278: How has content changed in the last 6 years?

We aren’t in 2020 anymore, first - thank god for that. 

But it means content marketing has changed. It has evolved. What worked then (and in 2019 when I started Content Queen) is NOT the same. 

Let’s talk about it. 

I want to share who we now consume, how we trust and how we act! 

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah.

⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ How content has changed 

✨ The 3 ways content marketing has changed in 6 years 

✨ How you can change your content marketing to suit 

✨ Why you might not have to change a thing 

SHOW RESOURCES 👇⁠⁠⁠

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 278, and I'm talking about what has changed with content marketing in the last six years. Welcome to the Content Queen Podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen. I'm here to teach you how to share your unique story, create content, and market your business with strategy through the channels that work for you.

Each week, I'll deliver a story to help you connect to a powerful strategy around marketing, business and content creation. I'll also be joined by amazing souls and entrepreneurs who are here to share their own journey, along with actual steps to help you take your business to a whole new level through amazing storytelling, powerful and marketing and content strategy.

Let's do it. Hello, gang.

Content queen is having a birthday, and I thought, you know what? What a good time to celebrate and buy some hats in a party popper from IGA. And do something fun. So I wanna take you back to, oh my God, that's not gonna be annoying at all. Do you want do it hitting my wedding? Yeah, of course. Let's do it.

Mitch is wearing his hat too. Okay. So it was, it was 2019 and I decided to create a website. I was already freelancing and start looking at how I could make some money online through supporting people with my skills in content marketing, et cetera. And when I started, obviously it wasn't with, well not obviously, but it wasn't with the intent to go down the content marketing path.

It was more about writing, blogging, et cetera. But obviously content has changed so much that I just kind of rode that wave and really embraced things that I loved and my creativity. So back then, 2019, it was easier to get engagement, to be honest. There was more noise because we then started to go into a pandemic in 2020.

There was a lot more promotion. Was it? As I said, yes, it was easier. Does that mean, do I think it's a good thing? Absolutely not. So that's what I wanna talk about, what has changed and how we can leverage this change in our own business for the people that are here for the long term. So 2020 come along and lots of people, yeah, started their online business, which was amazing.

It was so good to see lots of people online sharing their skill sets. But what happened was there were people doing it to make money fast, to sell, sell, sell, and not actually to create something sustainable with longevity. And that is why. Now we consume so differently because we do have this guardrail up of who are the people that we are watching and what are they telling us?

I watched a TikTok today of a woman who claimed to be the daughter of a famous YouTuber, and she created a similar style video, Tim. 'cause she has a very distinct video style and claimed that. Yeah, that he had abandoned her mom and the pregnancy, et cetera. And this is crazy because obviously people can just say whatever they want on these channels, which means our trust factor is declining.

So the first thing I wanna talk about is how we consume and yeah, maybe we will take the hat off

and you can have the party pop her back. So how we consume when I first started. This and I was posting on my own social media. There was lots of like obviously imagery. There wasn't really video. We went live a lot. We didn't post, they were called IGTs on Instagram. There was YouTube, which was more long form.

TikTok was only really in its early stages and lots of us were just consuming it to watch the dancing videos and to kind of numb out, I guess. So it's changed so much. You only have to just open any social media platform and you are swarmed with short form video, long form video, all types of videos you can consume.

I could scroll my TikTok, learn about a book. That I should read, um, a cake that I will never make and learn about Instagram or influencer drama. I could then learn a practical tip about my business. Like you just have to open these platforms and you are inundated with video content to explain things because video is a really great way for you to articulate and share what you want your audience to know about.

Through the written word, through more static visuals. You don't really have that. You can't really do that because they're not hearing your voice. You, they could read it in a way that suits their tone, not your tone. Like there's so much, right. So we kind of have now shifted from this. We are consuming. So much information, but in such a different way, we wanna be entertained.

You know, you only have like three seconds to capture our attention. Now, it used to be seven, and then it would've been a lot longer than that. We would've consumed a lot slower. We would've read captions. We would've really immersed ourselves in these platforms. But now just give it to me straight. I need to know exactly what you want me to do, or what I should do to help with my problem, or I want you to entertain me.

I want you to teach me something I never knew, et cetera. But now we've gone down this route where, especially on social media or even in blogging on YouTube, things aren't as edited. They aren't as curated. They're just like, post it, film it, get it up there. It's not, as, you know, lots of people don't spend as much time editing or they've got AI editing.

Um, blogs are now more of this personal experience rather than how to get X, Y, z. We are sharing more of a story. So we're really learning that we need to. Capture the attention of our audience because we want to be entertained, right? With so much content out there now that you need to give us a reason to stay.

And also we wanna see you are human. We want to know that you're not just ai. So the sort of non polished content is performing a lot better than something more polished. So how we're consuming is changed. I would encourage you to just. Think about how you consume and how different that is. A lot of the times when we are marketing our business or creating assets for our blogs, podcasts, video, all those things, we are not taking a step back and thinking about, oh, how do I consume?

How do I, because even though your audience is different, you are, when you're creating, looking at it from a lens of I need to get this done and I need to get out that out there, rather than I need to create something that's going to. Capture my, the attention of my audience. And then we end up on this cycle because we then go, oh, well it doesn't work, so I won't spend time on it.

So then you spend less time on it and you create less effective marketing. Even the way we consume podcasts, you know, people are creating a lot more short form, even though it's still long form, just get to the point, gimme what I need to get, but do it in a way that's really personal and engaging. The second one is how we trust.

So content has changed so much because in 20 19, 20 20, everyone was selling something and everyone was showing up and we were just like, oh my God, I love your vibe, love your lifestyle, or love, you know, your aesthetic, whatever I will buy from you. And now that a lot of people, especially in you know, the digital product space or even coaching spaces.

A lot of people have shared stories of not getting the product or service that they had thought they were getting when they had purchased, and some of these people then, because they wanted to show that they had an amazing lifestyle and that they could help you with your business, they obviously had their prices at a really a premium.

So you're paying a lot for a service that maybe you didn't feel like you got. Just obviously what I read, it didn't happen to me, but. What I've heard from people just speaking with them. So now we don't believe everything we see anymore. We're a lot more skeptical and we need proof. We are now looking for a lot more proof when we purchase or when we are looking at content online.

Okay, cool. You shared this thought or theory. Show me the evidence, or you are sharing your product or service on social media. I need to see the proof. I need to see trust. So that's where, you know, having people. Share testimonials or case studies are really great. I think people are consuming a lot of those.

Now, I often, when I send out an email to a potential client, I always send a link to my case studies. But even those videos where you are sharing proof, so for example, my client got a video, had a video that reached 6 million or had a reach of 6 million. This is what we did. You know, like these sorts of hooks or these sorts of pieces of content because it's gaining trust.

I even saw a branding expert say, I told my client to do this, this, and this, and here was the results that they got. And it was a video that had reached people and she explained what that did for her business. So we are now putting up that barrier of like, you are guilty until proven innocent kind of vibes.

So we wanna know who you are, what's your expertise, what do you know? So even if it is lived experience, we wanna know what that lived experience is. So that's where storytelling and evidence plays a massive role in your content. You know, walking the walk, talking the talk, not just sharing what people could do, but sharing how you or your clients implement it into their daily lives.

So that's the second one. And then the third one is just how we act. For example, people aren't following as much anymore. We need a really good reason to sign up for your email list or free downloadable. It's because we are now getting a lot from online platforms, so our information is getting delivered to us from our phones without having to do anything.

For example, TikTok and Instagram, we don't necessarily have to. Follow someone to keep getting their content because the algorithms understand the content that we wanna consume and they'll keep delivering it to us. So we don't necessarily need to follow people to get the content. So now we're looking at different metrics when we look at our content and how it's getting delivered to the right people.

And our marketing is through reach. Right, because not as many people are gonna follow. It's almost like the conversion funnel when it comes to getting a follow now. Like they've gotta see your content enough. Like even I analyze my, my own behaviors and I don't follow until I've seen their videos like quite a few times and I go, oh, that trust factor comes in and then I follow.

So don't take followers as the absolute, you know, um, metric. When it comes to online. Obviously you need that audience, you want that audience, but that audience might go to your website but not necessarily be following you. Even some of my clients don't follow me, so it's not always that followers equal sales.

Of course you want that reach. Of course you want that website traffic. And then when it comes to downloadables, like we are not gonna download a checklist anymore or an ebook or something like that. Like we need something that's going to motivate us my. PO Hidden podcast series has been one of my most successful free downloadables.

I've seen it happen with voice activations, with some clients. You know, masterclasses aren't performing as well as they used to. We need to get more creative with how we ask people to for their email because people aren't just gonna sign up. 'cause in 20 20, 20 19, we had nothing to do. So we were just signing up for everything and anything.

And I think now we've realized, oh, my inbox is a bit full and a bit cluttered. I'm really. Specific or really fussy about who I give my email to. I'm very particular. I don't just give it to everyone and anyone. So how can we learn from this and what can we do? So for how to trust, of course, show evidence, show proof, show that you know what you're doing.

You don't have to hold up a university degree. It's not about that, but it's showing the evidence in the work that you've done. If you're just starting out, that is when you can explore avenues in your business to get those testimonials, to get that proof. Like how can you support people? And you know, maybe.

Never saying to charge less or anything, but ask people for feedback, support. However, I don't know how that's gonna look. I'm not a business coach and I'm not giving you advice on that, but try and get the evidence and then for how we act, is really about understanding. We need to create the stuff that people want to consume so that we build that trust and they follow us.

But get creative with how you ask people to take action in what you want them to do. Right. Just having a free downloadable that is not performing is not gonna work anymore. You've gotta get creative with how you ask people for their email or how you get them to your website. All those things just build community, try different things.

The most important thing that I want you to take away from this podcast is yes, things have changed a lot since I started Content Queen in 2019. There is no denying that AI has come in. We don't dance on TikTok anymore. We don't just po. We post a lot of video. We all probably have some kind of long form channel because we've learned that that does help.

We don't rely just on social media as much, although I know there are some businesses that still do, and we know how important it is to get an email, which before we're just kind of like, oh, this platform's fun. Let's just put all our eggs in that basket. I understand we are diversifying. But what I want you to take away from this is you have to keep going with it.

You have to be inquisitive and curious. That's what marketing is about. Marketing changes so much, so frequently, yes, it can be exhausting, but what you need to do is just learn your audience test, see what happens. Of course, there's no like BAU anymore. There's no business as usual 'cause things are always changing and evolving.

But if you can come in with that open mind and make it fun and make it be curious. That's when content marketing can be fun. That's when your marketing can be fun. It can be innovative, and it can really capture your audience's attention and you can be different and you can leave your legacy and have your impact.

Because a lot of us start business for more than just money. We wanna help people. We wanna have impact, we wanna build legacy. So that's why a lot of us have personal brands. That's why a lot of us. You know, do wanna be on social media or do wanna create content because we know how we can have our impact on the world.

A lot of us have more and more deeper purpose than just the service that we provide or the product. So if we are always having that open mind, we're always learning and evolving. We are going to stand out in our industry, and that's cool. That's amazing. We can do things differently. We can do things to help people, not just to post for the sake of posting, not just to get stuff out there, but actually have an impact.

All my clients that I work with, it goes deeper than the service that they provide. They wanna have long lasting impact. They wanna be role models. They wanna show up in the world authentically and platforms, content platforms, social media. This is what helps us do that. So rather than just going, I need to check this off on my list, I need to create content.

I'm probably still doing the same thing that I did six years ago, 20 20, 20 19, 20 21. Take a pause. Ask yourself, is it actually working? And start looking at how you can change and move the needle and start listening to what your customer is consuming and what they need from you. Because that's how you're going to create really evolving marketing that's going to have people attracted to your brand and keep coming back.

I'm always learning with my clients, like I'm never just, yep, get this out, get this done, take it off the list. I'm always trying to make things better. Does that make my life harder? Does that mean I spend more time on it? Yes. Is it worth it? 100% because I'm always learning, always evolving. I don't always get it right.

That's the point. So I'm fired up about this. But also what I want you to take away from this as well is if there is something that's working from six years ago, don't say, oh, I have to change it. The point is it works for you. You know, people would've said, Facebook's dead. You must be on TikTok. You have to do this.

You have to do that. There is no rules. Yes, you wanna evolve. If you start to see things decrease, you do wanna get on the front, front foot and be ahead of that. But if something is still working for you, really, actually, truly working, you might not need to change it. My boss would always say, you know, we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. But really at the end of the day, it just means our. When it comes to the change in how things have changed in content marketing since I've started, I think our BS radar is higher. I think we're just more conscious of where we put our money, who we buy from, who we connect with.

We are looking for that, really, that one person that can help us, and if we really trust them, we'll stick to them until. We know like, and that's it, right? This has happened with me with multiple products, services. If I find a good thing, I don't change it. So be that good thing for your clients, be that thing, that person, that product that they will always turn to because they trust it, it works.

And that's what it comes down to, creating a good product service quality. And that is obviously a different part of business, but if you can show that in your marketing, in your content. You will continue to grow and support the people that you want to support and yeah, so happy birthday content queen.

It's been a massive six years. I am so proud of everything that we've been able to achieve with Content Queen. You know, starting out just on my own and being able to put the hat back on and woo, celebrate starting out on my own, in my bedroom, um, in my share house, actually launching my website for my kitchen table.

My share house to then going into lockdown and making my childhood bedroom my office when I moved in with my brother who bought our childhood home to then traveling the world as a digital nomad and taking content queen with me. My office has been in about 15 different countries, probably more because I actually had my first digital nomad experience in 2019, so close to 30 countries.

That content queen has been worked in and. I'm so proud of everyone in my team. So I'm just gonna do a quick shout out because I drew an Oracle card this week that said to shout out the, the support I have around me and the team. So a massive shout out to Mitch, to Laika, to Nicole, to Shyla, and to Maria and past content queen team members that have supported me.

Contractors. You know, I couldn't have done it without you. I've made a lot of mistakes in this business. I've had a lot of tears, a lot of tears, right? When my Instagram got hacked, I cried for two days straight. So it's not all easy, but it is so worth it. It's so worth it to see the impact and the purpose that I have in this, and how passionate I am for my clients and.

How much joy it brings me. It doesn't mean I love it every day. It doesn't mean that it isn't easy, but it gets to be easy with time and with showing up. I've showed up consistently since 2019. Does it mean every day? No, but frequently straight up for you on here. I mean, we're 270 episodes in. I have loved every minute of being the founder of Content Queen.

I am now the an employee of Content Queen because we became a company and I just have loved seeing my clients grow and obviously my own business grow because I know this stuff works. Sorry, I'm gonna stop rambling. I'll probably cry 'cause it's very emotional. Um, it's like your baby having a birthday and you're seeing it grow up and that's just truly magical for me.

So be a content queen or king and remember that developing your strategy and story really does develop your business. And I am a product of that saying really, thank you so much for joining me today. And please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends. You can do this by.

Adding it to your Insta Stories, tagging us at content. Queen Mariah giving us a happy birthday. Shout out. We would absolutely love that. And what I would love, the best gift you could give me is a cheeky rate or review five stars on Spotify. You can leave a comment under one of your favorite episodes, and on Spotify you can do five stars and you can leave a review on the whole podcast.

In general, that just helps me get amazing guests on. I've finally got guests coming back. You'll be, it's not just me anymore, although I do love just our chitty chats. Um, but I'll have more guests coming on and yeah, send me a message if there's anything you want me to talk about in the future. If you loved episodes like this, if you didn't, I'm.

All like feedback is a total gift, so please give it to me and I will talk to you next week. Bye. Happy birthday to you. That's going to hurt my ears to edit. Happy birthday Tonda Queen. Happy birthday to you. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment