What if the New York Times missed a day of content or CNN took the day off and had a blank screen showing during their air time? We know that those content producers will have something for us today, tomorrow and every day thereafter. Their persistence lends to their credibility as a trusted source, and we can check in at our convenience.
There was a day when there were only a few choices. We all tuned in and could talk to each other about the same event. “Did you see that show last night?” The answer was, “Yes.”
Today, we are all tuning into our own customized niche channels. We trust those content bases because they allow us to come and go, and we know they will always be around. Attention is a lot more fluid rather than structured. We have the power to tune in when we want and catch up on past news and content.
If we miss a show, we can catch it on Hulu. If we are a few days late on news, we can catch happenings on Facebook and read the whole story as deeply as we want online. The internet has a permanence to it. Content persists forever.
Your audience may not tune in all the time, but they do want to know you are around and still producing. They want to see the consistency so they can depend on your thoughts, insights and perspectives. It’s less about being the main source of information and more about being part of the information portfolio that they can trust.
If you come and go and are not persistent and regular, then it’s hard to build a relationship or know what to think about you and your brand. You are fickle and undependable. We don’t know when to tune in or whether you will have something to say that is worthwhile.
So, it is much less about if you can put a few articles out or produce a few videos. It’s much more if you can keep it up for years, day after day. The engine, the process and the reliability helps your audience know you and get more when they want it.
That kind of commitment comes from putting the pieces together and committing over the long haul. How put together are you?
