What model buses taught me about great content
I once ran a magazine for model collectors: not Kate Moss groupies, but fans of scale models of buses and lorries. I’ll be honest, I struggled at first.
The magazine had a loyal, engaged readership. They would bombard us with letters containing details of historic bus routes, haulage company logos or engine details.
I wanted to understand them a bit more, but didn’t have a research budget. We decided instead to invite a few of them one evening for beer and pizza.
I was quite nervous , but they were all delighted to get together with other collectors. Before long they were engaged in heated discussion about the latest bus model on the market.
Frankly, I was a bit lost.
Then one of them exclaimed: ” Did you see those rivets? If you scaled them up they’d stick out six inches!”
In a flash, it all made sense. These men were experts. They knew buses and lorries intimately. They got a huge kick out of using their knowledge to build collections with significance to them, show off their expertise and take the rest of the model industry to task. And they read the magazine because it talked to them as experts, taking them seriously and sharing their passion.
If we believe that someone’s an expert, we take them more seriously. Creating content for an expert means speaking their language on their level. It means making them feel that their area of expertise is important. That they can make a difference through their contribution. And allowing them to show off a bit.
Digital media provides great ways of allowing people to show off their knowledge. Do that, and they’ll they’ll feel great. And when they feel great, they’ll come back again and again.
Bus photo: Elsie esq on Flickr
