#HDMS

[laurafaritos]

HDMS058. Impressions Are Fool’s Gold — Here’s What to Measure Instead

You ever go viral and feel… nothing?

You check your notifications, your views hit six figures, your mom even texts you “saw your little skit!” — and yet… your ticket sales don’t move. Your inbox is dry. Your website’s still a ghost town.

That’s because impressions ≠ impact.

This week’s HDMS post is about measuring earned media without losing your damn mind — especially when you’re a comedian, creator, or indie producer trying to do it all without a marketing degree. We’re breaking down why impressions are the fool’s gold of digital marketing, what actually counts, and how to build a measurement system that doesn’t rely on vibes alone.

This module straight-up dragged the fantasy that impressions = results. Turns out? You can’t measure success by vibes and vanity metrics alone.

Earned media sounds sexy — like, "we got featured!" — but unless it moves people, drives action, or builds long-term trust, it’s just noise. Here’s what I learned:

Impressions are fool’s gold unless they connect to something meaningful (like site visits, sign-ups, or sales).

Self-selection and homophily mess with your data: most people who engage with your earned media already liked you or were in your bubble. That doesn’t mean your brand awareness grew — it might just be echoing in your own hallway.

Most brands can’t track exact causation, so they look at correlation: like “we got mentioned in Fast Company, and then clog sales went up 30%.”

Big brands track stuff like:

Organic website visits

Google search trends

UGC (user-generated content)

Loyalty signups

Earned Media Value (aka: how much ad spend would’ve been needed to reach that many people)

But even then, not all buzz is worth bragging about. Darren from OOFOS said it best: a Slide #53 mention in a Yahoo listicle might have "2M impressions" on paper... but it doesn’t move real people.

Instead, OOFOS puts more weight on small, focused articles that talk about their actual value pillars — recovery, tech, and trust. The goal isn’t to go wide — it’s to go deep with the right people.

This module confirmed something I’ve been feeling for a while: I don’t want to chase hype — I want to build trust.

There’s a huge difference between being seen and being understood. I’ve had content “pop off” before, but unless I had a clear system behind it (like a strong CTA, a lead magnet, or a next step), that moment never turned into anything tangible.

Going forward, I’m focusing on:

Tracking what actually moves people — like link clicks, replies, email signups, and time spent on my site.

Creating a “gut-check” system for myself: Did this post create conversation? Did someone reach out after seeing it? Did it lead to a new connection, ticket sale, or subscriber?

Putting more weight on context-rich moments (like podcast features, comedy roundups, or curated press) instead of viral fluff with no follow-through.

Choosing signal over noise — even if that means fewer likes but better conversion.

As someone who’s self-employed and neurodivergent, I need systems that don’t make me spiral. So if a post gets 500 views and leads to 5 DMs from people who want to work with me? That’s a win. I’m no longer counting “likes” — I’m counting leverage.

If this week’s HDMS post taught me anything, it’s this:

Not all buzz is worth chasing. Impressions are cute, but they don’t pay your bills unless you’ve got strategy behind them. Whether you’re a comedian, creator, or producer — focus on what builds real trust, not just what gets seen.

Measure the stuff that actually means something. Clicks, conversations, conversions. Forget going viral — aim to be remembered.

I hope this post was as helpful to you as it was to me.

Tchau tchauuu!!!

[soranatus]

His Dark Materials Based on the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman

Fanmade trailer was directed by Louis Holmes, Agathe Leroux and Léa Rey Mauzaize Original Score: Jean-Loup Didelot Violinists: Dario Herraiz-Sabater, Eugenia Saval-Llorca Sound Design: Théophile Loaec Storyboard: Léa Rey-Mauzaize, Louis Holmes, Gabo Camarillo Gil Art Direction: Agathe Leroux Vis Dev: Agathe Leroux, Louis Holmes, Léa Rey-Mauzaize, Juliette Brocal Animation Leads: Louis Holmes, Léa Rey-Mauzaize Animation: Victoria Gregiry De Millo, Maxime Jouniot, Jade Khoo, Sandy Lachkar, Agathe Leroux Additional animation: Grégoire De Bernouis, Stella Besse

[hashtagloveloses]

the equivalent exchange of your favorite childhood book series (his dark materials and percy jackson) getting the adaptations they finally deserve but the price is that one character must be played by lin-manuel miranda

[kirjavas]

never not thinking about iorek byrnison eating lee scoresby's dead body, so as not to let it rot but instead allow it to sustain an old friend on his journey. and how this act fulfilled lee's dying wish to help lyra by giving iorek the strength to go on and find her. thinking about consumption as a form of love, loving someone in their entirety and wanting to eat them whole but also love and grief being something you carry inside of you that guides you forward

[kaizsche]

JAMES MCAVOY as LORD ASRIEL BELACQUA HIS DARK MATERIALS, 1.01: LYRA'S JORDAN

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

[bookishable]

it's always better to have loved.

philip pullman, the amber spyglass / guillermo del toro's pinocchio (2022) / fleabag (2016-2019) / andrew garfield / art by @catadromously / anne carson, euripides / markus zusak, the book thief / shannon barry / little women (2019) / the good place (2016-2020) / fyodor dostoevsky, crime and punishment / his dark materials (2019-2022) / @starpeace

[foldingfittedsheets]

My little book club is reading His Dark Materials and daemons came up while my betrothed and I were cuddling in bed.

They said to me, “Do you think anyone’s daemon is a mosquito?”

“What? No way, that’s way too small!”

“No,” they countered, “We see beetles and butterflies, Pan turned into a little lightning bug, and a moth.”

I digested this information in silence, and then my betrothed started shaking with laughter and pitched in two different voices. “‘Where’s your daemon?’ ‘Oh, it’s a tick.’”

I let out such a guttural sound of amusement and horror that I scared the cats. I couldn’t stop laughing and repeating, “It’S a TiCk!!!”

I escalated in hilarity to choking out, “The only blood it can eat is it’s own persons! They JusT gO aRouNd with a TiCk on their face!”

“I don’t think daemons need to eat, do they?” They asked.

“IT’S A tIcK!!” I responded, tears rolling down my face, hyperventilating at the best and worst concept I’d ever imagined.

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

will & lyra | touch (s3 episode 8c)

[madisoncounty]

i remember sky it was blue as ink or at least i think i remember sky

@pscentral​ event 36: trios

[alicentsgf]

hating a character for being a bad person has got to be one of the most boring ways to interact with any story

[sankta-wraith]

His Dark Materials has such a beautiful depiction of love, because in the end love is what saves every world, but the rest of the series is almost a lesson in all the things love can’t save. Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter loved Lyra, but it doesn’t stop them from abandoning her and using her as a pawn in their respective schemes. They loved each other but it doesn’t stop them from manipulating and hurting each other, and it doesn’t save them in the end. Lyra loved Roger but it doesn’t stop her from getting him killed, and it doesn’t bring him back. Will and Lyra loved each other, but it doesn’t stop their separation. John Parry loved Will and his mother, but he still left them. Lyra loved Pan, but she still left him behind in the world of the dead. There’s no absence of love, but it’s not the cure all other books often make it out to be. The love is there, but it doesn’t change anything. And yet in the end it’s Will and Lyra’s love for each other that saves every world. It’s Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter’s love for Lyra (and each other) that lets them defeat Metatron. In a series where love has consistently failed to save the character, two of the most important and seemingly impossible feats are accomplished solely through love. And yes that means that the story inherently contradicts itself, but that’s what I love so much about it. Love is by nature contradictory. The point of the story isn’t to show that love is all powerful or that love achieves nothing. The point is that love doesn’t usually doesn’t solve anything, but that we should continue to love, and that every now and then, love truly will save it all.

[unchangingwindoww]

so naturally their speculation flourished.

― The Secret Commonwealth, Chapter 2

[jacklikejuno]

watching his dark materials is crazy because wdym lyra's father loves her enough to die for her but not to raise her

[kirjavas]

From the very beginning of the show, we had all these discussions with her wardrobe and fabrics and colours as I came in knowing what colours suited me, as Dafne and what colours I felt were Lyra. For all of season one it was her vitality and her colour was red. Whereas colder tones came into season two after (spoiler) the death of Roger where we investigated blues and greens, those colder tones. Season three was all of those elements and shades combined - she’s wearing everything she’s been through. It was a way of, for me, finding that when you grow up you don’t stop being the things you were, you add onto them.

Dafne Keen as Lyra Silvertongue in HIS DARK MATERIALS (2019–2022)

[kaizsche]

What does it do? It tells you the truth. HIS DARK MATERIALS, 1.01: LYRA'S JORDAN