Whenever the thoughts of how there seems to be zero activity (comments, sharing, etc) with the content I create start to become to freeze point of me creating content, that’s when I know that I need to reassess why it is that I create content.
It can be disheartening when you put a lot of effort into content for it to do nothing once it’s posted. I think that is a response from the place of creating content for others. There is nothing wrong with that being why you create content. It’s part of why I create content. I want others to enjoy what’s out there. For me, personally, if creating things for others is the only reason why I’m creating it — I need to stop creating content.
I strive for a balance between creating content for myself, for others, and for a purpose. That last one sounds like it’s not different from the other two mentioned, but in my “why I create” process it is. To break those categories down a little, “for myself” is exactly as it sounds — I am creating content that I want to see and that I like to create. “For others” could be content that is something that hits the trends and appeals to the masses or it could be something that applies to someone’s lifestyle or something along those lines. “For a purpose”, I loosely define it as something bigger than myself and others. And different types of content can hit different parts of those three categories.
Let’s take this post for example. I’d say that it falls in the “for me” category because I am using this as a way of reassessing the content I’m creating. I think it also falls in the “for others” category because there may be others who are struggling with this too. Which is also where I think it falls into the “for a purpose” category, because it touches on something bigger because it’s kinda an everybody thing.
How can this be applied when considering content? Something I need to create for my process is a system for when I think of an idea for content. I need to identify the motivation behind the creation of said content. The motivation behind it could help determine if it gets posted, what platform it would be best suited for, and when should it be posted if it’s going to be posted.
From a categorical stand point — if it only hits the “for me” category I should still create it, but it may not be posted to the internet. Something the “for me” category can do is provide an opportunity to express the emotions or thoughts that are present, but not everyone needs to know those things. As I mentioned before, I do not want to create content just for the sake of others. And what I mean by that is I don’t want to create the content that everyone is clicking on right now because everyone is clicking on it right now. Do I want others to enjoy what I make? Yes. But I don’t want that to be the only reason I am creating.
Overall, I want the content I create to be shared, enjoyed, and interacted with. But it seems like what I think applies to each category is something others agree on. So I need to tweak the content and see if the changes made work. If that doesn’t work, then I try again. I have yet to reach the point where creating content and sharing the finished product needs to stop. I have hope. Hope that I’ll find that spot where others appreciate what has been created and want to share it because it meant something to them. Until then, I’m going to keep trying.
What are ways that you reassess what you do? What are your motivations for creating the things you create? Why do you create content?
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