Currently, I'm in search of my minimum viable audience for my personal brand. This is a mentality shift that I learned from Seth Godin. In short, the minimum viable audience is when you have the absolute minimum to make a decent living with the type of lifestyle that you wish. This, in turn, comes from Kevin Kelly's 1000 true fans article. This matters because in an online world full of noise it gets harder and harder to stand out and to reach thousands of people unless your marketing budget has millions. Even then, there is no guaranteed that the message will resonate with audiences.
The minimum viable audience is the answer to how to make an impact and do what you love. It's about the act of building a community around your brand, your organization or your mission with people who think like you. They can be excited about what will you say next and they, in turn, help you grow the community by sharing your message. The future of branding or building an organization that has a culture of authenticity hinges on understanding this principle.
It's all about true connection...
The minimum viable audience requires that you don't focus so much on gaining more followers on social media and focus more on the quality of your followers and not taking them for granted. It requires not focusing on going viral with a piece of content and rather focusing on continuing the conversation building trust and authenticity over time. The more you share your message the more likely you will attract the right people.
The minimum viable audience requires you to get real clear on what your values are. I have heard much chatter on “focusing on your why”, but underneath your why needs to be a conversation of your values that are directly tied to your identity. Your values are what guide you daily and bring actual fulfillment.
Having this clarity cuts through the noise and allows you to bring your best work. Paradoxically it's best to practice what would it mean to not achieve your goals with your brand to feel how would that impact your identity. This is what author Mark Mason proposes as a useful exercise. If you would feel satisfied even in the face of total failure, because you did your best and made a strong connection or at least you tried to achieve this then you know you are on the right track. Here is the reality check. Just because you are doing the work does not entitle you to a specific outcome. The work is the outcome.
I made this mistake personally. After much pain and reflection, I realized my values were misaligned and had values that were not serving me. Having this mindset helps you stay in the game and not burn out. It allows you to make wiser choices when you are not in a rush to achieve some random goal that you think you need to achieve because that is what the entrepreneurial media hype is telling you to do.
Sometimes the messages are well-meant, but sometimes it's just manipulation to stoke insecurity, so you pay thousands of dollars in some product that “will help you achieve success”. We are constantly bombarded by messages that we need to get more likes on Facebook and Instagram. That our content needs to go “viral”. Nevermind that even if you manage to grow your social media by the thousands it will not be your audience. I worked for a company that paid one of the Kardashians to post about their product on Instagram. They got thousands of likes, but did they increased sales? Of course not. Also even if you get thousands of likes you will be at the mercy of the social media platform you built it on. The Algorithm of the platform always changes and you have less organic reach.
Choose your audience wisely.
The minimal viable audience requires that you choose your audience carefully with the lifestyle you wish to achieve. Don't expect to make as much money as Google when your passion or business is about a weird obscure hobby. Choose a different audience if that is the case.
Now, building true everlasting connections. That's where the magic happens and the only way it can happen is if you enjoy sharing your message because you believe in it. You can't wait to share your message, because your message is part of your identity. It needs to be part of your values. In this way, you are living your true self every day.
These are my final thoughts to tie this all together. The act of writing this blog post and sharing this message is enough for me. This blog post is unlikely to go viral. However, creativity and connection are my values. The act of creating is what makes sense to me, it gives me purpose. For some reason, I lost sight of that, but that is for another blog post down the line. The important thing is that I wrote this piece of content that I wish to share with the hope that I inspire you to be you. Enjoy the ride of whatever you're doing and if you are not feeling fulfilled stop and reexamine your values because if you are not happy with your daily life, you also won't be happy when you achieve that goal that you think will change everything.
