“Back in my day…”
You know the old heads’ about to bust out some bullsh*t when you hear that phrase muttered from his crusty mouth.
It’s damn near a guarantee.
But things we’re different back in “my day” – when I started working online. Just a few short years back.
Back then, blogging was the name of the game.
The advice?
Put out great content and the people shall find + share it. Maybe publish a PDF after enough people have found your site.
These days that shit simply doesn’t work.
There’s far too much content online. Far too much competition. Far better ways to build an audience. Better ways to make moula and guap.
Which brings me to this here article, the future of content creation. The future of building blogs, personal brands, and social media followings on the ole’ interwebs.
Now, I’m no genie.
Ain’t got no bottle.
But today I’m going to take a look into the future. Into how things will play out for content creators. For internet hustlers trying to make a buck by creating things for others to consume.
Now, I’m certainly not the foremost expert on this here topic. But I’ve been around the block a few times. Seen some sh*t over the years.
How people have changed.
How content creators have evolved.
Where the money is and all that good jazz.
I’m saying I’ve learned some sh*t through a whole lot of trial and error. A whole hell of a lot of failure.
So with that in mind, I’m gonna give you my take on the subject at hand…
The Future of Content Creation
So enough of the fluff, let’s dig into this bad boy.
Here’s what I thinking will happen over the next few years with regards to consumption and production:
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Social Media Surging
Maybe I was ignorant, but I hadn’t a clue how valuable social media platforms could be for selling.
Don’t get it twisted…I knew Facebook Ads and all that jazz were making people millions. I just didn’t know that a personal brand with a few thousand devoted followers was exceptionally valuable too.
A small following on platforms like Twitter or YouTube can easily equate to a full-time income if the content creator knows what he/she is doing.
Like 3,000+ followers/subscribers on these platforms is more than enough to pay your bills for a year if you know how to monetize.
There’s definitely a shift towards building a persona brand on social media instead of blogging. This is a massive change in the content creation game.
One that shows no signs of slowing down.
If you plan to be a creator for years to come, then finding out how to build organic followings on Twitter and YouTube are absolutely essential.
– Read: How to Get More Twitter Followers –
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Always Own Something
While social media is the best place to gain a following as of now, there’s no doubt the downfalls can be catastrophic.
Aka social media platforms can delete your account and following on a whim. With no prior notice. Forever.
Gone into the fookin’ wind.
It happened to my old YouTube channel in early 2018.
And it’s happened to many peoples’ Twitter accounts as well.
Social media platforms don’t give a damn about your brand, income, or you. You’re irrelevant to them in every way, shape, and form.
Just one peon in a cog of disposable peons.
As such, you absolutely need to find a way to build something off social media. If you’re solely reliant on social media, you’re setting yourself up for massive failure.
After careful consideration, I’ve found only a couple ways to build something you “own’ online. That you have control over.
What are those?
- Email List
- Website
You technically own the emails that people use to sign up for your list. You’re legally allowed to send them emails until they unsubscribe from your list.
No one can take these emails from you.
You can download the list in an Excel file each week for safe keeping.
Even if an email provider kicks you off their platform, which is not something that’s currently happening, you’ll still have access to the email list that you saved.
Allowing you to open up shop with a new email provider and continue communicating with your email list.
The same goes for owning a website. Owning a blog.
No one can take that work from you.
You can backup the site every week. Even if a hosting provider or whatever decides to “ban” you from their platform, you can simply take the backup of your site and host it elsewhere.
You OWN it.
You can’t be banned from your own site.
Can’t be banned from the entire Internet.
My point?
While investing energy in growing organic followings on social media platforms should be your future content creation plan, you absolutely need to create on outlets you own too.
This is the only way to become “anti-fragile” as a content creator.
P.S: Don’t forget to sign up for my email list by clicking here.
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Monetization, Moula, and Guap
Back in the day, many would tell you just to create something. Anything. The people will find it if it’s good enough.
Then once they’ve found you…
You can maybe sell them a cheap eBook. Your fans will support you. They’ll give you $10 bucks for a book.
That’s how you make money.
Build the audience. Then sell them something.
Blah, fookin’ blah.
Couldn’t be further from the truth these days.
If you’re going to create content, any type of it, then you better have a monetization plan these days.
Content creation is dead…
If you don’t have a plan to monetize for the future.
One of the easiest ways to monetize any type of content?
Online education.
If you understand your niche, the niche you’re creating content in, you’ll be able to find something they want to know more about.
Something the niche is willing to spend money to learn about.
At that point, you serve your market by creating an info product or online course teaching them exactly what they want to know.
The future of content creation is online education.
People teaching others what they want to know.
And charging a whole hell of a lot of money for that information.
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Google Gets Tougher
Search engine optimization is getting tougher and tougher each passing day.
More people are publishing online, niches are getting competitive, and Google is constantly changing their algorithms to make things harder on the little guys.
Suffice to say…
If you’re building a business using SEO as your primary source of traffic, you better know what the hell you’re doing these days.
Because if you don’t, you’ll get torched by the competition.
Black hat sharks will take the top spot on every keyword you show up for in the search engines, especially the “buying” ones.
While SEO isn’t going anywhere, you’ll need to be an absolute expert to get any traffic from Google in the coming years.
As a content creator, I wouldn’t make SEO my calling card unless you’re willing to play to win.
The future of content creation ensures the competition will be fierce for free traffic.
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Valuable Videos
I’m a huge proponent of the written word.
Humans have been communicating via the written word for thousands of years and the medium certainly isn’t going anywhere.
Not yet anyway.
Not unless literacy levels plummet in Western countries, which I simply don’t see happening.
Writing is still one of the best ways to connect with an audience. Writing is still one of the best ways to sell someone a product or service.
But…
Videos are gaining steam.
You’d be asinine to think that video content won’t increase in value as time goes on. Hell, YouTube is currently the world’s second most popular search engine (Source).
And here’s the kicker?
There’s little to no competition for YouTube SEO when publishing in 4K video.
You’re 10X more likely to show up for certain keywords when creating a YouTube video compared to a blog article.
For content creators, there’s a huge market for 4K videos with properly optimized YouTube SEO right now.
Oh, and there’s even another kicker…
Google loves when you embed your YouTube videos on related blog content.
Why?
Well, I’m sure there’s many a reason, but here’s my speculation:
First, Google owns YouTube. When you put a YouTube video in an article, Google will give it love because Google gives itself love too – aka more YouTube views.
Next, YouTube videos often increase time on page. Time on page is a huge benefit for SEO.
Methinks content creators should be taking advantage of this in the future.
I know I plan to.
What’d I Miss?
That’s about it, y’all.
Exactly what I see for content creators in the future.
But here’s the thing…
I’m no genie or genius. So I surely missed a few things.
What did I miss? Where do you think content creation is going in the future?
Lay it on me in the comments.
Que te vaya bien