Four reasons why you're overwhelmed with creating content | Ep. 45 Content Magic with Lindsay Smith
Sep 03, 2024On today's episode of Content Magic, I'm sharing some of the main reasons you might be struggling with creating content for your business.
And when I say content, I'm referring to everything you're doing in the online space to market your business.
So, here's what I'm addressing in this episode:
1. Listening to the gurus.
2. Jumping into the next shiny thing.
3. Leaning on social media.
4. Trying to sound like someone else.
Tune in to find out if you're making any of these content mistakes!
Lindsay [00:00:00]:
And today we are going to chat about content overwhelm. If you have an online business, you're creating content. And the way you create content is more important than ever. It's really noisy out there and learning to stand out is the only way. Hey, I'm Lindsay and I'm the host of the Content Magic podcast, all about being an entrepreneur and creating kick ass content to market yourself and your business. I have a not so secret superpower for copywriting, marketing and content, and I've helped hundreds of folks just like you show up with a ton of confidence in the online space. I've been doing this content thing for 20 years, and I believe the real magic is a combo of intuition, creativity and strategy. You can create content for your business without losing your mind, I promise.
Lindsay [00:00:50]:
So tune in every week for tangible content tips, inspiring guests, and some real spicy opinions. Probably mine. Ready to dive in? Let's go. Well, hello, friends, and welcome back to Content Magic. I am your host, Lindsey Marie Smith, and today we are going to chat about content overwhelm and what that means and why you are feeling that way. So first things first. Usually when I mention the word content, if you're new here, people immediately think I'm referring to social media. So content and social media are not interchangeable.
Lindsay [00:01:33]:
Social media is an awesome tool and is part of your bigger content strategy. However, when I'm referring to content, I'm usually referring to everything you put out onto the Internet streets for your business and even the things you're not putting it out into the Internet streets, even the things that you're doing in person. But for simplicity, when I say content, I'm referring to your blog. I'm referring to your podcast. I'm referring to your website. I'm referring to your Facebook business page, your Facebook, your free Facebook group. I'm referring to any digital communication that you're doing on behalf of your business to market and advertise what you do. These are some.
Lindsay [00:02:29]:
I have four things I want to discuss today with you. So the first thing, and to be fair, listen, I'm guilty of all of these. So the first thing is I want to ask you, how many, like seven dollar templates have you downloaded? Some sort of like, promise to, you know, 30 reels in 30 days or something that's going to promise to like triple your following or something. How many of those have you downloaded? I'm putting my hand up because I have done that. I probably have like a Google folder or Google Doc graveyard somewhere in my drive of things that I've downloaded and have nothing changed anything for me? In fact, I'm thinking of one in particular that I think it promised like a. I don't know, there was like 70 Instagram story prompts or something. I forgot what it was and it was like, like, I think I looked at it and I don't even think I used one of them. I don't know, maybe it was $20, I don't remember.
Lindsay [00:03:34]:
This was a long time ago, but, and this is the thing, and usually it's from some kind of guru. And this is the thing about the guru advice, like the big names that sort of came out like 2015 to 2016 ish. And usually they built some sort of business using content, so they immediately, they're like, oh, well, I'm going to cash in on this whole content game and start charging people what I know. So. And then there's two things that happen. One, either it's super basic information that you already know or could have googled or asked me, or it's very. Or it could be both of these things, or it's like very blanket advice, blanket information that does not apply to your particular business. For example, you could be an online service provider like me, or you could have a product based business, and your product based business could maybe ship internationally or only ship to the country that you live in.
Lindsay [00:04:52]:
Or you could be a small business with a local audience, which is completely different. So there's sort of like, no, there's no, like, personal touches on these sort of, like, usually these types of things are, you know, they're like self paced. So it's a bunch of recorded modules. And listen, I'm not knocking on, like, a self paced course. There's a lot of really great ones. Just that I think so many of us get caught up with these big names thinking that that's going to be the secret. It's going to change everything for us. And then you're disappointed because it does not change everything for you.
Lindsay [00:05:35]:
In fact, it just creates more work. And then I have found, personally, with those sort of like courses or downloads or templates or whatever, it kind of pulls you away from probably the work that you need to be doing that actually moves your business forward. So if you're new here, when I work with clients, either one on one or in my group programs, I always encourage people to choose one type of long form content and one type of short form content. And we work on those two things only for our time together, and we go through everything together, everything that you are producing or writing or videoing or whatever. I was going to about to say videotaping, which I feel like, listen, if you know what videotaping is, then you are my people. VHS. If you know what a VHS is, you are my people. Okay? So which leads me to my next point.
Lindsay [00:06:39]:
And again, this is something that I am guilty of. So this, like, shiny thing syndrome. And last week, we talked about threads on the podcast, and it's, I've had a lot of people ask me, like, do I need to be on threads? Sort of with this idea that you're missing out if you're not there. And what I shared last week was that I said that, you know, for me, threads is super easy because I have so many witty one liners in my head, and I'm a writer, and so sharing stuff on threads comes super easily to me because it's just text based. If threads is feeling like the next shiny thing, like you're missing out, if you're not there, then that's a shiny thing that you don't really need. And I was, months ago, I did this, like, TikTok challenge thing because I just was like, do I need to be on TikTok? Am I missing out? And I failed miserably. The challenge, I think I posted once, and now I kind of, to me, TikTok is, like, very entertaining. So, yeah, sometimes I post random stuff on there.
Lindsay [00:07:53]:
It's not consistent. It's not one of my main platforms, I don't think. And recently, you know, I was chatting with somebody who is really good at Pinterest, and I was like, am I missing out if I'm not on Pinterest? And I made these random pins and was kind of like, oh, if I link it to my blog, I'm going to get, you know, kind of jokingly to myself in my head, oh, my God, millions of people are going to find me. No, that's not how it works. So those are the two shiny things that I kind of was like, do I need to be over there? Do I need to do the thing? And really, I think what happens there is that you lose focus and then you kind of forget about the channels that are working and that are converting and that also that the ones that you love creating on whatever it is, you kind of forget because you're so distracted with the next shiny thing. Okay. And here's another one I see very often, and this is probably more common with people who are newer, who have just started a business or have been led astray by someone's bad advice. I see in my, like, local entrepreneur group where I live, this is a very common post.
Lindsay [00:09:18]:
I started my business three weeks ago. I've been posting on Instagram consistently, and I don't have any sales. Okay, so relying too heavily on social media is the mistake. And usually I always try to be helpful in this group. Usually I will say something like, okay, what do you offer? Is it a product or a service? Who is your audience? Is it local or Canada wide, or is it international? What other marketing channels are you exploring? Vendor events? Collaborations? This is the thing I see is that there's just too much focus on social media. While it's a wonderful tool where whatever it is that you love creating, if you love creating reels, we love hanging out on threads. If you love hanging out on TikTok, if you love writing emails, that's me. I love writing emails.
Lindsay [00:10:17]:
Whatever it is, you have to kind of have, you kind of have to have a combo deal. Something that you own, like your email, and something that perhaps you don't own in case of who remembers the social media, like blackout of doom that was like, I don't know, three, four years ago, remember? And everybody panicked. So stuff like that. You do need to have some sort of content strategy with something that you own, like your website or your email address. So we can't put like, just showing up on social media all the time is not a strategy. Because one, like whatever. Algorithm. Algorithm.
Lindsay [00:11:00]:
But yes, there are algorithms at play here. And two, there's no sense in putting all your effort into something that is nothing, converting or that is not putting you in front of your audio client or audience. Let's talk about the fourth one. And again, friends, I am very guilty of this one, so trying to sound like someone that you're not. So, and I've shared this before, but I'll remind you. So when I was doing a lot of blogging and essay writing and doing more journalism y type stuff, but, like, first person journalism, I always knew I was funny, but I really wanted to sound like David Sedaris. And if you don't know who that is, Google. Google him.
Lindsay [00:11:51]:
He's an american writer and he's very, the way he writes is very funny. So I wanted to sound like him. And even when I started my own blog, I wanted to sound like him. And so for the longest time, I just would sort of like, morph into his voice. And it took me a long time of writing and creating content to figure out that, oh, I actually have my own voice. And it's shifted over time. Like, I'm 45. I don't sound the same as I do when I'm 25 because life experience, so the quickest way to, and this is like a path to overwhelm, like immediately if you're, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm going to say this.
Lindsay [00:12:33]:
If you're trying to keep up with the Joneses. So if you're like trying to sound like somebody else or trying to emulate somebody else. And I've had clients who have gone down this path and it just ends up in like, messy, messy doom because you can't, like, there's no point in trying to sound like somebody else because you can't keep that up forever. So finding your own voice, and this is like an exercise that I do with my clients. Usually it's like an entire, like two weeks of talking about brand voice. Like figuring out your own brand voice is super important because it has, if you, especially if you're a personal brand, it has to sound like you. And as a copywriter, sometimes, like when I'm writing other people's copy, this is often sort of the trickiest part, trying to emulate somebody else's voice or brand voice. It's a tricky, it's tricky.
Lindsay [00:13:28]:
After years, I get very good at it and I can do it very quickly. But when you're doing, like, figuring out your own brand voice is usually something I talk about immediately with my clients because it influences every type of content that you're creating and everything that you're putting out into the Internet. So those are the four things that usually come up. One, we're listening too much to the gurus who are offering us blanket advice. That's often something super simple that we already know. So we sort of second guess ourselves there and we're getting advice that does not apply to our particular business. Two, we get distracted by like, the next cool thing. And like, and I've seen people jump from different platforms to different platforms.
Lindsay [00:14:24]:
You know, switch email providers, switch from like, squarespace to kajabi to back to squarespace to shopify to whatever. Like, I've seen people, I've seen a lot of people do that, and it's a lot of work and it's just distracting. Three, relying way too much on social media, like it's supposed to do all the job of marketing for you, which is funny, because when I worked full time in advertising, like the budgets for some of these advertising, like some of these clients, oh, my God, millions and millions of dollars. And four, trying to sound like someone else, I would argue. That's kind of like the quickest way to content overwhelm is when you're trying to emulate someone else's listen. It's okay to be inspired by other people. Stop. And it's okay to find someone else's account or someone's website or some or whatever and just be like, ooh, I like how that person sounds.
Lindsay [00:15:23]:
Ooh, I like their website. Still. You have to sound like, you have to represent yourself. So figuring out what that brand voice is is probably the first step. Okay, so that's it for today's episode, and we'll see you next time. Toodaloo, everybody. Thank you so much for listening. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode on social media.
Lindsay [00:15:52]:
And don't forget to tag me on Instagram. Lindsaysmithcreative and if you do all three, I'll be your best friend forever and invite you to all my birthday parties. That's it for today, and I'll see you next time.
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