As businesses and marketers, the demand for content on digital platforms can be absolutely overwhelming.
There have never been so many opportunities – or such an appetite – for content marketing on every social media and digital platform out there. And creating so much content can seem like a really tall order!
That’s why we called in our friend Jillian Bowen from the Content Fix podcast to give some of her sage advice on the topic.
Jillian is not only the owner of a successful podcast, a digital marketing consulting business, and a thriving Facebook group – she’s also a digital marketing mentor and learning designer at Academy XI!
Why is Jillian the exact person to speak on this topic? Well, she juggles full-time work and an absolute crush of content every week.
“I put out a podcast every week. I put out about a dozen social posts a week, I do a few Lives, I put up a few videos.
I probably pulled together about 20 or 30 pieces of content of various sizes. Yeah, I do that every week. And I do actually work separate to that – I work 60 hours a week at the moment.
So all that content is on top of that, and I manage to do it. And I don’t have elves! I’ve tried to teach my dogs, my kittens to do this. They’re not very good at it.”
Jillian Bowen
And the biggest shocker? Jillian doesn’t outsource a single thing. She’s found the cure for content overwhelm, and she’s teaching us all about it on our latest episode of Marketing Unleashed. In this episode, we discuss:
- What content is, and the difference between content creation and content curation
- Why sharing and amplifying content from other creators has positive benefits for your business
- Finding the content threshold and making your plan work for you
- The process for outlining and planning a lot of content that will keep you sane
And so much more!
Watch the full episode here!
On what content is…
“If content was going to have a one-liner it would say, Hi, I’m content, and I am the valuable information that my audience wants that’s relevant to their journey right now.”
On creating content versus curating content…
“Creating content means you are making it yourself. So you’re writing blogs, you’re creating videos, you are doing a podcast, social media posts… Curating is when you are looking at what other people are doing and really resharing it yourself. So you’re collecting – a curator is a collector of other people’s content.
I think that there are lots of different models for this. And I think some people can absolutely focus on just being a curator, just really focusing on using other people’s authority to reinforce the message they want to get out there. If you’re going to do that, I would say that I would like to see you put your own spin on it. So not really just sharing something of somebody else’s, but really pulling out what you think was the point and take it to the next level.”
On featuring other creators voices…
“If you can bring in other people’s voices, I think it makes your audience really engaged with you. And it shows that you’re not just all ‘me me me me’ – you’re saying let’s talk about all the value that’s available.”
On the value of content versus ads…
“Content as a whole is pretty much any information that you’re packaging up and putting out there. I don’t really think it’s paid. If you look at the world in digital marketing of owned, earned, and paid, I think that your content sits largely in that owned space. So it is the stuff that you produce that has high value and as much as we’d like to think when we do ads that they’re incredibly valuable, chances are they’re not.”
On finding the type of content that works best for you…
“I like to say to people that you’ve got to find the space where you actually enjoy doing it. If that is a blog, that’s fantastic. But if you like talking, think about a podcast, if you’re comfortable being on video look at doing that. There are so many great short videos from Youtube shorts to Instagram Reels. There’s really something for just about everyone. So don’t try to fit a square peg in a round hole. Find a space that you feel really comfortable.”
On writing naturally…
“If you feel like you’re not much of a writer, here’s my little tip for people. When people struggle to write, I say, record yourself. Because most of the time, if we record ourselves explaining something, we’re going to get those words out, and then you can transcribe them, and then you can tidy them up in an edit. And it gets you over that hump of thinking that you’re really bad.”
On the secret of the “content threshold”…
“Please get yourself off that pressure wheel! This pressure that you know, we talked about right at the beginning, in terms of that you must do X, Y, and Zed. And if you don’t do it, you’re not going to succeed. That’s just almost setting you up to fail right away.
So the first thing I always encourage everybody to do is to find a content threshold. What is the minimum viable content you can get out each week without sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth in tears? Start there, start working out what you can do realistically.”
On outsourcing…
“I hesitate to say you should outsource your primary content. That’s your core thing, that’s your voice. I think your voice, your authenticity are such important things to have at the core of what you’re doing.
But obviously, you can outsource getting someone to help you with graphics. You can outsource editing.”
On content amplification…
“In terms of amplification, for me, it is taking one idea and using it and abusing it and squeezing every little bit of life out of it to create a whole load of content.”
On how outlining helps you find more content…
“If you are struggling to create content, that’s my tip. Number one, outlining it. So actually, breaking what you want to do down into dot points before you get started is going to be an absolutely critical part of getting into this amplification, because those dot points are then going to help you think of what else can you produce as you’re going through here.”
On product marketing in content…
“I call it the sweet spot – and the sweet spot sits between what your audience wants -and what they want is about them, it’s where they are right now. The sweet spot sits there between them, and the product or service that you’re selling.
And that sweet spot is not exactly about your product or service. It’s a bridge that connects the two.”
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