What is the creator economy?
Anybody else have kids that say they want to be ‘YouTubers’ when you ask them what you want to be when you grow up?
Well that’s what the creator economy is all about, so what exactly does it mean?
It’s defined as “the class of businesses built by over 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.” (Signalfire)
With more than 50 million people around the world considering themselves creators, it’s become the fastest-growing type of small business.
How do I become a great content creator?
In the creator economy, you don’t have to have a huge team and tons of money to create your brand. All you need is a defined personal brand, message, audience segment AND some great content to engage with them. And then BOOM, you’re a content creator! So if you’re reading this and posting on LinkedIn frequently with some strategy…consider yourself a content creator…yay!
But no matter where you’re at in your personal brand journey, creating content isn’t easy. The people that you see with amazing videos, graphics, reels and more may have a team to support them. And since most of us don’t have that, I want to lay out some easy tips to help make you a great content creator.
7 tips to great creating content
The other week I checked out two awesome LinkedIn for Creators, Miranda Head and Zander Van Gogh, on their LinkedIn Live called ‘Top 5 things creators need to know’. I love what they shared and have a few other thoughts for you as you create content:
1) Find your niche and stick to it
You can’t post about everything and anything. Your experiences and skills lend themselves to a specific niche that you should focus your content on. So for me, my experience in branding and marketing the last 11+ years working with corporate brands to small businesses, has given me the experience and most importantly credibility to be a thought leader in this niche. You’ll see about 70% of my content focused on branding and marketing and the rest on my shift out of corporate and being an entrepreneur.
2) Add value
Miranda and Zander talked about how we always want to add value. Share learnings and takeaways. Don’t just post to post, this is about quality content over quantity so you want people to walk away learning something new. Stick to 3 great posts a week plus commenting and engaging with others rather than posting too much or off brand.
3) Be timely
Check out what’s going on around you and makes you inspired to post. You want to keep up with trending topics in particular those around your niche. So here I am talking about the creator economy and content because I am a content creator and it’s critical to branding and marketing. Check out trending hashtags and search volume to see what is trending around your expertise and latch onto any trending moment to take advantage of the boost.
4) Invite Conversation
Use your content as an icebreaker so more points can be added. This is where polls on LinkedIn can be so powerful or a carousel with questions and thought starters. You want to inspire the conversation just enough so they feel compelled to comment back. Plus comments are super important for the algorithm.
I had major success with my recent poll on whether branding, marketing or sales, comes first. I couldn’t believe all the organic comments!
5) Be relatable, be authentically you.
I know this word authenticity is getting thrown around a lot. But truly, being a content creator isn’t about everyone liking you or trying to be someone else. It’s about understanding who you are, the value you give and serving your audience with value they desire. So figure out what makes you excited and test out some content! See what does well or not so well.
6) Get to the point
You’re one thumb swipe away from someone passing your post so you really have to get to the point quickly and visually. It’s important to use a visual to stand out and make sure it relates to the point you’re trying to make. Yes, you can write pretty long form content on LinkedIn and Instagram these days, but I would not expect that your audience is reading it. Maybe your super fans are. So to get that engagement, get to the point quickly and think about the ah- ha moment.
7) Listen as much as you post
Whenever you’re watching a LinkedIn Live, webinar or listening to a conversation on Clubhouse, this is a major opportunity to find new content to create. In my Clubhouse rooms or on community calls, I take note of the questions people are asking and create new content off of that. This is SO often overlooked and is what social listening is all about. LISTEN to your audience. See what they’re asking, how they’re commenting on your content and others like you, and build posts off of that. You’d be surprised at how much content you can create just by listening.
Conclusion
You have more power than you can ever could imagine with social media and this COVID world. In no other time could you actually make a living and touch lives, purely by sharing your voice and having a perspective. It’s incredible and you have the power to really change the world with your personal brand and content. So get out there. Try some stuff out. It’s okay if you mess up. You can always delete or archive a post. People are incredibly forgiving right now and your VOICE matters!
If you’re wondering how to BE SEEN and figure out what your voice is and how to make it stand out on LinkedIn, you definitely should check out our LIVE LinkedIn Authority Accelerator Masterclass starting October 14th. Joshua B. Lee and I are taking a select group to work with us directly for 6 weeks to help you go from anonymous to seen. You’ll learn how to brand yourself and bring your voice to life on LinkedIn. We’re giving all our secrets away, so don’t miss out!
