How your worldview can make you more interesting

The rise of alternative media – for example, Joe Rogan and Rebel News – to name a couple, has important lessons for marketers, specifically that people are more likely to engage with your messaging and content when it aligns with their worldview.

In essence, your worldview is how you assume the world works. For example, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a Christian worldview revolves around the battle of good and evil.

The media is widely perceived to be predominantly left-leaning regarding politics and social issues. More conservative people feel frustrated and isolated, so they tend to look for content that is more aligned with their worldview. Hence the recent rise of some alternative media.

Worldview doesn’t just apply to politics. Other worldviews revolve around business, religion or spiritual matters (atheism is a worldview), the environment, finance, science, the trustworthiness of Government.

There’s the old saying that people only hear what they want to hear. Confirmation bias speaks to our tendency to seek out information that supports our beliefs and values. 

“A worldview is the shortcut, the lens each of us uses when we see the world,” says Seth Godin. “It’s our assumptions and biases and, yes, stereotypes around the world around us. Loyal Fox News viewers have a worldview. So do fox hunters.”

The cons

The problem with speaking to a specific worldview means you will also attract criticism, potential derision – possibly ostracisation – even if you are not communicating in susceptible areas like religion and politics because worldviews tap into our emotions.

The emotional triggers around worldviews make them a powerful tool for building an audience. That said, if you try to be everything to everybody, you end up being nothing to nobody. There will always be detractors, but they aren’t important – your audience is what counts.

Worldview as a tool

If you can define and build your market based on their worldview, you will quickly attract interest and achievement engagement.

In the war for attention, defining your audience by their worldview – or identifying the most common worldview of your target audience – offers a definite tactical advantage. 

Understanding your audience’s worldview will give you clear direction when it comes to choosing the best channels, messages, and stories to get their attention and interest.

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