4 Big Mistakes Content Creators Need to Stop Making

Over the years, I have seen so many people decide they want to become “content creators” not really understanding all of the time and energy (and patience) needed to be one. I think a lot of people assume being a content creator is easy - but that’s not the case. It’s a lot of work; planning, creating, posting, communicating, selling, maintaining - the list goes on. So today, I wanted to share four mistakes I see content creators making, so that you have a clear understanding of what you need to do (or not do) to find your rhythm as a content creator. Let’s get into it…

Mistake #1: NOT Building Your Overarching Brand Strategy

The first mistake I see is that creators jump right into content creation, before taking the time needed to build an overarching brand strategy. It’s truly not enough to just get on Instagram or YouTube or TikTok and just start posting. Before you can truly dive into creating content and building your business on Instagram, you really need to ask yourself... why. Why are you growing a brand on Instagram? What are the goals that are driving you to keep going? You also need to develop your Brand Identity - Who are you? What do you want to be known for? You might think you already know the answer to these questions, but it’s more than answering them at a surface level, it’s about truly identifying who you are as a creator and as a brand online.

And finally, you need to figure out your target audience, pillars, and niche. I always recommend first picking your ideal audience. Who are the people you want to be a part of your community? Once you know who you are creating the content for - you can figure out what other topics they might be interested in as well. Doing it this way will help you go beyond the basic content pillars that relate too heavily to a generic niche, instead, you will be creating content that relates to the person you’re targeting versus a niche.

If you take the time to set up your brand strategy, your journey to growth will be so much smoother.

Mistake #2: NOT Developing a Content Strategy & System

One of the most essential things for creators is to have a content strategy and system in place, and it’s this planning and intention that really sets apart Instagram hobbyists from Instagram professionals. Now, a content strategy ****is your framework or the structure you put in place that will then guide what you put on your content calendar. Usually, it’s a repetitive structure that includes the formats that you know speak to your audience, and that work towards your goal as a brand. Whereas your content creation system would be the habit or routine that you can return to in order to stay consistent with your content creation.

Your content strategy is going to be different depending on your different goals. Whether you want to focus on growth, increasing engagement, or making more sales - each of these goals would require a different content strategy to achieve them.

For example, if your goal is growing your audience, you might develop a content strategy that looks like this:

Monday: Reel with trending audio

Tuesday: Educational Graphic Carousel

Wednesday: Reel with trending audio

Thursday: Shareable Meme

Friday: Reel with trending audio

But beyond having that content strategy, you also need to develop a system. You can have a monthly content creation system or a weekly content creation system. For my social media agency, we do a monthly system.

Here is the structure we use to make sure we get 20 posts complete and scheduled in just one month:

✅ Strategy & Concept Week: In the first week of the month we meet with our clients and discuss the performance of the posts from the month previous and our strategy for the month coming up. We then use the information from our meeting and research to develop a content calendar that we send for their approval that first Friday of the month.

✅ Content Creation & Contributions: The client will provide their approval on the content calendar concepts by the second Monday of the month and provide all of their contributions by the second Friday of the month. Contributions might include reel footage, photos, or written details about a topic. During this week, we also begin working on the content creation that doesn’t require anything from the clients.

✅ Content Creation & Review: The next and third week of the month, we wrap up all content creation, as well as internal revisions, and have it sent to the client for review on the third Friday of the month.

✅ Revise & Schedule: Finally, in the last week of the month, we make any requested revisions from the client and schedule all of the posts in Later.

You could do your own version of this for your personal content. You could also scale this down on a weekly system by maybe planning on Mondays, filming on Tuesdays, creating/editing on Wednesdays, scheduling on Thursdays and then double checking everything on Fridays. You can do whatever works best for you and your other obligations.

The biggest thing is to find a system and routine that works for you, and sticking with it.

Mistake #3: NOT Using a Content Calendar (cough, cough, Notion)

It’s great to have a strategy and system, but now it’s finally time to put it all into a calendar and get creating - but it would be a huge mistake to just create content without having first researched and plan your ideas. This is where the content calendar comes in. You might already know that you want to post three Reels, one carousel and one meme each week - right, that’s your strategy. But a content calendar is essentially of a list of content ideas or concepts that are organized chronologically in a calendar, or a spreadsheet. These are the specific, fully formed ideas of exactly what you’re going to post on a given day.

Now, if you have been following me for awhile, you know I am a huge fan of using Notion for this. I use Notion for both my own personal brand and our business, Creatorly Media, as well.

The one concern a lot of people have about Notion is that it takes a lot of upfront work to create all of these systems and databases, but to help ya’ll out with that, I created a custom Notion system for organizing your content ideas and plans across platforms. Whether you’re creating on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or a podcast (or any combination of them!) this content calendar will work for you. This is the system I use to stay organized and consistent with all of my content.

Mistake #4: NOT Focusing on Just Creating Good Content

The final mistake I see A LOT is folks not keeping their focus on just creating good content. The most important growth method is just creating good content.

My philosophy on Instagram growth is that it’s not about hacks or tricks, it’s not about spamming people’s DMs or follow-for-follow. It’s simply about creating content that people actually connect with.

Instead of creating for the algorithm, you should focus on improving your craft and creating content that people will vibe with, so they want to view more of your content and become a part of your community. Even more importantly, you need to create content that you will enjoy creating. I know from experience that if you focus too heavily on the algorithm, you will lose interest and rapidly hit burnout.

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As I said, being a content creator is a lot of work - but you don’t have to do it alone. This is why I launched my first ever signature Instagram course, in this course, we go over all of these things in tons of detail and more, like how to…

Develop the foundational strategy and branding necessary for real growth
Understand the Instagram algorithm and how it can help you reach new audiences (it’s not holding you back! you just gotta know how to use it)
Craft a system and a strategy that works for you and your lifestyle, so you can see growth but not get burnt out
Recognize the most effective types of Instagram content that are growing accounts in 2022, and incorporate them into your own strategy
Implement the most effective methods for monetizing your content and audience to build a reliable income as a content creator

You can learn more by going to www.theinstagramroadmap.com and the link will be in the show notes.