Ever heard of Dr. Andrew Huberman?
He’s a professor of neurobiology at Stanford. He also runs a successful podcast and a Twitter account.
Andrew’s been around for a while now, but he went viral a couple weeks back for a podcast episode where he discussed the dangers of drinking alcohol.
Why’d Andrew go viral?
Because he presented a fresh, counter-narrative argument: Not only is alcohol unhealthy, but even what most people consider to be “moderate” drinking causes serious health problems.
The idea that ingesting some alcohol is better than none is wrong. Past 2 drinks per week, the negative health effects start to surface. The “red wine as a source of key micronutrients” arguments flop. Do as you like but know what you’re doing. More here: https://t.co/Z8xpZ5lr9c
— Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. (@hubermanlab) August 23, 2022
There’s a pattern among people like Andrew Huberman, Lex Fridman, Tim Ferriss, and James Clear:
They’re all professionals in complex fields who’ve gained broad mainstream appeal.
And they all rely on two principles:
To hook people, lead with novelty
Most people bury their best insights midway through a Twitter thread or an essay.
People like Andrew use their best ideas as their hook.
They provide the biggest “wait, what?” moment upfront. And it works.
To grow an audience, create thoughtful, long-form content, then distribute the highlights
Creating long-form content increases your surface area for finding special insights.
And distributing those special insights is how you get a larger audience to your long-form product.
Why it matters
Lots of marketers talk about “content,” but few use the two principles above to grow their audience.
These principles are common traits of popular content creators for a reason—they work!
Use them, and you’ll increase your chances of growing a loyal audience… and maybe revenue, too.
