Sarnoff's Law

Audience Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Steven LeFebvre) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Who is your audience?

Today I'd like to consider the audience for your vlog.
If you tell me your audience is everyone, I'm just going to ask you to be more specific ;)

Focusing on a very specific audience guides everything you do in your vlog.
When you can identify an audience, you know how to speak directly to them.

To help imagine your ideal audience member,
Try to answer all of these questions about them:
Age?
Race?
Gender?
Socio-economic status?
Habits?
Music they like?
Blogs they read?
Marital status?
Do they have kids?
What do they spend money on?
What do they watch on TV?
What movies do they watch?
What kinds of clothes do they wear?
How long do they spend online?
What do they do online?
Who do they admire?
When do they get online?
What do they do for a living?
What books/magazines/newspapers do they read?

These questions should solidify an audience member in your mind...you might even imagine this person sitting at their computer watching you vlog!
If you can do that, then you can talk directly to them.

Every step of your vlog should be targeted at this specific audience member.
Your scripts, your shots, your music choices, the style of editing, the graphics, the sites you post on, et cetera...all of these things should target in on a that one specific type of person.

Don't worry about alienating the others that don't fit your audience images, they aren't going to be loyal viewers...in fact, it's better if they can tell immediately that your vlog is not for them.
We're not going for 1 million single views...we're much more interested in 100 loyal subscribers.

Do this audience analysis exercise and add to the list of questions...the more you can get into the mind of your ideal viewer, the more relevant and useful you're vlogs will be.

Content is NOT King?

noreply@blogger.com (Steven LeFebvre) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Everyone says, "Content is King." On television, I'd agree. But, is 'King Content' the ruler of the internet?

I found a interesting study on the contrary idea! (A link to the article is at the bottom)
The study says Connectivity is king of the internet. Think about how much you spend each month on your phone bill, your internet service, mail, and other communication services...now, do you spend that much on entertainment? I sure don't (tho with the cost of going to the movies these day..) So, if we are making a vlog on the internet, and the internet's power is in communication, NOT in entertainment, what are we to do?!

I think that your vlogs CAN be a communication pipeline. The social networking sites are pipelines within the bigger pipleine of the world wide web. A Vlog can be a social network if it's done a certain way. The key is making your vlog about something very specific, and something you are an expert on. This content should draw an audience of like minded individuals. Using some social networking concepts and tools, you can make your audience a community. Your goal being, your vlog is the place to go when people communicate about XYZ.

With that, you've satisfied your audience with content, AND you've given them a communcation tool. Sarnoff is happy beacuase your vlog is valuable with viewers, and Odlyzko is happy beacause you are offering a communication pipeline. I'm going to keep this in mind for future posts.

Your homework tonight is to read this study, NB: clicking this link will open a PDF file Content Is Not King . And start thinking about what you'd like to vlog about...keeping in mind the community that you can offer communication to.

What is a VLOG?

noreply@blogger.com (Steven LeFebvre) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:03:00 +0000

Wikipedia defines a VLOG as: a form of blogging for which the medium is video.^[6] Entries are made regularly and often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata.

That's a good start. If you spend any time on the internet, I'm sure you have seen a blog, maybe even a vlog. Most blogs are simply online journals or opinion boards.

This blog is different. The blog you're reading now has a very specific purpose: Teaching you to vlog for a specific audience.

I named it "Sarnoff's Law" because I want to emphasis that a successful and valuable vlog is dependent on its viewers and subscribers. To transform vlogging from a hobby/pastime, to revenue/career, you need a dedicated and loyal audience.

The entries in this blog will show you audience analysis, preproduction, production techniques, aggrigation and marketing.
Please email me with questions, suggestions, and scenarios. I want everyone to have a succesful vlog they enjoy doing that is valuable to the community!