๐ Vanity Metrics Are Having a Very Public Moment
Hey Reader,
Google just launched something called Search Profiles and I need to walk you through the requirements because it might be the most side eye thing I have seen all month. ๐
To qualify you need 100,000 followers on Instagram, YouTube, or X, or 300,000 if TikTok is your only platform. Hit that number and you get a customizable page, a shot at a knowledge panel, and a boost in Google Discover.
Here is what you do not need: any revenue, any business model, any conversion rate, any proof that a single one of those followers has ever bought anything, trusted anything, or become a customer.
Visibility for visibility's sake is, in my professional opinion, a hobby.
I do not mean that as an insult. I have several hobbies. But if you are building a business and the metric that gets you in the door is purely follower count with zero requirement around what those followers actually do, you are chasing the wrong number on the spreadsheet.
And speaking of who gets rewarded for visibility alone, Cannes Lions just wrapped and the internet is already doing its annual impression of SXSW circa 2014, and yes, I would know, I was there. Watch enough recap videos and you will find the exact same debate happening in a different industry. Most of the critics are aiming at the wrong target though. This is not really about advertising integrity or whether the festival has lost its soul. Festivals evolve. The new version genuinely looks fun and the backdrop is gorgeous, so I am not mad about any of that.
What the recaps are actually circling, whether they say it directly or not, is who "deserves" the deals and the eyeballs.
View count and subscriber count have become the new measurement of what fame used to require. Getting on television or into a movie used to be the gate. Now the gate is whether your numbers are big enough to capture an advertiser's attention, regardless of whether those numbers represent real influence or someone gaming a platform.
And this is the same conversation we have been having for weeks now, just showing up in a different costume.
โLast week we talked about Jessie Jean's $1.2 million gross launch number with no visible net figure attached anywhere. We talked about Vanessa Lau calling an eight figure head start "bootstrapping." Now we have Google, one of the biggest companies on the planet, building an entire creator program around a metric that has nothing to do with whether your business actually works.
Metrics and conversion rates are not the same thing, and a lot of people are losing real money because they keep treating them like they are.
You do need a baseline of visibility for certain things. You cannot sell to zero people. But the number that actually tells you whether you have a business or a really expensive hobby is your conversion rate. What percentage of people who see your stuff become customers. What percentage of those customers come back. What you actually keep after you account for what it cost you to reach them.
That number does not care how many followers you have.
I have watched accounts with audiences in the tens of thousands quietly fund someone's entire life because their conversion rate was strong. And I have watched accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, easily enough to sail through Google's new requirement, generate almost nothing because the audience was never built around an actual offer or actual trust.
Visibility is the top of the funnel. It was never supposed to be the whole funnel.
But the entire creator economy keeps building systems that reward the top of the funnel because it is the easiest thing to count and the easiest thing to fake. Follower count is not a meaningless number, but it is a vanity metric the second you start treating it like the finish line instead of the starting line.
This is also why I keep being relentless about treating your show, your content, whatever you are building, like a business asset instead of a popularity contest. Because the systems around you are absolutely going to keep rewarding popularity. Google just handed us fresh proof.
The question is not whether you can hit 100,000 followers.
The question is whether the followers you already have are worth anything to your actual business, and if they are not, what you are going to do about it instead of chasing a number that was never going to save you.
Less glamorous than a Discover badge. Also the only version of this that pays your bills.
๐ Check out what's coming up in the Dojo, below...
๐ง LAST CALL!
We start this week on July 9th. It might not be until 2027 before there is another live group cohort. Not into the group thing? Hit reply and get started 1-on-1 for a $1500 four week sprint.
Most podcasters quit after episode four. Not because they ran out of ideas but because they started without a plan, got googly-eyed over microphones, burned through their energy on the first three episodes, and had nothing left in the tank.
The fix is not more gear. It is the step everyone skips.
Sound Before the Spotlight has a new four-week live cohort starting July 9th where we do the pre-production work that separates the shows that last from the ones that disappear. By the end you will have your concept fully developed, your format and episode structure locked, your production bible built, your first scripts batched, and a realistic budget that will not eat your cash flow alive.
This is done-with-you, not done-for-you. Which is exactly why it is priced the way it is.
Two ways in:โ
1๏ธโฃ Flat rate at $500 for a single production seat
or
2๏ธโฃ Dojo Founding Membership at $197/month which gets you the cohort plus three months of full Dojo access plus a ticket to the September 25th SMG Live Summit in Vancouver, WA.
Commitments close next week! When the ship sails, it sails.
๐ Get the full info packet first or smash the registration button below โคต๏ธ
 |
$500.00
Sound Before Spotlight (live)
|
โ
๐๏ธ Gossip from the creator trenches...
๐ Stop Waiting to Feel Ready
The International Women's Podcast Awards submissions are open and I am talking directly to everyone reading this who already decided they are not fancy enough or established enough to throw their hat in. Readiness is not a feeling that arrives on schedule. It is a decision you make before you feel qualified. Submit anyway.
โGet all the details & throw your hat in the ring โโ
|
|
๐ Yes, It's Really Called Weeding
The American Library Association held its massive annual conference in Chicago last week, and during a main stage conversation Rachel Maddow discovered her own home book collection was full of library discards. Honestly? Same, girl. Same. As a former librarian myself I find this both hilarious and deeply validating.
โI can't stop laughing at her reaction ๐ โโ
|
|
๐ Just Keep Swimming
If you are coaching with me right now, you already know this, but I will say it publicly too: the economy is genuinely crunchy and almost everyone is feeling it. If you think you are failing, check whether your measuring stick is actually realistic for this moment. Sometimes the win is simply staying in the water.
โGet your pep talk if you need it โโ
|
Let's Hang Out
Go Blue! ๐ You can now find me offering old wisdom to the Alumni Club of Portland and years of experience from running the Alumni Club of Los Angeles. I'm connecting with my fellow Wolverines particularly for professional and networking events, which you can find on the alumni chapter's info page. If you're in the Portland area and you want to connect with the Maize & Blue, check the events calendar and I'll see you at one of our networking partners. Come join us next week at Nike for a happy hour!
|
|
Participate + Join In
July's Dojo workshop guest seats just dropped! We're meeting up with Rachel Allen on July 29th at 2pm Pacific (yes, there's a replay). If you have been looking for podcast pitching assistance, you need to be in this room. We're going to get you guesting like a pro and getting hella visible for the rest of 2026. Customer growth? Check. See you there โคต๏ธ
|
$97.00
Pitch, Pod, Profit
|
โ
|
โ