Value vs Insight.

I’m sure you’ve seen this debate plastered all over 𝕏 recently.

Newbies screaming at you to post “value” content to help you grow your account.

More seasoned vets like JK Molina pummeling the concept of “insights” into your face harder than that Scott Sterling volleyball sketch they ran a few years ago.

(If you don’t know what I’m talking about then I thoroughly recommend you put down your coffee and skip to the 1 minute 40 mark in this video: Scott Sterling Volleyball Sketch - it's fucking jokes hahaha).

But back to the point.

Value.

Or insights.

First of all, what the hell even is “value” content? 

And what the hell is an “insight”?

Because despite all the hollering, I’ve never actually seen someone define these terms.

So let's kick things off with a few definitions.

What the fuck's the difference between value and insight content?

Here's my interpretation:

Value content:

Content which explicitly shows someone how to get from A → B (step-by-step process).

Here's a perfect example from one of my own tweets:

Insight content, on the other hand, is slightly different.

And (the way I see it) there’s two different types of insight content:

“Transformational” insight content: 

This is similar to value content, but with one key difference:

You show people a transformation.

You give them a peek behind the curtain.

But you hide the crucial details which made this possible.

Here’s a tweet of mine to show you this in action:

See how I flaunt some results but I don't reallllllly show you how we got them?

That's a transformational insight.

Then, there’s what I call an “insightful” insight (excuse the nomenclature here - I was having a bit of a slow morning when I coined this term, lol).

“Insightful” insight content: 

This is content which shows you have time in the game. 

It implies you know something your audience doesn’t. 

It presents a useful piece of knowledge (an “insight”), but doesn’t reveal how to actually apply this.

Which, of course, is all obscenely abstract.

So, here’s an tweet to show you this in action:

Right.

That’s the definitions out of the way.

Now we need to answer the following questions:

Question 1: What does value content do for you?

Question 2: What does insight content do for you?

Well, to explain that, I need to introduce you to something I call your “audience goodwill-o-meter” (I’m honestly just making shit up at this point).

Value, insights and your audience's goodwill-o-meter

"Goodwill" is your main currency as a creator.

And at any point, you carry a certain amount of goodwill with your audience.

A level of trust.

A degree of “OK this guy is actually improving my life”.

Which is great.

Because there’s a lot of shady characters on the ol’ interwebs.

And your audience is (rightfully) worried that you’re simply trying to pull the wool over their eyes, dip your greasy mitts into their pockets and fuck off to Hawaii to cash it in on Pina Coladas and hula hula girls (just like the fuckers who stole my bike the other day probably did hahaha - I love London…)

So if you can come in, solve people’s problems and actually improve their lives, then they’re gonna start to like you. 

That is what value content does.

It makes people like you.

It gets people to follow you.

It gives you a big ol’ “10 points for Gryffindor” to add to the goodwill-o-meter you hold with your audience.

But there’s just one problem:

Value content doesn’t get you paid.

Because there’s 2 types of people online:

Person 1: The “I forgot my wallet”

These are the blokes at the pub that, no matter how long you’ve been sat round, never, ever buy a fucking round. They’ve always forgotten their wallet. They’ll conveniently take a trip to the bathroom. Suddenly, when it’s their turn, it’s time to move onto the next place.

They’ll give you the impression they’re going to buy, of course. 

It just never seems to fucking happen.

Person 2: The cardslingers

These are the lads that, no matter how many rounds they’ve already bought, are more than happy to walk up to the bar, possy of 10 in tow, and draw their card from their pocket with such speed and conviction that if William Graham decided to do a 21st century remake of Billy the Kid, they’d be first in line for the part.  

And guess what type of people value content attracts?

I’ll give you a hint:

“You get this one and I'll get the next one, yeah?"

And that’s where insight content comes in.

Because insight content has an entirely different effect on your audience.

It doesn’t help you grow quickly.

You’ll get fuck all likes and impressions for the insights you share.

But that’s not the point.

Because here’s what insight content says to your audience:

“Look. I know what I’m doing. I’ve got time in the game. And if you’re ready to invest in something that’s actually going to improve your life, then I’m your guy.”

And this has two effects:

Firstly, it repels the wallet-deficient.

And secondly, it attracts the cardslingers. 

The ones that don’t mind investing in their future. 

The ones that are ready to pay the high price you're worth without trying to nickel and dime you all the way down to the point of doing 2 months’ work in exchange for a packet of crisps and a stale Digestive.

So, at this point, you might be thinking:

"My goal is to get paid. Insight content gets me paid. So that means I should just focus on insight content from now on, right?"

Steady on cowboy.

Like anything in life, it ain’t quite that simple.

Because despite what people like JK Molina would have you believe (no hate on JK btw - I genuinely love his stuff), it ain’t all about insights.

That approach might work for him.

But you ain’t JK.

You don’t have 5+ years in the game combined with a 200k+ following to instantly boost the credibility of everything you say.

Because, like it or not, follower count matters.

You know this yourself.

Think about it:

Without any additional context, if you saw a 10k+ account post the exact same thing as a dude with 100 followers, which one would you trust more?

The 10k+ account (obviously).

So you understand the implicit authority that having a larger following gives you.

And given that insight content doesn’t help you grow (much), it makes sense for you to focus not solely on insight content, not to solely on value content, but to focus on them both.

And then the only questions that remain are these:

How much value content versus insight content should I be posting? And how does this change over time?

Which is exactly what I'm about to answer.

Finding the balance between value and insight content

I have a very specific framework to manage this balance between value and insight for my own content.

(I’ve pompously called it The Client Acquisition Content Cycle (CACC), lol).

It works like a charm.

It’s how I routinely land clients when I want to (I don’t right now), while simultaneously growing fast on Twitter.

And a couple of weeks ago I shared it with the 25+ lovely lads and ladies who attended my workshop.

Unfortunately, it takes a while to explain.

This post is quickly becoming a fucking novel.

And I don’t want to overwhelm you with a whole new framework when, for most of you reading this, you’re probably still getting to grips with the difference between insight and value content.

So, for now, here’s a much simpler framework I’d suggest you follow:

Value Content: One epic long form per day.

This could be an email to your newsletter.

It could be a long form / thread.

It could even be a Twitter article once Elon pulls his finger out and decides to fix the annoying deboosting thing that’s going on with those (someone that’s got him on speed dial have a word please…)

The important thing is this:

Think about what your ideal client wants.

Write out all the sub-problems which are stopping them from achieving this goal.

And then write a disgustingly clear explanation of how to solve this one specific problem and plaster it all over social media.

For example:

Let’s say you’re running a coaching business and helping ghostwriters to land more clients.

Then consider all the sub-problems these aspiring ghostwriters face:

1. What niche should they be writing for?
2. How much content should they be writing?
3. What type of content should they be writing?
4. How do they spot their ideal clients in their audience?
5. How do they convince these people to work with them?

The list goes on and on.

Pick one of these and explain how to solve it in graphic detail.

Spill the whole sauce.

Lay your cards bare on the table.

Gain people's trust by showing, undeniably that you know what you’re talking about.

Don’t worry about them no longer needing you because you’ve "given away the answers for free".

Because guess what?

You just solved one of their burning problems.

But they’ve still got about a billion more questions they need answering before they can achieve their ultimate goal of landing clients.

So now you hit ‘em with some insight content.

Insight content: 1-2 insight tweets per day

Line up some banging personal or client results.

Maybe you've gained a lot of followers in a short period of time?

Maybe you landed your first client?

Maybe your client just secured a big deal?

Maybe you've gained a lot of followers in a short period of time?

And then taunt, tease and frustrate your audience by parading these all over Twitter like a 60-year old Russian oligarch parades his new 21-year old blonde supermodel of a girlfriend who’s just soooooooo taken by his incredible personality…

This is how you spark curiosity in your audience’s mind.

This is how you build intrigue.

This is how you create a chasm between where your audience is currently at, where they want to be, and position yourself as the engineer who's going to help them ever-so-gracefully bridge this gap.

And that, my friends, is what’s going to get you paid while simultaneously growing your following.

Right.

That’s me done for the day guys. 

I hope you found it insightful (or valuable…)

I’m starving hungry now so I’m gonna head back home, whip myself up a bacon sarnie and choke it down so aggressively that there’s a very real chance this is the last post you’re ever going to read from me.

Talk soon,

Harry

PS. I built a $10k/month personal brand in under 4 months.

Want to do the same?

Get access to 5 minute daily insights to help you do just that: harrybeadle.com