Meet the Anti-Influencer — Tardigrade Media

Do your explorations keep you off the beaten path? You may be an anti-influencer.

Do all your favorite restaurants fail? Does every candidate you vote for lose? Were you a fan of watermelon Oreos during the brief period they actually existed?

If so, congratulations—you’re a member of the latest hot demographic identified by marketers: the anti-influencers. This quirky group of outliers and contrarians is characterized by its pattern of making consistently unpopular choices, and is thus exactly what most marketers AREN’T looking for.

And guess what? This isn’t a problem. If you’re smart, you can make your contrarian streak work for you and your content marketing as part of your brand.

So Who Really Is an Influencer, Anyhow?

Scratch beneath the surface and you’ll see that most online influencers—the YouTube personalities with millions of subscribers—are, in fact, serving niche audiences. And these audiences are surprising and diverse, ranging from fans of Indian cooking to millennial fashionistas to snake lovers. These influencers have managed to attracted large and loyal followings despite offering content no broadcast TV network would touch with a ten-foot pool—His recipes are too spicy and he’s too old! Snakes? Eeew!

These niche players, successful as they are, could be considered anti-influencers in their own right: They proudly choose the road less traveled, and enthusiastically embrace passions most of the general population finds uninteresting, if not off-putting.

But because of the growth of online media, you no longer have to appeal to absolutely everyone (not that this is even possible) to gain a loyal following. There’s a useful lesson in this for content marketing: Audiences today have a wider assortment of choices and are actively seeking out content that satisfies their personal interests. The internet makes it easy to find and connect to a community of people who share your passion, no matter how esoteric it may be.

So yes, it’s possible to amass 1.5 million followers with a YouTube channel dedicated exclusively to the care and feeding of snakes (for example). But you have to do it the right way.

Finding Your Tribe

How do you attract those who share your interests and values? What the best and most successful niche players have in common is authenticity and connection. Their passion for their chosen subject is palpable, as is their fondness and respect for their audience. Their expertise is obvious, but communicated in a friendly and accessible manner. Learning from them doesn’t feel like listening to a lecture, but more like getting encouragement and expert tips from a good friend—they take their subject matter seriously, but they don’t take themselves too seriously.

What they don’t focus on is begging for the approval of those who don’t share their interests. They create and present their content with the assumption that everyone watching is already interested in, or at least comfortable with, snakes/black lipstick/large quantities of chilies and cilantro.

But doesn’t this mean they’re excluding a vast number of potential viewers? Yes and no. From a purely mathematical perspective, it’s true that they’re failing to maximize the number of possible views they can accumulate. But from a social perspective, they’re doing the smart thing and focusing on the depth, rather than breadth, of their connection to their audience. They may not have the largest possible number of subscribers, but those they do have are likely to share and remember their content, talk about it with their friends, and return regularly for more.

This Strategy Works for Video—Does This Work for Writing?

In a word, YES! Memorable written content shares most of the qualities of good video content—authenticity, authority, humility, and a genuine interest in the needs and wants of its audience. Your written voice can (and should) be unique and memorable, but as with video, technique still counts—just as shaky, out-of-focus camera work will distract and repel viewers, sloppy or poorly organized writing will kill your connection to your readers.

So whether you’re writing a book to share your expert tips or content marketing pieces to build your brand, be authentic, but do your best work. Channel your energy towards those who are already inclined to love you—and make sure they know you love them back.

Are you working on a passion project or content marketing campaign and looking for some direction or advice? Contact me for a no-obligation chat.