We’re all looking to get ahead. Everyone wants to have an edge. Don’t deny that you’re trying to get a leg up on the competition. Clearly, no one these days wants to just keep up with the Joneses – they want to pass them by on the way up.
You’re pouring your blood, sweat, and tears into your music career, your books, your podcasts, your YouTube shows, or whatever else it is that you’re creating. Yet, I’m here to challenge you to find one more effort that might give you that leg up.
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And I’m going to give you a couple examples of what I’m doing so that you can view it through the lens of your efforts and how this can fuel you to find that proverbial extra gear.
On January 1st of this year, I finally got on TikTok. I was late to the game, but at least I finally established a presence. Now, people who might have that as their pet platform can find me (specifically, posts overwhelmingly about my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast) on there. Regardless of how long it took me to finally create an account there, at least there is now the all-important discoverability factor.
I’m also here to tell you, by the way, that I feel like it opened a different area of creativity in my brain, which is fun in a refreshing way. I can honestly say that it challenges me in a way that I (competitively) am up for!
Granted, a lot of times when I speak at various events or simply when I’m talking to a potential client for my PR agency, I do say, “You can’t be all things to all people, meaning, you can’t be on every social media platform out there.” So, if you just have a hardline stand against why you don’t want to create a TikTok account, then – if you feel it’s a solid, logical reason – don’t do it just because I did.
Instead, look at the content you’re currently creating and say, “Where else can I put this that I’m not already.”
For example, last month I spoke at an Authors Retreat in Quincy, Illinois, put on by Indies United Publishing House. Of course, as with any speaking engagement that I do, I made sure that plenty of video was captured of my presentation. And last week I dipped into it because it allowed me to create an Instagram Reel. I’m past due on putting it up as a TikTok (which I will). And guess what? It’s also something that I can use as a Short on the Now Hear This official YouTube channel.
Don’t ask, “Why would you put it there?” Instead, think of, “Why NOT put it there?!”
I have a second weekly podcast and every Sunday I post a (65? 70? 75-second?) video for it on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Or I did, for quite some time. Eventually I realized, “Why haven’t I been putting this up as a YouTube Short?!”
And as a quick aside, here’s a pro tip on that. What I’ve started to do very (very) recently is asking ChatGPT to give me a video description that meets the parameters – one hundred characters or less, hashtags, optimized for that application. You’re welcome.
Your music that you’re busy uploading to YouTube and Bandcamp, for example. Does it turn out that you have a SoundCloud account that you haven’t uploaded to in four years? Put that track on there too so you can reestablish a presence on there.
If you have a podcast and it’s not on practically every platform, why not? Are you holding it close to the vest for a reason? Do you not KNOW that it’s not “everywhere you listen to podcasts”? Do you not have a traditional podcast hosting company that should be syndicating it all over the place? Make sure you’re not missing out on possible listeners.
For the authors, do you only have an Amazon link on your website? What about the people who prefer to buy books through BarnesAndNoble.com or Bookshop.org or the Books A Million website? Take the time to add those buttons (links) to your website in order to better position yourself to score points with your existing and potential readers.
Shoot more footage than you think you’ll need at whatever event you’re going to and then spread it far and wide. Circling back to something I alluded to above, remember, just because you put it on YouTube doesn’t mean that your Facebook followers or Instagram followers or X (Twitter) followers or TikTok followers saw it over there.
For more than twenty years I have been helping indie musicians, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.