Brendan Gahan, one of my former interns and now Chief Social Officer at Mekanism, recently shared a piece on how brands can embrace and evolve on YouTube. He calls this content strategy — Hero, Hub, Help. “All content on a brand’s channel should fit within these categories,” he writes. “If it doesn’t, then don’t do it.”

Brendan’s piece got me thinking about my own frameworks of blogging I would share with my team and new members who joined our reporting staff. The breakdown was pretty much the same.

  • Even today, when I write on this blog, I don’t expect everything I write to go big, though occasionally there is “hero content.” Like my interview with Brunello Cucinelli about the dignity of work. It has had a few million views since I published it five years ago.
  • I don’t necessarily expect everything I write to get attention — I write it because it allows me to share my long term thinking about topics that matter. It is a way for me to create a community and thus have people keep coming back. You need to be a hub for something.
  • And then there is the help content. How do you help not only your community but those who are looking for your expertise? This is why I ended up starting Omakase, my low-fi blog about products I have bought, used, and love.

This strategy is universal to every platform — from blogging to Twitter to Instagram to YouTube. In the end, what matters is constant engagement with your community/audience. Or as Brendan writes:

Every successful creator has a hub series at the core of their channel. That hub series is what defines them and what they build a community around.

It doesn’t matter if you are a corporation, a writer, a sportsperson, or a non-profit organization — in the end, you are a brand and need to figure out how to grow that brand.

Daniel asked on Twitter, what does grow mean. To that I responded: Grow doesn’t mean grow your numbers – but grow your influence, impact, and grow your values. Everything else is a bonus

From the Archives

* My ten tips on how to be a better blogger.
* How to write a good blog post.