Today I talk about how you can use content marketing to further your goals. Advertising is where you are creating ads which promote your brand or product. Content marketing is where you create content that has value to your customer which, as a consequence, promotes your brand in relation to how useful the content is.

My name is Bill Strand and we are in the second half of our year to build a digital business. In this year’s episodes we have established a social media home base, have created a logo, and have established a print on demand company which will produce merchandise with our logo on it. Now it is time to market that logo and start that digital income. Today I will go over the content marketing strategy where you will increase your logo’s awareness and value by putting useful content under it. Thus the logo represents an education or an experience that your audiences cares about.

It wasn’t too terribly long ago that content marketing was a strange approach. Brand awareness came from advertising where you paid some platform that had followers to show your logo or talk about your product. Occasionally, a company would write a book about their industry and this was the earliest form of content marketing that I can remember. But content marketing has been traced back to the 1700s where Benjamin Franklin produced the annual Poor Richard’s Almanac which raised awareness for his printing business. Companies would produce books or magazines which would help people in the industry be better at what they did or entertain. Consider the Lego movies as content marketing. Although I am talking about it from a strategic point of view, content marketing is often merely the individual taking the opportunity to do what they love! In fact, many of us, especially in the reptile community, view the content creation as the main focus. We consider the business side of things as monetization to support us being able to dedicate more time to content creation!

Forms of Content Marketing

Any communication medium can be used for content marketing. From creating an 

$80 million feature length lego movie with world wide distribution to creating a cul-de-sac newsletter with your 10 year old to promote their lemonade stand. Before the internet age, books and magazines were common forms. Then came websites. I would argue that the explosion in content marketing was when blogging became the big thing. And it has continued since then. There are currently 600 million blogs. Not all of them would be considered content marketing, but I think that is where it really took off as a mainstream marketing concept. This has continued with email marketing, podcasting, Youtubing, Instagramming, and, now TikToking. There are so many ways to reach people. And, if you are in the position of figuring out where the best place to put your time into is then you are in the right place for this conversation.

The different types of content creation

So, let’s dive into the different choices you have.

And, to start off, I want to make a distinction between what you own and what you borrow. Outreaches that you own include podcast, blogging, and email marketing. These are outreaches that cannot be taken away from you by conflicting ideologies purchasing the platform. On the other hand, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are all owned by someone else and you can find your outreach filtered or entirely taken down depending on the whims of the platform owner. Not even the owner, but the AI algorithms that are put into place by the owner. Anyone who has had a copyright notice from YouTube, a post removed by TikTok, or an account taken down by Instagram knows that there is no customer service number or easy way to talk to a real person when an action is taken against you. What type of content you create dictates how much danger you are in. We in the reptile community are on the edge. There are policies we must adhere to, such as no sales policies, or else we can get taken down. So, think hard on investing in a platform that you do not own. So why do anything on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube? Well, these are huge platforms and they are bringing hundreds of millions of people by your account. You may own your website, podcast, and email list, but if no one knows they exist then they are of limited value. There, of course, is a balance to be struck here! I think there is an obvious delineation that comes out to where you have a safe outreach and you use the social medias for marketing and accept that they are risky. I am going to do a quick analysis of six major outreach efforts and compare/contrast their risks and benefits. And then we can spin some scenarios.

First, Blogging. 

Blogging is where you create a piece of written content which usually resides on your website. People interested can check back on a regular basis or have your writing delivered to their email inbox. Blogging was the big thing until social media changed people’s habits. You see, before Facebook, for example, people would go to the world wide web and go visit the sites they cared about. Some would use a service that would group all of the blogs they followed and they would read them as they came out. When Facebook became a force to be reckoned with people would go to Facebook for their social needs. Blogs were still significant and they still are heavily used, but our habits have fundamentally shifted as to how we spend our time on the web.

Blogging can still be very valuable for you. Google is looking for websites that are constantly updating and a weekly blog gives them the signals that your content is maintained and Google will happily present your blog as part of their search results. So you have the power of the Google search engine. There is a whole art called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, that we can go into later which helps you present a blog article to best communicate to Google what it is about and who needs to see it. If you are a writer, a blog is a great outreach. You can host your blog on your own website or else host it on someone else’s website like Medium.com. Just remember, hosting it on another site means you have to deal with impersonal and sometimes seemingly random oversight. You will get increased traffic to your content as compensation for the control you give up.

Podcasting is essentially, an audio blog. This is where you have your own audio show. Podcasting has been round for a while, and we just recently passed 1 million podcast shows. But it still is not as mainstream as I think it should be. It is an amazing medium which allows a in-depth exploration of a topic. Podcasting is one of those outreaches where you own the show so no one can shut you down. 

The great thing about podcasting is that it is so easy to produce. You just need a microphone and a topic. Now, the higher the quality the more time is required. But there is a huge advantage to podcasting. When someone turns on a podcast they are much more likely to listen to the entire thing. They are driving to work, working out at the gym, or doing chores. It isn’t like YouTube where ten interesting options are presented to you in the sidebar while you are watching a video. So your podcast audience may have smaller numbers than your YouTube audience, but the quality of listener is much higher.

The choice between YouTube and podcasting used to be much more defined. But the emergence of video interviewing software which allowed you to record both video and audio has made it much easier to record an interview and load it up on YouTube. So the lines are starting to be blurred between audio and video production. You can now load up your podcast on YouTube, even just the audio with a still image, and benefit from the youTube algorithm. Of courses he more YouTube you make it the better it will perform, but this also falls under the banner of one new listener out of 1000 hits is better than no new listeners. But every outreach and platform requires additional effort so keep that in mind.

As for content, podcasting is unique amongst all these outreaches. It is the only one which can be consumed while doing something else. And the very nature of the simplicity of recording a podcast means the production can be more intimate on the host’s side as well. You can be in your pajamas on your bed sharing your thoughts and the intimacy of that situation will come through. You will be creating a deeper relationship with your audience than you will with a YouTube video where things are more produced. You feel more on stage because you have dressed correctly, combed your hair, and checked all the lighting. So, there is a more prepared feel to it. Of course, you can make a casual YouTube video and a very cleaned up and professional podcast. They are just mediums for you to work with. But they each lend themselves to different feels.

eMail Marketing is not often thought of when we talk about content creation, but it most certainly is. But email marketing is a tricky beast. The email list was the holy grail of the get rich quick working four hours a week people to the point where everyone now has an email list and we have special bins in our email providers for all the email marketing to bypass the inbox and be placed in a corner you don’t see. There is so much email marketing going on with so little value that we have become numb to it. Now, if you do it right people will open your email. So it does still work. But if you are doing it because some internet guru said you need to then your content will be 2 dimensional and you’ll see it in your open rate.

The nice thing about email marketing is that you can see how many people open your email and whether they engage with any of the links. So you do have a feedback mechanism as to what works and what doesn’t.

The reason why an email list was all the rage is because you own the contact list. All of those emails are people who are interested enough to sign up. That is your collection of warm leads. And, in an age where Facebook was clamping down on organic reach and replacing it with paid reach, the no-cost nature of the email list full of interested names was gold.

Social Media

So, now let’s take a look at platforms you can have an outreach on, but you do not own. Note that there are a multitude of platforms for you to come and host your content. The more people that are on a platform the more powerful they get as an entity on the internet so they want you. The problem, of course, is that you need to make sure you do not become overly dependent on a platform which could destroy everything in an AI moment. For example, when Facebook decided to enforce the no sales rule there was a blood bath amongst all the Facebook breeders that never bothered to create websites or an outreach on any other platform. Facebook made it way too easy and people didn’t have it in them to go beyond the nice warm embrace of big brother Facebook. So, when Facebook decided they needed to go they were removed without recourse in the middle of the night and left with no contact with their customers or any trace of marketing outreach. This tradition continues today with Instagram and is waiting to happen on TikTok. But, let’s talk about one outreach that, although it could turn on any niche group at any time, has not. And that is YouTube.

In fact, YouTube is the one social media platform which has made it the easiest for content creators to monetize their content. And it has provided the opportunity for a number of people to become full time content creators supported entirely by their YouTube channel. Now, as exciting as that is, and as much as I believe Youtube to be a stable platform for the reptile community to invest in, I need to raise the warning flag that you do not get lulled into complacency. This is a platform that could, and has, switched up their algorithm or implemented new advertising standards that could, suddenly and without warning, slash your income. I mean, this can happen anywhere. You could get laid off from your job. New legislation could impact your business. No matter where you go, there are risks. But there is a kind of slap in the face when you invest in their platform and then they toss you out onto the street. And I hope I am not coming off as paranoid. It is just my job here to make sure we all go into this with eyes open. When we use someone else’s platform it is a symbiotic relationship, but they are 100% in charge. So you love the traffic, the attention, and the ease of never having to worry about fixing your platform if it goes down. It is very nice. And you need to take advantage of it. But just realize you are being farmed. And you are just one of the livestock in a sea of other cows and pigs making them money. And their job is to give you only enough money to keep you producing. This is how it is with all social media platforms. But YouTube, at least, shares the ad revenue with you. And this is why it is so successful. Instagram and TikTok have only made baby steps into compensating their creators. So, Youtube is a great place to be in comparison.

On YouTube you are creating a video channel. You are creating a regular TV show. The huge advantage of YouTube is that you have 2.6 billion active users on there. It is a huge marketing opportunity. And those people are actively searching for content. YouTube is the #2 search engine behind Google. The significance of that is that it is the users that are searching for you and you just have to let YouTube know what content you are creating so it can match you up. And when you get that viewer, if you have done your job right, they are interested in your content. In contrast, with Instagram and TikTok, the algorithm there chooses what to show people to attempt to get them locked into an endless scroll. The more time people spend on their platform the more money the platform gets. So they will favor content that keeps people on the app longer. Getting viewers into a scrolling trance takes different content than giving people quality information that they were searching for. It is the different between rock candy which gives you a monetary high before you go on to the next sweet and a steak and potatoes dinner which you come to expecting to be truly fed. YouTube can definitely be the candy, but the people there are much more likely to sit down for the steak than they are on Instagram or TikTok.

That said, Youtube also gets money from people clicking from video to video so they make it a point to always have other videos being served up even when you are already watching a video. So there is intense competition not only from other people in your community, but also the cute puppy chasing a butterfly and the latest comedian sketch. So it is a busy world in which you can get on for free, but you will have to fight for attention.

Instagram and TikTok are social media platforms which are going through growing pains and may be more difficult than before. Although you can still get organic reach on TikTok, the window of as many followers as TikTok can throw at you is closed. It is getting more and more difficult to grow on both TikTok and Instagram.

It is valuable to have accounts on both of these platforms. Just keep in mind that it may be difficult for you to grow. Both Instagram and TikTok are locked in a battle for growth. And they have both chosen to grow and keep people on their platform by the endless scroll. Which means quickly consuming content and moving on to the next one. So it is much easier to find growth on these platforms if your content is brightly colored or has some immediate visual or audio appeal. If you have a longer piece of content you need to present an effective hook to entice people to stay watching and not go on to the next post. It is all about mental rock and cotton candy right now.

And here is the deep question you need to ask as a content creator. How much will you produce content that serves your target audience and how much will you produce that feeds the addictive nature that the algorithm appeals to? Those are two different types of content. You grow with the addictive content, but you may not grow in the right way. If your business is helped by a large follower count then the candy content is perfect. If your business requires a sophisticated and educated customer then you need to ignore the follower count and work hard on the quality of the follower. Which, I know is hard because there is not “quality” metric number. You have to dig for it and interpret what you find.

Both Instagram and TikTok are looking for short video. But, Instagram is still a great platform if you enjoy communicating through still pictures. Although Instagram is pushing their reels, people with still pictures can still see growth.

One of the things intimidating about Instagram and TikTok is the pressure to do short videos that are entertaining. But there are an increasing number of accounts that do scientific education so it is easily possible for you to do an educational reptile account without dancing.

Do your own thing

So, which one you should go with depends heavily on which one you think you enjoy the most. Because that is the one you will enjoy spending time with and creating content for. At this point I am assuming you are selecting the account that matches your passion rather than a cold marketing analysis of age demographics.

There is value in making that distinction because where you start creating content depends on it. If you are sharing your passion and are looking to monetize it you will pick the platforms of which you enjoy the most and feel is the best conduit for your creativity. You will accept the level of monetization that comes with your success doing what you love. If you are using it as a strategic marketing approach you will pick the medium which most aligns with your target demographic and you will teach yourself to be good at it in order to be most effective reaching the most likely customers. It is valuable for you to know what your goals are. Both approaches are completely valid. But we are always more effective achieving our goals when we know what they are.

You will have to make a decision as to how much of what you do you will do because it is the kind of outreach you want versus what the algorithm wants. The guiding light on this is what kind of customer will buy your product. If you have light hearted cute videos then that customer would probably be the right one if you are selling T-Shirts with cute, light hearted sayings. If you are selling expensive cages then your target audience is a more sophisticated audience and the content you create would have to appeal to them regardless of what the growth numbers show. This is hard. You are watching your growth in followers and subscribers. Every one does. But you have to always keep in mind whether that is the true metric you care about.

I want to encourage you to lift yourself out of watching the follower and subscriber numbers. Yes, they are important for a number of reasons. But you need to focus on what is important to your outreach because if you let yourself get distracted by other numbers then you will pour in a lot of work and achieve Instagram’s goals, not yours. Wouldn’t it just bite to have a huge account following but when it came down to spend money you found you have people who have zero interest in anything but being entertained by you?

Case in point. I recently went through an overhaul in how I approached my social media outreach. I was getting great growth putting out simple reels, or short form video. One of my cutsie videos went viral and got 24 million views and thousands of new followers. But huge red flags went off when I would get unfollows when I posted something substantial and meaty. Those were the wrong followers and if I continued to create cutsie videos I would continue to gather the wrong followers. I was giving Instagram what they wanted and they were rewarding me with followers. But those followers were good only for Instagram. They would never buy a cage or listen to my podcasts. And if you let yourself get addicted to the follower growth you will drift into the wrong lane. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a large follower account, Just make sure you are building it with the content you truly want to create and brings in the people who appreciate you in the way that serves your purpose.

A month and a half ago I switched my outreach from regular reels on Instagram to a combination of reels and long form video and they were deeply educational. They were an extension of my Chameleon Academy Podcast outreach. Everything was aligned and working together. You could visit my website, YouTube, Instagram, and Podcast and you would get a multi-media chameleon education experience. THAT is what I am all about and the kind of content outreach I want to have! And, my Instagram growth crashed. It even dipped negative. It  is still off and on again. I dip to negative growth at least once a week. The point is that I am sticking with what is authentic to my purpose. I can’t say the freeze and even reversal of growth doesn’t hurt. I mean, This is good stuff I am putting out there! You would think after six weeks of this the world would recognize this incredible outreach and the follows would flood back in like a tsunami. But….no. Youtube, where education is more expected has been a slow, but steady growth. TikTok, where this is not the kind of thing expected has been a slow but steady growth because I am now attracting the very few that are looking for education. But instagram is still filtering out all the people that followed me because I was entertaining. And, if you ever see this happening to you, do you know why the reaction to any change you do takes so long? It is because your content is shown to so few of your followers. So it takes a while  for everyone to see it. There is no pulling off the band aid quick in this game.

But, when I release my special product or special offer, the followers that are listening will be listening closely and the account will be more successful with a small number of followers than it would be with the high follower numbers.

Conclusion.

So which is the right outreach. The answer is all of them, or most of them. But which one will be your flagship? The one you stick with when time is tight and you only have time to devote to one? Example, For my Chameleon Academy outreach, my Podcast is the core center. The blog post I do every week supports the podcast episode. The Instagram and TikTok posts are general interest or I have six posts that are six parts of the podcast episode. And YouTube gets videos when I can create them. My weekly email is a summary of the podcast. But I have had seven years to build this system all up. I started with a podcast. I soon aded a website and Instagram and then, over the years, added in YouTube, then years later added in a weekly mail and TikTok. So, just expect to start with one and slowly build from there as you have time.

Consistency

So, when do you know you are ready to add on a new platform? That would be after you have shown to yourself and your audience that you can be consistent long term with the platforms you started with. The best frequencies are every week or every day. The second best is twice a week or once every two weeks. The issue is how easy it is to know to expect an episode. To build a relationship with your viewer you need to give them something to look forward to and build their schedule around. The only way to do this is to stick to a schedule. And you have to stick to a schedule for months before you can expect any audience to trust that you can be counted on. So, yes, you literally are giving it your all for weeks or months before you are taken seriously. It is just part of the relationship building process. Expect this and put in your best effort. Play to that empty theater with all your heart and there will eventually be a response. My new Chameleon Academy outreach? I am only six weeks into my 12 week probation period. So, yes, the negative Instagram growth is painful, but it is just part of the plan. I don’t get to question if what I am doing is right for another 6 weeks. So, I’ll revisit this in September and let you know how it is going!

Action able steps

Okay, time to talk about actionable steps.

The first thing to consider is that you should pick one to focus on and make great. You can, and should, use multiple platforms in your outreach, but I strongly suggest that they should be supporting one main outreach focus. The problem is that if you want to make this a quality outreach – which, yes, the right answer to this is yes you do – it will take up a healthy amount of time. Trying to give multiple platforms equal time means you will probably do none of them well. You can start with them all signed up with domain names and accounts reserved. That is a good idea. And you can populate them randomly. But don’t get it in your mind that you have a commitment to more than one. So you can have them all, just add commitments to consistency one by one. It will take a while for you to get the processes down for each one. Take that time and get it smooth. Once you are running smooth and meeting your consistency commitments each and every time and have a month or two batched ahead of time you can add another commitment. What you do not want to do is tell everyone you will do something every week and then not deliver. This is all about developing a trust with your audience and them being able to integrate it into their schedule. This doesn’t mean you are perfect and don’t miss a deadline every now and then. It happens. There is a lot of life being lived. Your audience will be okay with that. Disappointed, but they will actually care about you if you are doing your best to serve them!

I am sure some of you will note the irony of that last paragraph since I have suddenly had to change this podcast to a biweekly schedule. This is a direct result of me having to divert so much attention to establishing a new schedule to the chameleon Academy side, which I did to prepare for a future episode here where I want to dive deep on YouTube, and Instagram strategies! So many great ideas, but I am one guy that it all has to funnel through. So, yes, this is as good of a time as any to relate that, yes, I will be on a bi weekly basis the fourth quarter. But, from it all, I hope to have some insights into short and long form video posts on the different platforms to share with you. So, please hang tight! If you are interested in watching my experiment, go check out the Chameleon Academy account on Instagram and Youtube. You will notice a healthy testing of different posting frequencies and exploring the effect of posting long and short form video on Instagram. I will have some interesting feedback to share.

I appreciate you joining me for this talk on content marketing. You’ll be hearing more about YouTube and podcasts. In fact, at the end of August I will be doing the Animal Con event in Orlando Florida which is a collection of content creators doing meet and greets, panels, and such. So I will have a special episode about that event coming up.

This is Bill Strand signing off. Take care of yourself, take care of our reptile community, and let’s see what we can build.