How to be a content creator, my method to 40k followers

How to be a content creator, my method to 40k followers

I walked away from a 40k following across Instagram and TikTok.

TikTok

Instagram

Over two years, I created Reels and TikToks as a comedy influencer, making fun of Dutch culture and language (since I recently had moved to The Netherlands).

It was quite successful, with many videos going viral and getting more than 1 million views.

What had started as a bit of fun exploded into me consistently churning out videos once per week.

I was also working full time, so my time was quite limited. I was working before and after work and on weekends.

Not only did I have to create content, but I was getting overwhelmed with Inbox messages and replies to videos. To keep engagement high, you should reply to all comments, so I did.

Not only that, but you should also share Insta stories, give people a peek into your behind the scenes life and give random updates on things you’re doing.

As an introvert, you can imagine how much social energy this drains.

I even had multiple people in the streets come up to me and ask me “Are you the guy from Instagram”?

I loved that though; the attention was nice and validating.

But,

It reached the point where I realised I wasn’t enjoying making content and constantly having to be an “entertainer”.

Anxiety starts to increase as you’re constantly having to think and write more funny ideas, keep up with comments, share your life constantly in order to stay favourable by “the algorithm” and hope that when you launch your video, it will be successful.

This is why I decided to stop creating content on Instagram and TikTok, as much as I do enjoy the platforms, they really do require you to be constantly handing out dopamine in large doses to your audience.

It’s very draining if you don’t have enough time and aren’t biologically wired to be an extrovert.

Would I do it again?

Absolutely, the journey I had was incredible, I learned many things:

• How to write

• How to be consistent

• How to talk on camera

• How to take good photos

• How to film and edit videos

• How to generate and capture ideas

• How to step out of your comfort zone

• How to create a content creation system

• How to be confident in front of an audience

One of the best experiences of my life, besides getting married :)

So here I am, now a writer — I’ve wanted to get into writing for such a long time, and I’m so glad I am now focussed on this in my content creation journey.

I take what I learn from being an influencer and apply it to writing.

Content creation is something I’m passionate about, and you should be to.

Why?

The creator economy could approach $500,000,000,000 by 2027

That is half a trillion dollars.

The creator economy is exploding and is only going to continue.

A revolution is happening.

Money is circulating away from the consumerist industry into the hands of solopreneurs, generating genuine, quality products and services.

Join the revolution.

“Oh, but there are so many creators.”

Yes, but how many creators do you follow?

Imagine for a second every single person in the world was a solopreneur delivering products and services.

You would need to purchase from creators who:

• Feed you

• Clothe you

• Hydrate you

• Shelter you

• Educate you

• Provide health care

• Keep you entertained

Creators would supply all the services and products you use in daily life.

So that’s at least 7 creators across industries, and you wouldn’t just buy 1 type of clothes; you’d mix it up. So double the amount of creators you’d purchase from.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Everyone can be a creator or solopreneur.

We are heading back to trading times before money. Yes, we still need money, but every person can create to trade their skills and receive skills from other individuals, with money as the transaction medium.

This is the path I’m taking.

I’m creating content through writing, building a personal brand on X/Twitter and sharing my journey.

I offer free coaching to build people’s Productivity, Personal Brand and Creativity; you can book here.

I plan to release educational products around creating content for a personal brand and building an audience.

All these things I’m working on I share in my newsletter and on my X feed.

So, with that, I leave you with my full step-by-step guide on how to be a content creator.

How to be a content creator

This framework is broad and can be applied to any content platform.

Preparation

First, believe. Believe that you are creative, have a unique perspective in this world, and believe that no one else has lived your life and experiences.

Believe that other people have had your struggles you can solve. Believe that you can create unique content. Trust in yourself; trust in your thoughts, opinions and perspectives.

Grab a pen and paper and answer the following questions

• Who are you?

• What do you like? 

• What do you hate?

• What did you do for fun as a child?

• What problems do you see in other people?

• What problems have you solved in your life?

• What is the biggest problem in the world?

Keep this piece of paper with you, and reflect on it regularly, this will help you figuring out who you are in the content world and what you want to create

Say out loud every morning:

“I have a unique perspective.”

“I am a content creator.”

“I have creative talent”.

“I am creative.”

Research and Planning

Find a book, e-book, or audio book relating to the content you want to make. 

Make reading a habit so your ideas start to form in your mind.

Start writing. Find an app that you will enjoy using that lets you capture and document ideas.

• I use Apple Notes

Set aside 15–30 minutes of your morning to reflect and think of ideas for your content, and write them down as separate notes.

• You can give them just a heading for now, don’t worry about trying to fill them out.

• During the day, try to be mindful of what sparks ideas:

• Things people say

• Something you read in a book

• Something you see on TV

• Capture your ideas straight away for review later.

Get confident with your ideas

• Review over them daily, reflect on them and add anything else that you think is necessary

Optional: Camera Confidence (Skip to next step if you’re okay with talking to a camera)

• If the content you want to create involves speaking on camera, then I highly recommend this, if you’re not confident with it, you’ll need to push yourself.

• It’s going to feel very cringey and you’ll probably want to cry, but that’s part of the process to feeling confident. Trust the process.

• Record yourself with your phone talking about your idea, don’t perfect it, talk

• Watch it back and cringe.

• Practice this every day, once a day. You will start to notice areas of improvement, you’ll notice you do strange things with your voice or with your body language.

• This process increases your conscious awareness. The more you practice the better you will get.

• Once you’re comfortable, send the video to a friend and ask for feedback. Again this is scary, but it’s building rock solid confidence in you.

• Send it to a few friends and ask for feedback.

• This is the bare minimum level of confidence you need to post online.

• Once you’ve done this, you’ll feel amazing and have a huge amount of dopamine.

Things to consider:

• No one cares if you’re nervous

• No one thinks you’re as weird as you do

• No one thinks your ideas suck

• No one feels like you’re wasting their time

• Believe in yourself.

Build your profile

Start a Twitter page (or Instagram/TikTok/YouTube)

Create a bio that resonates with you today; this will change. I’ve changed mine 40 times

• It should be clear

• Tells people who you are, what you do and why

Find a colour palette or theme you like

• Canva is good for this, you can choose a colour palette

• Create a nice banner and profile photo

• Your profile photo should be clear, either your face or a logo

Search for accounts similar to yours

• Follow them and review their content

Be an observer, watch, like, engage and network with other accounts; this is how you build a following. Engage especially with smaller accounts.

Draft your ideas, set a 25 min timer at pomofocus.io and keep expanding your idea until the time is done.

Set a routine to edit your draft, and ensure it has a: hook, idea, and conclusion.

• Share your content drafts with your friends, get feedback.

• Update your draft until you are happy, don’t be a perfectionist though. Be okay releasing something that’s beta version.

• You need to make sure your process is scalable. If it takes you more than a week to create content, you’ll never build consistency. Consistency is key in this game.

Keep engaging, networking and interacting with other accounts on your social platform. Do this for at least 30 days.

• Keep consuming content that your favourite creators are generating and learn their process

Keep generating ideas, it’s okay to “copy” an idea, as long as you iterate. Don’t copy and paste, but copy, iterate and generate.

Create content

After a month, you should be ready to start creating content.

• This step is scary because you’re “putting yourself out there”. People are going to see something YOU created.

• Please keep in mind no one cares as much as you do. In the beginning, you are nobody. Some people may instantly resonate with your content, but remember that it takes 6–12 months of content creation before picking up traction and people form an idea of what you do.

• This is very much dependent on the type of content. Video content gives people an impression very quickly, usually from 1 video.

Create a posting schedule. This is very much dependent on your platform. Here are some recommendations:

• Video content — once per week. (If you can produce more then go for it)

• Written content — One long-form post per week (Newsletter),

• Multiple tweets per day,

• 2–3 medium forms per week (Threads and long tweets)

Now it’s time to play the consistency game. Following the system you created, post according to your schedule and keep going.

Whenever you post content, there is a moment of excitement, anxiety and sometimes disappointment.

• You have to expect your content not to get noticed, especially in the beginning.

• It will feel like a grind, and you will be disappointed if you expect to “go viral” or get noticed immediately.

• Push through these feelings, stay consistent and people will find you, interact with you and follow you.

Keep going, keep grinding

Review your analytics weekly, and look at what is working and what isn’t.

• This also takes time, maybe a few months, but you will eventually see the type of content people enjoy.

• Double down on what works.

Engage

Once people start to comment on your content, respond as soon as you can.

• Try to expand the conversation rather than just saying “thanks” or reacting with Emojis.

• If possible, ask questions to keep conversations going. This boosts engagement

Engage with other accounts, compliment their work, send them a DM telling them what you like about their content, network with other creators and help each other grow.

The more people you help the more help you’ll get back. If you don’t have a vibe or click with other creators, don’t spend too much time with them. This is a friend-making exercise; treat other creators like friends.

If you can consistently keep this content creation system going for 3 months, you’ll have solid momentum, you’ll feel good about your content creation journey and have the confidence to keep growing and going

If you’re creative and always want to put something out there, this system will help you. Now is the time to create content, there is a revolution coming, more and more creatives are becoming solopreneurs and you can too!

Thank you legend

Get started now!

If you want help getting started, book a free coaching call.

I reply to all my emails; if you have any questions, simply ask or DM me on Twitter.