What a Small Note Account Might Need Is 'Grassroots Sales' | Thinking About Likes, Follows, and Comments Using EBM

I am currently experimenting with my own account to see if the principles of Evidence-Based Marketing (a marketing approach based on data and scientific evidence) hold true in the Note market.

My goal is not simply to grow my account.

It is to help more people learn about EBM, which is still not well-known in Japan.

Anyone can introduce theories. However, if an account designed based on EBM actually grows, the persuasiveness of the theory itself will increase.

Conversely, if it does not grow, it will show that there are limits to applying laws confirmed for companies and products directly to individual content creation.

Either way, it is worth experimenting.

In this article, I will organize the basic strategies I am practicing, as well as the 'how-to' tactics for Note regarding likes, follows, and comments.

Three Basic Strategies for Spreading EBM

My Note strategy is to increase the probability of being chosen by readers.

However, EBM is still a niche topic in the market.

Even if I explain terms like Double Jeopardy or Category Entry Points, there is a possibility that it will only reach the few people who already know about EBM.

Therefore, I divide my articles into three main categories.

The first is articles that borrow existing assets that many people are already interested in.

By using topics like Koshien, Coca-Cola, PayPay, or popular works, I create an entry point for people who do not know EBM.

In addition, I also use contexts that Note users are already interested in, such as 'how to grow on Note,' 'how to increase followers,' and 'reasons why articles aren't read,' as entry points.

Readers open the articles not to learn EBM, but to find answers about their favorite companies, works, or Note operations. Through that, they are exposed to EBM concepts.

The second is specialized articles aimed at search traffic.

I accumulate themes that will be searched for not just immediately after publication, but months or years later, such as branding, personas, web advertising, and Double Jeopardy.

The goal is to make them assets that bring in readers over the long term, even if they don't grow in the short term.

The third is articles that anticipate future demand.

Although EBM currently has low name recognition, related books and information from practitioners are increasing, and it is gradually gaining momentum in Japan as well.

Instead of entering the market after demand has grown, I will increase the number of articles now and secure exposure within the EBM-related tags on note ahead of time.

Expand entry points from existing demand, turn search articles into assets, and preemptively secure areas that will grow in the future.

This is the basic strategy for spreading EBM.

By the way, even if I make this strategy public and someone copies it, if someone appears who can spread EBM better than I can, that is my wish. The goal is ultimately the popularization of EBM, not my personal victory.

However, until now, passive measures have been the focus

Article planning is product development.

Organizing searches, tags, related articles, and pinned articles is an activity to build distribution networks and sales floors.

However, even if you create a good product and place it on the sales floor, it will not be chosen if its existence is not known.

Therefore, until now, I have focused on 'like-related' activities.

When you check the emails that actually arrive, the notifications for likes and follows display not only the name of the person who took the action, but also that person's profile and popular articles.

For those who allow email notifications, likes and follows become an opportunity to expose your own articles.

Like-related and follow-related activities are close to free advertising that utilizes the notification network that note possesses.

However, you cannot choose which articles are exposed

What is displayed in the email is 'this creator's popular articles,' and you cannot specify the article you want them to read.

As far as I have checked, it did not seem to be determined solely by the latest order, view order, or like order.

In other words, this is not an advertisement that promotes a specific article.

It is an advertisement that exposes articles chosen by note from among your own collection of articles.

Therefore, in order to lead to the next viewing regardless of which article is displayed, it is necessary to have multiple entry-point articles and to organize the flow to related articles and pinned articles.

The most controllable advertising space is your account name.

You cannot choose which articles are displayed.

On the other hand, your account name is displayed in every notification for likes, follows, and comments.

Even in email subject lines,

'You received a like from [Name]'

'You were followed by [Name]'

Your name appears in the most prominent place.

If we replace this with advertising, your account name is the headline, your icon is the logo, your profile text is the description, and your popular articles are the products.

Precisely because you cannot choose which articles are displayed, there is value in conveying your area of expertise and the benefits of reading your content through the name that is always shown.

The Roles of Likes, Follows, and Comments

Liking is a strategy to reach many people in a short amount of time.

While the level of attention per interaction is not high, you can expose your name and articles to many different people.

Following is a strategy to build a future distribution network.

If the other person follows you back, there is a possibility that your future articles will appear in their timeline or new post notifications.

Commenting, while weak in terms of directly exposing your own articles, can convey your way of thinking and expertise.

If liking is like handing out flyers, commenting is like door-to-door sales.

Small brands need grassroots sales.

Romaniuk and Sharp state that for brands that are truly small and have absolutely no advertising budget, it is better to focus on strengthening physical availability rather than advertising.

In 'Strategy Play,' this is practically translated as grassroots sales involving phone calls, emails, and field visits.

An account that has just started on Note is also a small brand with no name recognition and no budget.

Just lining up articles and waiting to appear in searches or recommendations is not enough to be found.

Therefore, from now on, I will shift the weight from just liking to actions closer to sales.

Actually read articles by people whose reader base overlaps with mine.

Comment if there are parts I resonate with or parts where I can add my own knowledge.

Follow as needed to create continuous points of contact.

Instead of indiscriminately pushing promotions, I will first return value to the other person's article, and as a result, have them learn my name and expertise.

Connect broadly with likes, and connect deeply with comments.

Beyond product planning and distribution maintenance, I will go out and acquire my first readers myself.

This is the note version of grassroots sales necessary at this stage, as a small account.

Will this activity really increase views and readers?

Or is it inefficient in terms of time, and would it be better to focus on article production?

First, I will implement this for one week, and while verifying the results, I will update the HOW to expand EBM.

If you would like to read more articles that think about note operation from a marketing perspective like this one, please let me know with a like. I decide on themes to increase in the future while watching reader reactions.

Recommended Articles

I tried thinking about marketing within note based on evidence

I tried summarizing strategies to grow note into a one-page memo

I tried thinking about 'follow-back 100' as marketing

Reference URL
Ren Serizawa, 'Strategy Play: Problems Before Marketing'

Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
Easy to Find: Being Where B2B Buying Happens
https://marketingscience.info/news-and-insights/easy-to-find-being-where-b2b-buying-happens

Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
Books

Set up email notifications from note

https://www.help-note.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010331274-Setting-up-email-notifications-from-note