Only if you know how to use and get the most of it.
This article is about how your online, mostly social media activities pay off from the perspective of content marketing.
A big alert: this article is about and dedicated to people who have professional, creative skills.
After using social media for more than 10 years at both personal and professional levels and roasting it enough, I’ve realized that one’s online activities — what content you produce, what you put out there may bring lots of opportunities.
Having said that, I must say everyone should switch their social media usage from personal to professional, and actually show off their professions.
The first question is, why? Secondly, how?
PS: I’ve posted examples more from TikTok, but it doesn’t mean this article is only about TikTok usage.
Now, hold my beer.
Opportunities may come anywhere
You never know.
I know some people that their social media activities have an impact of where they are now. One of them was/is famous on Twitter and Facebook, Rasul Zaidov had funny tweets full of puns, he was good at “playing” with words. He became a copywriter, he’s now a creative director at a local advertising agency. It’s how Rasul places his social media activities:
I was also writing on Facebook and this got the attention of the people in the field. I was getting job offers frequently. I was writing the things that ended with a plot twist, puns and humor. I treated the hot topics in a different way, and my ‘observations’ were fancied.
The other one is my childhood friend – Elkhan Salahov. Ever since the childhood, he was deeply interested in advertising, whenever he watched ads, it got him thinking: “how do they make it?”. He take a course on screenwriting (Scenario Writing) from “Federal Film Akademi” in 2014. That’s how the “things” started.
Meanwhile, he was writing stories and making some short fun videos on Facebook. He got a job offer from an agency: “write for us” – it’s how he said it. He doesn’t have academic background, diploma, or any type of nonsense-paper-bullsh*t. He worked on himself, earned Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects) and some other certificates.
So, Elkhan really knows how to sell, anything. The reason is, as he puts it: “I’m a good analyzer, I analyze people on Social Media and real life because you need to know the people well to sell your stuff.”
Here is a little advice from Elkhan:
You can know the technical side of storytelling, writing, etc. but if you don’t know whom you’re selling to, you can’t sell. You need to make people feel special, ‘yes, this product is made for me, I need this!’, and for this, you need to know people.
He adds:
Thought is the most expensive thing in the world. A copywriter is the starting point of the idea, the main figure of the team..and humor, you need to have a sense of humor. And, a good copy sells, anything, anywhere in the world.
They both were good at writing, and by intention or not, they got to show their skills on social media. Or, to put it another way, they were using social media with their creative writing skills, and got the attention.
Also, I observe and know for myself, the more you become active on social media, you get better at improving your skills (in order to improve your content continuously) and get new ideas from others.
Lots of people have skills, creative souls, some valuable information and skill to share on the Internet, yet they don’t. They act like consumers, not creators — producers.
Millions of consumers — any type, any age
This guy works on a pool cleaning service. He has 13.7M followers on TikTok.
He shares the process and gives tips with short TikTok clips.
So, WhAt??
The pool guy gets millions of views, recognition and finds new customers for his company.
Users love watching his clips, and learn tips and find the service they are looking for.
Not to mention people are falling for cleaning, organizing, ASMR, lifestyle, and these types of content.
Check out this lady, a full time artist — Tahlia Stanton. She shares how to make a living from artwork, business tips for artists, and answers art-related questions with her TikTok clips. She has more than a million followers on TikTok, half a million on Instagram, and quite a huge fan base, including me.
Another example is what I just came across on TikTok. A foster family
of 12 with 10 children; the mother shares how she prepares meals for
them on this clip:
Simple, yet interesting. She shares her family, tips on how she manages everything, and gets the interest of millions of people.
The Dougherty Dozen family also has their single page site, where they’ve put affiliate links, what products they’re using, their Amazon store, and much more.
That is a win-win situation for both creators and consumers. Consumers are fed their hunger for entertainment and they learn something while creators get views, customers, and make money.
How did these people become successful? They’ve found what they are capable of creating and producing, their content style, a fitting platform, and got a creative way to sell — earn money.
Think of Carrie Bradshaw at the HBO’s TV series “Sex And The City”. It’s said she knows fashion, relationships, and sex. She was good at observations, even if her opinions were wrong most of the time (for me). Carrie was good at converting her thinking into words — that’s what she was doing — writing a sex column in a newspaper and getting paid, not to mention later on she became a writer at VOGUE Magazine and published her books. This might not only be fiction.
As this lady — she’s an astrologist, as she said, she HELPS PEOPLE FIGURE OUT THEMSELVES. She’s active on both Instagram and Twitter. She’s writing a column at magazines like Cosmopolitan, Vice, and Bustle.
As she said, she is Internet popular. The companies she’s working with found out about her through her activities on Instagram and Twitter.
When TikTok came out, I was super skeptical, had a biased opinion; I was a total judgemental b*tch. I was like “eww, screw it”, I’d never register and use it.
Today I’m praising the content creators on TikTok, including other social media platforms (not the ones that share their daddy issues).
For professional purposes only (I swear!) I started using TikTok, exploring what type of content is produced on the platform.
I’ve been through every type of account, binge-watched thousands of clips. Lots of content was/is trash and nonsense. But, it was enlightening, I was like: “you guys are getting paid for that?”
Business owners, influencers, travelers, motivational speakers, psychologists, life coaches, astrologists, anyone with any profession is using TikTok for their own good. And people are falling for their content, not to mention the platform is addictive as well.
Content is the GOAT marketing
People like to search everything, find an answer to their questions online, or content to feed their boredom, entertainment, or curiosity.
Got a headache? Google it (it’ll probably show the possibility of cancer, but still), just broke up with your BF/GF, or wonder why your cat keeps his tongue out? Ask Google why? Got bored? Ask Google top ten movies to watch. Are you moody? Search for funny animal videos on TikTok. Wanna buy some shoes? Find them on Instagram. And more and forth.
PS: 40% of Gen-Z users prefer Instagram and TikTok to Google as a search engine.
Them — you may have some great skills, but if no one knows about it, you’ll not be able to benefit from it, and even worse, you may lose interest in improving yourself and the skills you now have.
Can you be one of these content creators?
Start blogging..
If you love writing and if you can deliver your value through it. I was thinking that reading blogs was dead since I hadn’t come across a blog that I could remember or visit the second time.
I was wrong. I found Harry Dry’s blog — Marketing Examples. It’s one of the blogs that I’ve subscribed to and read continuously, and somehow it happens I’m talking about his blog a lot and recommend it to everyone. Why? He delivers value, and his examples are applicable and straight to the point. Harry has his own style. He doesn’t write 3000-word long articles, he even has a short, 7-sentence long article. He got the point.
How to have a successful blog?
- Write what you know and can;
- Don’t copy what others do in your industry, it’s boring, and they may be wrong;
- Get out of the box and forget about the writing rules, that’s your blog — write whatever and however you want;
- Make sure you help people and deliver value;
- Don’t be shy to voice your style through your content.
And,
- Don’t forget about SEO.
You can also post your content on related communities like Reddit, Quora, Facebook groups, Indie Hackers (if related to what you’re doing), etc. to get started, improve your writing skills and get more experience.
Vlogging is also a good option if you’re not a good writer.
On social media platforms..
Don’t interrupt the experience of users. Be their experience.
On Facebook, be a good storyteller for people that they’ll love to share your story; on Instagram, be an artist; on TikTok, be a real TikToker, use those trendy songs on your clips; on YouTube, be a teacher/mentor/coach; on LinkedIn, act like professional.
Online communities. Share valuable information you’ve got related to your interest and skills. Make e-friends, grow your social and business network from the communities you have an interest in (Quora, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc). This will help you later with publishing and/or promoting your content there. In general, grow your professional network, for it brings countless business opportunities.
About choosing your content
Look closer at your lifestyle, what you’re good at or what you like doing the most. Watching movies? Painting? Writing? Traveling? Following fashion? Hiking? Cooking? Taking care of pets? I can ask more questions but you got the point.
Now, think of what people can learn from your profession, daily activities, or your skills (any).
This guy is a psychologist. Play, you’ll see what I mean:
Produce your main content on the platform that works best for you — represents your profession, and don’t stop being active on others too.
Disclaimer: I’m not promoting or praising the social media users that produce lip singing or mukbang types of sh!tty content. I’m on the side of the ones that give real value and help others in any way.
Don’t just produce content that people will watch but don’t get value. Though you will make money somehow, you’ll not deliver value. It’s just the ethics. Up to you. Otherwise, you’ll have no difference from smoking companies that poison the consumers.
Don’t do this:
Or, this:
Instead, do this:
And this:
About the “don’ts” I mentioned above: they somehow make social media “entertaining” for some, but they are also cause people being couch potatoes. Just a note. Nothing personal, love y’all!
What comes next?
You already know what having a huge followers list and fan base means.
- If you’re your own product, you’ll attract customers – job offers;
- You can earn with referral and affiliate marketing;
- You can get paid for views and likes on social media (like TikTok);
- If you create your product, you’ll promote it quickly at no cost.
Bottom line
We can all agree that social media offers a lot, and there’s a huge opportunity for everyone to get known, “discovered”, and paid.
I can tell that social media is the easiest way to make a living from your side hustle, hobby, or interest — whatever you name it.
It’s not rocket science.
If you scroll the content only and be that couch potato, you’ll get consumed by social media. The key is — create your own story, be an active and professional Internet user, and convert your creative skills into perfect content.
As it’s all in the essence of all business types — you need to help, give value, and satisfy consumers, doesn’t matter what your “product” is.
A big takeaway is: don’t be a content consumer, but a producer if you want to benefit from social media and don’t want to let it harm you.
PS: you may (or, may not) ask, “why don’t you generate content on social media for yourself, hmm?” I know.. My full focus is now only Uvodo. But, I’ll get into social media, only after making Uvodo unicorn 🤪🦄