Writing Provides (Almost) Instantaneous Feedback Loops

Learn how to use them to improve your online content

Thanks to Jason Rosewell — Find his work on Unsplash and go support him, he sounds like an awesome guy. The above image also links to his Unsplash account image if you click it.

What are feedback loops?

Well, they’re kinda like…

Are they like Fruity Loops?

No. They have nothing to do with cereal.

Can they help with my online content?

Yep.

How do they work?

I’m gonna tell you.

Feedback

The term feedback has a few definitions but the main two definitions are:

A reaction to a product, a performance, or some form of media.

Reviews are a good example of the above definition where a 1-star rating is bad and 5-star rating is excellent ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A sound that occurs when a portion of the initial output returns to the input of the same system.

For example, a microphone 🎤 sends a signal to a speaker and the sound being played out of the speaker gets picked up by the microphone that sent the original signal. That’s when you get the screeching noise.

Note that it happens almost immediately.

In this article, although it would appear as if the first of the two options above would be the most obvious to focus on, it’s the second definition that we want to explore.

If you already have a product that is available to buy online then the first definition above will be the most useful. As long as people are buying your product you should be getting reviews and using that feedback to improve your product or offering.

However, when it comes to writing and producing content online there is a chance to create rapid feedback loops.

A rapid feedback loop is similar to the example mentioned above with the microphone & speaker where the feedback is almost instantaneous.

Quality VS Quantity

The more quality content you put out into the world (output) the more chance you have of creating a rapid feedback loop where your followers, subscribers or audience interact with your work via likes, claps, comments, responses, and opinions.

Three observations:

It’s not about quantity over quality - heard this one before.
People will tell you to focus on quality over quantity. They’re correct.

BUT…

Your goal should be to produce quantity and quality, preferably in the shortest amount of time possible.

For the sake of this article:

The input will be when you sit down to write an article, produce some music, shoot a video, make an eBook, paint a picture, or partake in any other creative endeavour.
The output will be when you publish your article, upload your music to SoundCloud, upload your video to YouTube, publish your eBook to KDP, send your painting to the gallery, or push any other creative endeavour out into the world.

When you receive feedback via likes, claps, comments, etc… you can instantly gauge whether or not the content is good, bad, valuable, interesting, useful, or not useful.

Bear in mind that when you are just starting out your audience will be smaller so you will receive less feedback.

Nevertheless, the idea is to allow whatever feedback you receive to help you make informed decisions about future content.

Some Feedback might be more valuable in a given situation

For example, if you upload a video to YouTube and random people comment saying it's good and it gets a load of likes then it’s safe to assume that it’s a good video.

But… most people who watch YouTube videos haven’t mastered the art of creating, filming, editing, and promoting videos on YouTube.

They probably have very little idea about the work that goes into making videos let alone making successful viral YouTube videos.

On the flip side, if, when you release your video Mr. Beast pops up in the comments section complimenting you on a stellar job, then it’s safe to assume that you knocked it out of the park by producing a video that caught the eye of the most prolific YouTuber to have ever lived.

I really love this image by Towfiqu barbhuiya from Unsplash he also has an Instagram, Twitte-X and Pexels accounts. I’ve hyperlinked the above image to take you to his work. Please check him out.

Use feedback loops to craft content

To make use of the feedback that we get we need to analyse what kind of responses our content receives and then we need to act on it.

If people found a particular article that you wrote about Japan interesting then it’s a good idea to follow up with some more content about Japan to see whether it continues to resonate with your audience.

If people didn’t interact with an article that you wrote about recycling there could be a few reasons that it didn’t gain much traction:

The people who read the article weren’t that interested in recycling.
The algorithm didn’t manage to connect it to the right audience.
The timing was off.
The headline that you used didn’t grab people’s attention.
The image didn’t pique the interest of the reader.
The beginning of your article didn’t include a decent hook.
You suck at writing.

☝🏻Ok, the last one’s a joke.

It could be any of the above or it could be that you just need to re-examine the article, approach it from a different angle, repackage it, give it a facelift, or totally overhaul the whole thing.

Tiny changes make a big difference

Sometimes we just need to tweak the elements that make up our content in order to help it reach the right audience.

There are countless stories about writers on Twitter posting tweets that failed to connect with their audience.

They didn’t give up or see that as a failure, they saw it as a chance to tweak the copy, switch up the wording, play with the layout, or mess with the structure.

In some of these examples the tweet that failed to connect, once rewritten, went on to be one of the writer’s most popular tweets.

YouTubers do it all the time. They take a video that might not be performing well and change the thumbnail or the title of the video to see if it connects with the audience on a different level.

Not everyone clicks the SAME thing.

What interests me or grabs my attention won’t necessarily appeal to you.

YouTube recently started allowing YouTubers to split-test different thumbnails as well, allowing creators to see in real-time which thumbnail performs better.

Take note of how people interact with your content and then make micro adjustments and new iterations and see what works and what doesn’t.

Don’t be afraid to get in there and really examine your work.

One thing to remember

Don’t be disheartened if people don’t read your articles, watch your videos, or listen to your newest EP on SoundCloud.

It’s all part of the journey.

Anything truly worth doing is worth doing properly.

Especially if you are just starting out.

No one made it big straight away.

Not even Casey Neistat or Mr. Beast.

They put in thousands of hours to get to where they are today…

Are you willing to do the same?

Slight tangent

Casey Neistat has quite a few tattoos on his body but these are the 3 that stand out the most:

Work harder - left wrist
Do more - right forearm
Always be closing - left forearm

If you don’t know who Casey Neistat is then I highly recommend checking out some of his work, seeing as he had a bigger influence on vlogging than any person on the face of the planet.

Takeaway points to implement

Feedback can be instantaneous, use this to your advantage.
Interact with your audience and put out more of the content that they gravitate towards, but don’t forget to put out other content that will draw in a wider audience.
Split test different ideas with articles written about the same topic but from different viewpoints.
If an article or a video doesn’t seem to connect with people don’t take it personally.
I’ll repeat that ☝🏻 do NOT take it personally, just examine the content, tweak it, reword it, change the title, edit it, cut bits out, add bits in, add images, check the layout and how it looks aesthetically not just how it reads, check spelling and grammar, edit it again, shorten sentences…etc etc ad infinitum.
Test different platforms as well and adapt your content to appeal to the specific style of that platform like Instagram, Twitte-X, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, OnlyFans… just kidding 😅.
Be mindful of your progression and know that over time you will improve if you remain consistent with your output…
But you have to be bringing something NEW to the table. There are over 8 billion people on the planet. Why should someone read your article or watch your video?

So, the next time that you write an article or upload a video see if you can spot any feedback loops and try to make use of them for future content.

I had a lot of fun writing this article, it’s a topic that really interests me so let me know your thoughts in the comments, and go crazy with the highlights.