Jayde Powell on Showing Up Authentically

Welcome to the primary installment of our new sequence, 🔓 Creators Unlocked, the place we converse with creators to know what it is like behind the screens of the tweets and TikToks to be taught from their experiences. We’re kicking off with Jayde Powell, content material marketer/creator extraordinaire.

Jayde has established herself as a creator, author, and founder, particularly by way of her sequence #CreatorTeaTalk hosted by way of LinkedIn Audio Occasions each different week to a rapt 100+ viewers. On prime of her content material sequence, she repeatedly publishes culture-forward advertising and marketing content material to her mixed viewers of 35,000+ followers.

On this interview, we talk about all issues content material creation – from favourite platforms to her recommendation for creators on displaying up authentically on-line.

Q: Welcome, Jayde! I’ve been following you for a very long time, so it’s nice to lastly join. To leap proper in, what impressed you to begin creating content material on social media?

Content material creation was a byproduct of my work after which it grew to become the elements of my work that I like essentially the most. I would not say I used to be significantly impressed, I’ve simply all the time consumed and created content material. It is simply how we form of outline it right now that has modified.

I began my profession in social media in 2013, across the time when social media entrepreneurs have been simply changing into a factor. That was a distinct time – after we needed to show the ROI of social media to the companies and types that we have been working with. And content material creation was all the time a part of the work – copywriting, pictures, throwing pictures and textual content collectively to make it look good.

Over time, as Instagram grew to become extremely popular, I used to be a part of the early customers creating way of life content material for the platform. Then I shifted focus to Twitter, the place I used to be doing extra advertising and marketing and pop culture-focused content material. And I’ve discovered my voice on every platform and my content material has advanced accordingly.

Q: What are your favourite instruments for content material creation?

I like Canva – I do the whole lot with it. Why get specialised coaching to make use of Adobe Photoshop when there’s a straightforward device proper there?

I additionally love Splice, which I can simply use on my cellphone, Descript for transcribing audio and including captions, and ezgif, which is nice for shortly creating and sharing GIFs. I take advantage of Notion for undertaking administration and Grammarly for writing content material.

Q: What are your objectives for 2023, and the way will you measure success?

I cut up my goal-setting in two: objectives that align with my profession and private imaginative and prescient for myself, then objectives associated to my companies.

My first objective is to create additional delineation amongst all of the completely different manufacturers I’ve as a result of all of them serve completely different audiences. One other objective is to discover my metropolis, Atlanta, and construct neighborhood there. Lastly, I am very large on saying no to issues in order that I do not turn into careworn. So prioritizing pleasure is my important focus it doesn’t matter what I am doing.

Q: Do you will have favorites among the many completely different social media platforms?

My favourite platform depends upon my headspace. Generally I am very Twitter-focused; different instances, I am very Instagram-focused. It simply depends upon the place I’m mentally and creatively. However I discover that sure elements of every platform play a distinct function.

For instance, LinkedIn is an area the place I really feel like I’m actively difficult folks to rethink how they use the platform. I’m very casual on LinkedIn as a result of that is how I’m in actual life. I all the time need folks to know what they get in the event that they work with me. Then there’s Instagram which permits me to be somewhat extra inventive. And I like Twitter as a result of I can tweet fast ideas that do not actually require creativity. They every have their time and place.

Q: Talking of LinkedIn, why did you go together with LinkedIn Audio Occasions for #CreatorTeaTalk over related platforms like Clubhouse or Twitter Areas?

That’s the humorous factor – once I had the thought for #CreatorTeaTalk, it was presupposed to be on Twitter Areas as a result of that’s the place I’ve a neighborhood. I didn’t even know that LinkedIn had an Audio function, however the sponsor of my first two episodes pushed me to strive it. I already had an thought and description of what these first episodes would cowl, but it surely didn’t work out how we wished so we determined to pivot.

We additionally thought-about Clubhouse and even TikTok Stay, however ultimately, we went with LinkedIn Audio Occasions as a result of it made essentially the most sense given the context of my present. The present, which is about bringing creators, influencers and types, and entrepreneurs collectively to have conversations centered on the business. And these folks already use LinkedIn as a result of they create content material professionally.

What I’ve discovered since I launched the present is that individuals are making connections whereas the present is airing and after the present. So I believe if it is a house the place folks can get extra visibility into the work that they do, then these turn into like networking alternatives and potential paid alternatives down the road.

Q: You have got a really distinct voice that feels true to you. What recommendation would you give creators who could also be apprehensive about displaying up authentically on-line?

It’s important to do what feels pure and most comfy to you whereas concurrently not being afraid to push your self outdoors of your consolation zone. In case your intuition is to censor your self, that is one thing you would possibly wish to rethink that.

I’m an enormous believer in displaying up as your full self in all areas, however relying on what these areas seem like, you might not have the ability to do this at first. It’s a matter of testing the waters, doing what makes you are feeling comfy, and increasing that with time.

Q: One factor that many creators wrestle with is consistency. Given that you simply publish fairly constantly on prime of working #CreatorTeaTalk bi-weekly, what does your inventive course of seem like?

I am a marketer, so my mind is skilled to assume strategically, which is lucky as a result of I can mix that with creativity. For instance, with #CreatorTeaTalk, episodes are primarily based on cultural conversations mixed with evergreen subjects creators already talk about.

Primarily, I’m all the time looking for fascinating, well timed conversations and pairing that with related subjects that can interact my viewers. I all the time need creators, influencers, and types to really get the perception that they want from the conversations.

Q: How do you discover or are you engaged on discovering a stability between the have to be on social media on a regular basis as a marketer and creator and being current in your private life?

Setting boundaries for myself has been nice for stability. Sarcastically, my new boundaries have been an enormous cause for my profession change as a result of I really stopped being a full-time social media marketer in 2021. I ended doing social media advertising and marketing for a lot of causes however considered one of them was that I used to be spending method an excessive amount of time on social media. I nonetheless do advertising and marketing full-time however stepping again from the social media facet means my time spent on it’s now not as aggressive.

I now take naps through the day, which helps me refresh and disconnect. I’m additionally extra intentional about conserving my cellphone away whereas I sleep so I’m not checking it continuously (it used to sleep beneath my pillow with me).

One of many issues I’ve carried out lately is flip off Story replies on my Instagram as a result of my mates and my neighborhood will reply to my tales all day lengthy. And since I wish to interact, I’ll reply to each single one however that’s not sustainable.

Q: As somebody very in tune with social media and creators, what are some traits and developments you’ve got seen that you simply assume social media creators needs to be taking note of?

Much less of a development and extra of a prediction, I believe we’ll see many extra creators establishing their very own private manufacturers, which could take away the deal with influencers.

Shoppers aren’t essentially attempting to be influenced anymore – I believe they wish to see what creators are engaged on. Some folks would possibly turn into influencers, however merely creating on social media will assist creators acquire an viewers and alternatives. We would additionally see extra creators constructing companies out of or associated to what they create on social media.

We’ll additionally see extra folks establishing properties throughout completely different channels. For instance, how I began on Instagram and Twitter however have navigated over to LinkedIn, the place I now have a present. In flip, extra creators will evolve to create property off digital platforms like books or TV sequence.

Q: You are not like a standard content material creator, however you hit lots of the markers – plenty of followers, plenty of engagement, and a really engaged neighborhood. So what challenges have you ever confronted in your individual distinctive expertise as a creator thus far?

Being a non-traditional content material creator is definitely one of many more difficult issues for me. I get invited to influencer and creator occasions which is nice, however when it’s time to community, I can’t determine the field I match into. Totally different folks understand my on-line presence in several methods.

One other problem is that I’m continuously educating manufacturers that wish to work with me that once they attain out to collaborate, they’re not simply getting content material from me. They’re getting years of information, expertise, and entry to my technique muscle.

Q: What recommendation would you give to creators trying to monetize their social media presence and construct neighborhood with different creators, manufacturers, and their viewers?

One, determine the place your strengths lie as a result of that can assist you to find out what you’ll be able to and can’t monetize. Two, know your distinctive promoting proposition – what makes you stand out from different creators. Three, determine one thing that doesn’t really feel like work to you so you are feeling good doing it constantly. And 4, assume past the normal concepts of monetization.

You might have a model pay you to submit about them or whitelist your content material. However if you wish to method content material creation like a enterprise proprietor, decide what negotiations you’ll be able to construct from a model partnership. Possibly that appears like being paid to go to an occasion after which make content material about it. Or sharing your newest undertaking or product with my e mail listing. It is simply determining what is sensible for you and the partnership that you simply’re in.

Takeaways

Listed here are the highest three takeaways from Jayde’s journey as a creator:

• Present up authentically on-line with out worry: Jayde is an enormous believer that you must do what feels pure to you hand in hand with stepping out of your consolation zone. Don’t censor your self to slot in someplace – if you must, perhaps that house is not meant for you. And for those who don’t really feel comfy leaping in headfirst along with your full persona on show, take your time to check the waters. You possibly can all the time increase your authenticity with time.
• Assume past conventional concepts for what will be monetized: Content material monetization is now not the purview of manufacturers – creators can take the ability for themselves. Should you get your first model deal and their funds isn’t fairly what you’re searching for, devise methods to upsell in different areas. Higher but, seize the technique of creation for your self and create a monetization technique unbiased of different folks’s (or manufacturers’) cash. Whether or not that’s a publication folks pay to subscribe to, or
• Occasions are altering – deal with constructing an viewers out of what you care about and your viewers will discover you: It’s like Jayde stated – influencers are making method for passionate creators. Folks need extra out of their on-line consumption than simply senseless scrolling and that’s the place the brand new era of on-line creators is available in: the Educators. Creator-educator is a time period coined by Jay Clouse to explain the individuals who use content material to share their data, and it’s the way forward for content material creation. Contemplate what distinctive experience you will have, be it making a particular sort of cookie or an encyclopedic data of bands from the ‘80s. No matter it’s, there’s doubtless an viewers on the market, able to hear.

No matter you land upon as your distinctive content material providing, share it by way of Buffer, the all-in-one toolkit for content material creation.