1:56
Sean Everett argues that sustained user engagement beats viral moments. He uses Drake's album strategy and Google as examples of products that compound value with each return, building what he calls consumer utility.
Sean Everett argues that sustained user engagement beats viral moments. He uses Drake's album strategy and Google as examples of products that compound value with each return, building what he calls consumer utility.
The go viral button. Let's talk about it. Beautiful Saturday. Everybody thinks they want to go viral, right? I mean, what's not to love? You reach tens of hundreds, millions of people in an instant. But does that really help you? I mean, here today, gone today, right? Do they come back? Do they keep buying from you? So here's an example, right? Like Drake drops a new album. What happens? Somebody listens to 10 seconds, like a million people listen to it 10 seconds. Does that give him value? Or is the value created when you have millions of people listening to it over and over again? I'd argue it's the latter, which basically comes down to what you'd rather have is retention and engagement and have that compound over days, weeks, months, years, decades, right? So, Let's use Google as an example. Did Google ever really go viral? I mean, maybe, I guess. But really, the point is that it was a consumer utility, which meant that people keep coming back to it day after day and use it every day. Brands, companies use it every day. So, it's— I don't know if you necessarily want to go viral. What you really want to do is get retention. That's better. And then have that compound. So really all it comes down to is, is your product, service, or media continuing to provide more value every time they use it or the audience or the customer base uses it? And then here's the, you know, next level bonus that masters use. When you get retention, is the next time they come back twice as better as the last time? All right, that's it. Don't go viral, get retention.
