doesn’t need likes, traffic, subscribers, or clicks — in order to validate its existence.

build a world that the RIGHT people — your kindred people — will discover, will gravitate towards, and fall in love... See more

I often think and write about the importance of “world building” in today’s mixed-media reality: Brands have more control than ever over where and how consumers experience their point of view, from digital feeds and properties to packaging design and retail merchandising. And with that comes many new opportunities to build emotional texture.

But I absolutely loathe the term content marketing because it sounds so contrived. It sounds like something planned and measured and designed where I don't think that's where the interesting lessons are. I do not think, what is it that the audience exactly wants to hear? That's not where you're gonna get the good stuff. I think the good stuff comes... See more

The world will include many things, but it needs one in particular: purpose. Inside the world, it needs to be really obvious what our goals are, and why we want our push our system into a new state. You fill your world with familiar storylines and tension and characters, highlighted or re-framed compared to the real world, that give everyone a real... See more

• The long tail of the internet has provided a way for sovereign creators
  
  and businesses to ‘
  
  niche at scale
  
  ‘ in ways not possible at any other time in history, fostering unparalleled creativity and innovation;


• The quality of an audience matters;


• Being tiny is mighty;


• Delighting the weird is a superpower;


• When you build a business, you’re building a new

... See more

instead of “building an audience,” build a world. build a digital garden-ecosystem, that exists — first and primarily — for itself . a world that doesn’t need likes, traffic, subscribers, or clicks — in order to validate its existence