Ep 151: Warning - Controversial Content Advice

Does creating content constantly have you feeling burnt out?

Tired of stressing about what to post every day?

Done with feeling like a content-creating machine and the gurus that THIS is how you find success on social?

Then, friend, this is the episode for you.

I'm sharing some of my controversial advice about content creation, you'll learn

• why you don't need a bunch of content to build trust and recognition
• why scaling back your content is better for your mental health
• the power of context to draw in your audience 
• the cons of caption templates & outsourcing and what to do instead

Time to regain control and your sanity.

Pop in those pods now.

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Transcript

[Chelsea Peitz]: 0:24

If you're feeling burnt out by making content and the sheer volume of having to make more and more and more and more and more, this podcast episode is for you. And as a side note, it is for me as well. I've talked about this before where I personally experience a lot of content stress and I overthink and I still do it. One of the things that I've done recently is I have a couple of content buddies where I, when I get into that zone. I share my content ideas with them and we kind of work through it together. So maybe that'll be something that'll be helpful for you because you know, we get stuck in our own content and our own, our own ideas and we overthink it. And sometimes having that fresh perspective of somebody not having any idea what you're trying to convey, but like seize all these puzzle pieces can put the puzzle together. It's kind of like when you've got the puzzle out there and the one space that you've been looking for and somebody else comes along and easily just picks it up and they're like, oh. here it is and pops it right in the puzzle. Oh my gosh, that drives me bonkers. So if you are feeling overwhelmed, this podcast is for you. And I'm gonna give you a quick warning because this content advice is controversial. The content advice is simply this, stop building a content machine. If I read one more blog post or hear somebody or see a title for a session that says build a content machine or anything having to do with, you know, make 128 pieces of content and repurpose them and then put them through chat GPT and spit them out here. Yes, if you want to do that and that is not taxing you, that is not burning you out. Great. But I'm here to tell you that your ideal customer doesn't need 63 pieces of content to determine if they're going to trust you, to determine even if you are competent or likable or familiar. And the idea of having to constantly make content all day long, it's crushing your soul and it's pressuring you to post something just to post it. Now, we could have the quantity versus quantity. quality debate all day long. And I think you know where I stand on that. And there are times when, you know, I could say, listen, if you're an overthinker, just post the darn thing. And you might say, but I thought you said quality over quantity. I'm thinking of it more like this. More is only better if it's better. for you and your mental health and sustainability and also for your audience. And in my opinion, also for the algorithm. I don't think the algorithm quote, needs more of your content. It needs you to have attention. It needs your communication. That's your comments and your DMs to, you know, fuel the system and determine what kind of content to share with you. But if you are feeling less than or stressed because you are not posting every single day, or multiple times a day. I wanna let you know that we've talked about this too. There are seasons of your business, of your life, of your mental health, of your emotional health. And I'm in the season of my life where I have personally decided to not post because it's Wednesday at 12 o'clock and that's what I put on my calendar. And I feel like I have to create something and that pressure is mounting. I am still finding my way with content and batching and creating. What I've done now is I brain dump all of my sort of one-liners slash quotes into Canva graphics so that they're all ready to go and I can pick and choose from them. I have this ongoing list of quotes, if you will, inside of Canva and it's all ready to go when something jumps out at me and I'm like, okay, here's an idea that I want to run with. I'm really a big believer in this. It's not necessarily about... content, it's about context. And this is also a show that I talked about years ago with the difference between content and context is, content is the actual thing. It's the post, right? And it could be a market update. It could be something that is talking about your new listing. It can be the five reasons, blah, blah, blah. And the idea here is that it's not just about posting content. If it was, we'd all be winning. We'd all just go to Canva and we would just download whatever and we'd post it up every single day and we would reel in the leads. But that's not what's working because if it was, we would all be winning. There's no shortage of content, content ideas or templates everywhere. I love templates. I use Canva on the daily and I take that template, that guideline, that tool, and I put my context into it. which is the personality, the perspective, the hot take, the controversial unpopular opinion. One of the unpopular opinions I have is that stop making a content machine because it's probably burning you out and it's soul sucking and you feel like you have to keep showing up. So you just start posting something or you hire someone or maybe you hire someone and you realize you're like, I shouldn't have even done that because I don't even love the, it's not resonating with me, the content they're putting out there. Now I feel like I've spent all this money and You know, we let these pressures of having to do and keep up really paralyze us or make, you know, decisions that perhaps if we had just taken a step back, we wouldn't have made. And I am talking to myself. I'm literally like imagining myself sitting here because I go through this too. I'm like, oh my gosh, I only posted once this week in the feed. But you know what? I talked to people and talk to people every day. And I know where my sustainability line is. I also know that I just can't do it all. And there are things that I'm doing, and I enjoy more, like talking to people. And so context is about creating consistency for your audience, but also for you. And let's just throw in the algorithm for good measure. Okay, but consistency doesn't mean daily. Views don't equal value. and this constant pressure to create more, create more, create more. My best tip is if you do want to create a content machine and you are feeling a little bit stressed about having new ideas, just go back to the old ideas. That's also something that I struggled with for a really long time. Like, oh, last year I made a post about that. Well, you know what? I'm just going to recreate it. I'm going to recycle it, refresh it, give my new spin on it. And so that's a really. easy, low pressure way to go back to your content. So this is your reminder, this is your sign that if you haven't gone back to recycle or review ideas that you have posted six months ago, six weeks ago, a year ago, here is your time. Put it into a reel or if you made a video out of it, make it into a carousel. And ultimately remember that if you want to build a content machine, you can and you don't have to build a content machine and if you're frustrated because you feel like you have been pushing out a lot of content, ask yourself is it missing the context? Context about why this person should trust you. Market stats, house tours, testimonials, that's all content and it's all good content as long as it has context which is the relatable story behind it, your personality, your perspective, all of those things are uniquely you. And I would argue that your future client doesn't necessarily need all of these pieces of content library to develop that trust with you. They just need to know, can I trust you that you can help me achieve my goals? Not necessarily is now a good time to buy or sell. And again, don't get me wrong. I am not saying you should not make that content. If it's the only thing that you're making and it does not have the context, which is how you make the thing. have meaning to someone's head and their heart, i.e. you're gonna put your face in it, your voice. You're gonna give your opinion, your hot take. You're gonna say, oh my gosh, once upon a time I made this huge mistake about this and here's what I learned. That is uniquely the context that shows people who you really are can make a stranger feel like they already know you. It's the humanity, right? Like people say that the content is you. Well, the context is you. And so if you've been struggling with this, I'm giving you the permission to not build a content machine. Or maybe look at it in a different way that your commentary, your engagement, your communication is your most important form of content. So while this may seem a little bit controversial, I'm a big believer in stop building a content machine. Start creating a context machine, a context conduit, if you will. that can connect people to you and the unique part of why you're qualified and you're trustworthy to be able to help that person solve their problems.