If something is worth saying, it’s worth repeating.
Content Creators can be super self-conscious about repeating themselves.
But the truth is your audience actually needs you to repeat your most important points.
Hi, I’m John Lacey, and this is Build A Presentation Muscle.
Content Creators often feel self-conscious about repeating themselves. They will say things like, “But I did a post about this on Instagram in 2020, I can’t say it again.”
Assuming what you’re saying is worth saying —and more on that shortly— you can and should say it again.
Guiding principles
These are my four guiding principles for building a content library.
- If something is worth saying at all, it’s worth saying more than once.
- There are certain things that you will want to be known for.
- Social media algorithms are fickle, people aren’t seeing everything you post.
- But even when they do, humans need reminders. They won’t internalise things the first time you say them. There’s a reason you need to have more than one lesson. There’s a reason why they play ads more than one time.
Is it worth saying?
Before we get to some of the things that might be worth repeating, let’s take a moment to consider some of the things that just aren’t worth saying.
The common example I see in the wild is when people post about having nothing to post about. Sure this post may have fulfilled some sort of posting quota, but it’s not really helping anybody. Probably not even you.
Trends and newsworthy things may make less sense the more time passes between them happening and you talking about them unless they illustrate a more fundamental idea or are really ingrained within the culture.
Avoid posting dumb glib things. “Puppies are cute,” is certainly a sentiment that many people would agree with, but there’s not a lot of substance there. By all means, talk about your puppy, post pictures of your puppy, I will like and comment on that stuff all day every day. Just make there’s some substance behind your post.
So what should you talk about?
Themes, Foundations and Values
Themes
What are the recurring themes in your work?
What are the things that people forget from time to time, but should perhaps be more conscious of?
Perhaps the specifics may change over time, but the lesson is an important one. I think of different social media platforms becoming popular and then disappearing for example, and the importance of having your own home on the Internet (that is, your own website).
The thing that brings that back into focus may be different each time, but the lesson is a good one at any time.
Foundations
What are the building blocks of your work? What are the basics?
Every day someone is trying to find their way into the thing that you present about, so what do they need to know?
How can they start simply?
What encouraging things could you tell them?
How could you help them set some reasonable expectations of what they can achieve, and over what time period?
Often beginners will want to run before they can walk, so it can be really useful to emphasise the basics.
In terms of livestreaming, for example, I try to bring attention to being on camera and audio and knowing what you intend to talk about, rather than fancy animated borders and effects and transitions.
Values
What are the things you care about, that you think your audience also should care about? There’s a good chance even if you’re not explicitly addressing these that they’re embedded in your work. But it can be really useful to call these out, to explain why they’re important to you and why you hope they’ll be important to others as well.
My background is in web design and development and because of this experience I am really passionate about making content as accessible as possible. But I also know that this topic can be quite abstract and confusing to the average person. You should create accessible content because laws and standards exist, but really for me it’s much more about doing the right thing and not unintentionally excluding people from your potential audience. If they want to know something, and I have the information they need, I don’t want the way I have presented the information to be a block for them.
I would encourage you to take a similar approach.
Your Homework for this week
Make a list of the themes, foundations and values that relate to your own work. This of course will vary wildly from person to person, but it’s important that you know what they are, and that you remind your growing audience of them.
For more information about today’s episode head over to JohnLacey.com
