Why smart people struggle with content creation

Transcription

So something that I've noticed, Daniel, about posting on LinkedIn is there's no one size fits all. Like, yes, there are certain principles that apply when you're creating content, like make sure that the hook is curiosity inducing or eye-catching or make sure that you have a high resolution photo with the text. Those general principles, I think, do apply. But what I've noticed from ghostwriting for like a bunch of people at this point and also just talking to friends that want to post is, it's tough to prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach to how they should be doing their content. Because if you even look at like your content versus mine, they're very different in terms of style. Now, do I have posts that have gotten 200,000 impressions? Yes. Do you as well? Absolutely. But we got there in different ways. So for me, this is a really relevant topic because as someone who's always thinking about how do I help my clients get their content to be seen on LinkedIn while not necessarily forcing my specific style or approach on them, like, how do I actually do that for them in a way that still helps them to like, feel authentic or, you know, drive traffic to their business? That's something that keeps me up at night. So I'm curious your thoughts on that, Daniel, because we've been seeing a lot of people that have been trying to replicate your content style with the red box and the arrow. I don't know how successful they've been with it, but like, what are your thoughts on this idea of there not necessarily being a one-size-fits-all approach to getting your content seen beyond like the base principles? This concept, Matt, of not a one-size-fits-all strategy to LinkedIn really reminds me of the Kevin Lee episode as I was writing a post about this because just like there's a not one-size-fits-all strategy for going viral, evoking emotion, and posting on LinkedIn, the same applies for growing on LinkedIn because we'll talk about getting 1% better each day, but when you're on LinkedIn, it's not like when you're working in investment banking, Matt, there's a clear like, you know, you work for this amount of time, there's a skills tracker where you can hit certain skills and then you get promoted, but it's not like that on LinkedIn. Everyone is going to have a uniquely different journey. So I think what that, the key to having, you know, your own strategy is making it your own, not trying to copy somebody else's strategy because one, that's not like authentic. It's not who you are and you can't really draw emotion from that and your audience will notice that. And also something you can do over the long-term because if you're writing about growing on LinkedIn and you're not passionate about growing on LinkedIn, you're not gonna be able to do that long-term and you're just gonna burn out and you're gonna be done. But if you're passionate about cooking and could talk about that for ages, then that's a strategy that is worth pursuing and you'll be able to get better at talking about cooking. So I think I just gave you an equally long rant, Matt, about a one-size-fits-all strategy and how to improve on social media. But what do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, a couple thoughts. I love that analogy you gave of like the cooking. If cooking is your passion, then you're gonna be able to do it so much longer than someone who's not actually passionate about that topic. I think genuine interest in whatever it is that you're posting about is extremely important for consistency on these platforms because social media is an infinite game. So you don't just get to stop one day. Yes, you can stop if you want, but the point of playing the game is to just keep playing it and to stay in the game. So that means that everyone, ideally, posting content should adopt a very long-term lens to how they actually do their content. What does this mean? Well, it means posting about things that you are actually interested in, posting in a way that feels like how you would actually want to post your content, but still being authentic enough where your voice is different from every other voice out there. And the other thought that I had reaction rather to what you said, Daniel, was when there's no one-size-fits-all approach to going viral or growing on LinkedIn or on social media in general, it's kind of like how there are different ways to get in shape and there's different sports that you can play. But at the end of the day, those core principles of like, you know, eat enough protein, make sure you're active and like be in a calorie deficit, what have you. Like those, those are the core principles of having a good hook and making sure the idea is something that your audience would actually be interested in and, you know, being active and engaging and commenting with your audience. Those are the core things. But beyond that, the sport, you know, that you play to get in shape, whether it's tennis or soccer or, or baseball or whatever CrossFit or whatever people are doing. Uh That is just a means, a vehicle to get that growth, to get that outcome in the case of sports. Like that's the vehicle to get in shape, but there are many paths to get there. So I think of content the same way. And when, when you're as a ghostwriter, as a someone who's like a content advisor, you're kind of trying to think, okay, based on what I know about this person, what's like their vehicle or their approach, their unique approach that will be sustainable to them because they're actually interested in it. Like Daniel, I know you play tennis, so it wouldn't be hard for me to force you to play tennis every day. But if I went and talked to someone else who hates tennis, then it would be unreasonable for me to expect them to stick to it. And it wouldn't be right for me to also suggest that that's the only way that they can grow on LinkedIn. You're right. This reminds me of, and I hope I'm bringing in so many different episodes, but the Sarah Rav episode and what she was talking about with her job as being a personal branding strategist and coach doing the similar, what you do Matt is most of her job is not really writing the content anymore for her clients. It's just convincing them to post and it's doing the 80% of things that like get most of the outcomes from coaching them. I think I actually messed up. It's really the 20% of things. It's really just, she's helping her clients be consistent and actually post on social media because doing that alone, trying to get into a new habit of posting and like getting over the objection is tough. And that's a lot of the value that Sarah provides. And I hope is one takeaway the audience can have from this is that to find your strategy, it takes a lot of consistency and that's a lot of the reason that people hire a coach. So whether it's hiring a coach or hopefully listening to this podcast that can help you stay in content longer and figure out your strategy of how you're going to stay in it long-term, because that's when you see a lot of the gains of content. Not to quote like Alex Hermosi or someone like that, but I think some people in the very beginning have this notion that they need to get it just right in the beginning and that if they don't do that in the beginning, then their reputation is in danger or they'll damage their reputation. But that's flawed because one, you slowly develop your unique voice over time via reps and consistency. It's very rare that someone right out of the gate achieves like the voice or the style that just happens to take off with their audience. It takes a little bit of experimentation. And two, about the reputation thing, it's the spotlight effect. We all think that everyone's watching us when in reality, and I still have to remind myself of this daily, most people don't even know you exist. Like, yes, in your little bubble on LinkedIn, it probably feels like everyone's watching you. But in reality, everyone's just living their life in a like a really rich, colorful movie where they're the main character and you're just literally an extra that walked by for five seconds. So when I think about that, it emboldens me to continue testing and experimenting, even with content that feels a little bit not like me sometimes, because you never know. You have to push the boundaries of what you're comfortable with in order to see any kind of result in the long run. I love how we're piecing together all these different content creators we've listened to and had on the show. Some, some haven't been on the show. And I forget who said this, but at the start, everyone's content doesn't just come out perfect, like you said, Matt. Like Alex from Ozzy wasn't perfect at content from the first TikTok he filmed. Same with every TikToker. Same with every investment banker. Like you don't just start perfect at the job. That's why they make you wait a year until you get promoted or earn any other job. That's not, you don't, you aren't immediately perfect. Like your company won't just turn into a billion dollar company overnight. So it takes like everyone on content goes through the same cringe mountain, the same struggles of trying to find their voice regardless of how many coaches or courses you take. That's just, that's normal. Now, some of the stuff like some courses and coaches just help you accelerate that learning process faster. And that can be very helpful for a lot of people. And I think that's helpful to know too, going in that everyone starts from square one in content. You aren't just born a perfect content creator. I don't even know what to say to that. It encapsulates it so well. Uh, I think What you said right there about, you know, no one really knows at the start what their content is actually going to look like. God, the line is so true. When I started my YouTube channel, I had no idea what content I would eventually be making years later. If you told me that I'd be getting hundreds of thousands of views on videos filmed with my iPhone selfie camera where I just wrote stuff on a whiteboard and then yapped at people for 20 minutes, I would have laughed at you. And similarly with my LinkedIn content, if you had told me that a silly little LinkedIn post with like 5 to 10,000 impressions would drive more customers to Forge than, you know, like one of my most viral ones with 200,000 impressions, I also would have been like, oh, that's really interesting. I wonder why. Bottom line is, there's a lot of things that you just don't know in the very beginning, and the only way to find out what works for you and for your goals with content is to put that stuff out there and let the world react to it. Because even the best content creators don't know for sure how their content is going to perform. Mr. Beast cannot tell you if his next video is going to get 10 million views or 20 million views. He can have probably a good sense of if something's going to perform really well, but at the end of the day, one of the great mysteries of content, and maybe that's what makes it interesting to me, is you never really fully crack the code. Like you never fully 100% crack the code. And to some people, that's discouraging because they're like, Ah, man, you're telling me that I can't 100% of the time guarantee that I'm going to go viral? But I think that's also what makes it so, so interesting and so fascinating to dig into. Because Daniel, I mean, I feel like every person that we talk to brings a different perspective, and they've all, everyone that we've had on the pod has had success on LinkedIn to some extent, whether for their business or just growing their own following and influence. We've probably talked to, what, 10, 15 LinkedIn top voices at this point. And everyone's perspective on how they create their content, whether it's, you know, Jason Saltzman, who doesn't post anything that is really that personal on his account, but is still LinkedIn top voice and rakes in hundreds of thousands of millions of impressions every year. Or if it's someone like Julia Alvarenga, who really leans into the authenticity and that side of her content and absolutely crushes it. It goes back to the whole thing we were talking about. There is no one-size-fits-all and that to me is what makes it so interesting. I think this is where a lot of smart people get caught up in content creation because we've been taught our whole lives on school to do well on a test, the test will get you into a school. And then once you school, you have to get good grades and then you're gonna get a job and then your job is gonna have these skill trackers that are gonna determine your compensation and that are gonna determine where you get promoted and this endless going cycle of rubrics. And with content, you're never gonna find that. And that's the exciting part about it because you get to figure that out yourselves and you're gonna test certain things, see if this hook is what that does to the rubric and if adding the word just is gonna, you know, improve who sees your click and there's A/B testing and all these things. But at the end of the day, we don't know. The only things we do know is the things that are pretty obvious, like posting consistently and making content that you're proud of and that you would want to read. I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you for tuning into this episode. And I'm sorry to the audience that watched this, my light died halfway through, so that's why it looks like I'm in a cave. I'm not in a cave. Catch you in the next one.