Daily Lab: The views don’t matter
Why views are like packing peanuts.
I’ve spent about 20 years in and around the content marketing business.
And here’s what I can tell you:
The views don’t matter and going viral doesn’t help.
Instead, views are like packing peanuts.
They’re incredibly useful, and the more the better. IF you’re sending out something valuable with them. And IF you have a way of recycling or reusing or repurposing them.
The views, like the packing peanuts, carry the idea, but they are nothing by themselves but a distraction or a waste.
A million packing peanuts you have no plan for are not helpful. In fact, they may be actively unhelpful, and harmful to you and your environment.
And a million views you didn’t expect, or a million views you can’t repurpose into leads, or a million views on your least relevant content—that’s just going to clutter up your life, distract you from your goal, and probably gain you a lot more criticism and scrutiny than you’d hoped for.
So don’t optimize for going viral.
Optimize for demonstrating value.
Then, when people notice, they’re noticing more than the packaging.
They’re noticing the value.
