From my interview with Asad, owner of The Urban Turban...

​"When I came to the United States and was living in the college dorm or in apartments, I learned a lot cooking for myself and my roommate. Even after we went our separate ways, when we would meet up again, he would ask, 'Can you make that curry chicken again?'"

​The trend is to broadcast your life online with no filters. Live videos, raw photos, stream-of-consciousness posts.  

But I think this omits the valuable activities of thought, planning, and editing. Even just a little can make your message clearer and more interesting. 

​A lot of people think the world of online content is about making a big splash. But to me that is like starting a marathon with a full-twisting flip and thinking you are done. That move was cute, but you still have another 26 miles to cover.

Stamina and consistency are seen as kind of boring traits, but with online content I think they are way more important than that bit of inspiration that shows up once every few years. 

​For a long time it has been trendy for content creators (bands, businesses, etc.) to complain about Facebook and the limitations it places on their organic reach and monetization opportunities. Not that long ago, many people said the answer was to instead move your focus to YouTube. 

Now content creators are complaining about YouTube and the limitations it places on their organic reach and monetization opportunities. 

Most likely this scenario will play out with every social network, so:

1) Use the social networks for promotion and building awareness, but make money elsewhere.

2) Create a plan now that does not rely on social networks remaining simple and fair. 

3) Remember that you don’t own any of these properties. You use them at their discretion. Make sure you have a primary property that you own and control, like a website. 

A couple of years ago Rich Redmond saw a concert by Huey Lewis & The News. Rich mentioned that he loved that they did a sort of full band bow at the end, saying he always thought that was a classy way to end a show. 

A lot of good social media or website content is like the end of show bow. It does not have an obvious ROI (return on investment), but it makes a good impression. You often cannot draw a direct line between your content and your balance sheet, but it still has a lot of value.

​I am experimenting with text-only posts on Facebook, both with my own pages and my clients’. 

You are not supposed to do this with public pages. For one thing, the Facebook algorithm does not like text-only posts on public pages. However, you can get around that by boosting the post a little. The algorithm is happy to be bought off. (Insert your own joke about politicians here.)

It is also considered a no-no because people like eye candy. They like photos and videos. And I get that. 

But it just seems to me that, as people’s attention spans get shorter, they are not spending time on both a photo AND text. They see it is a picture of a guy with a guitar or a woman at a computer and move on. Hell, I know people who see a post with a video and click like without ever watching the video. They support the concept, but they do not want to take the time to watch the thing.

So, if there is no photo, maybe they are more apt to at least read a line or two of text. We’ll see.

And I am certainly not abandoning photos and videos. I am just wondering if they need their own posts.

The third argument against going this route is that photos bring in more likes. But if likes are your main goal, you should really just post photos of puppies and kittens. 

​As a content consumer, I would rather a band or a business focus on quality, even if that means only posting once a day. 

Instead many bands and businesses post worthless material several times a day.

​Content marketing is a marathon. Be persistent, consistent, and patient. 

​Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest all use algorithms that determine how many people see your posts and which people see your posts. You do not have full organic reach on any of those social networks.

I tend to be cautious. My idea of living on the edge involves pulling into a parking spot without using my turn signal. 

Because of my cautious nature, when it comes to content creation and publishing, I like to be over-prepared.

I use a database to store and organize the content I stockpile for clients. I also use spreadsheets to track the last time we used a specific:
• Bit of text
• Photo
• Video

I still develop new content with my clients, but the database and spreadsheets mean that we always have quality content ready to go and do not have to rely on inspiration. 

Sometimes inspiration hits. But when it comes to daily work, inspiration is not reliable.