Content Repurposing & My Wakeup Call KDS: 014

I think this is the first time I’ve started writing out my podcast post (for a solo show) without a title. For anyone who writes regularly (or somewhat regularly), you probably have your own writing process and flow for how you do things. For me, I usually have a headline in mind that will dictate the flow of the post.

Not today.

I have a few things I wanted to talk about in today’s episode so we’ll see where this takes us.

An Update On The Personal Side

For those of you who have been with me these past few months, you know it’s been a little rough. I’ve had some difficult things going on with my son (which makes the decision to shut down LeadSurveys look like no big deal, which, in the end, it all happened the way it was supposed to), and while things are heading in the right direction, I’m pretty tired. I’m beyond grateful that my son is feeling better and our lives are starting to get back to “normal” (although the older I get the more I wonder what “normal” is). I’m ready for some uneventful weeks (er, months) where it’s just the day-to-day stuff.

Last week was particularly rough for a multitude of reasons (in this case it had nothing to do with my son) and I found myself wondering if maybe something deeper was going on. I probably watched more TV last week than I had in the previous two months. I am a huge fan of being able to binge watch good shows when I need to check out. Eventually, no matter how good the show is, I come out of that time ready to see the light of day and get something accomplished. What has helped me most when I have to ‘check out’ (for one reason or another, sometimes it’s just to leisurely enjoy chilling), is that it’s simply a part of my process.

I used to get into massive judgment about not being productive (especially when there’s plenty of work to do and bills to pay). But all that did was send me spinning more or block the creative flow to produce.

Now I know that when I give myself this time, I’ll get back to where I want to be much sooner. I’ve had enough experience with this that I don’t resist it anymore (as much as my ego tries, it never wins this argument).

The best thing I can give to myself during these times is to be kind.

I find as much pleasure in the simple things as I possibly can: the weather cooling down, pumpkin scented everything, my family, my dogs, my FB community, a long coffee date with my bestie… whatever. It grounds me and reminds me to stay present.

So, as we get into the tail end of this year, remember to be kind to yourself. Life will present you with enough challenges and struggles, there’s no point in adding to that.

Moving on…

Content Creation, Marketing, and Repurposing

This has been on my mind a lot lately, as I see a handful of people starting to offer services or teach the methodology of batch creating content and then repurposing it into a bunch of micro-content.

I’ll first start by saying this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’m going to recommend you proceed with caution.

Once I pivoted to ‘all things content marketing’, I jumped in excitedly like a little kid at Christmas.

I wanted to consume ‘all the things’ relative to content. At the same time, I started getting a lot of validation and engagement for my #everythingiscontent hashtag and my motto of #JustShowUP (warning: talking in hashtags can be pretty fun when you don’t take it too seriously). There are a handful of directions you can go when you start taking your content “seriously” and get overwhelmed ridiculously fast.

If you’re not creating content at all (or very minimally), you can’t jump in with a grand plan of strategy, keywords, repurposing, multiple platforms, and “being everywhere.” It just won’t work. I’m saying that as a fellow human being and a fellow creator. The truth is we all have a life to live too. The most important thing is to start doing more and do it consistently.

If you’re not creating at all, pick ONE thing you will do weekly. And do it.

For at least a month.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Detach from the outcome, what it’s supposed to look like, or how it’s supposed to bring in sales. ” quote=”Detach from the outcome, what it’s supposed to look like, or how it’s supposed to bring in sales. ” theme=”style6″]

Detach from the outcome, what it’s supposed to look like, or how it’s supposed to bring in sales. The more expectations you put on what you’re doing the more it interferes with the quality of what you’re creating. I’ve said it so many times, but anytime I’ve done something with the initial expectation that it will bring in ‘X’ amount of dollars, it failed.

Every time I did something I enjoyed and felt in my gut was the right thing to do… AND… most importantly, followed up with action? It brought in income.

Content Creation is work.

Period.

How you choose to look at that work or frame what you’re doing is up to you.

One thing I’ve been seeing a lot of lately is the whole idea of “create months of content in 2 days and let it run on autopilot!”

Can you do that?

Yep.

Absolutely.

I am a huge believer in batch creating content, but not months worth for the sake of not having to consistently create.

I also believe in repurposing content, but the way it’s being taught makes it convenient and valuable for you, not your audience.

Context is so vitally important when it comes to content.

People consume different types of content on different platforms. Too many people are still pushing content to different channels than going all in on one and getting it working really well, then adding more channels when you have the foundation set and working.

A couple years back I had considered working with a video company. I would fly to them and they would create an entire year worth of videos for me (one video a week), then they would publish those and optimize them on YouTube for me. As tempting as this was, nothing about it felt right to me (this isn’t a judgment on them or how they did it because I know they got results for people and I had the utmost respect for the quality of work they did). I can absolutely tell you that what I feel like talking about and creating today, as it’s relevant to my audience, probably won’t be something I would want to publish 5 months from now.

I LOVE the idea of a 90-day content plan, but I want to create and market my content throughout the 90 days. Using automation and scheduling tools are all part of that, but so is patience.

Why is it not O.K. to enjoy getting better at your craft?

You’ll be far better off taking two days to create one really good piece of content and then seeing how you can create micro-content from that as opposed to creating a large quantity of ‘o.k.’ content for mass production and consumption.

via GIPHY

What good is any of this if we’re not enjoying the journey?

At the end of the day, this whole idea of mass producing content so you don’t have to do it for a certain period of time comes down to who you are and how you market.

There is definitely an opportunity for this mass production to be valuable, but my guess is most people who go this route are doing it so they don’t have to do it later. You can’t work out intensely for a couple days and be done with it for a few months (bear with me, it was the first analogy I could think of).

I actually tried this.

I have hundreds (if not over 1000 now) of questions and comments about where people struggle with content because I ask them when they join Content Creators (I’ve stopped recording them because at this point it tends to be the same things. If I see something new I haven’t seen I record it ). So I thought, O.K., I’m going to try this mass production thing.

I went through and grabbed the 30 most common, recorded 10 3-5 minute videos in one afternoon, and started repurposing them.

It sucked.

First, I talk fast enough as it is. I was trying to keep these bite-size videos under 5 minutes so was cramming everything in. Then I pulled out the audio and transcribed it. Holy moly… you guys know the way I talk. Let’s just say there was way too much editing to do. It would have been easier to simply write a fresh post.

I published one of these videos and posts and haven’t touched the other 9.

Why?

Well… the best word I can use to describe it is that it felt cheap. The fact is I enjoy creating content. I started writing this post out yesterday and am enjoying the process. If I didn’t have an appointment in an hour I’d jump straight into recording as well (fingers crossed I can record after my dentist appt. this afternoon. We’ll see how numb my face is).

So now you might be thinking “that’s great Kim, but I don’t enjoy creating content. What should I do?”

Find ONE type of content you do enjoy doing and go all in. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t like one type of content creation: written, audio, or video. If you say you don’t like any of it, then maybe you need to get a job. I don’t mean that harshly, but content is marketing. That or you better have deep pockets for paid traffic and a team that does everything for you.

This whole ‘business in a box’ thing doesn’t work on the Internet.

With all the time people spend looking for shortcuts and packaged businesses they could get one thing working really, really well.

The other ‘no-no’?

Don’t outsource your content to someone who isn’t part of your team or part of your long-term vision for your brand.

Let’s move onto Content Marketing

The truth is, content marketing is simply marketing.

You can’t treat content marketing like it’s something you’ll do when you have time. Schedule this in and make it part of your overall marketing plan. At any given time you should be able to look at your calendar (whether that’s automation or a physical calendar) and know what content you have ‘out in the world’.

More than anything, you need to start looking at content marketing simply as marketing. It’s not separate from campaigns or any other type of marketing you do. Schedule this in the same way you schedule in ads, email, social media, etc.

Links mentioned in this episode

Content Creators Facebook Group

Content Creators Planner

GramClick