I was chatting to the lovely Helen Pollock, The Content Doc, the other day about content creation and sharing, as I have a couple of book writing projects on the go. Then, we thought this might make a good conversation for a podcast chat.
Why? Well, if you need to attract people towards you, perhaps to invest or as clients, whether as a company and especially as a personal brand, then you need to get good at creating and effectively sharing content across various platforms and in different formats.
Listen in as we talk about Avatars, play a biggest search engine guessing game and...err Boursin of all things. Always fun when Helen joins me on the show!
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Transcription of the show
I was chatting to the lovely Helen Pollock, The Content Doc, the other day about content creation and sharing, as I have a couple of book writing projects on the go. Then, we thought this might make a good conversation for a podcast chat.
Why? Well, if you need to attract people towards you, perhaps to invest or as clients, whether as a company and especially as a personal brand, then you need to get good at creating and effectively sharing content across various platforms and in different formats.
Listen in as we talk about Avatars, play a biggest search engine guessing game and...err Boursin of all things. Always fun when Helen joins me on the show!
Property Chatter
Transcription of the Show
Hi, Helen.
Hi, Richard. How are you doing?
I'm doing great, thanks. How are you doing?
Really well, thank you.
Fantastic. Well, this is a bit of an experiment, isn't it, we're going to do. So I had a crazy idea, and you're up for anything it seems ... within reason.
Within reason.
Yeah. Come on, this is going out to the public. So, I had a crazy idea and you, very kindly, agreed to play along with it. So we're going to have a little bit if a ... maybe, a two-parter here, I suspect. I'm throwing a curve ball at you, because part one, what I wanted to do is just talk about content creation, content sharing. That's just the theme, and then we'll have a little chat about it and how it could be relevant. Obviously, this is in the context ... I will come at it from a property type of angle, but I'm sure you've got experience beyond property. So, it's business, it's anything really, isn't it, I guess?
Yeah, absolutely.
That will be part one of our conversation, this particular episode. And then, if you're still talking to me at the end of that, I think you're going to put me in a hot seat, aren't you, and maybe do a bit coaching around some of my own content, is that right?
Absolutely. So then, hopefully that will be helpful to people. They will be able to understand the process that I usually go through to help people find their story, and tell it in an engaging and relevant way, that's what it's all about. So, yeah.
It's probably relevant, actually, to start there, because you say the process you usually go through. So, just set the context about what you're doing at the moment, who you're helping, and that sort of stuff.
Yeah, so my business is The Content Doc, and I'm a ghostwriter and a non-fiction business book coach, as well. My background was mostly PR, so I've written professionally for 20 years, or so. Now, I either ... I tell people's stories for them, or if they want to write their own story, but need a bit of support and ... often, it's accountability ... then I can help them that way, as well. So, yes.
Sounds good. Does accountability mean an arm around the shoulder, or kick up the backside?
It depends what you need. Definitely more carrot than stick, I'd say.
[crosstalk 00:02:48]I mean, I like to make the process fun. I don't think, you know ... One of the things that people really struggle with when they're wanting to write a book, is a feeling of overwhelm. It's like, "This is a massive undertaking. It feels like Mount Everest is facing me, and I just don't know where to start." So, I try to break things down into manageable chunks, and make it fun. Life's too short, so you might as well enjoy the process.
Absolutely. I always think it's great when your real character comes out in our conversations. I'm going to try and get that big giggle of yours on camera at some point. There you go, that's made you self-conscious, doesn't it?
Yes.
But no ... Well, you said you make it fun, and you do make it fun. I've been through a number of processes with you already, so I can say that it is enjoyable to go through. So, there we go. Right. What maybe we should start with ... you mentioned book, but I want to take the conversation more broadly, into content.
Yeah.
First of all, why would somebody want to create and share content? What would be good reasons to do it all?
I suppose I should also say, I also help people with general business content. And, the reason that that's become so important is, really, it's the rise of the personal brand. For a number of years, people wanted to feel more connected on a personal level with the businesses that they interact with, and obviously, buy from. So, with a personal brand ... So, that means that business people now have personal profiles on social media, and that kind of thing. They're not necessarily hiding behind their company name in a very corporate and dull ... dull corporate exterior. People want to know ... Well, fundamentally, people buy from people.
Right.
We know that to be the case.
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
And so, it's really important that business people are putting out ... projecting their real character so that your prospects and clients are moving along what we call the "no light trust journey," which they have to go along before they will buy from you. So, that's kind of what it's about. There's an oft shared stat about there being something like two billion blog posts shared every day. Do you know what? That is from 2011.
Right.
So, it's much, much more than that, now. So, not only is content sharing important, because we want to share our personality and who we are with our audiences, but our audiences are being assailed by content left, right, and center. So, content needs to be authentic, and it needs to stand out. It needs to be engaging, and it also needs to be relevant to our audience. So yeah, that's hopefully a ... rather long-winded explanation.
[crosstalk 00:06:34] to say, that was a really good answer. And, you took me into a couple of hours, already thinking about taking you into, and you mentioned things like authenticity ... well, you said being authentic. For example, people buying from people, and not hiding behind a corporate brand. So, I get all of that. It absolutely makes sense, then. So it's essentially, I guess, content for the sake ... for business purposes.Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Making a personal connection in what is quite a noisy environment. In fact, just to pick up that point, what is content? What is it? It's not just ... You mentioned blog posts there, and we started with a book. But, we could probably just rattle off between us a whole bunch of content, couldn't we?
Absolutely. Content is social media posts. Content is articles, whether short form or long form. I heard the horrible word "listicle," recently.
Listicle?
Yeah.
It sounds like an infection.
I know. Well, it was a word association, and it was on a podcast, and the host had a marketing word association game. And, oh my word, he said, "Listicle." I said, "What-icles?" But, I could very easily have just said, "Testicles." [crosstalk 00:07:58] A listicle is an article in a list format.
Ah.
But you know, this is your kind of [crosstalk 00:08:09]. Five ways to [crosstalk 00:08:13]. Top 10 reasons for why. And, I'd never hear that. Even though, I have written many listicles myself. Another thing is, video's really important right now. That's another form of content. And, people might be surprised, because I'm a professional writer, to know that my primary form of content is actually video. What I put out on social media is video. And, the reason for that is because it's really engaging, and it's probably a little bit more unexpected for a writer to do that. You don't see many ghostwriters, book coaches, actually putting videos out.
Well, there's probably something around seeing a ghostwriter, there, who could take you down, isn't it? Spooky. There's other imagery, isn't there, besides video? So, there's the ... Give me an example. People take in information in different ways, don't they? I mean, they've got a preference. It could be words, it could be graphics, it could be motion imagery, it could be static imagery, it could be ... they like to touch things. So, people like to take in information in different ways. So therefor, having your content ... I'm probably leading you in a direction ... but, having your content, which can be maybe touching a number of different media formats, it's probably a good thing, isn't it?
Yeah, definitely. And the other thing is, I think people get themselves into a bit of a pickle when it comes to business content creation, because they worry that they're going to need to create a massive volume of content. And, I've really worked on creating my own content over the past, I don't know, four months or so. And, I've actually amassed a right little array of content that I can reuse. But actually, if you go back to the beginning and start with your customer avatar, work out pain points for your customer avatar, then that leads you on to themes. And so, I would say ... I don't know ... create a video about writer's block and how to overcome it. I would then write an article off the back of that, as well, and pop it on my website as a blog post. And then, I would be able to create several social media posts pointing people to that blog post, or using the video. And, I can send the video, or a link to the article, or both in an email to my email list. So, you have to be really clever about repurposing, too, I think.
Yeah, that word, "repurposing." So, it's the idea of taking one media format, and then translating it into another format so that you can use it more than once-
Yeah.
... actually, yeah?
And the other thing is, people, again, get really hung up about, "Oh, I can't post the same thing twice." Of course you can. The algorithms for social media are such that people who have seen one of your posts, they might not have seen others; so you can confidently repost content. Obviously, you're not going to put the same thing out every day, or something, but if you put it out a month ago, it's fine. Stick it out again. You'll probably get a whole different group of people seeing it, it's okay.
Well, I'm glad you said that. So, just to drill that down, you can repost the same content, or a variation of the same content, on the same media platform more than once, as you just said. So, maybe a month down the line, maybe six months down the line. Therefor, you are leveraging that content in the same media platform. But, what you can also do, of course, is ... So, if I take your ... I've seen your videos. So, you're doing a number of videos on LinkedIn at the moment, which ... by the way, because I'm seeing them all, I'm probably commenting on them ... I get fed them, as well. They come on my feed. So that, it because ... I think the algorithms learn what you like, and they feed you more of it, don't they?
Yes.
I've been following you, and I'm trying to support what you're doing, because I believe in what you're doing. So therefor, I'm liking and commenting on your videos. But, just drifting away from that, what I really like is, you do a video which also has a caption, doesn't it? It has a transcription on the screen. So, what you've got there, of course, is you've got the visual, you've got the audio, but if people for whatever reason ... perhaps they're in an office, or a public space and don't have headphones ... can't listen to the audio, then you've got the words playing on the screen. That's really neat, isn't it?
I think you have to do it, Richard. Someone told me that you should always caption videos. And literally, it's like a couple of U.S. dollars to caption a short video. One U.S. dollar a minute from Rev.com.
You're using Rev, yeah.
Yeah. And, it's really accurate. It's human captioning, not machine captioning, so it's very accurate. But, I really noticed a difference. They say something like 80% of people watch the videos on social media without the volume, so on mute.
What percentage? Sorry.
Like, 80% or something.
Oh wow, okay.
And not only that ... So, I took that as read. On the rare occasion I haven't captioned the video, and there was ... there was one I posted the other week where I didn't caption it, and the number of viewers was right down on what it would be, normally. So, I think that is correct.
Yeah. Very good. And, this is video, obviously. And, it's going to go on a podcast, so that's predominately audio format. So, even though you and I are looking at one another, there is video content, it's going to be ... we'll just have the audio extracted, which will go to the podcast. The video, with your permission, will go on YouTube.
So, that's two formats, and two platforms. And then, there will be a transcription using the said Rev.com, which will appear as the show notes on ... as a blog post ... on the WordPress site. So, that's at least three. And, it will be promoted using social media across all of the channels that I use, and probably you use. So, it's going to be repurposed, to your phrase, multiple times, isn't it? Some people watch the video, some people see a clip on social media, some people will listen to the podcast, others will read the blog post. Somebody told me recently, they actually scan read the blog transcription, because it's quicker than listening to the podcast for them
I hate to say it Richard, but I don't listen to podcasts, because I don't have those pockets of time, like commuting or going to the gym. I don't do those things, so for ... and, I'm a much ... yeah, it's much quicker for me to read. I do enjoy podcasts, but only if they have transcripts.
Yeah. No I mean, it just ... I think it just reemphasizes the point about having different formats. Obviously, I'm known now for my podcasts, but I'm trying to get into different media, so video's a big new one for me, when I'm trying to get into it. Just to maybe pause on that, before we get into ... because I want to come back to something you said earlier about ... and, I'll let you think about it. You said something about avatars and pain points earlier, and I want to come back to that. But, before we move away from the platforms, let's just maybe talk about them. Because, I often ask people, what are the main search engines that people can post content to? And, when I say search engines, that would include things like word search as one generic one, rather than listing all of the individual ones. But, between us we could probably rattle off what the main places where people find content are. Have a little bat and ball between us, and see who ... not who wins, but who's the last person standing?
Oh, my word.
So, shall I go first, or should you go first?
You go first.
Oh, great. Okay, so I'll jut go first. So, I'm going to say Google, being the top word search platform.
I'm going to say YouTube, which is the second biggest search engine.
There we go. Well, I think I'm going to lose this, really. I don't know what the order is. So, I'm going to say Facebook as probably the biggest user base for social media. And then?
I'd have to go LinkedIn, which is my primary social media channel.
Very good. I will now go ... because I'm a podcaster, I'm going to go with iTunes as a great search engine for audio content.
Yeah. I think I'll have to mention Instagram. Yeah.
For photos, and stuff?
photos and images, yeah.
I'm running out, now. I'm now going to go with Amazon as the written words for books, in particular; which probably gives you a clue of where you come back, there.
Yeah. I think maybe Goodreads. That's a good one. That's quite interesting.
I think you're reaching, there. So, where else was I going to go? Probably, when I have this sort of conversation, we get that. So, people normally go, "Google, Bing, and Yahoo," and the get focused on that type of search engine. But, what we try and illustrate is, there's a multi-media platform. So, I think some ones to watch, personally ... I have no idea how to leverage them, particularly, at the moment. I am leveraging one already, but I don't think it's bringing a great deal. One is Spotify.
Oh, yeah.
So, Spotify is the new iTunes isn't it, in a way, for music content? But, they also have podcasts. So, that's that. I'm intrigued as to where that could take us. And then, the other one is Netflix. Now, I'm not necessarily going to produce a documentary and put it on Netflix, but this pay on demand type of streaming video content is one to ... Maybe not for solopreneurs, necessarily. This is maybe for people with a bigger budget. I think it takes us down a pathway of how people are consuming content. It's in different ways, and different platforms.
Definitely, and it's on demand. It always makes me chuckle, because my parents still, if we go around to their house on a Sunday, we'll be encouraged to leave before 9:00 p.m. because my mom will want to watch something at "X" time. I say, "But mom, it's on iPlayer. It's all right. You don't need to do that, anymore. You can watch it whenever you like." No, it's like ... She still has those fixtures ... t.v. fixtures; whereas, for us those days are gone.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can add in things like ... very specialized stuff, like taped talks, or producing a course on Udemy; those sorts of content platforms, as well. But, maybe that's taking it to, not a 101 level, but a 102 level. Which, does bring me back around full circle, too. So, the other day ... I'm going to just share this with you. I did tell you that I've been trying to do more video content-
Yeah, yeah.
... and, that's been going for a little while, now. And, I've got some good people who can help make the videos look half decent, which is fabulous. So, sometimes you do need a bit of support behind you, if you're not that technical yourself. I think you do a lot of self-publishing don't you, in terms of video? Is that right?
Yeah.
You're pretty self sufficient. I probably need a bit more help. I'll probably be "kicking you out by 9:00 p.m." type of ... So, there's two ways of doing it. There's doing it yourself, and you could probably talk about tools that you could use to do that. I tend to bring in somebody to help me do that. But anyway, I'll get to my point. So there's that, and then I think the other thing is ... Oh yeah, I was trying to do Instaphoto ... what's it, Instaphoto? No. Instagram, isn't it?
Instagram.
Yeah, I was just kidding. So, I was trying to do more Instagram. I set up an Instagram account about four of five years ago, and there was one little ... If you look at my Instagram account, you'll see that the original post was a video where my wife was actually videoing me trying to figure out how to log onto and use Instagram. And then, I just did a ... I just want to test you on this. I did a recent experiment ... We had a brunch on Saturday, and I posted a picture of our brunch on Instagram. Is that the right way of using this platform?
I'm not an Instagram expert, because it is images and video primarily. But, yeah I think ... So, I've got a client and friend who is a fashion designer specializing in lingerie, and she's about to launch a new ... it's a coaching service, actually, for other people who might want to set up their own lingerie brand and don't know really where to start. So, for someone like her, which is ... it's a fashion, interiors, cookery ... those kind of things. Food, all that kind of stuff. The lifestyle stuff. Instagram is brilliant, because those things are very photo/video friendly, and quite eye-catching. For business to business, Instagram is not quite so great. My gut feeling is, it's more business to consumer thing. But then again, if I was someone who was targeting lifestyle entrepreneurs, it could also work for me. But, it's a lovely way, because it's so image based, of showcasing personality, and also behind-the-scenes. And, I think people love seeing the kind of process behind the scenes. Very often in the past, I think organizations have often been quite cagey about showcasing what goes on behind the scenes. But, that's what people want to know, now.
Yeah.
Yeah. Who are these people making what I eat for my dinner, and how is that product made from the field to the fork, or whatever ... from farm to fork? So yeah, that kind of thing, I think.
I was kind of being a bit facetious about my brunch posting. I think people are a little bit critical about that, so I just did as a laugh, actually, just to see what the reaction would be. As it happens, what most of my content, so far, on Instagram has been, has been quotations in a graphical form. So, it's still worthy, you know? Behind-the-scenes, I think I'm going to take that. I've got a little note down to take that away, and do a bit more behind-the-scenes on platforms such as Instagram.
I asked you a question again, but I took you away from what I wanted to get from you as we went along, which was, if you're doing your own content and creation, are there some tools that you use?
Yeah.
What are the tools that you use, Helen?
That's really funny you should say that, because I was going to say ... I thought, "I must say this." I keep a spreadsheet, and I would recommend that anyone who's posting on social media regularly, just keeps a spreadsheet. Spend a day at the beginning of the month creating content and planning content for the month. So, if you do that ... just a few columns, the date, what format the post is. Is it a video, or is it whatever? The kind of text that accompanies whatever it is, the channel you're going to put it on, and the date it was last posted, because we're hoping to repurpose it, of course. Also, if it ties in with any special occasion. You rapidly, if you do this, build up a suite of posts. So you know, "Yes, this is a Halloween post," or "This one is relevant to Christmas," or whatever it might be. There's not point in reinventing the wheel every time. So, that is my top tip. Just keep a blinking spreadsheet.
Great. They call it ... what is it? A content schedule, or something. I only guess that would be-
Yeah, content or social media scheduler. I've got the simplest thing ever, and I'd be very happy to give you a copy for your listeners too, to download.
That sounds good. There we go. So, there may be some things. So, I have spreadsheets like you do. So, to track some of those shares, and the content. So, I do that. I also use a platform called Buffer. So, that helps to schedule social media posts across multiple platforms, so you're not tapping into Twitter, tapping into Facebook; doing it each one individually. So, that ... it's a bit of a time saver.
... I used to post on three or four channels simultaneously. I'm not doing that, now. I very much have chosen LinkedIn as my primary social media channel. I also post on Facebook, but I don't ... my content isn't aimed at Facebook. My content is targeted at LinkedIn. The Facebook thing, it's just a matter of course. And, I also always now put my videos on YouTube. I've got my own YouTube channel. I do nothing to promote it, whatsoever, but I was given some advice by a great guy called Bob Gentle, who has a digital marketing agency and podcast ... digital marketing podcast. And, he said always put your videos on YouTube, because it is the second biggest search engine there is. And, he knows loads of people who have done that. They haven't promoted it at all, 12 to 18 months later, all of a sudden they find they've actually got a YouTube following. Like, that is a no-brainer.
Yeah. I was just going to say, on the tools side, I think if you want to record something on your screen, you probably use a tool there, do you? Or, do you just go straight from the video and upload it?
I have done some Facebook Live videos, but I just usually the video camera on my laptop, which is pretty decent. Many of them are, these days. But I found also, if you've got a decent smart phone, many of them have pretty good cameras, and even editing facilities. I have not nailed editing yet, so I just ... I might need two or three takes, but I'm only doing short videos. Perhaps next on my list is to nail editing, and maybe get rid of some of the "ums" and "uhs," and stuff.
Yeah. I use, I think it's called Screencast-O-Matic. Basically, it's a screen capturing piece of software. So, if you're just doing straight video talking like we are, it's not necessary to do that. But, if you want to share, for example, running around your laptop on a spreadsheet, or something like that, then it's quite ... you know, for a training or something ... it's pretty good for that purpose. We're, of course, conducing this interview over Zoom, so we're in very different places. So, we're using that.
Yeah, I use Zoom for coaching, and I often ... I can Screen Share very easily on that. I can record and then send my coachees a recording of the call to refer to again afterwards. It's quite useful, and it's pretty cheap for that professional functionality, I think.
Absolutely. There is the idea about investing in this. There is a cost perhaps, isn't there? So, you mentioned you pay for transcription with the Rev.com. You're doing short videos, which isn't that expensive. I'm doing, I think it's over a dollar a minute for a podcast transcription. So, I'm measuring the time, Helen. I'm measuring the time
I guess what I'm saying is, is some people just want to do everything without paying for anything. But, some of these services are not necessarily that expensive, and you can get a fairly good, professional looking output while using a little bit of tech; using an outsource service. In my case, I have a virtual assistant who helps me, because my ... it got to the point where it was a lot of time, and energy, and activity in my content sharing activities. So, that helps me a lot. And, I have professional people who do the editing for my podcast, and the editing for my videos. So I'm just, like a geek basis. Do you use other service like that, or are you personally doing it yourself?
I'm personally doing it myself, at the moment. Yeah, Rev.com is just really good. I'm lucky that the camera on my laptop is pretty good. Something I use loads is Canva. And, I've recently upgraded to the professional version; which again, is really cheap. But, the free version's absolutely fine. You know, the free version of Zoom ... the only reason I upgraded was because I've got a great new laptop, but it's got a solid-state hard drive. So, you can't actually keep very much on the laptop's hard drive itself, so I need to be able to record in Zoom to the cloud, rather than the drive on my laptop. But yeah, there's so much functionality for free these days, so you don't necessarily need to invest much.
Okay. So, that was the ... I think, maybe drawing out some final thoughts, which might not be even short. But, going back to where you started, almost, and one of the phrases you used. You talked about avatars, and you talked about pain points. And, I kind of jokingly said earlier, about me posting a picture of my brunch. So-
What was it?
It was a ... oh, what was is? It was a poached egg-
Yeah?
... on ... there was avocado involved.
I think I saw this,
Say again, sorry.
This is ringing a bell. And Boursin.
Yeah, it was ... there's a little café-come-restaurant near us, which is very organic, and my wife loves going there. Every opportunity, it seems, we try and sneak up there. So, they do this nice brunch at the weekend. Little treat, little treat.
But, the point I'm making is, if my objective, for example, is to reach and connect with property investors, or aspiring property investors and developers, for example, then would posting a picture on Instagram of my brunch actually be consistent with that? So, what I'm really trying to say is, where should I have started for that type of thinking, in terms of ... you said avatar, and probably better define what that means, and pain points, and what is the purpose of the sharing content. We did, sort of, start about it, but this is really the key, isn't it, starting there?
So, an avatar is ... In this context, we are trying to create an outline personality of your ideal client; that's what it is. So, we want to try and get really specific. What gender are these people? How old are they? Where do they live? Are they married, are they divorced? Do they have children? What are they interested in? What brands do they like? What car do they drive? What are their aspirations? And, what are their pain points? And, people often don't really understand what I mean by pain points. It just means, what are the things that keep this person awake at night? What are their worries, their concerns, their challenges, and obviously, way of thinking? And then, how can we help them to overcome those problems?
And also, it's really important to say, don't get too hung up about this avatar thing. It doesn't mean that no one else that falls outside of this avatar ... it doesn't mean that no one else will want to work with you. This is the bullseye on the dartboard of the ideal client for us, but the people in the outer rings ... So okay, my ideal client is a man, age ... I don't know ... 33. It doesn't mean that a woman, age 33, won't work with me, or a many who's aged 54, or whatever it might be; basically, other rings of dartboard. It's more so that we can focus our mind and concentrate our efforts on really targeting those perfect people for us, but it doesn't preclude others from working with us.
Yeah, that's good. You know already, for example, because I've already shared it with you, that I've got more than one avatar overall, that I'm trying to reach. But also, I have more than one service offering.
Yeah.
That's part of the reason why I have more than one.
So, that's another misconception, that there is just one. And for some people, yes, that's correct. But, a classic example is of a business that creates a product, and sells direct to consumer, but also sells to wholesalers, who will then sell on to retailers. So, they're completely different ... completely different avatars. So, most businesses will have maybe two, maybe even three avatars.
I've got a little bit more than that. Not a lot more than that, but more than that. But, I guess the point is ... What I like about the whole avatar idea is, it's basically creating a persona-
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
... which you can even give a name to.
Yeah.
Then, when you're writing or creating your content, you can go, "This is for ..." I'm just going to make it up. "This is for Jackie."
Yes.
Jackie is your avatar that represents all the things you've just said. How old is Jackie? What are her interests? What her pain points ... what car might she drive? Well, you've got that in your mind, and you're creating the content. You're thinking, "What would Jackie want to hear?"
Absolutely right, that's it. And, that's such an important point, because one of the biggest mistakes ... I've just done a little video series about the most common errors I come across when I'm reviewing client copy, and top of the list is not writing for your audience, but effectively writing for ourselves.
Yeah. Yeah. I might be guilty of that, too. But, moving swiftly on ... Actually, I'm reading this book; it's right next to me. Can you see it?
Oh. Love it.
Have you seen it?
10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times ... no, I love it. Keep going, yes.
It's about being creative. But, do you know what he says?
Tell me.
He says, it's okay to write for yourself-
Ah.
... and to create ... So anyway, having just destroyed your argument ... but, not intentionally. I think, yeah ... I mean, it's better that you have an idea of who you're trying to communicate to.
Yes.
What you're trying to say, what sort of issues they're going to be interested in, what sort of problems or pain points that they might face. And then obviously ... and, what sort of media might they consume. Where do they hang out? And then, you can reach them in the most appropriate way. I don't know if you're wanting to add any more to that, but from a content creation, content sharing point of view, do you think that's a useful summary, perhaps?
Yeah, I think so. I think that I really want to stress that the avatar thing is absolutely critical, because ... And, if you don't know who your people are, then do some research, because so much of what we need to do to make our content effective, engaging, and relevant is based on the avatar. Where are you going to post your content? What the format of that content is. What you're going to say. It's all based on the avatar, and the information that you have in there. Yeah, your tone of voice ... so much. So, get that right. Spend some time doing that, and do some research if you need to, if you're unable to create an avatar at the moment.
Do you know where to go to research? You got any tips on that?
I would just look ... If you're a startup, it can be quite tricky to know who your audience is. If you're an existing business, look at your clients. Also, can connect in with, what are your goals? That's another way of working at who your avatar is. What are your goals, personally and professionally? And, what people do you need to be attracting to make those goals happen? Yeah, that would be my advice.
To put a spin on ... just maybe draw a conclusion ... but, to put a spin from a property point of view. So, let's say you want to create content because you're a deal Sourcer, or a deal packager. So, you're finding deals, and you want to sell those deals for a fee. So, as far as I'm concerned there's two main audiences; correct me if I'm wrong. The people that you want to get the deals from is one audience, if you like. And then, the second audience is to people you want to offer the deals to.
Absolutely. And, they're completely different.
Yeah. So, it could even be that you have a different presentation, or even a different brand platform for those two audiences, as well.
You're right.
Yeah. So, that may be an example of how to think about creating an avatar that's relevant to, say, as a deal Sourcer/deal packager. Let's say that you are an aspiring property investor, and you're looking to attract external investment. So, the avatar game here could be quite fun, couldn't it? What would that avatar look like; that investor into your business? What are the characteristics of that individual? For example, they're probably not going to be poor.
Yeah.
That's just an easy one, isn't it, to think about. In other words, if you're trying to attract ... So, I'm just going to play that up. If you're trying to attract external investment as a property investor, and that's your main purpose for creating and sharing content, then is it appropriate to share "How to get started as a beginner in property," type of content, or is it more appropriate to talk about "How to make your funds work harder for you when you sleep," type content.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's all in my mind now, that perhaps they're busy. They've got some money, and they want to make better use of it, you know?
Yeah. And, you can kind of move on from that, because these people are probably not going to be really young, either. So, they may well be people who've got children, and who are thinking, "I want to leave a better legacy for my family. I want my money to be working hard for me. How can I do that?" So, yeah.
Yeah, and they could be busy making that money through a high-powered job, or high-pressure job; a business, or something like that. So, they don't have time, necessarily. The pain point could be their legacy, or the lack of time, for example. Both, probably. It could be more mature in years, have some funds behind them. And, we could start to build this avatar now, can't we? Where would they hang out? They have a membership at a club of some description, for example. They might drive a nice car.
Yeah.
So, we can build that avatar out in that context. So, I just wanted to use that as a particular example, which is relevant maybe, to some people watching and listening.
Absolutely.
Helen, I think just in the interest of my Rev.com bill alone, we might want to think about drawing a line. I don't know if there's anything earth-shattering you're wanting to add, which I'm more than willing to pay an extra dollar or two to have.
No, I don't think so. I think we've done a pretty good job of covering all the important bits about content generation and sharing.
Okay. So, what I suggest is we perhaps pause it for a sec ... in a minute ... and then, what I'd really like to do is to ... if you're still up for this, and still have time ... is to flip the table around a bit, and just put me in the hot seat. And, I'll probably get all hot, and sweaty, and uncomfortable as you take me through your process. Needless to say, if people don't watch the second part, the first part, I was just going to say, thanks Helen, for joining me and sharing your wisdom on content creation, content sharing, making it relevant and appropriate. And, if anybody wants to go through a process, perhaps, or get some tips, how could they reach you, Helen? How could they reach you?
LinkedIn is where I share a lot of information, so Helen Pollock is my LinkedIn personal profile. And also, my website is www.thecontentdoc.com, and there's some great articles there about how to be a better writer, and that kind of thing. Yeah, that'd be great.
Fantastic. All right, so hopefully people will reach out to you and get some ... I know you've got some nice, thought-provoking giveaways, so that ... people should just connect with you to get those, in the first instance, and then see where it goes from there. But, that's for joining me on part one. Should we take a quick pause, and maybe go for part two?
Absolutely, and thanks for having me.
You're more than welcome. Thanks for joining me. Cheers, Helen.
That's all from me this week, remember if you want to talk about anything from today’s show, or just talk property investing more generally, email me at podcast@thepropertyvoice.net, I would be happy to hear from you! The show notes can be found at our website www.thepropertyvoice.net
Thanks very much for listening again this week, so all that left to say is ciao ciao!