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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.


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Om Malik

Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. More....

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Letter from Om

A (nearly) bi-weekly dispatch about tech & future.

You will get my reporting, analysis, conversations, and curation of the essential information you need to make sense of the present future.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

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