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.
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, like in this section of our newsletter, 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.
Alex Lim
Alex Lim is a certified book reviewer and editor with over 10 years of experience in the publishing industry. He has reviewed hundreds of books for reputable magazines and websites, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Goodreads. Alex has a master’s degree in comparative literature from Harvard University and a PhD in literary criticism from Oxford University. He is also the author of several acclaimed books on literary theory and analysis, such as The Art of Reading and How to Write a Book Review. Alex lives in London, England with his wife and two children. You can contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Website | Twitter | Facebook
