Lessons from Jake Moore, the WHO behind ESET’s awesome content
The WHO behind your content matters
“Content marketing of the future may have little to do with the content, and everything to do with the person creating it.” - Mark Schaefer
In a recent podcast, US marketing gurus Mark Schaefer and Jay Acunzo argued that successful content marketing is no longer primarily about the content, it’s about the person who creates it. I couldn’t agree more. The who behind your content really matters.
If you want success it means recruiting the people closest to your audience to contribute to your content - experts with knowledge and passion for the subject, people who shape the conversations in your field.
Alongside supporting internal experts, smart organisations are hiring in established faces in the industry to front their content drive.
Introducing Jake Moore, the face of ESET’s commentary and content
Cyber security firm ESET is one such smart business.
A few years back they hired cyber security adviser Jake Moore to become their spokesperson in the UK. Jake had previously worked for the police for 14 years, investigating computer crime and advising companies on how to protect themselves against online threats - the perfect person to comment on cyber related issues and provide support and advice.
For ESET had a brand challenge. Loved by IT professionals and well known in Europe, they hadn't cracked the wider UK market. They wanted to build their public profile and get the word out more widely to the person in the street.
Jake is an insightful, knowledgeable expert with an enviable ability to communicate complex cyber security concepts to people with all levels of knowledge. He has quickly become the go to expert for TV and radio when a cyber issue hits the news.
But Jake is more than just a spokesperson - he’s a highly skilled content creator too. His down-to-earth webinars, talks, blogs and TikTok videos have reached millions, helping people and businesses to understand cyber-security risks and how best to protect themselves.
Jake’s commentary and accessible, entertaining content is helping ESET to become far more widely known and respected in the UK, not just by IT professionals but by the general public too.
Lessons for others organisations
Alongside content created by technical experts, having someone like Jake as a visible face of the organisation’s commentary and public-facing content is evidently working for ESET.
What lessons can others take from this approach? Here are my thoughts.
1. ‘Hire maniacs*’
(*Jake, please forgive me for the ‘maniacs’ badge - I took this from an interview I did with Rick Short, then director of marketing communications at engineering firm Indium - but I think it kind of fits 😁.)
“The only way to achieve this level of performance is to hire people who are consumed with the topics that matter to your customers - maniacs who truly love their careers, their fields of study, their technologies, and their colleagues. This joie de vivre is the answer to the content challenge.”
- Rick Short, Indium
I interviewed Jake online one cold late December afternoon. Despite the chill (it was a shivering 14 degrees in his home office), his warmth, excitement and genuine enthusiasm for cyber security and for ESET’s products shone through.
“I am fascinated by cyber crime. And I have long been a fan of ESET - a company I’ve always admired and still do. I couldn’t work for a company I don’t believe in. It has to come from the heart.”
- Jake Moore
Jake’s dual role as commentator and content creator is still pretty rare in my experience. With his undoubted expertise, enthusiasm, presentation skills and creativity (Jake is also a skilled photographer, writer and storyteller), ESET made clever hire here.
>> Lesson: Hire a passionate enthusiast, someone who genuinely loves their subject and your organisation, an outsider to work inside your company, a brilliant communicator who speaks and writes from the heart.
2. Make education your aim
Jake’s content is really, really good. It is helpful, fun, clear and easily actionable, created with the aim of educating businesses and members of the general public on how to avoid cyber security risks.
Check out his short video series: Jake & Jack’s Digital Hacks as an example.
In conversation with me, Jake doesn’t badge what he creates as content but as training - an interesting nuance that I note.
>> Lesson: Educate through your content - help, don’t sell and make teaching your aim.
3. Take inspiration from daily life
Jake’s most popular articles and videos are drawn from his own daily experiences.
Is your phone listening to you (spoiler alert, it’s not).
So, when his friend’s wife’s instagram account was hacked, he knew he had to help and to write about it.
“She asked me if I knew of any tips to regain control. I had heard of both good and bad outcomes in similar situations, online, but I had never attempted it first-hand. If I’m honest, I was actually a little excited at the opportunity to test Instagram’s recovery methods to see if I could learn anything.”
This means he rarely runs out of content ideas. If he’s struggling for inspiration, he turns to the 10 most used apps on his phone and thinks - is there a security angle somewhere here?
>> Lesson: Take inspiration from your daily life, be curious and draw ideas from your own experience.
4. Experiment, then tell the story
“The best articles and webinars are the ones with true stories.”
- Jake Moore
During his career Jake has built up a catalogue of stories including murder investigations, breaking encryption, social engineering and even gaining entry to company networks ethically. Penetration testing with the police was a fantastic way of getting the message across to businesses who had their heads firmly in the sand.
Stories of experiments and tests make for unmissable cyber security content. As part of his role at ESET, Jake uses his cyber skills to conduct his own experiments and research. Some brave businesses even ask Jake to try and hack into their companies. The outcome is never certain but this sense of jeopardy makes Jake’s content even more seductive.
>> Lesson: Conduct your own bold experiments and tell the story - whatever the outcome.
5. Look to the future
When a clued up colleague in PR suggested fronting ESET’s first TikTok channel, Jake jumped at the opportunity. For sure, ESET’s traditional customers didn’t hang out there now, but is a home for IT managers of the future. His TikTok videos are proving surprisingly popular (e.g. Beware of TikTok Scams has amassed over 1.1million views). The videos are then repurposed for YouTube and shared with their current audience.
>> Lesson: Play the long game to connect with your future audience.
Conclusion
Content marketing is no longer just about the content, it’s about the person who creates it. The WHO behind your content matters.
With Jake Moore as the very human face of ESET’s public facing content, they can’t go wrong.
Congratulations, Jake and ESET! I think all this brave, entertaining and awesome content is worthy of a Valuable Content Award. Badge in the post for you.
Find out more:
About Jake: jakemoore.uk
About ESET: www.eset.com/uk