“SMASH the like button,” the host says, and your eyes roll back so far you can see your own marrow. “And don’t forget to register!”
When you create videos, podcasts, or social media posts, you know you should be driving engagement. But if it makes you feel like you need a shower, this story is for you.
Today is the producer of My first million shares how they turned boring engagement farming into a common language for their audience willingly (and joyfully) spreads – 200,000 subscribers were gained.
The team calls it “The Gentlemen’s Agreement.” And you should definitely try something similar.
Gentlemen, behold.
Entrepreneurs Sam Parr and Shaan Puri didn’t plan on becoming podcasters or YouTubers.
“They assumed we were creating this for ourselves, and when people see it, that’s great,” says Arie Desormeaux. “They did not identify themselves as content creators.”
So when the show started gaining followers organically, they had to decide whether they wanted to do all the things content creators are “supposed” to do: commercial breaks. Commitment agriculture. Begging for subscribers.
Desormeaux is a senior producer at HubSpot Media and one of the minds behind the continued success of My first millionwhich currently has almost 900,000 followers.
But it didn’t start out that way, and she shares with me the thoughts behind one of her early moments of explosive growth.
“Instead of doing something, we do should We decided to make it a fun exchange and then turn it into something that also provides value. We’re going to make it something that becomes part of the audience’s language.”
So instead of the typical “like” and “subscribe,” Parr and Puri developed the gentlemen’s agreement. Here it is in Parr’s words:
“If this is the first episode you hear, you’ll get it for free. But if it’s the second Episode or more you’ve heard, here’s our gentlemen’s agreement. You go to whatever app you’re in and click subscribe or follow or whatever.
“We do this for you. We’re your little lab rats. We do all this crap for you, just do it for us.”
The inclusion factor
The impact was almost immediate: the show gained 210,000 subscribers within a few months.
And although it is almost impossible to say that this was the case sole reason isolated, Parr himself described the gentlemen’s agreement as “the greatest stimulus”.
It wasn’t just that the listeners kept the agreement. They were share it.
“You’ll see it in the YouTube comments. You’ll see it on LinkedIn,” Desormeaux says. “It’s almost coming in baseball for people who know. It has become a proper name. And that creates an inclusion factor.”
She attributes the success of the tactic to this inclusion factor. The very words “gentlemen’s agreement” have become a way for listeners to identify with one another. It has evolved from engagement farming to community building.
“Like and Subscribe is an anonymous way of communicating with people. It’s transactional. I talk to you like you’re just what’s on the other side of a button. It’s a signal for the brain to check it,” she explains. “(While) the gentlemen’s agreement is a relationship-building tactic. It’s a goodwill agreement between us and the audience.”
Create your contract
Now, you shouldn’t copy this tactic word for word. That would not only be rude, but also ineffective. Your unique audience needs your unique language.
But Desormeaux shared some thoughts on how to find the lingua franca for your listeners.
1. Focus on the essential value exchange.
“Everyone who creates content on the Internet exchanges the same value with their audience. Whether it’s entertainment, tutorials, interviews, it’s all the same.” You exchange your content for their attention.
But if you’re simply asking for likes, you’re presenting it as a one-sided equation. Instead, Remind your potential audience that the exchange is two-way.
Parr and Puri make no secret of how much effort they put in in return.
2. Stay in character.
By now you can probably recognize engagement farming by the change in tone without even listening to the words. So many content creators view these moments as a chore, and that’s exactly what listening feels like.
“It becomes part of the noise of the Internet. It’s the same as, ‘Hey, let’s take a quick commercial break.’ You’ve heard it so many times that it’s lost its impact.”
Instead, Find the wording that fits the soul of your content.
“What tone does your audience respond to? My first million “Entertainment comes first, nerds come second, and business comes third.”
For this reason, the gentlemen’s agreement is presented as a fun, somewhat nerdy business proposal. It probably wouldn’t work for a podcast about knitting grandmas.
3. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.
“If we had done it once, it would have just been a novelty. If you do it consistently, movement occurs. It’s what anchors it in the brain by bringing it back again and again from episode to episode.”
And they don’t just mention it in every episode. They also use it in theirs social media Create posts, create them with a wink shareable contentand even hit it their merch.
The result? “The audience recognizes it and uses it on site.”
4. Don’t worry about repeating yourself.
During one episode, Parr mused that the gentlemen’s agreement may have lost its novelty, but Desormeaux isn’t worried.
“It is a novel for those who are hearing it for the first time, for those who have not yet subscribed.”
In other words, if you’ve heard it enough to turn it off, you’re probably already a subscriber. (Or you break the agreement. Tsk, tsk.)
5. Acknowledge the awkwardness.
“The subversive has its value. Asking for subscribers is repulsive and unlikely,” admits Desormeaux. “But somehow making fun of the economics of the content creator helps allay the audience’s objections.”
If you acknowledge that it’s scary, they can’t call you scary. Part of the success of the gentlemen’s agreement is that it defuses the transactional nature of it by recognizing the transactional nature.
And hey, if you made it this far… do a gentleman a favor? Click the Subscribe button.
