March 14, 2025 • 21 mins
Podcast Notes: Simplifying Content Creation & Managing Social Media
Helen production background video HERE!
The Challenge of Social Media: The constant cycle of producing content can feel overwhelming, similar to the “hamster wheel” of social media management. The key is finding balance and simplifying the process.
Content Creation vs. TV Production: Content creation for social media isn't all that different from TV production. Both involve moving from project to project. The challenge is less overwhelming once the rhythm is found, especially when working with consistent clients.
Simplifying Content Creation:
Focus on one primary platform (e.g., TikTok) and repurpose content for others (LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). Tools like repurpose.io can help automate the process.
Stay in your lane:
Define content "lanes" or "pillars" to focus on. It’s important to have a balance between consistent content and occasional spontaneous posts.
Be cautious about viral content: Sometimes viral videos can attract the wrong audience. Stay true to your niche to avoid losing traction.
Balancing Content Types:
As a content creator, prioritize what works best for you and your audience. Tutorials may take longer, but they’re effective; meanwhile, outfit transitions can be quick, fun fillers.
Batch content to streamline production.
Set aside a day for longer, more detailed content (like tutorials) and focus on quick posts the rest of the week.
Embrace Change & Evolution:
It's okay to evolve your content strategy. The audience will stick around if you're transparent and stay authentic. Even a change in posting schedule can benefit you—switching to one podcast a week allows for more value-packed content without feeling rushed.
Final Tip:
Don’t feel trapped in routine. Explore new content ideas and experiment without the pressure to stick to one path. Your followers will stay engaged as long as you remain true to yourself and what you enjoy creating.
Next Episode: Moving to a Friday-only podcast schedule to allow more time for studio work and personal content creation. The Friday episode will be longer and more in-depth with Q&A.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Helen (00:00):
Welcome to The Socialize Strategy. Since our last meetup
(00:03):
together, I have now had thatviral video settle down. Things
are back to normal, almost tothe opposite degree where I am
back down to one to 2,000 viewsper video. And I never thought
I'd say that that's comfortingafter having a viral video but
I'm not gonna lie, NGL. It issomewhat comforting.
(00:24):
I feel that I can manage it. I'mseeing people that I can now
communicate with back in thecomments. I don't feel
overwhelmed by the comments, andI also feel that my sense of
community is back. So that's thegood part. I'm going to continue
to post consistently because Ido think it's important to have
virality now and again.
(00:45):
It gives your page a refresh. Itdefinitely brings new energy and
new people find you, so that'skind of fun. What's finally
happening now that it's calmeddown is I'm able to see the
comments on other videos. So I'mseeing what videos people are
being fed. So couple of mypinned videos are getting a lot
of views and comments and one ofthem is a bit about my
(01:08):
background, which I just pinnedrecently because I had somebody
asking me a lot of times, in thecomments, I'll have that
question, how do you know allthis?
And I have to search down mypage to get to that video where
I described my background. So Idecided to pin that one, and I
removed one of my other videosand I replaced it. So now what's
happening, that's kind of cool,is that more people are aware of
(01:30):
what I do with my careerbackground, what I do for my day
job, my little anecdote fromthat video. If you haven't seen
my pinned video, you should gowatch it. It's amusing.
It's amusing because I tell as Igive my background, I also told
a little anecdote about my earlyyears in advertising, and a lot
of people when they stuck aroundto the end of the video
(01:50):
commented on that story. Okay?So I'll actually put that in the
show notes. I think that's a funone to have here. But today's
topic we're gonna do, and thisis again self self induced to
some degree.
I am experiencing it myself, andI decided to work through it on
the podcast with you. I thinkthat a lot of times things I'm
(02:12):
going through, other creatorsare experiencing or will
experience at different times.And so I feel it's only fair to
share and give you some insightsand maybe I'll get ahead of it
for you and you won't have theissue. Or if you're in the same
issue as me, maybe this willhelp you because we'll be going
through it together. And that ishow to simplify your content
(02:32):
creation.
And what I mean by simplify,it's going to be different for
everyone, but at the same time,it's a broader look at what
you're doing because I havealways thought, I don't know if
I could do social media as a jobbecause it's it's a hamster
wheel and there's a never endinghamster wheel here because month
(02:52):
to month to month, it's likeyou're on to the next month.
It's International Women's Day.Then it's Saint Patrick Day.
There's holidays. Blah blahblah.
You have to keep the contentfresh. Have to keep the content
pumping. And it's stressful. AndI remember thinking, oh gosh, I
don't want to do social mediaproduction because it's a
hamster wheel or social mediamanaging because it's a hamster
wheel. And the most interestingthing came out of this.
(03:15):
And that is Tommy and I, my sonTommy, my oldest, sometimes
he'll hear me talk about thingsand he'll say something because
he's far enough removed thathe'll shed light on it from the
outside. So he said, well, howis creating content for social
media different than all theyears you've been doing TV
commercials? So I went, let methink. And to me, they're very
(03:38):
different. And so I said to him,when I do the TV commercial
production, I do the productionand then it's over and I'm on to
the next thing.
And then when I do thatproduction and it may take up a
month of my time or whatever,but then it's over and it's
wrapped up and I move on to thenext production. And he said,
yeah, but you're moving fromproduction to production, so how
is that different? And I waslike, So I was really trying to
(04:01):
explain it to him and in tryingto explain it to him I realized
it's not that different and it'sjust my perception of it was
very different. So, and part ofthat came from the idea that
when you're doing social mediayou're on a monthly treadmill
and that is true if you'reworking with clients where
you're doing content for themmonth to month, which is what
(04:21):
I'm doing. I actually have aclient that I work on every
single month and I do content.
But somehow, now that I'm in therhythm of it, it doesn't seem as
overwhelming. I don't know whathappened. I don't know what
changed. I think he clickedsomething in me that made me
realize, well, I've always beenworking job to job to job and
now why do I think that'sdifferent? Because in a way it's
maybe more consistent now, sothat's probably a good thing, I
(04:43):
guess.
I don't know. I'll think aboutthat for the next episode. But
anyway, let's talk about how tosimplify because I do think that
a lot of people get overwhelmedin their content. And I have
been guilty of this, andrecently I have had to take a
hard look at how I can simplifybecause I have added a lot onto
my social media plate withtaking on the studio and then
(05:04):
wanting to be present for mypaying members. And I'm enjoying
that so much that I have, I'vemade that a priority now and I
really lean into that.
But I also, of course, I'mfeeling well, I wanna make sure
I keep my content pumping outfrom my my viewers that are not
my paid subscribers. So I haveto balance that fairly and I
don't wanna now pull back onthat because I have a studio. I
(05:26):
have to figure out how I'mdelivering more intricate detail
oriented stuff to the studio andmore personalized things to the
creators in the studio. So I'mbalancing things and I'm working
through it. But you will havethe same problem.
If you're trying to build andgrow a brand on social media,
you can immediately feeloverwhelmed by this endless
hamster wheel that is contentcreation. Okay. Let's dive into
(05:50):
some of the tips on how you canmake it better for yourself, and
I'm going to share a lot ofpersonal stories here because
I'm simplifying. Okay. So we'vetalked about this before which
is you have so many platformsand people feel like they have
to be everywhere and they haveto do well everywhere and the
fact is you don't.
You can decide where you'regoing to lean, where you're
going to do well, you're goingto focus on that first and then
(06:12):
you're going to figure out a waythat is most efficient for you
to farm out to those otherplatforms. So since I've talked
about this before, I'm not goingto belabor this point. I'm just
going to, I guess, reinforce itthat if you're creating content
in TikTok, they do make iteasier now that you can save
after you post, you can save itwithout the watermarks. It's
actually easier now than it wasbefore to use that content
(06:34):
elsewhere. It's just that, oh,wait, the age old question is
the algorithm on the otherplatforms recognizing that this
was a TikTok and so therefore isit going to penalize you?
No one really knows the answerto that, so I'm not going to say
yes or no to it, but I'm justgoing to say that's like a
little looming thing out therethat could be hindering. But if
you lean on TikTok first and youmake your content on TikTok,
(06:56):
then you can easily, you can putit on LinkedIn, you can put it
Instagram, Facebook, YouTubeShorts. You can just put it
right out there because you cansave it without the watermark.
So that makes it easier. Youcould also use a platform like
repurpose.io where you just copyand paste the link into
repurpose.io on wherever youpost your first post and then it
will repurpose it to the otherplatforms accordingly.
(07:17):
So that's a paid platform thatyou can use. But what you want
to do mainly is search your souland say where do you want to be
first? And that's where you'regoing to lean and then
everything else you're going tofarm out from there. Okay? And
that's the first thing.
The next thing is labeled stayin your lane. But it doesn't
mean that you can't post outsideof a niche. It means you want to
define what your lanes are.Okay? What are your areas of
(07:42):
content you're going to focuson?
They used to call them pillarswhen we were first doing social
media. Everybody was talkingabout pillars. I will tell you
by example how I consider mylanes and then you can relate to
this. So I mainly post where Iget my most views, I mainly post
tutorials. But, I don't onlypost tutorials, and in fact, I
(08:03):
post tutorials on a rhythm whereit's like tutorial and then
freestyle freestyle freestyle.
So it becomes a tutorial, thenit's like a lifestyle thing.
Maybe it's I'm out doingsomething. Maybe it's a trend.
Maybe it's I'm at an event andI'm showing behind the scenes,
and then it's a tutorial. I keepa rhythm going where there's a
tutorial coming in there everyfour or five posts so that if
(08:24):
someone comes to my page, theycan clearly see the ones that
are labeled our tutorials andthey can scroll quickly through
and not have to dig for scroll,scroll, scroll to find another
tutorial.
So it's this way of balancingout your content. So if you
decide you have four lanes orfive lanes, whatever it is that
you want to rotate through, andas a new creator, you might want
to focus on less because that'show you find and curate your
(08:46):
audience. Okay? But once youfind those, you create a rhythm.
So let me speak to this for asecond about focusing more
tightly when you're startingout.
If you're trying to grow, itbecomes very confusing for a
follower to grab onto youraccount and then their pat one
video's a your family, your cat,a birthday party you attended,
(09:10):
at a an event, something you aretalking about that you like, and
then, oh, there's your bakingvideo. Let's pretend you're
doing baking. And then it's afamily event, it's a holiday,
it's a thing, it's a thing, andthey have to and it's five more
videos of like random stuff, andthen it's a baking video. You're
gonna have a harder time growinga dedicated audience that wants
your baking videos because it'sgonna take you longer. It's not
(09:33):
it's not not doable.
So it's not undoable. It's notimpossible. But it is a longer
game because you're really gonnaget people that are gonna start
seeing your other videos thataren't baking and they're gonna
stop engaging and then you'regonna lose that traction. So if
it's something where you're, youknow what you wanna do, get in
(09:53):
that lane and go hard and thenonly sprinkle occasional other
things in there. Like lean moreon the thing that you want to
focus on.
Alright? If you don't know whatyou want to focus on, pick three
things and balance through them.Okay? You're going go one, two,
three, three, and then the onethat hits the most you'll start
to see, you're getting moreviews on I'm gonna let's talk
about somebody who's doing likemeditation versus oh, I don't
(10:16):
know. How can I even say thisnow?
Okay. Meditation, holistichealing, healthy eating. Okay,
one, two, three, four, likethings that are sort of similar
but then one of them does betterthan the rest, maybe you lean a
little more on the one that doesbetter than the rest. And then
you lean into that for a whileand see if you pick up more
traction like that. So it'sreally about creating the lanes
(10:38):
and then deciding how you'regonna keep the audience that you
have engaged.
And we have, I'm sorry Nikola,but I'm throwing, here you go
again. But it's like somebodylike Nikola who just had a video
go viral about her doing herclothes washed out, hanging her
clothes on the line outside, andit's like now she's and it was a
funny video, so now she's gonnahave all these people that are
(10:58):
gonna be looking for the funnygirl who hung the clothes on the
line and they're gonna find apotter who does pottery. And so
maybe that wasn't the best useof a viral video. I mean, was
just accidental, so that's justwhat happened. But that's what
you will find will happen.
Like you may have something pickup traction and then it's like,
oh my god, that's not even thething I want to focus on.
(11:19):
Alright? So just know that thoselanes are fun and they make your
content more fun, but they alsocould slow down your growth
process. I've noticed people whogo hard on one topic, which I
can't stand. I go into theirpage and it's like one after the
next after the next, it's thesame thing.
I personally don't like it, butthat's not that's just me.
That's not every viewer. Everyviewer, the bulk of the viewers
(11:41):
are gonna wanna see that persondoing that same thing over and
over because that's why theyfollowed them. So the
unfortunate thing for me is thatI would get bored myself but I
probably would even grow fasterthan I am now if I was only
doing those types of videos. Imight lose followers if I kept
doing that though, like, youknow, anyway.
Because how much can you watchan editing tutorial again and
(12:03):
again? I would, I think I'd,you'd start to feel from the
creator, from me, that I wasn'teven enjoying it anymore. So I
have to keep the joy. That's theway that goes. You know what's
funny about this?
I was I had lunch with somebodyrecently and I said something
about every sometimes you justgotta go left when everyone else
is going right. And from thebeginning of my journey on
(12:23):
TikTok, I listened to all thosepeople saying stay in your lane,
build, you grow faster, blahblah blah. I never did it
because it didn't feel right forme. And so there's something
about that is not just followingthe school of fish, you know,
just saying what do you want todo instead of listening to
everybody telling you what todo. Okay?
So a little side tip. Alright,what if the content is time
(12:45):
consuming? Here we go. I'd likeyou to break it down and say, is
the content you're creatingthat's most effective the most
time consuming or is that themost easy content? And then
assess to yourself what is myfavorite type of content to
make?
Alright, so now I'm going tobreak it down and I'm going to
bring it back to give myexamples again. My most
(13:08):
successful because typicallytutorials or teaching something,
imparting some knowledge aboutwhether it's TikTok, editing,
now it's iPhone, whatever, thealgorithm, I don't know. That's
what people watch for me. Butwhat I like doing the best is
outfit transitions, okay? I cando them so quickly.
I enjoy it. Any type of coolsnazzy like outfit transition or
(13:34):
whatever, that's what I reallyenjoy and that's what I can do
the quickest. So if I sat hereand said, okay, I have no more
time to work on my content.That's it. What am I going to do
to keep content going if I don'thave time?
If I suddenly had my full timejob took over and I had no time
to make tutorials, for example.Because tutorials take me
longer. I have to set up, think,make sure I get all the shots.
(13:57):
It takes me a while to editthem, make sure I'm explaining
it clearly. It's more tediousfor me.
I love it, but it's a littlemore time consuming. So if I had
to do nothing else, nothing,nothing, Jersey girl, if I had
to do nothing else, I would dooutfit transitions because those
are so quick and fun and theykeep me energized and then who
knows, like maybe if I did thoseagain and again and again, one
(14:18):
of those would take off andmaybe I'd get some fashion brand
deals or something to show offclothes for a store. I'm not
going to do that because Ireally enjoy teaching. So I
decide that I'm going to maketwo tutorials a week because
that's about all I can do in mygiven week. And then in between,
I'm going to throw the fillercontent in.
(14:39):
I'm going to make a quicktransition from here to there.
I'm going to go from bang, youknow kick the screen and I'm in
another outfit or I'm going todo something quicker or have a
fun thing with Jonathan wherehe's, you know, doing something
with me or I'm doing a littledance video. I have given
myself, I won't say gracebecause that sounds like, you
know, give myself grace, but Ihave given myself the space to
say I don't have to power outfive tutorials a week. I'm
(15:01):
tapering it down. And I'vetapered it down since I've
started the studio because inthe studio I do one dedicated,
clear and more elaborate lessonper week.
And so that's time consuming. SoI'm spending my time with my
paid membership folks to makesure I'm delivering the content
that they need and then I'mtaking time for myself by not
pressuring myself to do three,four tutorials a week for my
(15:25):
free social media content. It'slike two tutorials a week.
Anyway, the algorithm isprobably sending the viewers
older tutorials anyway, so it'sall it's a win win. Okay.
So think about if the content istime consuming, how you're going
to simplify and how you're goingto decide, okay, I'm going to
only make two things per week onmy long the stuff that takes me
longer to do, and then I'm goingto figure out a quick way to do
(15:47):
the filler content. So whatwe're doing in the studio, by
the way, is I am helping peopleto say, here's quick ones if you
need filler content. Here's aquick idea this week. You can
you can make it right in theTikTok app or in the Instagram
app. Save yourself some time.
So I'm trying to also help mystudio members balance by giving
them here's a more elaboratelesson if you want to do
(16:08):
something a little moreelaborate, here's some easy
quick content you could pump outwithout a lot of effort. And
this way you're not exhaustedfrom fulfilling your content,
and it doesn't feel like thishamster wheel. K? The other
thing I have to add in thisbucket is also if the stuff that
you do, for example with me, thetutorials, is time consuming,
(16:28):
try to think about batchingthose into a day so that you
have like one day a week whereyou're doing your things that
take you longer to do and you'regetting them out of the way and
you're putting them in thedrafts. Or, for the person who
asked me this in the studio, ifyou're putting them, if you
don't want to save a bunch ofdrafts, you could put them into
a folder on your phone.
Unfortunately, ultimately youhave to get them back into
(16:50):
drafts wherever they have tolive. But if you're shooting and
editing outside the app, you canjust build a folder of your
upcoming content that you wantto see without putting it into
your drafts. But either way, youdo them all together at the same
time and then you put that awayfor the week. You've got them
done. And now everything else isjust a quick, more irreverent
(17:11):
stuff you do off the cuff.
And that is where I help youkeep a plan going. So that's
like here's an easy one, here'san easy one. I don't do them all
because I have to delivertutorials on a certain rhythm.
So I will have lots ofsuggestions for my studio
people, but I'm not doing everysingle one of those because then
it would fill my feed with toomany in between videos and not
(17:33):
enough of my meaty content.Alright?
Okay. The next topic is to allowyourself some change to explore.
Don't feel like, okay, I've beendoing this the whole time, I
can't do anything else now, myaudience is never gonna accept
that. You can allow yourself toevolve. When I was in my time
going through, losing my sightand going through cancer, my
(17:56):
whole account evolved into, Idon't even know how I got back,
but I went down that path wherepeople were coming along for the
cancer journey.
I was still doing tutorials inbetween, but my in between
content, in between tutorialstook a turn. And I didn't lose
an audience because of I keptthem interested in what was
happening and they were investedin my health journey too. So
that, you know, in a weird wayworked out. But if you allow
(18:20):
yourself space to say, I wannatry something different, maybe
I'll just throw up a video aboutsomething totally else and see
if it resonates. It's okay to dothat.
I mean, you're not in prison inyour content. You're not stuck.
You can do what you want withit. You can just be yourself.
Could you you know, a lot ofpeople love routine.
(18:41):
I like change, you know?Alright, so I ran right into
from allowing change right intostreamlining your tasks and
putting them on a day where youcan do them together, embracing
the workflow. So I want tocircle back for a second to say
about change is I have evenassessed myself, is why I'm
gonna share this update today,that I have now come to a place
(19:04):
where I think one podcast a weekis gonna be more efficient for
me than doing two episodes aweek. Because when I did the
episode on Tuesday and I talkedabout viral videos and I didn't
go over the trends, it suddenlyclicked into me that if I just
sit here on this podcast onTuesdays, every Tuesday, and I
tell you the trends that youjust read about in the
newsletter, how is that addingvalue to you? It's not.
(19:26):
I've decided that I'm going tonow record only podcasts on
Fridays. So I hope that's okaywith everybody. Trust me,
Fridays will come very quicklyand I'll be right back in your
ear. So what I'm going to doinstead is focus more on my
Friday episodes so that I cangive you more value on Friday,
and this way the Friday episodemaybe I can go a little longer,
(19:47):
do a little Q and A at the end,hit a topic at the beginning, a
little, an opening, whatevertrending thing that's happening
on social media, then get intomy strategy and then perhaps do
some Q and A at the end. So I'mgoing to consolidate for myself.
So I am proof that you canevolve and you can change. Even
though you're doing somethingone way, it's okay to assess it
(20:10):
and say, hold up. So I'm goingto do it. I'm going to be the
example. I'm going to record onepodcast a week.
So now you can look forward tome on every Friday. You can
listen to it whenever you want,but it will be coming to you
only on Fridays. So next Tuesdaywhen there's no podcast in your
inbox, don't panic. Don't thinkI something happened to me. Just
(20:30):
be aware that I am giving myselfa little space because I also on
Tuesdays record a very speciallesson for my studio members and
I would like to take the time todo that and not feel that I'm
always rushing to then alsorecord a podcast.
Alright? So I am proof that youcan change, evolve, explore
different ways of doing things.You're not going to lose your
(20:51):
audience. I'm sure that peoplearen't going to leave me because
I'm not now recording onTuesdays. You'll be here with me
on Friday or you can listen tothe Friday one on Tuesday
whenever it's good for you, Idon't care.
And it's still gonna be good.And for me, it might actually be
better because I'll be able tobring you more energy, more
value in one podcast than tryingto piecemeal and and pump out
(21:12):
two podcasts a week. Okay?Because there's a lot of work
involved in case you didn'tknow. Well, I think you might
know because I did a podcastabout doing a podcast and it is
very involved.
So for that, to that point, Ithank you for understanding and
I will be here next Friday andwe'll do questions. So if you
can please in the newsletterdrop your questions. If you have
(21:34):
any questions, I'm happy toanswer them at the end of next
week's podcast. Then you canalso look forward to at each
Friday podcast, you'll knowexactly what I'll be delivering
every week. And I will be seeingyou then.
Have a great weekend, and I'llsee you next Friday.
Welcome to The Socialize Strategy. Since our last meetup
(00:03):
together, I have now had thatviral video settle down. Things
are back to normal, almost tothe opposite degree where I am
back down to one to 2,000 viewsper video. And I never thought
I'd say that that's comfortingafter having a viral video but
I'm not gonna lie, NGL. It issomewhat comforting.
(00:24):
I feel that I can manage it. I'mseeing people that I can now
communicate with back in thecomments. I don't feel
overwhelmed by the comments, andI also feel that my sense of
community is back. So that's thegood part. I'm going to continue
to post consistently because Ido think it's important to have
virality now and again.
(00:45):
It gives your page a refresh. Itdefinitely brings new energy and
new people find you, so that'skind of fun. What's finally
happening now that it's calmeddown is I'm able to see the
comments on other videos. So I'mseeing what videos people are
being fed. So couple of mypinned videos are getting a lot
of views and comments and one ofthem is a bit about my
(01:08):
background, which I just pinnedrecently because I had somebody
asking me a lot of times, in thecomments, I'll have that
question, how do you know allthis?
And I have to search down mypage to get to that video where
I described my background. So Idecided to pin that one, and I
removed one of my other videosand I replaced it. So now what's
happening, that's kind of cool,is that more people are aware of
(01:30):
what I do with my careerbackground, what I do for my day
job, my little anecdote fromthat video. If you haven't seen
my pinned video, you should gowatch it. It's amusing.
It's amusing because I tell as Igive my background, I also told
a little anecdote about my earlyyears in advertising, and a lot
of people when they stuck aroundto the end of the video
(01:50):
commented on that story. Okay?So I'll actually put that in the
show notes. I think that's a funone to have here. But today's
topic we're gonna do, and thisis again self self induced to
some degree.
I am experiencing it myself, andI decided to work through it on
the podcast with you. I thinkthat a lot of times things I'm
(02:12):
going through, other creatorsare experiencing or will
experience at different times.And so I feel it's only fair to
share and give you some insightsand maybe I'll get ahead of it
for you and you won't have theissue. Or if you're in the same
issue as me, maybe this willhelp you because we'll be going
through it together. And that ishow to simplify your content
(02:32):
creation.
And what I mean by simplify,it's going to be different for
everyone, but at the same time,it's a broader look at what
you're doing because I havealways thought, I don't know if
I could do social media as a jobbecause it's it's a hamster
wheel and there's a never endinghamster wheel here because month
(02:52):
to month to month, it's likeyou're on to the next month.
It's International Women's Day.Then it's Saint Patrick Day.
There's holidays. Blah blahblah.
You have to keep the contentfresh. Have to keep the content
pumping. And it's stressful. AndI remember thinking, oh gosh, I
don't want to do social mediaproduction because it's a
hamster wheel or social mediamanaging because it's a hamster
wheel. And the most interestingthing came out of this.
(03:15):
And that is Tommy and I, my sonTommy, my oldest, sometimes
he'll hear me talk about thingsand he'll say something because
he's far enough removed thathe'll shed light on it from the
outside. So he said, well, howis creating content for social
media different than all theyears you've been doing TV
commercials? So I went, let methink. And to me, they're very
(03:38):
different. And so I said to him,when I do the TV commercial
production, I do the productionand then it's over and I'm on to
the next thing.
And then when I do thatproduction and it may take up a
month of my time or whatever,but then it's over and it's
wrapped up and I move on to thenext production. And he said,
yeah, but you're moving fromproduction to production, so how
is that different? And I waslike, So I was really trying to
(04:01):
explain it to him and in tryingto explain it to him I realized
it's not that different and it'sjust my perception of it was
very different. So, and part ofthat came from the idea that
when you're doing social mediayou're on a monthly treadmill
and that is true if you'reworking with clients where
you're doing content for themmonth to month, which is what
(04:21):
I'm doing. I actually have aclient that I work on every
single month and I do content.
But somehow, now that I'm in therhythm of it, it doesn't seem as
overwhelming. I don't know whathappened. I don't know what
changed. I think he clickedsomething in me that made me
realize, well, I've always beenworking job to job to job and
now why do I think that'sdifferent? Because in a way it's
maybe more consistent now, sothat's probably a good thing, I
(04:43):
guess.
I don't know. I'll think aboutthat for the next episode. But
anyway, let's talk about how tosimplify because I do think that
a lot of people get overwhelmedin their content. And I have
been guilty of this, andrecently I have had to take a
hard look at how I can simplifybecause I have added a lot onto
my social media plate withtaking on the studio and then
(05:04):
wanting to be present for mypaying members. And I'm enjoying
that so much that I have, I'vemade that a priority now and I
really lean into that.
But I also, of course, I'mfeeling well, I wanna make sure
I keep my content pumping outfrom my my viewers that are not
my paid subscribers. So I haveto balance that fairly and I
don't wanna now pull back onthat because I have a studio. I
(05:26):
have to figure out how I'mdelivering more intricate detail
oriented stuff to the studio andmore personalized things to the
creators in the studio. So I'mbalancing things and I'm working
through it. But you will havethe same problem.
If you're trying to build andgrow a brand on social media,
you can immediately feeloverwhelmed by this endless
hamster wheel that is contentcreation. Okay. Let's dive into
(05:50):
some of the tips on how you canmake it better for yourself, and
I'm going to share a lot ofpersonal stories here because
I'm simplifying. Okay. So we'vetalked about this before which
is you have so many platformsand people feel like they have
to be everywhere and they haveto do well everywhere and the
fact is you don't.
You can decide where you'regoing to lean, where you're
going to do well, you're goingto focus on that first and then
(06:12):
you're going to figure out a waythat is most efficient for you
to farm out to those otherplatforms. So since I've talked
about this before, I'm not goingto belabor this point. I'm just
going to, I guess, reinforce itthat if you're creating content
in TikTok, they do make iteasier now that you can save
after you post, you can save itwithout the watermarks. It's
actually easier now than it wasbefore to use that content
(06:34):
elsewhere. It's just that, oh,wait, the age old question is
the algorithm on the otherplatforms recognizing that this
was a TikTok and so therefore isit going to penalize you?
No one really knows the answerto that, so I'm not going to say
yes or no to it, but I'm justgoing to say that's like a
little looming thing out therethat could be hindering. But if
you lean on TikTok first and youmake your content on TikTok,
(06:56):
then you can easily, you can putit on LinkedIn, you can put it
Instagram, Facebook, YouTubeShorts. You can just put it
right out there because you cansave it without the watermark.
So that makes it easier. Youcould also use a platform like
repurpose.io where you just copyand paste the link into
repurpose.io on wherever youpost your first post and then it
will repurpose it to the otherplatforms accordingly.
(07:17):
So that's a paid platform thatyou can use. But what you want
to do mainly is search your souland say where do you want to be
first? And that's where you'regoing to lean and then
everything else you're going tofarm out from there. Okay? And
that's the first thing.
The next thing is labeled stayin your lane. But it doesn't
mean that you can't post outsideof a niche. It means you want to
define what your lanes are.Okay? What are your areas of
(07:42):
content you're going to focuson?
They used to call them pillarswhen we were first doing social
media. Everybody was talkingabout pillars. I will tell you
by example how I consider mylanes and then you can relate to
this. So I mainly post where Iget my most views, I mainly post
tutorials. But, I don't onlypost tutorials, and in fact, I
(08:03):
post tutorials on a rhythm whereit's like tutorial and then
freestyle freestyle freestyle.
So it becomes a tutorial, thenit's like a lifestyle thing.
Maybe it's I'm out doingsomething. Maybe it's a trend.
Maybe it's I'm at an event andI'm showing behind the scenes,
and then it's a tutorial. I keepa rhythm going where there's a
tutorial coming in there everyfour or five posts so that if
(08:24):
someone comes to my page, theycan clearly see the ones that
are labeled our tutorials andthey can scroll quickly through
and not have to dig for scroll,scroll, scroll to find another
tutorial.
So it's this way of balancingout your content. So if you
decide you have four lanes orfive lanes, whatever it is that
you want to rotate through, andas a new creator, you might want
to focus on less because that'show you find and curate your
(08:46):
audience. Okay? But once youfind those, you create a rhythm.
So let me speak to this for asecond about focusing more
tightly when you're startingout.
If you're trying to grow, itbecomes very confusing for a
follower to grab onto youraccount and then their pat one
video's a your family, your cat,a birthday party you attended,
(09:10):
at a an event, something you aretalking about that you like, and
then, oh, there's your bakingvideo. Let's pretend you're
doing baking. And then it's afamily event, it's a holiday,
it's a thing, it's a thing, andthey have to and it's five more
videos of like random stuff, andthen it's a baking video. You're
gonna have a harder time growinga dedicated audience that wants
your baking videos because it'sgonna take you longer. It's not
(09:33):
it's not not doable.
So it's not undoable. It's notimpossible. But it is a longer
game because you're really gonnaget people that are gonna start
seeing your other videos thataren't baking and they're gonna
stop engaging and then you'regonna lose that traction. So if
it's something where you're, youknow what you wanna do, get in
(09:53):
that lane and go hard and thenonly sprinkle occasional other
things in there. Like lean moreon the thing that you want to
focus on.
Alright? If you don't know whatyou want to focus on, pick three
things and balance through them.Okay? You're going go one, two,
three, three, and then the onethat hits the most you'll start
to see, you're getting moreviews on I'm gonna let's talk
about somebody who's doing likemeditation versus oh, I don't
(10:16):
know. How can I even say thisnow?
Okay. Meditation, holistichealing, healthy eating. Okay,
one, two, three, four, likethings that are sort of similar
but then one of them does betterthan the rest, maybe you lean a
little more on the one that doesbetter than the rest. And then
you lean into that for a whileand see if you pick up more
traction like that. So it'sreally about creating the lanes
(10:38):
and then deciding how you'regonna keep the audience that you
have engaged.
And we have, I'm sorry Nikola,but I'm throwing, here you go
again. But it's like somebodylike Nikola who just had a video
go viral about her doing herclothes washed out, hanging her
clothes on the line outside, andit's like now she's and it was a
funny video, so now she's gonnahave all these people that are
(10:58):
gonna be looking for the funnygirl who hung the clothes on the
line and they're gonna find apotter who does pottery. And so
maybe that wasn't the best useof a viral video. I mean, was
just accidental, so that's justwhat happened. But that's what
you will find will happen.
Like you may have something pickup traction and then it's like,
oh my god, that's not even thething I want to focus on.
(11:19):
Alright? So just know that thoselanes are fun and they make your
content more fun, but they alsocould slow down your growth
process. I've noticed people whogo hard on one topic, which I
can't stand. I go into theirpage and it's like one after the
next after the next, it's thesame thing.
I personally don't like it, butthat's not that's just me.
That's not every viewer. Everyviewer, the bulk of the viewers
(11:41):
are gonna wanna see that persondoing that same thing over and
over because that's why theyfollowed them. So the
unfortunate thing for me is thatI would get bored myself but I
probably would even grow fasterthan I am now if I was only
doing those types of videos. Imight lose followers if I kept
doing that though, like, youknow, anyway.
Because how much can you watchan editing tutorial again and
(12:03):
again? I would, I think I'd,you'd start to feel from the
creator, from me, that I wasn'teven enjoying it anymore. So I
have to keep the joy. That's theway that goes. You know what's
funny about this?
I was I had lunch with somebodyrecently and I said something
about every sometimes you justgotta go left when everyone else
is going right. And from thebeginning of my journey on
(12:23):
TikTok, I listened to all thosepeople saying stay in your lane,
build, you grow faster, blahblah blah. I never did it
because it didn't feel right forme. And so there's something
about that is not just followingthe school of fish, you know,
just saying what do you want todo instead of listening to
everybody telling you what todo. Okay?
So a little side tip. Alright,what if the content is time
(12:45):
consuming? Here we go. I'd likeyou to break it down and say, is
the content you're creatingthat's most effective the most
time consuming or is that themost easy content? And then
assess to yourself what is myfavorite type of content to
make?
Alright, so now I'm going tobreak it down and I'm going to
bring it back to give myexamples again. My most
(13:08):
successful because typicallytutorials or teaching something,
imparting some knowledge aboutwhether it's TikTok, editing,
now it's iPhone, whatever, thealgorithm, I don't know. That's
what people watch for me. Butwhat I like doing the best is
outfit transitions, okay? I cando them so quickly.
I enjoy it. Any type of coolsnazzy like outfit transition or
(13:34):
whatever, that's what I reallyenjoy and that's what I can do
the quickest. So if I sat hereand said, okay, I have no more
time to work on my content.That's it. What am I going to do
to keep content going if I don'thave time?
If I suddenly had my full timejob took over and I had no time
to make tutorials, for example.Because tutorials take me
longer. I have to set up, think,make sure I get all the shots.
(13:57):
It takes me a while to editthem, make sure I'm explaining
it clearly. It's more tediousfor me.
I love it, but it's a littlemore time consuming. So if I had
to do nothing else, nothing,nothing, Jersey girl, if I had
to do nothing else, I would dooutfit transitions because those
are so quick and fun and theykeep me energized and then who
knows, like maybe if I did thoseagain and again and again, one
(14:18):
of those would take off andmaybe I'd get some fashion brand
deals or something to show offclothes for a store. I'm not
going to do that because Ireally enjoy teaching. So I
decide that I'm going to maketwo tutorials a week because
that's about all I can do in mygiven week. And then in between,
I'm going to throw the fillercontent in.
(14:39):
I'm going to make a quicktransition from here to there.
I'm going to go from bang, youknow kick the screen and I'm in
another outfit or I'm going todo something quicker or have a
fun thing with Jonathan wherehe's, you know, doing something
with me or I'm doing a littledance video. I have given
myself, I won't say gracebecause that sounds like, you
know, give myself grace, but Ihave given myself the space to
say I don't have to power outfive tutorials a week. I'm
(15:01):
tapering it down. And I'vetapered it down since I've
started the studio because inthe studio I do one dedicated,
clear and more elaborate lessonper week.
And so that's time consuming. SoI'm spending my time with my
paid membership folks to makesure I'm delivering the content
that they need and then I'mtaking time for myself by not
pressuring myself to do three,four tutorials a week for my
(15:25):
free social media content. It'slike two tutorials a week.
Anyway, the algorithm isprobably sending the viewers
older tutorials anyway, so it'sall it's a win win. Okay.
So think about if the content istime consuming, how you're going
to simplify and how you're goingto decide, okay, I'm going to
only make two things per week onmy long the stuff that takes me
longer to do, and then I'm goingto figure out a quick way to do
(15:47):
the filler content. So whatwe're doing in the studio, by
the way, is I am helping peopleto say, here's quick ones if you
need filler content. Here's aquick idea this week. You can
you can make it right in theTikTok app or in the Instagram
app. Save yourself some time.
So I'm trying to also help mystudio members balance by giving
them here's a more elaboratelesson if you want to do
(16:08):
something a little moreelaborate, here's some easy
quick content you could pump outwithout a lot of effort. And
this way you're not exhaustedfrom fulfilling your content,
and it doesn't feel like thishamster wheel. K? The other
thing I have to add in thisbucket is also if the stuff that
you do, for example with me, thetutorials, is time consuming,
(16:28):
try to think about batchingthose into a day so that you
have like one day a week whereyou're doing your things that
take you longer to do and you'regetting them out of the way and
you're putting them in thedrafts. Or, for the person who
asked me this in the studio, ifyou're putting them, if you
don't want to save a bunch ofdrafts, you could put them into
a folder on your phone.
Unfortunately, ultimately youhave to get them back into
(16:50):
drafts wherever they have tolive. But if you're shooting and
editing outside the app, you canjust build a folder of your
upcoming content that you wantto see without putting it into
your drafts. But either way, youdo them all together at the same
time and then you put that awayfor the week. You've got them
done. And now everything else isjust a quick, more irreverent
(17:11):
stuff you do off the cuff.
And that is where I help youkeep a plan going. So that's
like here's an easy one, here'san easy one. I don't do them all
because I have to delivertutorials on a certain rhythm.
So I will have lots ofsuggestions for my studio
people, but I'm not doing everysingle one of those because then
it would fill my feed with toomany in between videos and not
(17:33):
enough of my meaty content.Alright?
Okay. The next topic is to allowyourself some change to explore.
Don't feel like, okay, I've beendoing this the whole time, I
can't do anything else now, myaudience is never gonna accept
that. You can allow yourself toevolve. When I was in my time
going through, losing my sightand going through cancer, my
(17:56):
whole account evolved into, Idon't even know how I got back,
but I went down that path wherepeople were coming along for the
cancer journey.
I was still doing tutorials inbetween, but my in between
content, in between tutorialstook a turn. And I didn't lose
an audience because of I keptthem interested in what was
happening and they were investedin my health journey too. So
that, you know, in a weird wayworked out. But if you allow
(18:20):
yourself space to say, I wannatry something different, maybe
I'll just throw up a video aboutsomething totally else and see
if it resonates. It's okay to dothat.
I mean, you're not in prison inyour content. You're not stuck.
You can do what you want withit. You can just be yourself.
Could you you know, a lot ofpeople love routine.
(18:41):
I like change, you know?Alright, so I ran right into
from allowing change right intostreamlining your tasks and
putting them on a day where youcan do them together, embracing
the workflow. So I want tocircle back for a second to say
about change is I have evenassessed myself, is why I'm
gonna share this update today,that I have now come to a place
(19:04):
where I think one podcast a weekis gonna be more efficient for
me than doing two episodes aweek. Because when I did the
episode on Tuesday and I talkedabout viral videos and I didn't
go over the trends, it suddenlyclicked into me that if I just
sit here on this podcast onTuesdays, every Tuesday, and I
tell you the trends that youjust read about in the
newsletter, how is that addingvalue to you? It's not.
(19:26):
I've decided that I'm going tonow record only podcasts on
Fridays. So I hope that's okaywith everybody. Trust me,
Fridays will come very quicklyand I'll be right back in your
ear. So what I'm going to doinstead is focus more on my
Friday episodes so that I cangive you more value on Friday,
and this way the Friday episodemaybe I can go a little longer,
(19:47):
do a little Q and A at the end,hit a topic at the beginning, a
little, an opening, whatevertrending thing that's happening
on social media, then get intomy strategy and then perhaps do
some Q and A at the end. So I'mgoing to consolidate for myself.
So I am proof that you canevolve and you can change. Even
though you're doing somethingone way, it's okay to assess it
(20:10):
and say, hold up. So I'm goingto do it. I'm going to be the
example. I'm going to record onepodcast a week.
So now you can look forward tome on every Friday. You can
listen to it whenever you want,but it will be coming to you
only on Fridays. So next Tuesdaywhen there's no podcast in your
inbox, don't panic. Don't thinkI something happened to me. Just
(20:30):
be aware that I am giving myselfa little space because I also on
Tuesdays record a very speciallesson for my studio members and
I would like to take the time todo that and not feel that I'm
always rushing to then alsorecord a podcast.
Alright? So I am proof that youcan change, evolve, explore
different ways of doing things.You're not going to lose your
(20:51):
audience. I'm sure that peoplearen't going to leave me because
I'm not now recording onTuesdays. You'll be here with me
on Friday or you can listen tothe Friday one on Tuesday
whenever it's good for you, Idon't care.
And it's still gonna be good.And for me, it might actually be
better because I'll be able tobring you more energy, more
value in one podcast than tryingto piecemeal and and pump out
(21:12):
two podcasts a week. Okay?Because there's a lot of work
involved in case you didn'tknow. Well, I think you might
know because I did a podcastabout doing a podcast and it is
very involved.
So for that, to that point, Ithank you for understanding and
I will be here next Friday andwe'll do questions. So if you
can please in the newsletterdrop your questions. If you have
(21:34):
any questions, I'm happy toanswer them at the end of next
week's podcast. Then you canalso look forward to at each
Friday podcast, you'll knowexactly what I'll be delivering
every week. And I will be seeingyou then.
Have a great weekend, and I'llsee you next Friday.
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