This is Edition No.6 of this weekly newsletter.
2 weeks ago, I wrote in Letter No. 4 that content creators should not niche down, but rather dig into their characteristics to expand their content and keep improving to provide value to a broader audience.
This article shares how I am improving in these two aspects.
Reinvent Yourself To Reach More Audiences
Before May this year, I only posted my illustrations on Instagram which can only reach other similar illustrators. The base of this potential audience is also limited by my art style and the tools I use.
I wanted to reach more audiences with what I already am, and here are the strategies I’m trying.
1. Expand Your Identity
We are all generalists with several professions nowadays.
Artists, designers, business owners, marketers, makers, writers, speakers, YouTubers, podcasts……
Make a list of all your professional labels, and choose one (or more) to think about the stories, skills experience, and insights you can share. And redefine your identity from there.
This is the start of reinventing yourself.
I chose to shift myself from an illustrator into a more multidiscipline content creator. And I started by creating more topics in more mediums.
2. Use More Mediums Of Creation
So I started to write this newsletter. I wrote about creativity and using quotes to make reels that help reach creative people who are interested in topics about creation and personal branding, which broadens the target audience.
We are never only good at one medium. Visual, audio, text, and physical, each of them has so many mediums for expression.
I chose to write besides drawing. And you can choose your new mediums.
If you are an artist, show every skill you can do: graphics, illustration, animation, showing your process in long and short videos, sharing your story in podcasts, writing your experiences in articles, or teaching by making a course.
There’s always something more to try.
Explore more possibilities when you feel like you are stuck.
3. Post On More Social Media Platforms
With more creation mediums and identities, there are also more platforms to distribute your content.
So I don’t only post pictures on Instagram; I also share on Medium, X, Threads, and maybe LinkedIn later. If you make videos, you can distribute them on TikTok or YouTube.
After extending your creation and identity, and posting your ideas in more places, you build a feedback loop for yourself. And you’ll constantly have ideas on how to improve.
Improve Your Social Media Content
Social media can be a tool to help you improve. And here are some strategies.
1. Get More Ideas With Algorithms
For most platforms, when you post a few new content outside of your previous niche, you’ll see your feed changes.
When I only post illustrations on Threads, I see most posts are other users sharing their artwork. After I posted my thoughts about creation on Threads, I started to see creators of other kinds sharing thoughts on my feeds which gives more ideas for my new content.
You can also adjust your feed to get more perspectives by following different people on different platforms.
I started using X 2 weeks ago and was looking for people to follow. I followed some creatives passionate about sharing opinions on business and careers. And I checked their following list to find more active people to follow. This way the X feed became an information source different from other platforms.
Now your feeds are filled with ideas you can try.
2. Learn From Everyone
The interesting thing about social media is that everyone tries to showcase their highlights. Instead of viewing this phenomenon as a pressure, consider it a source of learning.
Be a good observer. Besides looking at what others post, observe how they introduce themselves, how they interact, and who they follow. Some strategies may not be suitable for you now, but one day you might reconsider.
After you have seen countless facets of human characteristics, you can better recognize your own strengths in the crowd.
3. Learning By Doing
You can truly learn only by doing. Start first, then you can slowly see the visions and the goals you truly want.
Take writing this newsletter as an example. After finishing one article, I realized that part of the content had already gone beyond the theme, so I deleted some of the sentences and used them to write the next article, and the creation continued in this way.
Also, your positioning as a creator will become more apparent during the process.
Initially, I wanted to write about creativity and personal growth, but as I continued writing, I gradually incorporated content about social media strategies and personal branding.
All our creation combines our past and the present. If we want to create something better in the future, all we have to do is to create something now.
Just enjoy the process of trial and improvement.
And become a better version of yourself.
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