Attention Economy In 2022 Who You Know and How Many People See Your Content

Unfortunately and fortunately how you look at it, it's not what you know but who you know and who sees your content in 2022. We are now living in an attention economy for all the bad and good of it.

The your network mirrors your net worth saying applies across the board to personal branding in 2022 as well. The more people you know that are like minded, have similar goals, or add value overall in terms of your relationship, can really amplify your personal brand as well.

As a podcast host and podcast guest we build relationships and add and receive value on a regular basis. If your appear on a show that perhaps Mark Cuban or Elon Musk was on, a correlation can be made of you being in that conversation as a subject matter expert on that podcast. You can be someone that may have leveraged a friendship with the host of the show and ended up appearing on their platform if they are in your network.

If you land a guest on your podcast that's a sought after conversation like Michael Jordan for a basketball podcast, Dana White for a MMA focused show, or any other guest for a specific show, it will in turn help you promote the show as a whole and then attract bigger guests as well.

Some shows even use this to monetize. For example, podcasts use their downloads to attract advertisers, but also use it to attract guests that pay. Shows that may have had many guests in the spotlight, may have you on but charge you to be on simply because those bigger guests were on the platform. Something to think about.

I'm not saying misuse or abuse your network or your relationships. I'm just saying leverage your network to help yourself and add value to them as well. As a host, whenever an interview is done I make available to the guest a list of 150 shows and media publications that I can make introductions to for them to potentially be on. I also provide a list of all the previous guests I've had on my show, their expertise, and a description for potential introductions for possible appearances.

That built network also helps when starting a show solo or with perhaps those in your network, where then you can leverage all of your reach and connections to let the show grow.

As in business your network reach can make introductions, close deals, and add overall value.

Not all podcast hosts and guests are extroverts. But it's not impossible building and leverage a powerful network as an introvert as well.

It's also that much harder to get the results that you want if you're genuinely a subject matter expert, or have great value to add when no one knows you exist. As I mentioned there may be people that know less than you, but are visible on tons of platforms, building their networks, and adding value at the same time. Like I said, you can't showcase your expertise if you're no where to be found and no one knows about you. Take advantage of every opportunity to showcase your expertise and add value because no one is going to do it for you.

If you haven't appeared in any publications, been on any podcasts, or been featured somewhere, then star putting yourself out there and create content that adds value. You never know who's watching. Don't have a YouTube channel? Start on and add long and short form content. Don't have a website? Create one and start adding valuable content. Start going live on platforms like Facebook, Twitch, and LinkedIn. Vary your content to written word, video, image and audio. Just get out there and create. If you don't see anyone adding value about a specific topic or subject matter, become that person because you don't know who's watching or what kind of impact you may have.

I started sharing about my experience fostering 26 kids in 4 years because I didn't see a lot of content sharing experiences of foster dads. The platform I shared a lot on was TikTok and one of these video that took 2 minutes to make got 100k+ views. Now for TikTok standards it may not be that much, but it led to many opportunities. A few publications reached out for interviews both locally and internationally which resulted in a lot of exposure and added to awareness. This never would of happened if I never started creating content. Eventually audience grows and engagement increases when the content adds value and you continuously test. It may not be overnight. But traction will build.

So get out there and build your network and share your content.