Create Content For YOU First
< rant >
Is it just because it is a Monday? I don’t think so because I’ve been in a great mood all day, but this has been bugging me.
People need to stop worrying about how many followers, friends, comments, responses and all around strokes they get and focus more on creating content that they want to produce.
When I find a video, photo, blog post, etc that I like, I tend to look at what else that person has created. If it interests me then I begin to follow them through the proper channels to see what else they create. I don’t care if they have an audience of one or one thousand. They are interesting to me and I pay attention.
Why can’t everyone focus more on being themselves and creating content they enjoy creating rather then focusing on the “reach” or “hits” they get. Don’t get me wrong, I am flattered whenever something I’m involved in gets attention and noticed. Everyone loves that. But, should it be the focus and reason you do what you do? I think not.
I guess I wish more people would stop worrying about how to get the spot light to focus on them and focus themselves on creating informative and entertaining content.
< / rant >
Ah….I feel better. Had to get that one out of the brain because it kept boiling around in there.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
ah old as time itself… doesn’t matter whether you are talking about the first charcoal scratchings on the cave wall (and the inevitable critiques from the cro magnon gallery), a thousand page novel, or a blog/podcast/twit … we are a mix of creative and social creatures and those two forces are often straining against each other.
But I agree with you. I’ve just started a food blog for *fun*, and I’ve had to actively resist my innate competitive and “gotta get readers” pressures and focus on why I’m doing it. In my opinion, it’s the only way to keep a blog sustainable and enjoyable. Gotta stay true.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm |
I couldn’t agree more, C.C. Many new media creators’ perceptions of success are way out of step with the reality of the landscape. So many creators covet ultra-high stats, impressions and subscriber numbers — and a great many of them warp their content (and its quality) in an effort to attract them.
This strategy is short-sighted, ethically shallow and creatively unfulfilling.
It doesn’t help that so-called authorities on the topic beat this misguided drum every chance they get. Nearly every “how to” blog about blogging sports headlines that scream “Top 10 Ways…” to make a site sticky, to write intriguing (read: borderline exploitative) headlines, to monetize, to combat bounce rate, to saturate one’s content with SEO-friendly phrases … the list goes on. These folks are perpetuating a flawed, now-dusty perception of the social media space.
Online distribution — and the content being distributed — has evolved tremendously in the past five years … but the perception of success has not. New media creators are drinking Old Media Kool-Aid — they equate success with ultra-high hits, audience sizes, CPM, the list goes on. In a world in which we’re learning that “niche” content is perhaps the most interesting and helpful content out there, it’s wrongheaded to pine for Old Media-sized readers, listeners, viewers, whatever.
It just won’t happen. Creators need to make peace with that. And they need to understand that their audiences — as niche and comparatively small as they may be — are often deeply invested in the content, are vociferous evangelists, and tireless supporters.
Content created with passion will nearly always have quality, and quality content finds audiences. That is the most authentic, honest and ethical way to build a following. The moment creators begin to bend their content to link-bait audiences — we see this all the time in the competitive “tech news” blog space — is the moment they cash in their credibility.
My take: Stop gazing at your Feedburner stats, and start looking at yourself, and the work you’re producing. Satisfy your personal passion — and adhere to your personal ethics — above all. Your content will resonate … and it’ll attract the folks with whom you’re most interested in connecting.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:28 pm |
Rock on! Yes, I so agree with this sentiment. I used to write a crapload of fanfic. Loved it. Had fun, enjoyed the process, wrote whatever the hell I wanted even if it wasn’t “real fiction” People liked it and read it and reviewed it and that was awesome, but no one told me what I could and couldn’t write.
The fanfic inspired me to get back into writing original fic. But soon the joy left me cause there was all this pressure to be a “real writer” and seek “legitimate” publishing, blah blah blah.
All other artists, musicians and painters, they do what they WANT. They create what’s important to them and makes them happy. But for whatever reason large groups of writers are spending all their time trying to write something “marketable” and trying to get a publisher before they’ve even got 20 people reading their stuff. It’s just so goofy to me.
Sure, I would love for large quantities of people to love my stuff, because it would mean that I could support myself with writing, but…the price of losing one’s voice is too high to have that be the primary focus.
The irony is…if one is true to their voice and their passion and creates something they’re in love with and it’s good, the people will come. Yeah you gotta get it out there and market it, but word of mouth becomes powerful when your passion for what you’re doing flows out of you. It’s contagious and other people want to be a part of that.
Just my unsolicited twenty-five cents.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm |
Hear, hear!
I don’t have a lot to say on the issue that you didn’t just say. But I fully agree.
If you want to cater to people who you think might follow you, then you’ll forever be changing what you do, and you won’t provide a consistent product that people can rally around. Its hard to decide if you like something if its forever changing.
If you create consistently good stuff, people will at least know who you are, what you stand for, and can make a decision based on that.
OK. Like I said, not much to add. Just agreeing with you. But don’t think too much about it.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pm |
I was one of those people when I started Time Well Wasted. I wanted to see it go places and do things. And because of having the wrong drive I lost interest in it all together six months after creating it.
Re-focusing my interest in the site at the beginning of the year has helped me make it a better place. I don’t write for the prestige of having a blog anymore, I do it for fun and to share stuff with other people. I don’t care anymore that it’s not widely read, or that it doesn’t pay out, I just care if the content is good, fun and entertaining as well as enjoyable for me to do.
Thank you for this post, I hope it opens many eyes.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:41 pm |
Bah, sorry for the multi posting, on brief reflection obviously there are artists putting out things just for a market, besides just writers. I’m just more jaded about the writing side of it. There’s only so many blogs I can visit where everybody’s a starry-eyed hopeful before I want to scream. Peeps are stockpiling their work in drawers in the hopes an agent or editor takes them on.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:49 pm |
I don’t know, for me I like looking at the numbers because it’s a hoot. I enjoy knowing that my stuff is being read/listened to and to be able to gauge relatively if my efforts to self promote are having a degree of success.
I don’t change what I’m writing or how I’m writing it to get more hits and people that do yeah I guess this’s aimed at them. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with looking at numbers though.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm |
I’m not going to kiss your ass and agree. (Heh. You know I’m kidding.)
I actually agree to a certain extent, but not to others. If I don’t write for my audience and what I assume and expect them to want to read/hear, I lose focus and readers. Besides, if I wrote about what I wanted to write about all day, it’d be about bourbon … or porn. Heh.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:18 pm |
Wow, and to think that I almost didn’t post this. Sparked some great conversations.
And Jason, I don’t think there is anything wrong with writing for your audience. That makes sense. But, what is wrong with writing about porn and bourban? I don’t think anyone else is doing that right now and if they are I want you to share some links
July 28th, 2008 at 7:39 pm |
Everyone should write about porn. The world needs more porn.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:23 pm |
I try to write and produce the media my audience needs. If I produced what I wanted, it’d be valueless to the people who actually need what I produce, at least professionally in the world of financial aid. Produce what they need, and I serve my audience appropriately.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am |
My use of social media will vary from yours. I think that should be okay. If I decide that the number of people who follow me or are interested in what I have to say is important to me, shouldn’t that be okay?
I’m not saying that you need to do the same thing. You are you. I am I. (We are all together.)
I’m being a bit silly, but I think it’s important to realize that what works for you, and your approach to social media might be different from many others’, and you should allow for that. We all don’t have to play social media C.C.’s or someone else’s way.
Great post!
Do I subscribe to the above philosophy? Do I care a lot about who listens to what I have to say? To some extent, perhaps.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:17 am |
(I hit submit before I was finished.)
I tend to agree with C.C. - and with what the jazz great Miles Davis said: “An artist’s first responsibility is to himself.”
Be you and not what other people think you should be. If that means you pay more attention to stats than someone else, then so be it.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:21 am |
(I hit submit before I was finished.)
C.C. does have a great point that I agree with. Actually it was the jazz great Miles Davis who said, “An artist’s first responsibility is to himself.”
With your goals in mind, be you and not what others want you to be. If that means you pay a bit more attention to stats than others, then so be it.
Make it a great day!
July 29th, 2008 at 9:23 am |
This is the age of the Individual.We all want to be successful and find a way to make money doing fun online stuff- the catch about some Followers is that they are along for the ride- there are so many rides out there - it hard to get anyone to pay. Face to Face still works best for me
July 29th, 2008 at 9:27 am |
Amazing http://twitter.com/ExxonMobileCorp started following me last night @ Twitter. One of *many* followers @ Twitter I do not care about… But I *do* care about http://twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr Why? ‘Cuz he’s my friend!
July 29th, 2008 at 9:33 am |
I always find that worrying about the audience and their expectations is stressful, and a total creativity killer. I try (and sometimes struggle, to be perfectly honest) to make the current piece itself matter more than anything. I can worry about who listens to it later.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:14 pm |
This is a tough one, mainly because yours is not the first post I’ve seen ranting a little about people’s obsession with their numbers. But it seems like kind of a “check your privilege” thing to me–usually the people ranting about this are people who have already gained a significant readership.
I think it’s fairly easy to say people shouldn’t focus on it when it’s something you don’t even need to worry about, because you’ve already found a lot of success in this space.
Or maybe I’m just saying that because I’ve been flirting with 1000 followers on Twitter for a month now and focusing on it a little too much for absolutely no reason!
July 29th, 2008 at 1:45 pm |
I didn’t mean to imply that numbers and audience are not important. In fact both of them are.
But, at the end of the day if the only reason you create content is solely for those numbers then I wonder if it is worth doing.
I produce my podcasts for the audiences. That is why I do a music one and a marketing one. But, if at the end of the day if I did not like producing them, then what would be my motivation to keep doing it? I started out doing them because I needed an outlet to express myself and that is why I have kept doing it.
I’ve just always subscribed to the Dave Slusher philosophy of that I’d rather have 100 truly committed and interested readers then 1000 passively passing through types. I’m not saying this is the same for everyone, but that is how it works for me.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:55 pm |
I agree to an extent, CC. In a blogging context, especially for amateur bloggers like me, numbers are a proxy for results, not the results themselves. I’m pretty numbers-focused, but as a means to an end and not as an end in itself. In my experience, in blogging at least, is that if you focus on your audience, write useful content and care about what you’re writing about, the numbers will come naturally anyway.
I made an interesting observation (or so I thought) recently when I was in the middle of a series of posts on how to write a good communications plan. I wrote what I thought would be helpful for people rather than what I thought would drive numbers. Few of the posts generated any discussion at all, yet the first post in this series is already my all-time most-read page. Apparently it *was* helpful - and that in itself drove people to it.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:03 pm |
I write about what interests me, and have the unexpected pleasure of seeing my readership gradually rise. If you have a specific purpose for writing and reaching an audience, then it is a bit different. I am starting a business blog and that will take a slightly different attitude I think.
I do get concerned about number of comments, though. I am in an industry where people are reticent online. They would rather email me or talk to me in person than post anything, and as a result it is difficult to get any good discussion going that will have an impact. I’ve been blogging to this audience for over 4 years now. At first I thought I didn’t have a big audience, but over the years have learned better. So, it does concern me that they don’t want to engage more online.
Not sure how that will change. But you are right, we can’t just go by the numbers. They are not always accurate anyway.
Cheers,
Connie
July 31st, 2008 at 6:12 am |
Just wanted to chime in a bit late with my own two cents. Like anything else you undertake for personal or professional reasons, you should understand why you are doing something and what your goals are. Then, you measure success against that.
If your goal is to build business, then numbers matter. If you are simply looking for an outlet for your pent-up writing desire, numbers don’t matter. And there’s all sorts of room for variations in between.
Do you have to enjoy what you blog about? It helps, but it isn’t a requirement per se. There are things I need to do (and do pretty well) that I don’t particularly enjoy. I’m sure that’s the same for everyone. Enjoyment is one factor in successful execution, but it is not a prerequisite.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:29 am |
I tend to lose sight of this a lot. Some keep reminding me that I should be creating for me. But it’s in my nature to care what “certain” people think. Thanks for the reminder.