Why You Don’t Actually Own Your Social Media Content
Hi, travel creators. I'm so excited because I get to talk about one of my favorite topics ever. It’s why you don't own your social media content, what that means, why it matters, and what you can do about it.
First, I have a little analogy for you. Imagine that you have a boat. You've spent all this time researching the boat to have, how to take care of it, boating best practices, and maybe you've even bought a few boating courses.
Anyway, you've definitely got your boating license, you have all this boating knowledge, and you know all of the boating things. You pour all this time, all this energy, all this money into this boat. All of your friends want to come hang out, and soon enough, this boat becomes a family. The boat is where your friends and their friends want to be.
One day, you're rolling up to the dock, it's a nice day, and your boat is gone. It’s as if the boat never even existed. Unfortunately, the same thing can happen to your content. Your online community can wash away just as easily as this boat in this analogy if you don't own a place for your content to live.
This sounds scary because it definitely is. But it doesn't really have to be. Not to dive right in with the jump scare, but what would happen to the progress you've made on your creator journey if you lost access to your Instagram following and community tomorrow? Just think about that for a few seconds.
Why Your Instagram Empire Could Vanish Overnight—And What You Can Do About It
Here’s the part Instagram doesn't want you to know, but the part that I will tell you. It can all go away overnight. Now, it's really unlikely Meta will wipe away Instagram because there's just there's too much game there; however, what's more likely and what I have seen happen to several travel creators is that they lose access to their account. Whether they get hacked or it gets lost for another reason, they wake up in the morning and their account is just gone. It’s as if it never even existed. As users of the internet trying to grow our creator journey, you're subject to whatever these tech platforms feel like doing that day. Sometimes, it's not helping you recover your account and now you're left back at square one with zero following and most importantly zero community.
Now you kind of have no idea what to do at this point. I'm not saying that you should never post on social media. As you know, social media is an amazing tool for growing your creator journey, but I'm saying you should have a backup plan. Like a lot of things in life, social media also needs insurance. I'm sorry, but luckily this one doesn't cost that much and it doesn't cost that much of your time. The reality is what you share on social media is not truly yours. The visuals, the text, they're all now floating in cyberspace after you hit publish. Who knows what will happen to those posts tomorrow.
The Importance of a Content Organization System
Having a content organization system in place will help especially if someday your Instagram account is someday gone. You will still have all the content you've already used and tested that you needed to grow. I dedicated the second episode of my podcast to helping creators set up a content organization system. If you want to learn why you should have one, what it is and how to set it up, you can jump over there.
To give yourself a bit of that insurance we're talking about, you're going to want to move your community to a place of the internet you actually own. I realize that sounds overwhelming and confusing, but it's not that deep. What I recommend for travel creators is to create a newsletter. Go ahead and tell your community you're creating a newsletter and you think they would really love to get all the insider tips that you have that you'll be sharing in your newsletter. I have had more success when I personally message people in my community asking them to subscribe than when I leave a call-to-action in a post.
In short, do whatever has historically worked in your content. Whether you are actually planning on creating a newsletter now or in the future, gathering this direct way to contact people in the community you've already built is so incredibly valuable. One day if your IG was gone, you'll still have the email addresses of people in your valued community. By having their email addresses, you can reach out to them, let them know what happened in their support, and that it would be really awesome if they were there for you during this time you're spending rebuilding.
Free Resources for Building a Newsletter
Building a newsletter itself might sound horrifying and intimidating, but I've got a few free resources for you. I have a free newsletter template made for travel creators linked in the show notes. It is full of ideas for you and it even has a structure to help you get started. Essentially, you're not starting from scratch here. In my last podcast episode, I break down exactly why travel creators should have a newsletter and step by step I walk you through how you can get one done in a day. If you take that seriously and schedule time in your calendar while you're listening, you can do that.
If you need a kick in the pants to do this, this is it. Go listen to that episode. It's not very long. Schedule some time and apply what you learned, then tell me how it went. Like I've mentioned before, creators tend to believe that email marketing isn't the cutest thing in the world, but it is the future of how brands communicate with their audience, and it is my personal favorite.
It might not be that daunting to create a newsletter, but to create a good newsletter, that takes a little bit more effort. If you're looking for an easy way to get started, go ahead and use that template I've got for you. Okay, friends, if you made it this far, you're an MVP. But if you're not feeling like an MVP of your content, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter, The Content Compass, and come hang out with travel creators who are working on upping their content game.
My newsletter is free because travel is expensive enough. And once a week, I highlight travel creators who are doing awesome things, and I show you how you can apply what they've done to your own content. I also tend to drop a lot of newsletter content ideas and tips in there because it's my favorite. It's a good place to turn to if you want some ideas and inspiration.
You can subscribe here. If you are completely overwhelmed with content at the moment, I see you and I get you. There is a ton of noise out there about what you should do next in your content. Consider me your brainstorm partner. So, do you have some ideas but aren’t sure how to execute them? Or do you have a list of everything you want to accomplish and now it's like what the heck? Or maybe you know you need a change in your content, but you just don't even know what that might be.
I have heard it all and I'm game to hear yours too. So if you need support trying to wade through all this travel creator mess, go ahead and check out my Instagram @Travel Content Writing. I have a ton of free resources and tips there as well. And if you'd really like, shoot me a message and let me know you came from the podcast. I’d love to hear from you.
Happy creating, friends. And if you found this extra helpful, if you want to share it with a friend, that would be amazing.