Coffee Social · 2025-10-09 · 9 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
27 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
The core premise is simple but often ignored: guessing what your audience wants leads to uncertain sales results. Jonathan and Mimi break down practical methods for discovering what your actual (or potential) audience is seeking, emphasizing that this research phase applies whether you have five followers or five thousand. They recommend using Instagram Stories polls, Instagram post polls, LinkedIn quizzes, and going live on social audio platforms where engagement naturally happens. For those starting from scratch, they suggest monitoring what questions competitors' audiences ask in comments and DMs - essentially borrowing established audiences for market research. Mimi shares her own pivot: she initially thought she served all coaches but discovered through listening that she specifically serves women aged 40-60 in their "second act" seeking social media visibility. This audience discovery process isn't just about validation; it reshapes your entire positioning and messaging. Office hours (either on social audio or in membership communities) serve dual purposes: solving real problems for current followers while generating content ideas and market insights simultaneously.
Start by listening to the few people you do have - even one superfan. Then monitor the comment sections and questions on competitors' content in your niche to identify what your target audience is asking, and create content answering those questions.
Use Instagram Stories polls, Instagram post polls, LinkedIn quizzes, and go live on social audio or Instagram Live where people are naturally more willing to engage. You can also hold office hours where people bring their struggles and questions directly.
She initially thought she served all coaches but through listening to her audience discovered she specifically serves female coaches aged 40-60 in their second act looking to get seen on social media - a much more specific demographic than her original assumption.
Your competitors' comment sections reveal the actual questions and pain points your target audience has, giving you gold-standard content ideas and validation that those questions are being asked by real people in your niche.
Office hours let you see what people are struggling with in real-time, give you content ideas from their actual questions and problems, and allow you to help them immediately while gathering market research.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode delivers predictable, surface-level advice on audience listening - polls, asking questions, checking competitor comments - that most social media operators already know. While the office hours and audience mining ideas have minor merit, the content lacks depth, novel frameworks, or counterintuitive findings. Substantial padding includes personal banter about blankets, New York accents, and off-topic asides that dilute the core message.
The importance of listening to your audience. You know, I lot of entrepreneurs they have like this idea in their mind. They're like, this is what the people need. I'm gonna create this and it's gonna sell like hotcakes.
The comment section of your competitors is gold. It's gold. Because those are questions that are being asked of that competitor that you can answer.
The advice is almost entirely recycled conventional wisdom about audience research, customer discovery, and competitive intelligence - concepts that have been foundational to B2B strategy for decades. There is no contrarian framing, first-principles thinking, or counterintuitive insight. The hosts repeat each other's points without building novel arguments.
you can poll your audience on Instagram. There's so many ways that you can ask your audience questions on Instagram, do polls on Instagram
go into other people's rooms and and on other people's social media in your niche and look at what questions they're being asked
This is a co-hosted episode with no external guests. The hosts are social media content creators and entrepreneurs, but their credentials, company scale, revenue impact, or practitioner depth are never established in the transcript. Without guest information or demonstrated operator authority, this dimension does not apply.
It's Corpy Social, the podcast all about social media and business. And now, here are your hosts, Jonathan Howard and Mimi Langley.
The episode contains almost no concrete data, named case studies, metrics, timelines, or dollar figures. References to 'Rocky' and 'Gary V' are vague and anecdotal. Claims about audience size ('five people'), demographics ('women 40 to 60 years old'), and execution methods lack numbers, measurable outcomes, or detailed examples that would help a B2B operator replicate the approach.
So women 40 to 60 years old. That wasn't my demographic originally, but it is my demographic. It's the people I help.
you could have a good solid five people that are willing to give you everything you need to get going, right?
The hosts engage in friendly, natural banter but rarely push each other with tough questions or challenge claims. Follow-ups are surface-level, agreeing quickly rather than probing deeper. The conversation derails frequently into meta-commentary (blankets, accents, cursing) and self-promotional content rather than substantive exploration of the core topic.
I like that whole office hours concept. Very good.
Um, and with that, Mimi, I'm gonna throw it to you for where else they can find us.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Answer this week's question... Check out Jonathan's NEW Podcast: The Story Lab Podcast ___________________________________ If you’ve been throwing content at the wall hoping something sticks… this one’s for you. In this Coffee Social episode, Jonathan and I share how listening to your audience can transform the way you create, sell, and show up online. We break down the exact tools and strategies that help you turn audience feedback into content that connects and offers that sell. From Instagram polls to going live on LinkedIn, we share creative ways to spark real conversations and get insights that fuel content, offers, and growth. Even if your audience is small (or you’re just starting from zero), this episode will help you connect deeper, create smarter, and grow faster. This isn’t about chasing trends - it’s about co-creating with your people. Grab a notebook & a cup and enjoy! DID YOU LOVE THIS EPISODE A LATTE? Give the podcast 5 STARS & write an awesome review! It helps your hosts so much!
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
It's Corpy Social, the podcast all about social media and business. And now, here are your hosts, Jonathan Howard and Mimi Langley. Hi, everyone. Hi, Jonathan Howard.
You were waiting for me. Hello, Mimi Langley. He was waiting for me patiently. You guys, we this is gonna be a quick episode because we wanted to come on here and tell you, tell you what, Jonathan?
The importance of what? The importance of listening to your audience. You know, I like to talk about that a lot. A lot of entrepreneurs they have like this idea in their mind.
They're like, this is what the people need. I'm gonna create this and it's gonna sell like hotcakes. It's gonna be unbelievable. Uh everything's gonna be great.
No. Not always. Now, sometimes that works out. Not always, not always, but yeah.
There's a little bit more to it than that, let's say. Maybe you're wondering, well, how the heck do I even do that? Like, how do I even get people to engage in the first place? Like, what can I do that people would want to give me their questions and their feedback?
So, like, Jonathan, I know you have some ideas. I have some ideas. So I'm gonna say um the first thing you can do is you can poll your audience on Instagram. There's so many ways that you can ask your audience questions on Instagram, do polls on Instagram, you know, use your stories to connect and say, hey, do you want to see A or B?
B or C, C or D. I mean, it's like going to the eye doctor on your Instagram stories, but you could still do it. Um, so there's that. There is, I mean, just asking them questions in your posts, like, hey, we're going, I'm doing this.
What would you prefer? You want to learn more about this or this, you know, easy things like that. And they do actually allow you to do polls in your in your posts now. Um, I mean, going on, running a uh quiz on LinkedIn, you can do as well, or a poll on LinkedIn.
So all sorts of places you can ask questions. The other thing you can do is you can just ask your audience flat out. If you're talking, if you have a one-on-one with somebody or a group session with people, hey, so I'm glad you came to this. What would you want to see next?
What are you struggling with? You know, just simple questions like that, easy to do. I personally like if if if I'm trying to get them to ask me their questions or like what are they struggling with? I love going live, whether it's on social audio or Instagram live or Facebook Live, wherever.
I feel like there's just something when you're live, it's like people are so willing to talk back to you. Yep. Yep. For sure, definitely on social audio.
But I've even seen on Instagram lives, yeah. On social audio, and one of the things that I do on social audio and in my memberships, actually, because it helps me get content, is I hold office hours. Office hours allows you to see what people are struggling with. What are they struggling with?
It gives you content ideas. It's and and it allows you to help them with those problems in that moment. Yeah, I like that whole office hours concept. Very good.
Okay, so what if I don't have an audience? What if I'm like brand new and I'm still like I what I don't know. Am I even at that point where it's important for me to listen to an audience? Okay.
Yes. First, you know, listen to the few people that you have because there are people that are an audience almost immediately upon showing up on social media. You'll have that one person that is a super fan right away. We don't know why they found us, but they did, and they love us.
So that's awesome. Talk listen to those people. Next, go into other people's rooms and and on other people's social media in your niche and look at what questions they're being asked in their comments and during the rooms and sessions. The comment section of your competitors is gold.
It's gold. Because those are questions that are being asked of that competitor that you can answer. And it's giving you insight. Oh, sorry.
So go to if I'm me, I would go to Rocky's page, social with Rocky. I'd go to her page and I'd look and see what questions people are asking her in her comments. And then I would create content that answers those questions. Because I know somebody's asking those questions.
Right. I had to write down what I was gonna say before I forget. Okay. We're trying hard not to jump over each other.
But we're from New York. This is just how people talk. I don't know what you're talking about. But yeah, like if you have an idea, like, oh, like their audience is my audience, like that's who I'm trying to attract.
Like, you, you know, as a business owner, you kind of have this idea in your head, like, I'm trying to attract, you know, women 30 plus, and they're kind of like doing this with their lives, and they want to be doing this. Like, maybe it's busy moms who want to, you know, side hustle and they're in their 30s. You know, then you can go after those people that already have an audience like that, like what Jonathan's saying. Like you're kind of borrowing their audience in a sense.
Um, they're not your people yet, but yeah. You're borrowing them for feedback because you know there's people out there and they may not be attracted to social with Rocky, but they have the same questions as the her audience does. You want to get those types of people so you can answer those questions. You're borrowing her audience to do surveying and figure out what people are looking for.
Yeah, and shout out to Rocky. Hi, Rocky. Hi, Rocky. Um, also, it made me think of when going back to when you're talking to your audience, like, you know, and it doesn't have to be a big audience, you guys.
Just like Jonathan said, you could have a good solid five people that are willing to give you everything you need to get going, right? Um but it's funny because you might think in your head, oh, I'm serving, you know, women 30 years and older, you know, 30 to 40 years old, and they make this much money and all this stuff. And then you learn just by listening to your audience, this is who they really are. Right.
Do you know what I'm saying? Like you I don't know. There's so much. Yeah, there's so much you can do with it, and you are you're learning from your audience who they really are and what they really do.
I, for the longest time, was helping coaches, just coaches. And I didn't have it narrowed down to female coaches that are in their second act looking for a way to get seen on social media. And that's really who I help. So women 40 to 60 years old.
That wasn't my demographic originally, but it is my demographic. It's the people I help. All right, we're done. Oh my gosh, you guys.
You guys, what was what we thought was just small talk. Jonathan, tell them what they should do. Not what they have to do, but what they should do. They should go over to um wherever they listen to a podcast and give Mimi five stars.
Five stars. Anytime you review it. If you're over on Spotify, ask us questions, give us a rating. If you're on Apple, give us a rating, write a review, whatever you got.
Um, and with that, Mimi, I'm gonna throw it to you for where else they can find us. Um well, we're on Instagram, Coffee Social Podcasts, we're on YouTube if you'd rather watch us, which by the way, I don't know if you guys know this, but I've been wearing a blanket in every single episode since we've done the intro trailer in season one. She wears a blanket. Wait, did I wear a blanket during that one?
I think I did. Yes, you did. It you you said it was gonna be your thing, and I was like, your thing is gonna be a blanket? And it was supposed to also be holding the microphone, but here we are.
Even the people that do the podcast in the bed that you said you were wanted to mimic with the blanket have mic stands. Leave me alone with my mic stand. Um no, but uh yeah, we're on YouTube. So if you don't know, I have a I wear a blanket all the time.
Check out YouTube once in a while and and watch one of the podcast episodes. See what color blanket Mimi's wearing today. Not just a blanket, by the way. She wears clothes under the blanket.
Yeah, oh my gosh, you guys. Yeah, thank you for being clear about that because I don't know. Um, I have an important question of the day. Okay, here's the question.
Okay. Are you team? I would stop cursing if the majority wanted me to, or are you team? Heck no, I'm not gonna stop cursing.
This is who I am. Ooh. Gary V would definitely say no. That's like what he's known for.
Yep. Jeez. Call me Gary V. Oh my god.
I'm working with Gary V. What? All right, you guys, thank you so much for listening and watching, and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye, everyone.
Bye, Jonathan Howard.
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