Thread by @MaciejBudkowski

You should treat your content as a product.

Because content is scalable - it can serve millions of people at once and work while you sleep.

Just like a product.

Therefore it makes sense to look for Content-Market Fit.

I call this approach Lean Content.

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0) Before you start, you need to stop looking for likes, reach or comment.

You're looking for feedback.

You want to learn what people like and don’t like. It’s not a problem if your content doesn’t perform - it’s just an experiment. As if it was a product.

Then…

1) You need to define your Audience (Market).

It can be your followers on SM. But they may differ depending on the medium.

I.e., different people follow me on LinkedIn (more corporate) than Twitter (more startup).

Then you define what problems/hopes do they have in common.

2) Now, you need to test if the problem/hope you identified is real.

Let's say the problem is "Growing startup when being a solopreneur is tiring."

You can write a short Tweet about this problem. Or share a meme. Or a quote.

You see how much people react to it.

If they do, you know that there’s a significant problem/hope.

And now you can try to solve it with your content.

So…

3) You create your MVC (Minimum Viable Content).

It's a prototype of your content. But instead of writing a long article about Solopreneurs, you just list the main ideas on how to fix their problem.

And post them on the fast-feedback network like Twitter, Reddit, or LinkedIn*.

*Some people will tell you that LinkedIn isn’t good for it.

Mainly because its algorithm distributes content with a huge delay.

It’s not true when your content hits the jackpot. Check @davegerhardt LinkedIn, and you’ll see how fast, good content can take off.

4) You analyze how your MVC performs.

What’s your reach, how many comments/RTs/reactions you got. If it gets viral-like performance, you know that your solutions sound interesting to people.

What’s then?

5) Then, you can prepare a longer piece.

And you elaborate on the main ideas presented before. You optimize for feedback so remember to post it on a fast-feedback network.

It can be a Reddit post, Twitter Thread, or a longer LinkedIn post (or even a series of them).

6) Then, you analyze people's comments.

It will help you to understand:
what’s not clear,
what points you have missed,
and where you can add more depth.

Then you can refine your content, so it’s more precise and powerful.

And based on that...

7) You create a longer piece.

Long article, video, or podcast. And share it on a platform where you still can get a decent amount of feedback.

Like:
Text on Substack instead of a blog post,
Webinar instead of e-course,
YouTube video instead of a podcast network.

and...

8) You analyze the comments and the reactions.

You can finally optimize your content based on them, and you’re ready to write your final piece.

9) You write a final piece.

It can be a long-form blog post.
It can be an e-book.
It can be an online course.

As you have tested your idea and people liked it, it reduces the risk of investing energy to build content and not getting engagement.

And you already have an engaged audience that wants to learn more about the subject.

So you tested a product (content) and built a market (audience) for it simultaneously.

This is it. Hope that helps.