Everyone's Doing Audience Research Backwards

Welcome back to Viral Examples.

Today (in 2 mins or less) we're diving into why the posts that resonate deepest speak to the smallest groups.

The Uncommon Denominator: Why Narrow Content Wins

Every marketer obsesses over finding common ground. What does everyone want? What can unite the whole audience?

Wrong question.

The creators breaking through are doing the opposite. They're hunting for fractures, splits, and belief gaps inside their audience. Then they're picking one side and going all in.

Here's why this works

When you write for everyone, you write for no one. Generic advice gets generic engagement.

But when you call out a specific friction point that only part of your audience experiences, something wild happens. That segment feels seen. They engage, comment, and share. Then everyone else leans in because specificity signals authority.

You attract through narrowness, then expand through credibility.

How to find your uncommon denominator

Stop segmenting by demographics. Age and industry create categories. Beliefs create communities.

Ask yourself three questions when you study your audience:

1. Where do they split on strategy?

Some of your audience believes in organic growth. Others swear by paid ads. These groups live in different mental worlds. Pick one. Write for them.

2. What stage creates different pain?

A founder at $0 has different nightmares than one at $1M. Same audience, completely different realities. Choose the stage. Address that friction.

3. What do they believe that others reject?

Every audience has contrarian subgroups. The ones who tried the standard advice and it failed them. The ones who found a different path. Find that belief split. Validate it.

Putting this into practice

Next time you draft a post, catch yourself writing "all entrepreneurs" or "every marketer." Then get specific.

Change "all entrepreneurs struggle with pricing" to "bootstrap founders who hate sales calls struggle with pricing."

Change "every marketer needs better content" to "CMOs with small teams need better content systems."

Watch what happens when you name the segment. The right people will raise their hands. Everyone else will respect the specificity.

Generic content is invisible. Specific content is magnetic.

Time to Grow

There’s two parts to getting results from posting content:

1. High quality content

2. Relevant distribution

Megaphone, the team behind Viral Examples, helps with both.

1. Our writing team works learns your voice and delivers weekly batches of content for you to post.

2. Our creator network helps get your posts in front of the right audience.

Grab time here or just reply to this email to learn more.