What Most Creatives Get Wrong - The Folly of Talent vs. Viral Content
Most creatives leave their work only half complete, and many complain about the uninspiring results. "Getting it out there" is more than uploading the work, sharing on a few select social media accounts, and then hoping people find what they are looking for.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/07/data-from-analyzing-5000-social-videos-suggests-that-only-1-percent-will-go-viral/#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20The%20elite%20one%20percent%3A%20Wochit,set%20of%20data%3A%201.1%20percent.
Transcript: Thank you for joining me today. I like to jump right into things. So the folly of talent versus viral content, this is what most creatives are missing. And this is what I was missing. When I began my creative journey, I used to say and believe just create good stuff and get it out into the world because that's what the world needs. So I would create good things and put them out in the world and get no return on it. But I would still tell my friends and anyone who I was advising the same thing, just do it and get it out there. That is really good. But that is only half the story I recorded about six albums in three years. And I went through all the complex problems that it takes to record and produce them in my home studio.
And then I went through the complex tasks that it takes to get them on iTunes and Spotify. And once those were up, I waited and waited and I was really disappointed. I have still not recouped the costs of recording that began in 2015. I've gotten one payment from iTunes for $28 and some change. But before I sound like I'm complaining, I still hear and see this out there. So many artists and musicians, bloggers, writers, and other creatives, they're all creating great content, but they're complaining that nobody cares about their work. They are missing probably the biggest piece to miss. It is not anyone's job to care about your work. It is not anyone's responsibility to care about your work. So maybe you're going to pick up some friends and family, but then you're going to wonder why it never went beyond that. And the answer is nobody needs to care about your stuff.
It's your job to make them care. The myth is that if you create good stuff, it should sell itself. And this just is not true. Once again, it is your job to make them care. People who create physical products know this they'll they'll create their physical product. And even though it was hard, they know that there's a second step. They know that they need to get out there and market it. But as creators, we seem to miss this, maybe because we've heard of videos going viral. So we're missing the point that we need to market our stuff. There is always a part two to getting your content out there. And this is what's missed by probably 99% of creatives. It's complex and difficult to create your own art, but it is also complex and difficult to get it out there. So you've gone through all these multiple steps to learn and then create whatever it is you've created.
It is wise to realize that you are only 50% of the way there. Part two is marketing. You either have to learn a whole new skill of marketing or turn it over to someone with that skill. And one thing that I've learned as I've gone through this entire marketing process myself, is that you either have to pay with your time or with your money. There is no other way. You're either going to be paying with time or paying with money. Well, there is one other way, and that is luck. You could sit back and let luck determine your fate, let luck determine your future. That is an option, but if you're not willing to do that, and you actually want to get your stuff out there and become marketable, then you have to take the time to learn...
I like to jump right into things. So the folly of talent versus viral content, this is what most creatives are missing. And this is what I was missing. When I began my creative journey, I used to say and believe just create good stuff and get it out into the world because that's what the world needs. So I would create good things and put them out in the world and get no return on it. But I would still tell my friends and anyone who I was advising the same thing, just do it and get it out there. That is really good. But that is only half the story I recorded about six albums in three years. And I went through all the complex problems that it takes to record and produce them in my home studio.
And then I went through the complex tasks that it takes to get them on iTunes and Spotify. And once those were up, I waited and waited and I was really disappointed. I have still not recouped the costs of recording that began in 2015. I've gotten one payment from iTunes for $28 and some change. But before I sound like I'm complaining, I still hear and see this out there. So many artists and musicians, bloggers, writers, and other creatives, they're all creating great content, but they're complaining that nobody cares about their work. They are missing probably the biggest piece to miss. It is not anyone's job to care about your work. It is not anyone's responsibility to care about your work. So maybe you're going to pick up some friends and family, but then you're going to wonder why it never went beyond that. And the answer is nobody needs to care about your stuff.
It's your job to make them care. The myth is that if you create good stuff, it should sell itself. And this just is not true. Once again, it is your job to make them care. People who create physical products know this they'll they'll create their physical product. And even though it was hard, they know that there's a second step. They know that they need to get out there and market it. But as creators, we seem to miss this, maybe because we've heard of videos going viral. So we're missing the point that we need to market our stuff. There is always a part two to getting your content out there. And this is what's missed by probably 99% of creatives. It's complex and difficult to create your own art, but it is also complex and difficult to get it out there. So you've gone through all these multiple steps to learn and then create whatever it is you've created.
It is wise to realize that you are only 50% of the way there. Step two, you have to take another series of complicated, difficult steps to get it out there. Part two is marketing. You either have to learn a whole new skill of marketing or turn it over to someone with that skill. And one thing that I've learned as I've gone through this entire marketing process myself, is that you either have to pay with your time or with your money. There is no other way. You're either going to be paying with time or paying with money. Well, there is one other way, and that is luck. You could sit back and let luck determine your fate, let luck determine your future. That is an option, but if you're not willing to do that, and you actually want to get your stuff out there and become marketable, then you have to take the time to learn.
The info is out there. It's free on YouTube blogs. Google is the greatest university that exists. You can learn how to do anything that you want to do, including becoming successful at what it is you want to do, or you can pay for courses in that speeds up the process. Even faster. If you feel like paying for courses, you to me, courses on marketing are so low cost as to be almost zero. If you're going to pay $19 and you're going to learn how to share your blog and then be able to monetize it, and it's going to make you, you know, as soon as it makes you 20 bucks, you have paid for that course, it has paid for itself. And that is information that is now in your head. And you can keep making that $20 over and over and over again. So get out there.
If you want to spread your art, get out there and learn copywriting, organic marketing, call every podcast, or every influencer blogger in your niche and have an amazing chat with all of these people about why they should mention you or pay someone to market you. There are so many roads, but you can't think that you're done when your creation is complete. You've got to get it out there. The Nieman lab wrote in wrote an article in, in 2017 that only 1% of videos will go viral. It's a good article and it's worth a read. I'm going to put the link in the description, but that was in 2017. I believe now that that number may be approaching one 10th of 1% of videos that are going to go viral. And that's just one example of many. We have to stop fooling ourselves with this thinking.
The folly is, if it's good, it'll sell. If it's good, it'll catch on the problem with this thinking is that when it doesn't go viral, you're either going to want to blame yourself for not being as good as you thought, which is probably not true or blame the ignorant masses for not paying attention to you. Blame them for not realizing that they should be listening to you. Both are myths. So don't get down on yourself when it's not going your way, but don't get down on other people when they're not listening to you. It's not their fault could because like I said earlier, it is not their job to care. It is your job to make them care. So if you're in this position of wanting to make people care, spend one or two hours researching how to market your content, then decide if you're going to pay with your time or if you're going to pay with your money. It really is one of the other, unless you're going to sit back and trust that luck's going to get you there with no work at all. As a side note, my strategy now is to use my time first and then any money I make after using my time that money is put toward paid marketing. If you have any questions, email me at second, mix twenty1@gmail.com and look for second mix on Instagram. And tick-tock until Monday, let's all reflect, revise and remix our lives have a great week. I will see you
One Monday.
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