Vinny Chase and the gang from Entourage debuted their 8th and final season Sunday night. A LOT of people love the show. In fact, it’s a 9/10 on IMDB.
I like the show alright, but it doesn’t stand up to shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or Boardwalk Empire. One evening I was in the process of pointing out all the shows flaws, when a buddy, irritated with me, explained “you can’t watch it that way.”
Evidently, you have to kick back, enjoy the fun, and try to point your critical lens somewhere else. This is also true of blogging. It’s why people read the shit out of “5 Ways to Get More Followers on Twitter,” but completely gaze over posts that require a little more thought.
Here are 3 ways to obtain more readers using the “Entourage” approach:
Keep it Light
Season 7 ended pretty dark with Vinnie’s cocaine habit, but people who have previewed the final season assure us that the show is returning to its lighter roots — there will be a happy ending for all of the guys. Fans of the show want to see the crew boozing, making boatloads of money, and being surrounded by beautiful women.
Don’t try to explore the depths of complex stimuli on your blog. A couple of people will appreciate it, but the masses will be bored and confused. Keep the tone fun and the content simple enough to understand. Make it actionable enough for a 3rd grader to implement.
Be Predictable
Everything is going to work out for these guys in the long run, we’ve already established that. Hollywood is glamorous. Super-stardom + money + women + fancy shit + an entourage = a simple formula for people having fun watching your show.
And that’s what people want to see on your blog, simplicity and predictability. Whatever the focus of your blog, stay on point. If you write about entrepreneurship, feel free to explore the entire realm of possibilities around that topic, but don’t suddenly shift to community management. That’s not what people are used to seeing. It’s not what they’ve come to expect from you, and they’ll likely skip right over it. They come to your blog your go-to-topic, don’t deviate.
Embrace the Escapist
One of the most appealing things about “Entourage” is that for 30 minutes or so you can escape into their world. For a bit you think “wouldn’t it be nice to have all this excess?” You genuinely feel like you could have their life if you got the right breaks.
This is one of the of the primary reasons all the lifestyle independent blogs and ‘quit your job’ blogs often do well. Most people desperately want to escape the mundane and earn a lot of money, live anywhere they want, and travel as they please. Appeal to this desire by leveraging content that demonstrates how people can obtain a better life whether it’s through side projects, changing their mindset, overcoming their fears and more.
8 seasons and a 9/10 on IMDB are both indicators of success. Your blog’s success metrics are different, but by following the “Entourage” formula you will be well on your way to a long and fruitful blogging career. Unless you get distracted by Google +.
I am a huge Entourage fan for the very reasons you listed in this post. In relation to blogging, I would also add personality and character branding. People love the individual characters of Entourage for the same reasons they loved the cast of Sex and the City (well women at least)- they’re entertaining and totally obscure. However, viewers are able to relate to the characters in some way which gives them that warm and fuzzy best friend feeling while watching the show. Cultic blog readers want to connect with your content in a similar way.
Welcome Kristin! Thanks for taking the time to leave a thoughtful reply. Great additions to the 3 points made in the post. I completely agree. People are going to read Brian Clark regardless because his copy-writing advice is the best, bar none, BUT some people would also love to know if Brian does dishes, works out, has a family, travels to exotic destinations, etc.
Someone behind a computer churning out a multitude of content can be admirable, but knowing the person behind the computer can also make them relatable. That’s a deadly combination for some solid blog traffic.
Really great advice thanks. To be totally honest I have never seen Entourage, but your description suggests it abides to a simple formula, like everything that makes money ;). I have spent a lot of time before trying to create a specialist blog that generally caters to a certain group of people… Trying to go against the grain. It never worked, and was always destined to fail. People will always go see the latest big budget hollywood blockbuster with a tried and tested formula over a low budget small release indie film.