It’s time to talk about the content creation monsters that we have become out of necessity as entrepreneurs and small business owners. Let’s face it; it’s not like we wanted to be these monsters. We have been forced to mutate. In order to grow our businesses, and utilise social media opportunities, we became the dreaded monsters we didn’t want to be in the first place: the content monsters forcing content down viewers throats in the hope of lead generation.
Oh, and let’s not forget that we now produce reels and Tiktoks, dancing away, jumping on audio trends, in the hopes that our monster overlords will favour our content in the algorithm and show up to more viewers. It’s all so exhausting right?
What if I told you that content creation doesn’t have to be this dreaded thing we carry so heavily on our shoulders? That it doesn’t have to be the devil or the monster we carry with us?
I’ve been talking to a few leads and clients about content creation. And I’m seeing that my clients who have for many years been posting consistently, are taking longer social media breaks. That they find scheduling more and more inauthentic and lacking. And that feeding the content monster doesn’t result in growth (whether following growth or business growth), and that the content starts to feel lacking.
This is why I predict a change in social media when it comes to entrepreneurs and small business owners who have become content creators out of necessity. Where I completely believe that influencer and follower culture isn’t going to miraculously disappear, I do forecast a downscaling on social media for entrepreneurs and small business owners. There is a move to quality over quantity. People want to focus on what they have control over. And social media, ever-changing, is something entrepreneurs often feel very little control over. It can feel like the system is playing them. And that unless they spend money via paid for content (advertising), that they don’t stand a chance with organic scaling. This could mean that entrepreneurs will be downscaling to fewer platforms, downscaling the amount of content produced, and directing attention to marketing methods that focus on the individual. Methods like direct marketing, affiliate marketing, and word-of-mouth will receive more attention.
Even though I always say “social media should work for you, not you for it”, part of reclaiming that sense of stability and control is in reframing the content creation process. It’s all about reframing it into something that works for the entrepreneur, that fits the lifestyle and dream that the entrepreneur has. If you started your entrepreneurial journey, to live a more balanced and flexible life, and social media is draining you, then it’s not aligning with your journey. Reframing the social media and content creation process to suite you will have greater impact.
I believe that this reframing is vital to the success of how entrepreneurs present themselves online. It will have an impact on the authenticity of the entrepreneur and the value of the content. More importantly it is vital to how people will respond to entrepreneurs. When entrepreneurs show up, and I mean really shine and show up in ways that make them feel confident, clear, and sure, the right people will respond and engage.
So, it is time. Let’s make peace with the content monsters within us. Let’s make peace with social media platforms, and embrace that the real value of content, lies in showing up as who we are with energy, confidence, and clarity.