Social Media Leading Not Learning – How to be a World Class Chef of Content

Producing content has been a common theme I have discussed here before. Production of content is important, not so much in what you produce, but the fact that you actually do produce. Your audience is hungry for info from you. They are circling your world, looking for your next idea, tutorial, blog post, video, really anything. They are not too picky.

Of course a strategy needs to be in place. So you may be reading books, attending training, webinars, really soaking in a lot of info designed to get you prepped for getting yourself out there. But what if all you do is absorb the knowledge and not put it to use? What if you focus primarily on learning and never really have time to put things in action, or to produce content to get out there?

I mention this because I once fell into that trap. I love to learn, but after a while, that was all I was doing. Reading, researching, reading more, rinse, repeat. The thing I forgot to do was put all I had learned to use.

Think of yourself as a chef. You learn to cook, you learn recipes, you research, you taste test (yum!), you have a quest for knowledge and work to be a better chef as you progress. But what if you never actually cooked? Never served meals to people? Never had a dinner party with your cuisine as the star?

 As silly as it sounds, some people run their marketing and social networks the same way. They hit every seminar, they read every book, they love to learn more, they have a quest to learn. But their blog has not been updated in weeks. The videos they planned don’t show, their YouTube channel has some tumbleweeds blowing through. The content they wanted to get out there weekly never happens because they are focused on learning how to produce content.

It’s no great secret that you learn by doing, and that repetition is the mother of skill. The key is to do it. Whatever you do, your audience grows by absorbing the content you produce. It’s pretty simple. Yes you can jump on the social networks, but here you are producing cheese and crackers. You are getting others primed, giving them a taste before they move on to your actual meals, your blog, your website, your videos, your book, your show, your vlog, your podcast, etc.

So…are you reading blog posts or creating them? Are you watching video shows or creating them?

Trust me, producing content is time-consuming, but if you want to build an empire, you really should have often-released compelling content that keeps steering people back to you. Otherwise they will easily drive elsewhere.

Start to think about it. Are you providing a resource, are you producing content as often as you intended to? Can you dial back on learning and ramp up the production of stuff?

Try closing the web browser and opening up a word processor. Clicking off a video and launching a webcam. Why should other people have all the spotlight?

Looking at content is easy, producing content is hard. But if you want to grow your career, and expand your brand, try to produce more content. Your audience is waiting.