Social media is enthralling. I am mildly obsessed. You can build networks, communicate, educate, express, craft an image, develop a brand… all behind a glass screen. I have been in the social game since the late 90s when MySpace hit the scene. A friend and I had a page that featured both of us and we spent hours formulating the best song, background and profile. It had to perfectly express to the MySpace world who we thought we were. Which, at the time, it was pretty much only speaking to the rest of our high school class. At that point, I hadn’t quite figured out that what you put out in the social media world isn’t about you, the creator, but rather the consumer. In my wiser years, I have developed an understanding and appreciation for the craft and strategy of content creation and the difference between creating and consuming.
“what you put out into the social media world isn’t about you, the creator, but rather the consumer.”
Digging deeper: consumer vs creator. When crafting content for social media, either personal or business related, you are looking to engage with the world. That world could be friends and family or, on a larger scale, current or potential customers. The text, images, links, GIFs and videos that are added to your social media platform communicate to the world who you are, but the trick is knowing what your audience is interested in. This is where the flip is switched. Of course, we want to boost the number of likes, hearts, comments, shares, retweets, regrams, etc, but this is ultimately telling us what our audience likes to see!
If you, as a creator, post some lame photo of you cleaning your toilet and it reads, “Scrubbing away!” there probably won’t be much interest because at the end of the day people don’t give a crap about YOUR toilet (pun intended). However, if your post was a how-to about getting your toilet to clean itself, there will likely be a greater interest from your audience because people will want to know how to make this happen in their lives! Boom! It’s about what the consumer wants to see, not about what the creator deems important!
If you are on any social media platform, you are more than likely both a consumer and a creator. You are watching, reading, commenting, sharing and learning from other’s platforms all the time as a consumer. But you are also adding content to your own platforms, which makes you a content creator!
So tell stories and captivate your audience!
Here are a few basic questions to consider before adding content to your platforms:
- Is this a genuine, strong representation of my brand? (either personal or business)
- Would my audience be interested in this? Does it provide value? (If you don’t know who your audience is, you have some work to do and that’s okay!)
- Does this content spark an emotion? (happiness, inspiration, motivation, compassion, etc)
- Is the content engaging and am I responding to my audience? (If you’re not, you should be!)
Business-based platforms require more strategy than personal platforms, but either way as a content creator you should seek engagement from your audience. Engagement equals communication. So instead of talking to yourself on social media, have a conversation with someone else today, either on your platform or theirs!
A Pinch of Opinion 