Listen to the Episode
Building a brand online is hard. There’s just a certain amount of perseverance, focus, strategy and some luck that goes into building a sustainable business. What I’m going to share in this episode is a bit ironic given that I’m in the midst of a huge content creation push-I’m publishing 31 days of podcast episodes one for each day during the month of May. I’m not just randomly recording posts, there’s a purpose and strategy to embarking on this challenge. While I’ll be sharing what that is at the end of the challenge, some surprising thoughts have come up as I dig deep creatively. And I thought I would share some thoughts so that you can avoid being directed in the wrong way as a content creator building a business.
Disclaimer
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Creators Getting Paid
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Show Notes
I’ve made A LOT of mistakes as a content creator building a business. There are new and old mistakes but in this conversation I’m really reflecting on the moment that we’re currently and the profound sense of urgency many of us are feeling related to building a financially healthy business and brand. Here’s what people are getting wrong.
Stop Focusing on Follower Counts
Let’s be clear, I absolutely understand why follower counts are so enticing-the idea is that those numbers are showing the world in a concrete way who you’re impacting, interesting or influencing. My question is…what’s the real story your follower count is telling?
- How engaged are your followers? Do you hear from them? Have you met anyone that is on your list? (in a safe place) Do people tell you that they loved a project, post or piece that you worked on? Are you taking screen shots of those interactions?
- Are the people following your work paying for your products, goods and services? Do you actually have products, goods or services that you’re selling to your audience?
- If you take one of the following actions…do your followers actually do what you’ve requested?
- Sign up for something
- Attend a workshop
- Advocate on behalf of something that you care about
- Are your followers listening to your podcast episodes, watching your videos, reading your content. If you have 100,000 followers and they aren’t subscribing to your list-start working on getting your followers to DO SOMETHING.
Your followers are in communication with you but you might be missing the message. Focus on engaging your audience. Speak to them, pay attention to what they are doing, what they aren’t doing, what they are and aren’t saying to you. Engagement is everything. Especially in the current environment that we’re in. People support, uplift, buy from people that they know, like and trust. Are you taking actions to build that energy within your brand?
Creating Content That Doesn’t Work On Your Behalf
What do I mean by this? What is the purpose of the content that you’re creating? I’ve learned the hard way that creating content just to create content is unsustainable and will burn you out in the long-run. Think of your content as an employee or several employees. While you’re sleeping, hanging out with friends and family, soaking in the hot springs your content should be doing the following (depending on your niche)
- Entertaining your audience
- Educating your audience
- Encouraging people to subscribe to your list (this one is huge)
- Sharing your products/goods or services
- Selling your books
- Booking your coaching
If you’re just creating content without making it “work” for you-it’s a lost opportunity. I’m not saying to avoid those one off random posts that touch on a topic, energy or something that you’re called upon to share. Those should be 20% of your content. The other 80% of your content needs to lend a hand to your business. Especially if you’re trying to get paid. I’ve definitely learned this lesson the hard way. If you haven’t been thinking about this here’s a quick and easy way to make sure you don’t forget about your end goals in your content:
- Before writing or hitting record work through the following quick and easy questions:
- What is the purpose of this content?
- Will it move it towards my end goal and how will this content do that for me?
- Am I sharing a way to get on one of my lists in this content?
- Is this content of the moment or evergreen? There’s no right or wrong answer-it’s just good to know how to position what you’re asking based on the moment your content is designed in.
In fact, right now I’m in the middle of producing 31 days of podcasts. I’m being very careful to avoid sharing details such as the year, month (as much as possible) I’m directing people to a list “Your Next $1,000” challenge and sharing my signature resource-Creators Getting Paid. This is all intentional. How intentional are you with your content creation?
Creating Content and Sales
Creating Content Or Sales, Creating Content vs. Sales
This topic is actually what I’ve spent A LOT of time thinking about. This is why I just talked about the purpose of your content. What is it doing for you? Have you been so busy creating content that you AREN’T MAKING MONEY?
Your content should compliment the following efforts:
Attracting and warming up inbound leads to your offers-These could be (but aren’t limited to the following)
- Helping you sell tickets-to an event or experience that you’re hosting.
- Book sales-Do you write and sell books? You backlink to them and talk about them in your content.
- Workshops-Hosting an upcoming workshop or have built out an evergreen offering? Do you backlink to it.
- Subscriptions-Do you have a newsletter, tool or subscription box? You should be referencing it in all of your content.
- Coaching hours-Are you communicating how people can book a call with you? How much it would cost and more?
- Zine purchases
- Art purchases
- Ad revenue-Are you redirecting people to your website, podcast or YouTube channel in order to increase views to your content and grow your ad revenue?
How Intentional Are You Being?
I think this is the question that I’m really asking and is at the heart of your episode. If you’re in the process of switching from a hobbyist creator to building income. OR, you’ve already made this switch years ago, this is a reminder to hit pause and check in with your goals, intentions and the purpose of what you’re creating. It’s so easy to get distracted. Stay focused.
Your Next $1000 (Dollars)
Are you needing inspiration and community to earn your next $1,000 dollars? I’m launching a live challenge in August. You’ll be a part of my beta group. when it goes “live” in August. Why am I launching this challenge? Because sometimes we’re building momentum with our income and then we get stuck. Maybe we’re tired, or we need support in reimagining who we’re serving. That’s where this challenge comes in. Go to creatorsgettingpaid.com/challenge to get on the waitlist today.
