Episode 7: Creating content that builds your personal brand (transcript)

What’s up, y’all. Welcome to The Shontavia Show where my goal is to help you start a business based on your life’s vision. This ain’t going to be your daddy’s business advice. I’m laser focused on entrepreneurship in the 21st century, vision, and breaking the traditional mold. If you can get with that, you can get with me. Be sure to visit shontavia.com for more episodes, blog posts, and other content. Thank you for listening. The show starts now.

What’s up everybody? This is Shontavia, and this is The Shontavia Show where I help you start a business based on your life’s vision. This episode is all about creating content and using that content to build your brand or business. So I am a firm believer that your content should be working around the clock. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for you.

So what is content and who cares? Why is it important at all?

Content is something that you are creating to express your expertise, talk about your business, talk about your background in some way, communicating through writing, video, song, whatever. Some kind of medium to communicate about your brand, your business, your work, your expertise. The stuff you create is how other people are going to come to see you as the authority on a topic in your field or your industry.

I was just talking about books and about the importance of writing books and having books as, as content so that people see you as the authority on something. And so creating content like books, like any number of things which we’ll talk about in this episode, this is also how you can convince people to buy your products and services and work with you. How you can convince people to become clients or customers of your business.

Your content is your digital calling card. This is your business card online, and it needs to be out sharing your message broadly today and every day. When people find your work, it should communicate your expertise and how you can be of service to others, how you can improve their lives, how you can solve their problems, why people need you, and why people need your business. So this is your website, your social media accounts, the interviews you’re doing, the articles that you write and share or that you’re sharing from other people.

They should be available around the clock selling your brand, selling your business while you are awake or asleep. So a lot of people struggle with how to use social media and how to kind of engage with people online. And this is where I think a great starting point is especially for new entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs to communicate your expertise and build your brand and interest in your work.

So one of the podcasts that I love is called Dead Ass, featuring Khadeen and Devale Ellis. They’re a married couple–a millennial, married couple–with three kids living in New York. And they created a podcast all about marriage and life and business. I love this podcast. I’m married, I have three kids. I don’t live in New York, but apparently Devale has connections to South Carolina and that is where I live right now. So there are a lot of synergies already. But why continue to listen to their podcast and continue to go to their social media and whenever they start selling things, I’ll probably buy their stuff, is because I view them as experts in this whole realm of marriage and family and relationships. Because they put out a ton of content, y’all. If you go to their Instagram page or to their YouTube channels or listen to their podcasts, they are regularly putting out really, really great content.

And they built this from the ground up. I mean they really started from the bottom and now I’m seeing them all over the place. And they were actually, you know, if any of you saw this news about Tyler Perry opening a studio in 2019 and it being kind of the first studio of its kind to be owned by a black man, to be not in Hollywood, to be in Atlanta and to be larger than all the studios in Hollywood combined. Devale was there because he’s in a couple of shows that are being created at the Tyler Perry Studios. So my point is they’ve built a really dynamic brand from ground zero. And their advice, they had a podcast episode recently recently, and I’ll try to put a link in the show notes for you to this actual episode.

Because the episode was about content creators and advice they had as successful content creators. They don’t call themselves successful content creators, I’m calling them that. Their big picture advice about content creation was amazing. And so I want to share some of that advice with you before going through the technical step by step, here’s how you should create content or how you can identify content.

So their big picture suggestions included:

(1) being authentic in whatever your content is. So being like the real you. So this was something I struggled with early on. Most of y’all know I’m a lawyer by training. I also have a bioengineering degree. And, you know, there are these traditional ideas about what an engineer looks like, what a lawyer looks like, and I don’t necessarily fit into that mold.

I don’t want to wear a black suit and white shirt every day. I, I, you know, am not in court all the, I don’t even really practice law right now anymore. But I didn’t really think I could be authentic as who I am today, which is a writer, speaker, higher ed administrator, podcast or content creator, all those things, consultant, coach, all that stuff.

I didn’t think I could really be authentic and cuss or talk about my kids or talk about my frustrations or talk about my failures. But their piece of advice just resonated with me so much about being authentic in, in whatever my content is. And so I’m offering that advice to you. And, I, again, I really think you should go listen to this full episode.

(2) Number two, being cognizant of your brand and your audience and making the content digestible for them, if you want to monetize it. So by that, like who are you talking to and what do they want? So with Devale and Khadeen, one of the things they talked about was they post videos about their family, their kids, and their videos are, you know, usually no more than a few minutes long, three to five minutes long.

And so for a while people were telling them, “Hey, you should make longer videos. You should make longer videos, you should make longer videos.” So they made a longer video and very few people watched it and people complained that it was too long. And so they said, you know, really we should have been listening to ourselves and making content digestible for the people we want to communicate with. We know our audience, we know our people, we know our folks, and we should do what they wanna see and create the kinds of things they want to see.

Being cognizant of your brand and making content digestible for your audience is, is critically important. Don’t do what everybody else tells you, because not everybody else is in your shoes with your market, with your expertise, with your background. Make your stuff digestible.

(3) And then number three, this stuff doesn’t happen overnight.

So this was the point where I had to like pause the podcast and rewind it and listen to it again. Because they were saying that, you know, “people say that we’re an overnight success cause they know about us now, but we had to do this for multiple years, for 10 years.”

So we live in this society now where you think, Oh, I should go viral, create a business, make $1 billion, and it should happen overnight. And it doesn’t happen that way. What they said in the episode was, you know, it takes 10 years to become an overnight sensation or an overnight success. And I just, you know, I really loved that point because so many people want things to happen right away, and it just doesn’t always happen like that. So again, I’m going to link to their episode in the show notes, because there was way more advice in the podcast episode than that.

But those things really resonated with me that I wanted to make sure I shared. So that’s kind of like the big picture of how you should be thinking about content.

But really the goal of this episode is to dig deeper into how do you actually do it, what kind of plan do you need to have?

So one of the first things I did was just list out in a couple of minutes, like the different types of content that you can possibly create as a new entrepreneur or wannabe entrepreneur, as a person who’s creating content that builds your personal brand, that supports your business, that gets people interested in the work you’re doing. So I’m going to just list these out. If you have questions about them, if you want to talk about them, send me an email, go to my website, send me a message, tweet me, send me stuff on Facebook, Instagram, whatever, beause I want to talk more about this stuff.

But let me just list and I don’t even know how many things are on this list. I think it’s 20 different things. Because I hear people say all the time, “I want to use social media, but I don’t really know what to do,” or “I want to create content, but I don’t really know what to create.”

So here, just some examples: blog posts and articles. So whether it’s a blog post on your own blog, an article somewhere else, blog posts, articles, social media posts, videos–whether those are film, video or film, television Live like Facebook Live, Instagram Live and whatever Twitter uses. Go Live on some of those platforms with video, podcasts, radio shows, MP3s and CDs, books, eBooks, workbooks, pamphlets, email, newsletters, text messages. I’m actually part of a really cool group on signal that sends messages back and forth about technology and blockchain and innovation and that kind of thing.

Magazines, uh, interviews, classes, presentation, speeches, conferences, moderating panels and workshops, live events, pictures, GIFs…

So there’s a lot of stuff you can create. Now I’m not suggesting you go out and create all these things. I don’t create all these things myself, but these are just some examples of things you can start to do to create content that builds your personal brand and supports your business and ultimately helps you attract clients and customers to your business.

On the other hand, I know it can also sound daunting, because this is a long list and creating all this stuff could take forever. And that’s true. This is going to be work. This is not something you can do overnight. It takes time and consistency and probably multiple months, weeks, years, whatever, to really create enough content to the point where you feel like it’s attracting, you know, the type of business opportunities you want.

But even when with all of this, there are ways to leverage your ideas to create multiple pieces of content from one idea. So here’s some advice around that.

Create themes around your area of interest or expertise. Whatever your business is, create themes. And within these themes, create topics that can be applicable to that theme. So you have your broad theme, create some topics there and then figure out how to break that down into digestible pieces, particularly digestible pieces that your clients, your customers, your audience, stuff they will be interested in. So like if I take this, all right, say you have a bicycle business. I don’t know anything about bicycles. My husband rides, he loves bicycles. I’m not that into it. But at any rate, bicycles, that’s the first thing that came to my head. So if bicycles is your big picture theme, what topics are there within this theme of bicycles?

There are types of bicycles, there are different types of helmets, there are different races and rides you could do. There are different ways to train. Maybe you need a Peloton, maybe you don’t need a Peloton. If you’re trying to get your family interested in bicycling, maybe you can have a theme around family biking, around trails in the South or in the North or in the West or in the Southwest or wherever. So now you’ve got some themes about bicycles.

If we take any one of those pieces, so say um, helmets, which I really don’t know. I’m going down the wrong path cause I don’t know enough about this stuff. But if we say helmets, right? I presume there are different brands of helmets. They’re different sizes of helmets. There’s probably a helmet that’s better if you’re doing like competitive cycling versus mountain cycling, if that is a thing.

So anyway, you keep breaking it down into these individual pieces and then just create, take one of those pieces, take that and create content around that thing. And soon enough, you’ll have enough topics to fill a couple of months, probably even a year’s worth of different topics you can use.

So first, create a plan around these themes.

The second thing, once you have a theme, commit to a schedule and be consistent. So my suggestion is to create one new thing a week and use that as your base. And then cut up that content and a lot of different ways to share publicly. So if my theme for the week, if I’m sticking with the theme of bicycles, if my theme is different types of bicycles, then may be, I write an article about all the different types of bicycles that are good for, I don’t know, city riding or something. And once I have that one article that I create maybe 750 or a thousand words or so, chop it up into a post that can go on Facebook, on Twitter, have pictures of the bicycles that you can post on Instagram. Maybe you create a short video about different types of bicycles and which one you like best for different reasons.

This is what I do. I start with a blog post that goes up on Monday or you know, a podcast episode that goes up on Monday and that whole week I’m talking about that blog post each day on the platforms that I’ve chosen. Not all of them, because I actually am not, you know, a person who spends a ton of time on social media, but now I plan to do so.

But I chop up one article that I’ve already written in a lot of different ways. So I suggest you doing something similar to keeping a schedule and being consistent. And so like for me, I know an article goes up on Monday or podcast goes up on Monday. If it’s a podcast, there’s also an article that tees up the podcast and explains a couple of things about it.

I know I’m going to post on Facebook twice a day. I know I’m going to post on Twitter three times a day, Instagram twice a day, LinkedIn twice a week and YouTube once a week. And then within my private community I post there two to three times a day.

And with all of those things, I already know the schedule. I can rattle off for you right now. And with many of those things, I am scheduling, I’m not sitting there every Tuesday at 10:00 AM typing something out.

So now it’s ingrained so much. It is just habit. I know that these are things that I need to do, so commit to a schedule and be consistent.

So I use a scheduler to do that. I don’t kind of sit down, like I said, every two hours or every hour or whatever and type things out. I use a scheduler, I sit down usually on Saturday or Sunday. I sketch out now really is not week to week is really more two or three weeks out, but I schedule everything out and things go up when they go up.

I may be asleep or on the beach or wherever and things are going up consistently. So that’s the second thing. Commit to a schedule. Be consistent.

And once you’ve done that, decide where you’re going to put your content. So you come up with a schedule and you know you’re going to be consistent. Where will things go? So my suggestion always is to put stuff on your own platform first. So if you have a website, if you have an app, an email newsletter, something, put your stuff there.

And then move to other social media platforms. Don’t just let your content live on social media because you know they can do whatever want with it. And if it’s only there on social media, if somebody complains about it or there’s a copyright claim or whatever, your entire piece of content could be gone. And you have no control over that.

So, so create things on your own platform first and then choose some social media platforms where you want to post.

And so this is where, you know, I hear a ton of people say, I don’t really know how to use social media, there’s too much out there, blah, blah blah. And some of those complaints are completely, you know, I get, I understand and appreciate.

I think the last time I checked they were like 123 different social media platforms. I’m not suggesting you post 123 different places obviously, but choose a couple. So if it’s Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, whatever, those are just the tip of the iceberg, choose some social media platforms, put your stuff out there. And if I can just reiterate, schedule, schedule, schedule.

To be consistent, you probably going to have to schedule stuff. I mean, if your life is anything like mine, there’s always something that happens. There’s sickness, there’s holidays, there’s unexpected flat tires. The train might be delayed. Whatever.

Create enough content where you can schedule things out so that you can remain consistent and people who are following you can come to expect to get things from you or see things from you at certain times of day or during, you know, whatever period.

Everybody always has really good intentions when it comes to this stuff. It’s just hard to keep going consistently because of life. So if you have a good plan and a good schedule and a good scheduler, you can alleviate some of that stuff.

If you ever feel like you’re not making enough traction, please, please, please just keep going. Keep writing, keep posting, keep creating. In this day and age, it takes a lot of content for most people to maintain a thriving brand and grow a growing business.

Ask yourself so if you’re feeling frustrated, how many original articles have I written that actually help people, that changed their lives, that positively improve their lives?

How many social media posts am I making that have useful advice that people can implement? Have I gone Live on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, wherever, enough so that I’m connecting with people and the message is resonating with people? Have I pitched myself at a conference as a speaker? This is something I talk about a lot. If you go to my website, I write a lot about going to conferences, speaking at conferences, and taking your content with you. So if you have a book, if you have a challenge, if you have a newsletter, a platform, a whatever, going to conferences, going as a speaker in particular in the times that that’s appropriate and taking your content with you.

Have you pitched yourself to other media entities? So conferences are one thing and they’re awesome, but have you pitched yourself to newspapers or podcasts or radio shows or whatever. But no matter what I mean, and there are other things, obviously in may of stuff just isn’t resonating. Maybe there’s some ways you can retool your business. Not completely eliminate, but ways you can retool so you fail forward. I heard Natalie Bacon say this on a podcast episode I heard of hers a little while ago. You want to fail forward. You keep moving forward with the stuff you’re creating, but please, please, please keep going. Like Devale and Khadeen mentioned in their Dead Ass podcast, there’s no such thing really is overnight success. Everything takes time. It takes 10 years to be an overnight success, so keep creating content. Send me some of your content. I’d love to read your work and see what you’re doing in your business. Thanks.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Shontavia Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment wherever you’re listening. You can find me on social media everywhere, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and wherever else @ShontaviaJEsq. You can also visit me at shontavia.com to find a transcript of this episode along with other show notes. While you’re there, please be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter. The information shared in this podcast and through my other platforms is designed to educate you about business and entrepreneurship, and I love to do this work. While I am a lawyer, though, the information I provide is not legal advice and does not create or constitute an attorney client relationship. The Shontavia Show is a LVRG Inc. original. The show is recorded on site in South Carolina and produced at Sit-N-Spin studio in Greenville, South Carolina. Original music and sound design is by Matt Morgan and Daniel Gregory. Mixing and mastering is by Daniel Gregory and the video is by GVL meeting.