Dangers to Your Creativity: No Engagement and Viral Content
When you are trying to get into a consistent rhythm with your content creation, there are 2 situations that are dangerous to your creativity:
1. When you get no response.
2. When a piece of content goes viral.
Let's explore each one...
1. When you get no response.
2. When a piece of content goes viral.
Let's explore each one...
Silence
It's easy to get discouraged, when what you thought was important or meaningful, didn’t come across that way to your audience.
No one took the time to like, comment, or share what you created.
You wonder:
All kinds of doubts can creep in.
I can empathize!
Years ago, I would only post something if I believed it would be popular. When it wasn't -- which was most of the time! -- I went for days (or weeks) without sharing anything else.
Eventually, I dedicated myself to a rhythm of posting content consistently, no matter what the response was. I'm so glad I made that commitment.
Also, I learned how to distribute my content to the right audiences. My favorite way to do that is by using Facebook Ads. (With a lot of experience in doing it, I now teach a whole online course on Facebook ads.)
Another way to distribute content (though you'll need to have an audience already) is to reach out to a peer that you resonate with, who has a similar audience type and size as you. Trade content promotions with each other: you’ll share one of their best posts/videos to your audience, and they'll do the same for you. It is a win-win for everyone.
Yet even with distribution, your content will still go through cycles of silence and popularity. If you commit to creating and distributing content no matter what, you will get accustomed to that cycle. Understand that in the early stages, there will be low response much of the time, with the occasional viral piece of content.
I had to learn to simply create and share, knowing that likes or comments will always come and go, and that even without any engagement, I am growing by simply creating.
Popularity
The second danger to our creativity is the praise of others.
If your content gets liked and shared by many people, you start to care about admiration, or fearful of losing the newly-earned respect and attention.
You might get scared thinking about whether the next thing will be as beloved as the previous thing.
Inevitably, at some point, everyone experiences a dip in popularity again... maybe with your very next piece, who knows? It's so easy to feel like your "moment" has passed, if you keep comparing your results to your previous successes!
Temporary popularity can be as destructive as obscurity. Praise, and lack thereof, can both derail creativity.
Purpose
My recommended solution: Keep coming back to your higher purpose for creating and sharing. For example, to grow yourself, and to share what is worth sharing no matter what. And if it is meant to be for any piece of content, to positively impact another person.
Return daily to your spiritual practice to help you ground your work in a spirit of service. Let your content creation become a mission, a cause, your ministry.
In other words, you will learn to create consistently because it's worth doing, not because of the praise or even the business results. When you do good activity for its own sake, you win every time you do it.
No matter the result, celebrate a good action.
But what about the Results??
Occasionally, look back at the content you’ve created, and see which pieces got the most praise or business results, and ask "why might it be so? what's the pattern here?"
And look at content that got the least praise, and ask the same question.
By simply observing and asking, you will naturally sharpen your intuition about what content is most engaging for your audience.
If you aren't doing this observation and study consistently, you may want to hire a content-creation coach to help you in your analysis.
Doing this practice of occasional analysis helps you to create better content.
Again, don’t look at your content metrics daily, but only occasionally. Distance will provide perspective.
What needs to be done regularly, however, is to return to your purpose, and ask:
"What would I like to explore today through my content?"
Then create and share, for its own sake.
It's easy to get discouraged, when what you thought was important or meaningful, didn’t come across that way to your audience.
No one took the time to like, comment, or share what you created.
You wonder:
- Am I actually reaching anyone?
- Do I have something worthwhile to contribute?
- Is this a sign that I should stop?
All kinds of doubts can creep in.
I can empathize!
Years ago, I would only post something if I believed it would be popular. When it wasn't -- which was most of the time! -- I went for days (or weeks) without sharing anything else.
Eventually, I dedicated myself to a rhythm of posting content consistently, no matter what the response was. I'm so glad I made that commitment.
Also, I learned how to distribute my content to the right audiences. My favorite way to do that is by using Facebook Ads. (With a lot of experience in doing it, I now teach a whole online course on Facebook ads.)
Another way to distribute content (though you'll need to have an audience already) is to reach out to a peer that you resonate with, who has a similar audience type and size as you. Trade content promotions with each other: you’ll share one of their best posts/videos to your audience, and they'll do the same for you. It is a win-win for everyone.
Yet even with distribution, your content will still go through cycles of silence and popularity. If you commit to creating and distributing content no matter what, you will get accustomed to that cycle. Understand that in the early stages, there will be low response much of the time, with the occasional viral piece of content.
I had to learn to simply create and share, knowing that likes or comments will always come and go, and that even without any engagement, I am growing by simply creating.
Popularity
The second danger to our creativity is the praise of others.
If your content gets liked and shared by many people, you start to care about admiration, or fearful of losing the newly-earned respect and attention.
You might get scared thinking about whether the next thing will be as beloved as the previous thing.
Inevitably, at some point, everyone experiences a dip in popularity again... maybe with your very next piece, who knows? It's so easy to feel like your "moment" has passed, if you keep comparing your results to your previous successes!
Temporary popularity can be as destructive as obscurity. Praise, and lack thereof, can both derail creativity.
Purpose
My recommended solution: Keep coming back to your higher purpose for creating and sharing. For example, to grow yourself, and to share what is worth sharing no matter what. And if it is meant to be for any piece of content, to positively impact another person.
Return daily to your spiritual practice to help you ground your work in a spirit of service. Let your content creation become a mission, a cause, your ministry.
In other words, you will learn to create consistently because it's worth doing, not because of the praise or even the business results. When you do good activity for its own sake, you win every time you do it.
No matter the result, celebrate a good action.
But what about the Results??
Occasionally, look back at the content you’ve created, and see which pieces got the most praise or business results, and ask "why might it be so? what's the pattern here?"
And look at content that got the least praise, and ask the same question.
By simply observing and asking, you will naturally sharpen your intuition about what content is most engaging for your audience.
If you aren't doing this observation and study consistently, you may want to hire a content-creation coach to help you in your analysis.
Doing this practice of occasional analysis helps you to create better content.
Again, don’t look at your content metrics daily, but only occasionally. Distance will provide perspective.
What needs to be done regularly, however, is to return to your purpose, and ask:
"What would I like to explore today through my content?"
Then create and share, for its own sake.