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Transcript

3/9/26 #ContentChat: Creator Report Insights on Content Fatigue · #ContentChat

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Good afternoon and welcome to Content Chat.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Erica Heald.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: And today, my special guest is Sarah Parker, who's going to share a really fantastic piece of research that her organization just put out that I think will be of a lot of interest for people who are creating content and trying to stop the scroll.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, Sarah, if you could take a minute to introduce yourself and tell folks who you are and what you do at Minichat.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Sarah Parker, as previously stated.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, my middle name is not Jessica, disappointingly to all.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am the editorial director at Minichat.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I run our blog.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have an online magazine called Chronically Online.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I also worked on this incredible creator report with our PR person, Maddie.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: She is a powerhouse.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we did some original research to put this together and really wanted to find out not only what creators were really experiencing right now in terms of like content creation and what they're dealing with, but also what audiences really want to see so we could get that information from both sides.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love that because creating um original research was one of the um things that I was talking about with Lee uh with Lee Odin last weekend, last week for content chat.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it definitely is so important.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in this case, it's one of those great things where it's finding out what folks want in order to adapt your content strategy accordingly.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I had seen some excerpts from the report on LinkedIn, which is why I reached out and said, Oh my gosh, I need to have you in the hot seat.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um so why don't we just jump in and give us the high level, what the like really um key findings were, and maybe some things that left you a little bit surprised.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the biggest takeaway for us, we were so surprised, is the level of burnout that creators are experiencing right now.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's tracks for pretty much anyone who's creating content because it feels like the pressure is just there to create more and create it faster and keep it high quality or fitting a certain aesthetic or niche that you're in, and it's just really exhausting for everyone involved.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So in the creators that we surveyed, it was um, I believe, let's see, over 50%, it was 51%, uh, has said that they considered quitting in the last year because of the level of burnout they were experiencing.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that because just to put kind of a pin in that, um, I just shared um an HBR article that was about um people are getting, you know, AI fry.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Their brain is literally frying, they're getting the burnout because we have all these tools that make it seem like we can do so much more faster, but instead, what's happening is we're going down all the rabbit holes and we're working and working and working and not able to turn off because once you have those AI tools on all of your devices, they're just there.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't have that great separation that we used to have when you would walk away from your computer.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I also think there's something to be said for just having that sort of uh burnout feeling when you haven't been fully engaging your brain.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you're offloading too much of the critical thinking tasks, I think that can get you there even faster.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we did also have an AI section of the creator report because you know you can't not ask that question these days.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So though those results were really interesting as well, because we were asking audiences like how much AI they're interested in seeing from creators, and it wasn't a blanket no the way that we might have assumed.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was more of like use it thoughtfully and use it well, but they would didn't say like don't ever use it, or that they would be completely most of the uh respondents were not in favor of someone going like full AI.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want to see something that has zero human involvement because what is I think most people were like, what is the point of me following you if you're not, you know, going to put any of yourself into it, what you're doing.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's totally fair.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, aside from maybe, you know, an interesting AI experiment or something like that.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think that would um, you know, so the interest in that would fade over time.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: But who knows, someone might be doing that really well and we just haven't seen it yet.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know um, especially on Facebook, I've seen all sorts of um AI video turning up in every single group.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the problem um that I'm seeing, um, because I'm involved with um the SPCA and I'm involved with rescue groups, is a lot of these people are creating videos purporting to be of animals, live animals, that are not in fact of live animals, and they're doing things that would actually be dangerous or impossible for um these little animals to do.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because I have a French bulldog, and you'll see these, you know, and an English Bulldog, and you'll see these videos with English bulldogs jumping off of high places and things that would just really injure them.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I know it just gives me anxiety when I see that, even though I know it's AI, not that they're telling us that it's AI, I know, because those little legs just couldn't, you know, launch them like that.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's uh it's a little unnerving when the quality gets good enough that you have to question whether or not something is real, and there's you know different, different tells that you can figure out.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like the I know there was that one really popular video that was going around of like the dogs are picking their adopters, but you're like, okay, why are all these people just in a room together?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: They don't just like release dogs into rooms full of people waiting to adopt dogs.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, that happens.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: It was quite a trend.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was much like the uh I would turn my turn you, you know, everybody into a a business action figure.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was it was one of those kinds of uh definitely a meme.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we've we've just we've gotten a pretty good idea of what people don't want.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what did you guys hear about what people do want?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of content do they want more of, and how do they want to be receiving it?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we were mostly looking at people who are following creators on Instagram and things like that, because that's our territory, uh, as well as TikTok.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we were seeing a lot of authenticity, is what people want.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's still true.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've been, you know, creating content in various formats for so long and running social media in the past, and it always comes back to people want to feel like they could really connect with you and know you and see some part of you in the work that you're creating.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, you have to build some boundaries around that.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So again, you don't burn out.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh with the burnout stat, again, we did see that the highest rates of burnout were with Gen Z.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the younger people that have grown up with this, I think it's an even faster rate to burnout because they put so much more pressure on themselves since it's uh something they've been part of pretty much their whole life.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Are we finding that doom scrolling is still a thing?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Are people still unable to stop scrolling?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we also made our creator report in infinite scroll, so we're not, but it does have an end, so it's not an infinite scroll.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's a finite scroll, actually.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yes, we are we are seeing a lot of that that people have a hard time pulling away from things like that.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think it's um part of being really intentional about curating your feed and figuring out what you need to do, boundaries for yourself to uh have a healthy level of consumption.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, it's it's hard to do in these times.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So getting back to the point about you know the authenticity being what people are really craving and getting that kind of the sense that they're getting to know the creators, um, what does that look like then from the like one-on-one engagement and messaging standpoint?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know, especially on the B2B side of things, there are very few um organizations that do a good job of actually responding to the feedback they get.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I literally can think of one person, and that's Ann Hanley, who actually responds to the emails that she receives and to the comments that she gets online.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: She's amazing at it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know, most of us are not Anne.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I'm just wondering, you know, did you get any feedback around that as well?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and this is something that we're obviously very invested in as we do um automation, but the key to doing automation well is that you need to personalize it.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we have uh again and again really tried to say that the best results you're gonna get are if you create automations that are basically an extension of yourself.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: They have your personality, they have your tone of voice, and that way you're able to connect with your audience really quickly, but you're not burning yourself out as fast because it's not you having to do that all of the time.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So then you can step in and have those conversations when it's really important, when it's a higher touch moment, when it's a sensitive subject, and you can make sure that you're taking care of that and that you have the time and attention to do it because you're not spending hours and hours answering a bunch of FAQs, but audiences do still expect to get a quick response time.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can create really personalized automations, that's kind of the best thing to address that in our, you know, society that expects everything yesterday and still wants it to be personalized and meaningful.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, folks may feel like it can be maybe, you know, it feels a little bad to be automating things like responses, but most of us do things like use autoresponders on email if we're not going to be available to get back to folks right away.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: So as long as it's clear that it is an automated response and that it still does provide value because it's answering, you know, questions that are likely to be what somebody was asking, or it in fact knows rules and it responds with different responses based upon what someone's asking.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how that isn't something that I think people are really uncomfortable with.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: That to me is just, you know, pretty much business as usual.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we've seen that a lot in a lot of our case studies and different creators that we work with, that they're able to build what is basically they think of as an extension of themselves, and their audiences will respond like, oh my gosh, that was so fast.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And most of the time they realize that it is an automation and they make it clear that it is an automation, and they're like, Yes, this way I'm able to get back to you right away, but it still has that personal touch, and then they can step in when it is a higher touch moment.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I wish that more, I wish that more companies did that kind of thing.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even, you know, because you see it so often that if people get a question that they don't want to answer in particular, they'll just ignore it.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then someone else asks the question too.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then pretty soon you have, you know, you have a piece of content that has great engagement of people who aren't getting responded to.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then that's terrible.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, it's uh it's best to have um, you know, the automation set up for things like FAQs and then the more difficult things you can respond to, you know, as a as a person, because those are things that you should address person to person as much as possible.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's uh, you know, that's always good to think, try to think those things through before you post on what responses might be and how you should handle them.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's impossible to anticipate everything, but do you have a sense from um the survey results and from maybe some of the feedback you um collected from individuals?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how are people feeling about their content consumption online?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Are they feeling like they spend too much time doing it?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Do they, is it giving them what they want?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how in their own words um would you describe how how folks are feeling at this moment in time about content?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it's really two ends of the spectrum that a lot of people are really feeling burned out because it's just so much volume of content all the time that's constantly accessible.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: But on the other side of that, people really are able to find and build community.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what a lot of the most successful creators have done is they've built these communities where their audiences are able to connect not only with them, but with each other.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that can make a huge difference, especially if you're feeling more alone or isolated or overwhelmed, that you have a place that you can go that's just in your pocket anytime that you need it.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the better end of the spectrum.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, we all do still need to remember to log off and touch grass sometimes.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: I do always like that.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I play World of Warcraft and I love that one of the tips is always, you know, that it's great to spend time with your friends in the world of Warcraft, but don't forget to spend time with them outside of it too.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is really important to do that and not to let the uh content consumption become your whole life.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it's uh easy to get stuck in the endless scroll.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Which is why you know communities are nice because communities are not passive, communities are by their nature, they are um interactive.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you are getting out of it, what you're putting into it.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Did you um probe to find out what platforms folks are using?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are they using Discord or you know, other kinds of platforms like that or more community platforms?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like this is still one of those things where it's all over the place.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, our research didn't touch on that specifically, but I am seeing some broader trends towards creators building communities where they have uh real access to their audience, their audience has access to them.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're making that um more of a like a private venture, like a Discord, like a um Substack when you have the paid tiers that people can only comment on those if they are subscribed to you and things like that.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it is um sort of a curated experience in a way, but it does um, you know, make the community more focused, and it's not necessarily driven by wanting to make money off of it, but sometimes to say, like, okay, this way there's a a barrier to entry, basically.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have fewer people and things like that.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it makes a lot of sense because I think we especially found so many people had built community on Twitter around hashtags, around Twitter chats.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, content chat was a Twitter chat for a very long time before it became uh a LinkedIn live stream.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I do feel like people are looking for the next big way to have that same kind of feeling.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because you know, certainly there's plenty of social um platforms out there, but so far nobody has cracked the net for the ease at which I think Twitter was um able to kind of create that community feeling.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, we have a most of our creators are on Instagram and we also have uh TikTok, of course.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's um, you know, you can have a real community in the DMs and things like that, but I I do see a lot of creators doing more real life activations and things like that, like planning events with brands and really trying to do more highly curated in-person events, because I think that is something that a lot of people have been missing.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, definitely.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, every time I go to a conference in person, you totally feel it.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: People want to have that kind of face-to-face engagement.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: We're finally out of the, you know, sitting in our home offices because of COVID age of everything being online.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm definitely seeing some really fun and interesting um in-person events happen and kind of like those um events that are layered on top of conferences that are bringing together uh folks who have things in common to really share.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that is um, it is nice to see that that's something that your research reflected too, because I'm hoping that we all see that continuing.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like a really positive trend.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I'm excited to see how South by Southwest is gonna look this year.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I am in Austin, so we have that coming up, and uh, many chats also throwing an event.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have some creators and things there.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are gonna be in town for South by, I can uh drop the link and people can RSVP if that's something they're interested in.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: We can add that to the recap too.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: You'll just have to shoot that over.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, given your role as an editorial director, what is your advice for content marketers as they're thinking about, you know, how they're approaching the next few months to the rest of the year?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what should we be thinking about when we're activating our content strategy in light of this research?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I feel like it is kind of the moment of really making sure that you have sight of exactly who your audience is, that you're not assuming that, because sometimes we do that work early on and then we assume that it doesn't change, and then sometimes it does.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we, you know, we have the same thing where it's a slightly different audience that reads our online magazine versus who's reading our blog or searching for things that way.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so we really have to think about how to approach those two and what they want from us in each of those places, and keeping that in mind with like, okay, if a lot of creators are burnt out, the audiences are also burnt out.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do we get them the things that they want and need from us in a way that's going to not exacerbate that?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And how can we really meet them where they are and show them that we understand what they're struggling with and that we can help them to the best of our abilities uh without having them lose a personal touch to what they're doing?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think for organizations that aren't in a position, you know, necessarily to do bespoke research?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how can they find this out to really make sure that they are delivering what their uh community needs from them?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: It can just be as simple as asking.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, your most engaged community members obviously are gonna be like a self-selecting audience that'll be the loudest voices, but that is a place to start that you can just go on your social channels and run a poll.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: You can have uh comments turned on if you still do that on a blog, Godspeed and good luck.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you have any kind of community, customer community newsletter, anything like that, it doesn't have to be a super intense, like paying a bunch of money to have uh formal surveys done, but it's polls like that give you a good place to start testing and then you can get results back and iterate on that.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Totally agreed.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when it comes to actually working with creators, did you gain any um insights that would help um folks who are in a content strategy role or editorial role, you know, do a better job of engaging with them and finding those mutually beneficial um projects to work on?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have a bunch of resources around uh different things like niching down and figuring out how you want to do sort of like brand partnerships or building a community and how you can take your Instagram followers and like build an email list and keep in touch with them.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because although we all love our platforms of choice, we all know that it's difficult if you don't own your audience because a platform can change overnight, algorithms can change, and it's really important to have that community that you've built be something that you can take with you uh no matter what happens in this crazy world.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So 100% you want that portability because you can't guarantee that you're going to want to continue to be on a platform forever.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, honestly, that's something that I'm hearing.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm hearing a lot of folks are having concerns around Substack.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: They've made it so easy to um to monetize, they've also made it so easy to layer on that community because they're they seem to be the only email platform that really has figured out how to add that kind of Twitter community layer onto um an email subscription.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um unless there's some, you know, some other tool that I haven't heard of.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it does feel like they're the ones who really cracked that um functionality.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're hearing of anything else, you know, big people are saying maybe Beehive, but it doesn't have that functionality.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's just really a good email tool.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I'm seeing a lot of creators that are doing more with Substack, actually.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've uh at our mini chat um sort of event that we have online every year, uh, we had Eugene Healy on and he's a professor and he does a lot of talks and things like that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And his Substack, he's kind of created sort of a mini school experience where he'll send out um his pieces and then it's like homework that comes with it.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you can like if you're a nerd, this is for you.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's fantastic.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you can discuss sort of the like broader cultural trends that he's discussing and kind of break it down together.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh interesting to see when people really find a niche like that and their communities.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So into it and they're ready to use all of those features that Substack does have.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I know some creators are unhappy with Substack and have moved to different platforms, but I think they did really nail uh having the sort of social element built in that makes it easier to have that interactive uh thing.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just an email that comes to your inbox, but they're keeping you on there and they're even expanding to like TV and like channels now.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I wasn't aware of.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's something in beta that they're testing, but I did see a headline about that not long ago.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be interesting to see where that goes because you have the ability to upload videos and then they can get like simultaneously posted to your YouTube already.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see if they're testing like a full-blown television channel how that goes in the future, because it's interesting when things decide to pivot to video that are originally meant to be about long-form writing.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's definitely gonna attract a very different audience.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: But it's possible that people will want to see both, and I guess only time will tell.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or they may just have it be a separate offering so that way they're getting the entirety of the creator, um, you know, the creator universe being on their platform.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because as much as you know, I'm a reader and a writer, I know there's so many other people who love video.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Love to see partially why um the live stream format for content chat has worked really well for us um since moving over from Twitter, because people like to sit down and you know, on the West Coast have their lunch while they're uh watching content chat, um, or then you know, doing on demand and binging through a few of the episodes on YouTube.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it really, you know, it depends, I think, on, you know, where your brain is at on any given day, what you're interested in doing.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it is great if you could, you know, throw on a long, interesting YouTube video and get some laundry folded or something like that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's definitely um that's something we do with Chronically Online, actually, is we have a YouTube channel, and sometimes we'll take the same story and we have the long form piece that we've written, and our design team is incredible and has won awards for their amazing designs that they make really immersive experiences around the content.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then on our YouTube channel, we'll have a really well researched script that our YouTube manager, Sarah Gav, is fantastic, and she puts together these videos that you see a whole different angle of the story and it's presented in a different way.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a great way to really like get every every inch of the experience from our content, is what we're going for.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm seeing that, you know, Substacks really going for that too.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we always are, you know, saying to folks, if a content idea is a good idea for your audience, you should never just have it be one and done.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: You absolutely should explore it through the different lenses and on the different platforms and formats that your audience wants because you can get so much more out of it, and so will they.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the different aspects of the story, some things are gonna work better in writing, and some parts of it are gonna work better in a video format.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you can really explore those different angles and see where the story takes you.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's, you know, again, the best way to get the most out of the work that you're already doing because uh you always want to work smarter, not harder, and try not to burn out.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, before we wrap up, I would love to hear from you, you know, after you got back all of the data and you sat down to create the report, what was the one change that you decided to make um for yourself for your content strategy or for um your editorial plan for the year based upon what you're hearing?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think it's always great to hear um how people are taking their research and putting it to action for their own organization.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, for us, it was really committing more to the Chronically Online Instagram account and making sure that we're being really consistent there because we do see that as the other classic piece of advice on social media that is still true, is that it's less about trying to find some sort of magical time to post or like some sort of magical formula for what you're doing.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just to show up consistently so your audience knows when to expect you and to interact with you and all of those things that you need to have your audience grow and find you.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that is something that we needed to do because it was sort of languishing on the back burner, like always the thing that we're gonna get to, we're gonna do it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And now we've we've made that commitment.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just showing up and being consistent.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the thing that sounds the easiest is the hardest because there's so many other things going on and so many demands on your attention and priorities.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny because it's the same for um consultancies and agencies as it is for SaaS platforms and service providers, is we spend so much energy helping the brands that we work with to, you know, show up and to, you know, have that uh throughput across all of their channels that we often frequently need to make sure we're doing that for ourselves too.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know I certainly let some of my channels get away from me from time to time, also.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it's always okay to take breaks too.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your audience will be there when you get back, but uh you don't want to abandon them forever.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh the consistency is a good way to say, like, okay, I can pick a sustainable schedule so that I don't burn myself out because that's also a mistake that's easy to make in the beginning.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're so excited and you're like, oh, I'm gonna do all this posting, and then you're like, oh my God, I'm so tired and I'm also out of ideas now.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: That is so I I think we've all been there uh and had that kind of feeling.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: So for folks who have gotten inspired by this and want to read the research or um check out some of the different uh resources that you mentioned, where should they go?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: What where can they find you and um many chat?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, definitely many chat.com.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're interested in reading the report, many chat.com slash report, you can definitely drop that link for people to find.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and there's a guide at the top of the report so you can look at the different chapters if there's specific things that you're interested in, like the AI section or the burnout section, or for the nerds, we have the methodology section.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all of it, all of it's interactive, and you can download it, share it, give us your hot takes on what we found out.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we would love to hear all of it.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we have many chat.com slash blog as well.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you can find all kinds of great resources there and the chronically online magazine as well.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I hope folks check it out.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm gonna be um sharing the report with my friend Maureen Jan.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: She is a huge fan of interactive uh content experiences, so I imagine she'll get quite a kick out of it.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, and a huge shout out to our design team for bringing that to life because uh the you know, love to create something that's so cool and then see it get brought to life beyond your wildest dreams is always the best thing.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being our guest today, and we will be back next week with more content chat.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Bye, everybody.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.