five areas of focus | Beyond Your Side Hustle

This episode is a Q&A episode with questions from you about creating content for your business. In the first podcast Q&A episode, I seem to have struck a chord with many of you, as many of you have been asking questions about content creation generally and pillar content specifically. This episode is for you!

There is No Such Thing As Too Much Content

I’ve often been quoted as saying there is no such thing as too much content. We aren’t going to be creating content for the sake of creating content. Everything that you create needs to add value for your community and it needs to be a part of The Five, your five focus areas for content. This isn’t as tough as it may seem.

Here’s the good news: Each tweet you send, each link you share on Facebook, each photo you post to Instagram, and each video you share on TikTok is a piece of content. If you have a podcast, you can re-purpose it by slicing and dicing audio clips, create memes of important quotes within the episode, use your show notes to create blog posts, and record not just audio, but video to create for YouTube. You can also ask your community to create their own content around their vision and use for what you do. Look around. There are a ton of aspects to your business and your life that you’ve never shared with the community you’ve created.

Re-use your content with context – Use content on multiple platforms, creating multiple posts using the same words, images, videos, etc. The key thing to think about here is context, not simply cross-posting
Re-purpose pillar content – Have a long-form evergreen piece of content that you can break down and re-purpose into multiple pieces of content. White papers, podcasts, videos, and webinars can be very helpful here.
Ask for user-generated content – Engage your community and have them create content for you. Your many fans and followers are definitely willing to share their ideas, create content that you ask for, or even create content for your business without anything more than an ask.
Document your life – Use your daily routine and the activities of your to create content around your business. Treat your life like you’re on a reality show and share the results.

Re-Use Content Across Platforms with Context

The REASON behind your post and the value you bring to the community on THAT platform make up your context. Also, your content can’t be about your calls to action. It should be about adding value to your community. With all this in mind, you can’t increase your content creation by simply cross-posting your Instagram photos to Facebook, which they’ve made super easy to do with only a slide of the switch. Your community on each platform expects something different from you, because they interact with you on THAT platform, not to be a part of a marketing effort. The key is to treat each post as an individual piece of content and craft it as such. You’re reaching out to two or three different audiences on each of the platforms you share it, so you need to consider each of them differently.

There is a TON of content out there, waiting to be consumed. So, you have to be great to reach people where they are and engage them. So, DEFINITELY post that photo across every platform you use, but only do so if you can offer something different to each audience that consumes it.

Re-Purpose Pillar Content

It’s easier to re-purpose content and make derivative pieces when you have a pillar content piece to draw from. A podcast episode, white paper, keynote address, meeting notes, and instructional videos can all turn into several other pieces of content aside from their initial purpose when published. It could be all of these can be broken up into 3-4 blog posts on your website. You can then slice them up further using some of the ideas we outlined earlier in the episode to create even more content for social. This content on social media will drive your existing community toward your other work, and you’ll be able to deepen your already-existing connection with those that carry over.

Engage Your Community for User-Generated Content

Take some of the pressure off by getting your community to create content for you. Whether video, photo, or written work, featuring user-generated content will not only ease your mind about creating enough content, featuring how your community uses your product or service will highlight them. Reach out to your customers to create content for you, based on how they interact with what you do. Your team is second, only to you, in being an expert in what you do, and they may have helpful tips, hacks, or suggestions to make what you do even better for your clients. Focus some of your user-generated content on the people you do business with. This is an easy way to engage your community, both internally and externally, to make content for you. Sounds like a win-win.

Document Your Life

It may not seem like it right now, but by the end of this episode, inspiration will spark you to realize how interesting you are and how interesting what you do is to other people. We love to look at what others do, think, and surround themselves with when it’s not like us or obvious to us. Right now, you could probably create 100 pieces of content based on your view, your desk set up, the tools you use and how you use them, and your calendar.

Like the environment you find boring, your process may seem to be as well, but there will be an audience ready to get a glimpse of how something works or how you get from raw materials to finished product.

We come to care about those we know. Even if we’ve never met, we want to know about the people we interact with.

Documenting is easier than creating, and it’s just as interesting.

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Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here.

How Can I Find Podcasts Looking for Guests?

Just about any podcast that has interviews or panels as a part of their show is looking for guests. First, you’ll need to find relevant podcasts where you can add value for the audience. Start with “The Five,” the five areas of focus for your content to begin your search for relevancy.

I would start by going through Apple’s Podcast Directory by category to identify potential shows for you to appear on. Additionally, utilize Apple’s Podcast Directory to search for specific keywords that make up “The Five” for you. Next, turn to Google. You should be able to find plenty of shows here as well by typing podcast+ one of your five focus areas.

Take a look at influencers in your industry and in “The Five” to scout the media appearances they have done. The disconnect between podcast hosts and potential podcast guests is large enough that there are several podcast matching services who aim to connect podcasts and guests.

You identified a bunch of possibilities. Now, it’s time to see how relevant they are to your intended audience from the list of podcasts that you identified. A few bits of information will give you a better look at whether they should remain on your list going forward. You may also discover that their show’s contact e-mail address is hard to find.

How Do I Pitch Myself as a Guest?

Now that you’ve identified all the podcasts that are appropriate for you… Be prepared to be rejected a lot. Also be prepared to not hear back from a lot of podcasts. Before you do anything further, listen to at least one episode of the podcast that includes an interview or a panel. Prepare a one-sheet as an introduction to the podcast host(s) and producers about you. The easiest part of getting booked is reaching out, because you’ve already researched the podcast and prepared your one-sheet for their viewing. Have a follow-up e-mail ready that is different from your initial contact, but offers more value with you as a guest. You’ll be on a podcast in no time.

How Can I Make the Most of my Guest Appearance?

Congratulations! You’re booked to appear on a podcast. Now what?

If you followed what I outlined in the previous question, you have already listened to an episode of their podcast to get a general feel for the show, its format, and how interviews fit. The best way to prepare for an awesome interview is to ask what to expect. Also, you should ask for a question pool that they intend to use in the interview.

Use this information to prepare notes and figure out how to tie it all together with “The Five” or a call to action in the interview, both contextual and in closing. As part of your preparation, you should create an offer to add value for each listener that you can refer to in the interview naturally, as well as provide to the podcast audience in the show notes. In the same vein, almost every podcast host will give you the opportunity to promote yourself toward the end of the interview, so preparing a call to action for that closing is as important as your contextual one.

You should arrive several minutes early to the in-person or virtual meeting to record, so that you can get your bearings before jumping into the show. Finally, before you sit down to conduct the interview, take a few moments to relax, breathe, and look over your notes one last time.

The Interview Went Well, Now What?

You really knocked it out of the park with your interview! Now that the interview wrapped, you want people to listen to what you had to say, right? Often, you can ask the podcast host or producer how they promote each episode of the podcast and what that process is like: what platforms they use, when promotion for an upcoming episode begins, and how long it typically runs after each show publishes. A day or two before you expect their promotional efforts to begin, you should share a post on a shared social media outlet, tagging or mentioning them in a post about how excited you are for your upcoming appearance or how much fun you had recording it. For each social media outlet, your efforts are better spent directly sharing their post talking about you, rather than creating your own content about it.

If you look back fondly on your experience, definitely connect future guests with the podcast team. Believe it or not, podcast creators talk among each other, so speak fondly of your experience or don’t mention it at all.

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