How to Fall in Love with Content Creation

The conversation kicked off even before we hit record, with one Workshop member mentioning that — just like us — she’s fallen out of love with Instagram.

For her (and we feel the same), Instagram used to be this lovely, quiet place, full of beautiful images that you could peacefully scroll through and be inspired by. But the way the platform is set up now, you can’t help but feel that when it comes to creating your own content, you’ve gotta keep up with the latest trends to get eyeballs on your posts — even if creating whatever the algorithm wants today is not at all your thing.

This very common feeling of overwhelm and disengagement is why we wanted to talk about content marketing this month and why — despite a whole lotta gold dished up by our presenter, Workshop co-founder Kat Tancock, during the session — we’re going to recap the event with the one big takeaway that we hope is going to get you to fall in love again with creating content for your business.

Find the content sweet spot

When marine biologist and climate warrior Ayana Elizabeth Johnson came up with her climate action venn diagram, it inspired a lot of people — including Kat. The idea is that in order to fight climate change, it’s not super helpful if all eight billion of us become climate scientists or clean-energy advocates or whatnot, especially if that’s not our passion. Instead, we can look to where our interests and skills intersect with what needs doing and make a difference there.

The beauty of this venn diagram is it’s applicable to other areas of our lives, too. For instance, if you happen to be a small business owner who needs to create content, the same principle works here. How boring would it be if everyone on your feed was posting pretty much the exact same video? And isn’t it lovely that some of your favourite businesses send nice newsletters, create fun podcasts and write smart, useful blog posts as well as posting on social?

To get everyone in the group inspired, Kat shared some content thought-starters and then this venn diagram. The idea? To create your content strategy — a.k.a. your plan of how, when, where and why to create and share content — you should start by brainstorming what fits into these three categories:

1. What brings you joy?

For you, this might be geeking out over technique, talking about your inspiration, or creating stunning photography.

2. What are you good at?

Writing, dancing, being funny… there are so many options here, and of course, it’s possible to learn to be good at something if you’re motivated.

For this category and number one above, you might also include what doesn’t bring you joy and what you’re not good at — these are the things you can exclude from your content plan unless there’s a concrete reason you need to do them.

3. What will be effective?

This is where you do some thinking about your customers: where do they spend time, what motivates them to buy, and what kind of content will interest them enough so that they keep following, reading or subscribing even in those times they might not be ready to shop? Remember that content isn’t just a flyer or direct sales tool — it should be useful, entertaining or inspiring in its own right.

Once you’ve sketched out your personal venn diagram, you can start creating content that’s consistent, fits your brand and personality, and will get your customers and followers as excited about your business and craft as you are. Be sure to set realistic goals and know how you’ll measure success so content creation stays fun and burnout free.

Video recording and downloadable presentation deck

Of course, we did talk about more than venn diagrams during the event. Here, you can watch the video recording when it’s convenient for you and get more tips for improving your content marketing, including examples of some creatives whose content we love. Plus, download the presentation deck to keep on hand as you create your content strategy.