Masooma Memon's product-led content strategy

[00:00:00] The Power of Product Led Content with Masooma Memon

[00:00:00] Ramli John: Content is made to inform, educate, and of course, sell.
[00:00:03] Ramli John: That's the power of product led content that seamlessly mentions your product's benefits while providing educational insights to your readers.
[00:00:10] Ramli John: Today, Masooma Memo, and a freelance writer for companies like Shopify, Vimeo and Hotshar, shares the ins and outs of product led content.
[00:00:18] Ramli John: In episode 58 of Marketing Power up show, you learn first of all, what is product led content really?
[00:00:23] Ramli John: Second, how to balance for promoting your product and providing value.
[00:00:26] Ramli John: Third, real life examples of SaaS brands executing product led content strategies effectively.
[00:00:32] Ramli John: And number four, a power up that has accelerated Masama's career.
[00:00:35] Ramli John: Before we get started, I've created a free power up cheat sheet that you can download and apply more product led content to your business.
[00:00:41] Ramli John: Get it now marketingpowerups.com or find that link in the show notes and description are you ready?
[00:00:46] Ramli John: Let's go.
[00:00:47] Ramli John: Marketing power ups.
[00:00:50] Ramli John: Ready.
[00:00:51] Ramli John: Go.
[00:00:54] Ramli John: Here's your host, Rambly John thank you for joining us.

[00:01:00] Product-Led Content: A Playground for Empowering and Educating Users

[00:01:00] Ramli John: Masima I'm super excited to be talking about product led content.
[00:01:04] Ramli John: It's something that you have talked about quite a bit, something that you've written I'm guessing you created for some of your clients like Vimeo and Hotjar and other companies.
[00:01:15] Ramli John: I am curious, first of all, I've heard it a few times.
[00:01:19] Ramli John: It might be related to product led SEO.
[00:01:21] Ramli John: But I'm curious, what is product led content?
[00:01:26] Ramli John: If I had to guess, it would be content that talks something about the product.
[00:01:32] Ramli John: Is that a good guess or is there a little bit more nuance to what that is rather than it's almost.
[00:01:38] Masooma Memon: There, it's just almost there.
[00:01:39] Masooma Memon: So it's content that features your product.
[00:01:41] Masooma Memon: It talks about your product.
[00:01:43] Masooma Memon: So it could be a small slip in, could be a mention or it could be product how to so for example, how to create to do list with our tool or how to, for example, if you're using we are using Riverside to record this or how to record a podcast with Riverside.
[00:01:56] Masooma Memon: So anything throughout the funnel it could be anything throughout the funnel that you're talking about your product.
[00:02:02] Masooma Memon: But the key here is being educational instead of salesy.
[00:02:06] Masooma Memon: So by taking an educational approach, as a byproduct of the educational approach, you get conversions.
[00:02:14] Ramli John: I feel like that's the key part.
[00:02:17] Ramli John: It's actually something that we've been talking a lot about in appcus where there's this tension where somebody from our team says, hey, we should add some mentions to our product here.
[00:02:29] Ramli John: How we can create a checklist with Appcus if we talk about checklists and another person in the team is like, oh, I don't want to talk about the product at all in the blog post because it's like about education and it really is about that balance and making sure that it is contextual as well.
[00:02:50] Ramli John: It's not being too salesy.
[00:02:51] Ramli John: Would you say what makes it work?
[00:02:53] Masooma Memon: Well, so yeah, that's why I said educational, so that you don't end up accidentally being intentionally or unintentionally being salesy.
[00:03:02] Masooma Memon: So what works is you keep the focus on the reader, and to do that you need to, number one, empower the reader, and number two is lead with empathy.
[00:03:11] Masooma Memon: So when you empower the reader, most of us say we need to make the content actionable.
[00:03:17] Masooma Memon: But I like to think of it as empowering the readers.
[00:03:20] Masooma Memon: By the end of the post, whatever questions you were answering, the reader should feel like they have answers to it in depth, proper answer, that they can solve that problem themselves.
[00:03:31] Masooma Memon: So you're empowering them to solve your own problem.
[00:03:33] Masooma Memon: So while you're empowering them to solve their problem, you can easily mention your product in between because you're basically solving their problem, right?
[00:03:42] Masooma Memon: And then after you've done a piece of content, or while you're planning your piece of content, in both the cases you need to be empathetic.
[00:03:50] Masooma Memon: So after you're done writing the post, for example, let's say review your product.
[00:03:54] Masooma Memon: CGAs would this be a step?
[00:03:56] Masooma Memon: Say you've added a step to sign up for your product, right?
[00:04:00] Masooma Memon: But read it as depending on whatever funnel stage you are, if this goal is going out to someone who is not in their early stages, it's still learning about their problems, still learning about your product.
[00:04:14] Masooma Memon: And you feel like this as you put yourself in your reader's shoes and you feel like this is not a step that you would take yourself, then remove that CTA.
[00:04:23] Masooma Memon: A better thing you could do is lead them to an advanced guide.
[00:04:27] Masooma Memon: The thing with most top funnel content is to capture people in your content funnel.
[00:04:34] Masooma Memon: I like to call it the content playground.
[00:04:36] Masooma Memon: Like you have lots of content, you capture them in your library and you turn them into.
[00:04:41] Masooma Memon: They start trusting you as a source that can answer the questions well.
[00:04:46] Masooma Memon: And when you do that, you're in a position to educate about your product and as a result said it.
[00:04:53] Ramli John: That's such a visual word that I'm attached to.
[00:04:56] Ramli John: The content playground, the product led content playground, where when you're in a playground, you have many options on what to play with next.
[00:05:06] Ramli John: And really it's about deciding and helping them guide to the ones that make more sense too.
[00:05:11] Ramli John: Is that what you mean by the playground?
[00:05:12] Ramli John: I'm curious.
[00:05:14] Masooma Memon: Yes.
[00:05:14] Masooma Memon: So it's like you're leading people from one content piece to another content piece.
[00:05:19] Masooma Memon: So most people would include a CTA to sign up for your product, especially for early stage readers.
[00:05:24] Masooma Memon: And I feel like that is completely unnecessary and that you're not empathizing with your reader and you're taking a more single approach, pushy approach, to getting them to sign up.
[00:05:33] Masooma Memon: But if you were to lead them to another, like for example, like you said, there are lots of places to play in a playground.
[00:05:39] Masooma Memon: So for example, you lead them to another content piece.
[00:05:42] Masooma Memon: Which is why I'm a fan of ctas that lead to advanced guides or related guides as well as internal links within the content.
[00:05:49] Masooma Memon: So you have to keep them on the page.
[00:05:51] Masooma Memon: You move them from one piece to another piece enough that they remember your name so that whenever they're googling a similar problem, they remember your name and click on your search result, even if it is not ranking on the top.
[00:06:02] Masooma Memon: They'll be like, oh, I remember them.
[00:06:03] Masooma Memon: Their content was good and it gave me good enough value, so I'm going to read them again.
[00:06:07] Masooma Memon: So you're capturing them in a way that makes sense.
[00:06:10] Ramli John: I love that.
[00:06:11] Ramli John: That's probably going to be the title of this episode.
[00:06:13] Ramli John: Product like content playground.
[00:06:16] Ramli John: I love it.

[00:06:18] The Benefits of Product-Led Content

[00:06:18] Ramli John: We've been talking about examples of product like content and how it might fit into top of the funnel, but I want to take a step back and talk about the benefits of it and why it should be such an important part of content strategy.
[00:06:31] Ramli John: I know you talked quite a bit about this in a webinar, you did.
[00:06:35] Ramli John: But I'm curious what that is for my listeners who are like, great, I'm doing this.
[00:06:41] Ramli John: Why should I do it?
[00:06:42] Ramli John: Even?
[00:06:43] Ramli John: What's the benefits to the company for creating product like content?
[00:06:48] Masooma Memon: So there are like a handful of benefits.
[00:06:50] Masooma Memon: The most common ones, the most obvious ones are one is product education and awareness.
[00:06:56] Masooma Memon: So I like to say that closed bouts don't get fed.
[00:07:01] Masooma Memon: So unless and until you don't talk about your product, you don't educate what you do, you won't be able to sell.
[00:07:06] Masooma Memon: So you have to talk about it at one point or another, right?
[00:07:08] Masooma Memon: And if you're creating really helpful content that's empowering your readers, you've earned the full right to actually talk about the product.
[00:07:14] Masooma Memon: That's one of the benefits.
[00:07:15] Masooma Memon: And then the second obvious one, which is everybody's aim, is to drive conversion.
[00:07:19] Masooma Memon: So free users to your product or demos, et cetera.
[00:07:24] Masooma Memon: There are two.
[00:07:25] Masooma Memon: So one is product awareness and then customer acquisition.
[00:07:29] Masooma Memon: But there is also another benefit to it, which is customer retention and reducing activation time.
[00:07:35] Masooma Memon: So for example, let's say I've been reading about a tool on their blog.
[00:07:39] Masooma Memon: Because content nowadays is part of any user's journey, they will interact with your content, be it at some point in the journey where they're learning about your product and want to buy about your product.
[00:07:52] Masooma Memon: They're probably going to either read an email, read your emails or your blog content or anything like that, right?
[00:08:00] Masooma Memon: Or to watch a webinar or listen to your podcast or something along those lines.
[00:08:04] Masooma Memon: So the thing is, when they do that and you're educating them about your product, right?
[00:08:12] Masooma Memon: You're telling them how to use it.
[00:08:14] Masooma Memon: A very simple, I'll give you an example which can help you understand.
[00:08:18] Masooma Memon: This is when I started my freelance business.
[00:08:21] Masooma Memon: I was wondering how to manage all the projects in my pipeline.
[00:08:26] Masooma Memon: And so I would google how to organize my projects and I came across Trello and they gave me all these screenshots on how to set up my kanban boat.
[00:08:35] Masooma Memon: And so when I signed up for their product, the activation time was relatively low because I had seen all those screenshots and I was able to quickly reference them to create my first Kanban board.
[00:08:44] Masooma Memon: So the aha moment, the point where I am, I'm sure you, because you talk about product and onboarding, I'm sure you'd agree with me on this, but it contributes to reducing activation time and because your target reader is not just new people who could use your product, but also someone who's already using your product.
[00:09:04] Masooma Memon: So using product led content, you can unlock product use cases as well.
[00:09:10] Masooma Memon: So you're getting people to use more of your content.
[00:09:13] Masooma Memon: There are four major benefits of this product to bonus customer acquisition, customer retention, and then reducing journey, as well as unlocking more product use cases.
[00:09:22] Masooma Memon: So increasing the retention time.
[00:09:24] Ramli John: I like how you're calling that piece up particularly.
[00:09:27] Ramli John: I think I'm a big fan of that, where how can you show the value of the product even before they sign up?
[00:09:33] Ramli John: Because then they're primed and ready to go.
[00:09:36] Ramli John: I mentioned that in my book quite a bit like hey, how do you do that?
[00:09:39] Ramli John: And product led content is such a great way to do that in context of reading and educating about something like what you just mentioned about Trello or other examples that I can think of is like recently I was looking at some kind of financial I have a 16 month old kid and I'm looking at how do I save up for his education 20 years from now when he goes to college?
[00:10:04] Ramli John: I looked at a blog post like, here are some vehicles and by the way, you can sign up for it now.
[00:10:10] Ramli John: And this is with wealth simple, which is this tool, this platform that you can do.
[00:10:17] Ramli John: And I was like, oh cool, let me sign up.
[00:10:19] Ramli John: I actually already have an account with you guys.
[00:10:21] Ramli John: So I did that and I feel like that's before I even signed up.
[00:10:25] Ramli John: I was like, I already know what I need to do and what I'm going to get.
[00:10:29] Ramli John: So I think that's a good call that you're calling this out.
[00:10:31] Ramli John: It's not just an impact in the top of the funnel, it actually could help activate and reduce churn like you mentioned.
[00:10:42] Ramli John: Is there anything you wanted to add?
[00:10:44] Masooma Memon: No, I was just saying it's hard sometimes hard to measure things like how your content is contributing to reducing churn and activation time.
[00:10:52] Masooma Memon: But if you're constantly in touch with your paying customers and you're talking to them, they might be able to tell you they are still referencing your content to unlock more product use cases, which is one way to find out how effective your product led content is in reducing churn and increasing retention.
[00:11:08] Ramli John: I think the other thing that just hit me is like often we write the blog posts or content or create the content and we don't realize our customers are also consuming that content.
[00:11:18] Ramli John: And when we offer them more advanced, not necessarily use cases or guides or advanced features of the product, you can actually deepen their relationship with the product there.
[00:11:31] Ramli John: And I feel like that could potentially be the next effect.
[00:11:39] Ramli John: The second order effect of content like this is you're actually not just educating your market, you're actually also educating your customer about new ways to do things to solve their problems, essentially.
[00:11:51] Masooma Memon: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:11:51] Masooma Memon: That's why I say it's just not, you're not unlocking more product users, but also more product users for your paying customers.
[00:11:58] Ramli John: That's catchy.
[00:12:00] Ramli John: I was going to say tweetable, but I'm not sure what's happening with accessible.
[00:12:04] Ramli John: But it's a hook for a LinkedIn post.
[00:12:07] Ramli John: You're not just creating more product users, you're creating more product uses of it.
[00:12:12] Ramli John: That's pretty good.

[00:12:14] Mapping out product-led content for middle and bottom of the funnel

[00:12:14] Ramli John: Which kind of digs into how we've talked about examples for the top of the funnel, but how do you map out those product led contents for middle or bottom of the funnel?
[00:12:25] Ramli John: If I saw it correctly, you had a few ideas for that.
[00:12:30] Ramli John: Or use cases for it.
[00:12:32] Masooma Memon: Absolutely.
[00:12:33] Masooma Memon: So the thing is, before you start creating content for the deeper funnel stages, you need to document all the features that you have, which ICB they are for, and not just what are the benefits of using them, but also what outcomes they help your ICB achieve.
[00:12:50] Masooma Memon: So whatever jobs to be done your ICB has, they need to be able.
[00:12:54] Masooma Memon: You need to document that to be able to write resonant middle and bottom panel of the contact.
[00:13:00] Masooma Memon: There's one so start off with creating a feature cheat sheet where you lay out all the features and then its benefits, why anybody should be using it, versus the traditional way of doing things right?
[00:13:12] Masooma Memon: And then what are the outcomes or the jobs to be done that this particular feature can help a user achieve?
[00:13:20] Masooma Memon: Then you can throughout, whether you're working on product led content yourself, or with a team of internal writers, or with external writers throughout, you can reference this feature cheat sheet to not just create more content, plan more content, and decide which feature goes into which blog post in your creative briefs, but also make it easy for writers to write.
[00:13:41] Masooma Memon: Product led content makes super easy to even outsource deeper funnel content, which most companies are hesitant when working with freelancers.
[00:13:50] Masooma Memon: That's one of the things that I highly recommend when I start out with clients, is that you talk to your customer facing teams, learn about the icps that you're targeting their jobs to be done, and then how the feature maps to the pain point, right?
[00:14:03] Masooma Memon: And then whenever you're creating deeper funnel content, I recommend that you keep it transparent.
[00:14:10] Masooma Memon: Right?
[00:14:11] Masooma Memon: So don't just talk about who you are for, but also who you are not for.
[00:14:15] Masooma Memon: So a lot of stakeholders might not agree with me on this.
[00:14:20] Masooma Memon: We want to cast the net as wide as we can, but honestly, you're saving yourself tons of time.
[00:14:25] Masooma Memon: Your sales reps are tons of time in the long run, if you are being honest about who you are for, and then you're also building trust with those users.
[00:14:33] Masooma Memon: So, for example, let's say you omit the point that you don't have a mobile app, but I'm looking for a solution that also offers a mobile app, right?
[00:14:41] Masooma Memon: But your content did not mention that and I ended up signing up for you.
[00:14:44] Masooma Memon: Or even if I don't end up signing up for you directly, and I go into user reviews on third party platforms like g two and I find out that you don't offer a mobile solution, you're breaking my trust.
[00:14:57] Masooma Memon: And it's okay, it's just one user.
[00:14:59] Masooma Memon: You could think of it like that.
[00:15:00] Masooma Memon: But the problem is that one user, that one potentially interested customer, will talk about it with other people.
[00:15:06] Masooma Memon: So you don't want that because word of mouth is fast.
[00:15:09] Masooma Memon: And suppose that person itself, like say, for example, I signed up for your app and it did not have a mobile app, and then I have to churn.
[00:15:17] Masooma Memon: So you're seeing more churn and then 110% negative word of mouth, because I will go in and tell the reader, tell my colleagues or my network people in my network, and I'll tell them they don't have a mobile app.
[00:15:28] Masooma Memon: And they could have mentioned it.
[00:15:31] Masooma Memon: They could have saved both themselves and me the trouble.
[00:15:34] Masooma Memon: So that's another thing I recommend being transparent.
[00:15:36] Masooma Memon: And the third thing that I recommend, which a lot of companies make a mistake of not doing, is that they don't include social proof.
[00:15:43] Masooma Memon: So you're not including customer stories or case studies.
[00:15:47] Masooma Memon: So instead of saying, we are the best, just let the data and your customers do the talking.
[00:15:52] Ramli John: I'm a big fan of social proof.
[00:15:54] Ramli John: I love how you're really talking about, hey, be transparent, what your product can do.
[00:16:01] Ramli John: And as well as pulling in social proof, it's like those social proofs and those quotes or those testimonials from customers are great way to really tell people, hey, this is the kind of customers that fits into our ICP.
[00:16:16] Ramli John: And as well as it's their words, it's not ours.
[00:16:20] Ramli John: They're saying that our product is good.
[00:16:23] Ramli John: It's totally different when I'm so good versus somebody else saying, hey, that product is good itself.
[00:16:32] Masooma Memon: Social proof is super powerful, and I know that until now, people just rely on it to buy.
[00:16:37] Masooma Memon: So there are tons of ways you can gain your trust using social proof, right?
[00:16:41] Masooma Memon: And even if you have, a lot of people have an entire cataloged area where they have their case studies, but they don't take those stories and mention it within their deeper funnel content when you could be.
[00:16:52] Masooma Memon: Because instead of saying, we can help you drive save x hours, just say x person or say, x company, use our product and as a result save x hours.
[00:17:03] Masooma Memon: So again, you're not doing the talking.
[00:17:05] Masooma Memon: You're telling a story, you're telling your other customer story, and people are going to believe it more.
[00:17:09] Masooma Memon: There's one.
[00:17:10] Masooma Memon: And then you can also use data.
[00:17:11] Masooma Memon: For example, user gems, they paired up their content team, paired up with the data analyst team, and they looked into two.
[00:17:19] Masooma Memon: So what basically user gems does is it tracks your alumni customers.
[00:17:25] Masooma Memon: So champion users who are users in the past.
[00:17:28] Masooma Memon: And when they switch their job, sales rep can reach out to them to say that, hey, do you want to use our product again?
[00:17:34] Masooma Memon: And in a way it gets you warm leads.
[00:17:37] Masooma Memon: So what?
[00:17:39] Masooma Memon: It does the same thing that user gems does.
[00:17:41] Masooma Memon: LinkedIn sales Navigator can also do it.
[00:17:44] Masooma Memon: But they're not saying don't use sales navigator or they're not saying we are better than sales navigator.
[00:17:50] Masooma Memon: But they have solid data showing that, showing data that you will get x amount of leads from LinkedIn but y amount of leads from user gems, which are a ton higher and a lot better in terms of quality.
[00:18:06] Masooma Memon: So they're making their case not only using social proof for how customers are using, but also using data.
[00:18:13] Ramli John: That's so good I have to take a step back as well.
[00:18:16] Ramli John: Thank you for sharing that process.
[00:18:18] Ramli John: You talked about how you map out your features.
[00:18:20] Ramli John: I think you have a cheat sheet.
[00:18:21] Ramli John: I saw somewhere that I'm going to recreate or link to for folks to download imarketingpops.com.

[00:18:27] Common Mistakes in Product-Led Content: Feature Bloat, Lack of Collaboration, and Poor Content Experience

[00:18:27] Ramli John: But there was one other thing that I want to double click on that you mentioned.
[00:18:31] Ramli John: You talked about common mistakes that companies make when it comes to product like content.
[00:18:36] Ramli John: You gave a few examples in those response.
[00:18:39] Ramli John: But what are some common you mentioned around like, hey, not adding social proof enough, but what are some other common mistakes that companies make when it comes to product led content?
[00:18:54] Masooma Memon: Okay, so another major one is feature bloat.
[00:18:58] Masooma Memon: What they do is they talk about not one feature but a ton of features.
[00:19:02] Masooma Memon: A handful of features go into the base.
[00:19:04] Masooma Memon: But whenever you're creating product like content, you have to remember that you know the product well, but the reader does not know that product as well as you do.
[00:19:12] Masooma Memon: So you cannot confuse them.
[00:19:14] Masooma Memon: If you talk about a ton of features or ton of because there are lots of SaaS products that have tons of, they have an umbrella group and then they have tons of platforms or solutions that people can use, and they talk about X-Y-Z ABC, everything on top on each other in one post.
[00:19:32] Masooma Memon: But what it does, it leaves your reader confused again.
[00:19:35] Masooma Memon: If you step back and put yourself within your reader's shoes, you'll see that for someone who doesn't know the product, that this can be confusing.
[00:19:44] Masooma Memon: They might just end up like, what exactly does this product do?
[00:19:47] Masooma Memon: Or they might just think that, okay, I get that they do a lot, they solve a lot of my problems, but they're just too diverse for me.
[00:19:55] Masooma Memon: So take it step by step.
[00:19:57] Masooma Memon: Instead of talking a ton of features, limit it to one to two features.
[00:20:01] Masooma Memon: Specifically, if you are in deeper funnel content limited to one to two, one to three features.
[00:20:07] Masooma Memon: If you are in talking about your product in the top funnel strictly limited to one piece one feature.
[00:20:14] Masooma Memon: So that's one feature blow.
[00:20:16] Masooma Memon: That's one problem that I see companies make.
[00:20:19] Masooma Memon: And a lot of marketers have also admitted and ensured that, yeah, they are guilty of feature bloat and I am guilty of it myself.
[00:20:28] Masooma Memon: When I started creating product like content for clients, there's that.
[00:20:32] Masooma Memon: And then thinking that you can create this type of a product in a silo, you cannot.
[00:20:40] Masooma Memon: You need to be talking to sales, you need to be talking to customer support, because without it, without talking to them, you will have zero grip on who the feature is for, which ICP it is for.
[00:20:52] Masooma Memon: Let me give you another example.
[00:20:53] Masooma Memon: Let's say you're selling a CRM.
[00:20:57] Masooma Memon: A CRM can help both the sales rep as well as a sales manager.
[00:21:01] Masooma Memon: But both these icps have completely different jobs to be done.
[00:21:05] Masooma Memon: For sales managers is increasing their team's productivity by providing them the tools they need to do their job better.
[00:21:12] Masooma Memon: And for sales rep, it's hitting their sales quota.
[00:21:15] Masooma Memon: Now, if you were talking creating product led content for both of these, you're confusing the target reader as to who this piece is for and who do you want to convert.
[00:21:24] Masooma Memon: Right?
[00:21:25] Masooma Memon: So you need to be talking to your sales team to learn exactly which ICP you are for, how the feature maps to the pain point and what jobs to be done.
[00:21:35] Masooma Memon: It helps achieve as one.
[00:21:37] Masooma Memon: And you also need to be talking to your sales team to learn which tool people are switching from to your.
[00:21:45] Masooma Memon: So that will help you create those versus y competitor tools, right?
[00:21:50] Masooma Memon: You get the keywords from there.
[00:21:52] Masooma Memon: So that's another thing that you can learn from talking to your sales team.
[00:21:57] Masooma Memon: And then you could also learn what hesitations people have while they're considering to buy your product.
[00:22:03] Masooma Memon: Like when your sales reps are talking to those people.
[00:22:06] Masooma Memon: And you can answer those hesitations within your content, which is why I say that you cannot create.
[00:22:11] Masooma Memon: So there's lots of things that we are doing.
[00:22:13] Masooma Memon: We're talking to the customer facing teams.
[00:22:14] Masooma Memon: So you cannot create that content in a silo.
[00:22:17] Masooma Memon: And then the third thing I would say is you do not give enough peeps into the product.
[00:22:21] Masooma Memon: So there are not enough screenshots, product screenshots.
[00:22:24] Masooma Memon: You need to build that excitement.
[00:22:25] Masooma Memon: You need to show the product it's easy to use, you need to show that it's not a cluttered UI inside.
[00:22:31] Masooma Memon: And all of that is extremely possible when you include explainer videos and product screenshots within the content, explaining things step by step.
[00:22:40] Masooma Memon: But even if you're doing that, say, let's say you have those screenshots anything that you're not making this mistake, double check that those screenshots are readable because that's one of the biggest problem I see, that those screenshots are not readable, so people cannot get a good idea or good people into your product.
[00:22:56] Ramli John: That's so good.
[00:22:57] Ramli John: I think that's so true.
[00:22:58] Ramli John: Sometimes I have to squint and it's like when you click on it, you're hoping that it gets bigger, but it does it.
[00:23:04] Ramli John: So I'm like, just please zoom in and do what I need to do, what I want to use on.
[00:23:09] Masooma Memon: It's another step in the process.
[00:23:11] Masooma Memon: It kind of adds friction to the content experience.
[00:23:14] Ramli John: Interesting.
[00:23:16] Ramli John: It's the first time I've heard that friction.
[00:23:19] Ramli John: Whenever usually I hear friction, it's from the product perspective.
[00:23:21] Ramli John: But you're right, you want to make the content as easy to consume as possible.
[00:23:27] Ramli John: And that is friction.
[00:23:29] Ramli John: It is essentially content friction, which is a term I've never heard of.
[00:23:35] Ramli John: You've mentioned that before.
[00:23:36] Ramli John: Or like the term content friction or you've read it somewhere.
[00:23:39] Masooma Memon: I have, because I am big on content experience.
[00:23:42] Masooma Memon: So, for example, all screenshots are similarly sized.
[00:23:47] Masooma Memon: It makes a very small difference.
[00:23:49] Masooma Memon: Yeah, but it's a small thing that you can do, but it makes a huge difference for your reader because it's all aligned, it's consistent.
[00:23:58] Masooma Memon: All those screenshots are designed according to your branding, so that adds to the experience.
[00:24:04] Masooma Memon: And then there are internal links that when you click, they don't change the page that you were on, but they open in a new tab.
[00:24:10] Masooma Memon: That's another way to improve your content experience.
[00:24:13] Masooma Memon: So I like to make content accessible and remove friction as much as possible so that even if people are skim reading, they're enjoying and at least leaving with one takeaway.
[00:24:23] Ramli John: That's good.
[00:24:24] Ramli John: That's so good.
[00:24:26] Ramli John: Content experience, content friction.
[00:24:27] Ramli John: This is good.
[00:24:28] Ramli John: This is like melding.
[00:24:29] Ramli John: This is exactly the intersection of product and content, which is what product light content is all about, I'm hearing.

[00:24:37] Talking About Career Growth with Masooma Memon

[00:24:37] Ramli John: Well, Mazda, I want to thank you for talking about product like I want to shift gears now and talk about careers and career power ups.
[00:24:44] Ramli John: You've been in marketing for many years now.
[00:24:47] Ramli John: You've written for big companies like Shopify, Hotjar and Vimeo.
[00:24:52] Ramli John: I'm curious, what's something that's helped you accelerate your career forward?
[00:24:57] Ramli John: Whether that's something that's a softer skill, like making friends and building community, or something that's more marketing focused, what is that career path for you?
[00:25:07] Masooma Memon: So I think that will be talking about and writing your point of view.
[00:25:14] Masooma Memon: So don't be afraid to share.
[00:25:16] Masooma Memon: Whatever your point of view is, write it down, share it online, for example, on LinkedIn or have a newsletter, and that will help you refine your point of view.
[00:25:25] Masooma Memon: It will help you get more clarity of thought.
[00:25:27] Masooma Memon: It will help you see holes in your philosophy or whatever is it that you stand for.
[00:25:32] Masooma Memon: So talk more about it.
[00:25:34] Masooma Memon: And I personally have been talking, been visible on social media.
[00:25:38] Masooma Memon: First it was Twitter and now it's LinkedIn.
[00:25:41] Masooma Memon: And I also have a newsletter.
[00:25:43] Masooma Memon: So all of that, it helps me refine my povs, what I stand for.
[00:25:47] Masooma Memon: And you know how it's because in an AI world, you have to have a pov to stand out.
[00:25:53] Masooma Memon: So writing regularly, consistently, not being afraid of sharing your points, this angles that you want to take, is one way to stand out.

[00:26:05] How to Overcome the Fear of Posting Online

[00:26:05] Ramli John: I'm curious what helped you.
[00:26:08] Ramli John: I know for some people that have talked to, and I was just part of a course by Caitlin Borgoine and Neil O'Grady about this, about posting up more.
[00:26:17] Ramli John: One of the questions I see often is like, how do you get over that fear of posting?
[00:26:22] Ramli John: Because you're going to post it up and then people will, I don't know, people think that they'll get judged right away.
[00:26:29] Ramli John: But what has helped you particularly continue to post consistently?
[00:26:35] Ramli John: Is it just doing it and then at some point it becomes easier?
[00:26:39] Ramli John: Or is there other tricks that you found?
[00:26:41] Ramli John: Help yourself.
[00:26:43] Masooma Memon: So doing it and it becomes easier?
[00:26:46] Masooma Memon: That's definitely that.
[00:26:46] Masooma Memon: But when you're starting out, it's definitely difficult to get over that.
[00:26:50] Masooma Memon: Get started hump.
[00:26:51] Masooma Memon: So I would say have a close group of marketing friends, or even just your friends, have them read it and then they'll give you the encouragement, the motivation you need to start writing online.
[00:27:02] Masooma Memon: And then the thing I'd like to do is, what's the worst that can happen?
[00:27:08] Masooma Memon: Is not going to agree with you.
[00:27:09] Masooma Memon: That's okay.
[00:27:10] Masooma Memon: You can politely say you don't agree, or if you're afraid you still feel that you cannot voice your opinions as well, or you cannot articulate your thoughts as well.
[00:27:19] Masooma Memon: Just don't engage with them.
[00:27:21] Masooma Memon: It's okay if you don't in the start, it's okay if you don't in any situation.
[00:27:27] Masooma Memon: What's the worst that can happen?
[00:27:28] Ramli John: That's true.
[00:27:29] Ramli John: You can also block them.
[00:27:31] Ramli John: Blocked?
[00:27:32] Ramli John: No, I'm just joking.
[00:27:33] Ramli John: Or delete a comment.
[00:27:35] Ramli John: I've had those comments where like this, totally off base, delete.
[00:27:39] Ramli John: I don't need to have that in my life or in the feed, but.
[00:27:45] Masooma Memon: It'S okay to learn from other poes, but it's okay to delete as well.
[00:27:50] Masooma Memon: But worst is when people just spam you a post with their own link that are totally irrelevant to the topic.
[00:27:57] Ramli John: Sure, right.
[00:27:58] Masooma Memon: Please do not do that.
[00:27:59] Masooma Memon: And now I'm seeing this happen on substac and I'm like, no, this was one interesting it happened with me today.
[00:28:05] Masooma Memon: So I was like, block, delete block.
[00:28:09] Ramli John: Oh no.
[00:28:10] Ramli John: I hope it doesn't get big.
[00:28:12] Ramli John: That big too soon here.
[00:28:14] Ramli John: I like your point about making friends.
[00:28:16] Ramli John: I think that's true.
[00:28:17] Ramli John: Also, when you post it up, you can get that initial boost of asking them to just like it and leave a comment, I think, especially if they've given you feedback around it.
[00:28:28] Ramli John: That's a great way to get that initial engagement while you're building up your own voice around this as well.
[00:28:37] Masooma Memon: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:28:39] Writing Process for LinkedIn Content

[00:28:39] Ramli John: I also want to know your writing.
[00:28:41] Ramli John: You've been so consistent with LinkedIn.
[00:28:47] Ramli John: What is your process?
[00:28:48] Ramli John: Do you dedicate a whole day to just write a bunch of content, or do you carve out like 15 20 minutes each day to create it?
[00:28:56] Ramli John: Or maybe it depends on how your day is going.
[00:29:00] Ramli John: Tell me about how you write for social, for LinkedIn, particularly compared to, I guess, other things that you write for.
[00:29:08] Ramli John: Or is it the same?
[00:29:10] Masooma Memon: Oh no, it's different.
[00:29:11] Masooma Memon: So I have an entire calendar planned around it, and then I'm throwing in ideas as they come.
[00:29:16] Masooma Memon: So this biggest thing that can slow you down when you're creative, LinkedIn got it in my experience.
[00:29:20] Masooma Memon: And what has affected me is not having the idea and sitting to write.
[00:29:25] Masooma Memon: You're sitting to think when you're sitting to write, but then you're stopping at what idea should I be covering?
[00:29:30] Masooma Memon: So I get lots of ideas when I am working on client work.
[00:29:36] Masooma Memon: So for example, I am currently helping teams create repurpose content engines.
[00:29:41] Masooma Memon: So while I was doing it, an idea occurred to me that I could create a LinkedIn post on how I am helping the specific client.
[00:29:48] Masooma Memon: It could be a case study of sorts.
[00:29:49] Masooma Memon: I just took out my I use bullet journals for managing my to do list.
[00:29:55] Masooma Memon: So there's one section over there where I have LinkedIn ideas and I put on everything, the hook that ever was coming in my mind and stuff.
[00:30:02] Masooma Memon: And then it's either depending on my workload for the month, it's either two to three days within the month where I write all the content, or it's 1 hour in the afternoon every day when I write the post.
[00:30:17] Ramli John: That's super cool.
[00:30:18] Ramli John: So you have a bank of ideas, and then you write a few of them all at the same time when you carve out those days, is what I heard exactly.
[00:30:26] Masooma Memon: So a bank of idea is also a notion calendar that organizes where each idea on which day of the week it should be coming so that it doesn't come across as me me all the time.
[00:30:38] Masooma Memon: And it's also educational.
[00:30:40] Masooma Memon: So there is that.
[00:30:42] Ramli John: And then in terms of do you create cryosauce or other things like that?
[00:30:47] Ramli John: Do you, I guess, find these to create those as well, or do you outsource that to somebody else, or do.
[00:30:53] Masooma Memon: You for now, I'm doing them myself, but I am currently in the process of hiring a video editor.
[00:30:59] Masooma Memon: So kernels I do myself.
[00:31:00] Masooma Memon: I have a template in place and I think I can do them best because they're going to be able to capture my voice better.
[00:31:06] Masooma Memon: But I am repurposing all the webinars and podcasts that I do, and so for them I'm using we to create audio bytes sound bites for myself.
[00:31:14] Masooma Memon: But I want to be able to use repurpose that content in more ways for which I'm if you enjoyed this.
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