Jayde Powell on Exhibiting Up Authentically

Welcome to the primary installment of our new sequence, 🔓 Creators Unlocked, the place we converse with creators to grasp 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 high of her content material sequence, she usually publishes culture-forward advertising content material to her mixed viewers of 35,000+ followers.

On this interview, we focus on all issues content material creation – from favourite platforms to her recommendation for creators on exhibiting 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 start out creating content material on social media?

Content material creation was a byproduct of my work after which it turned the elements of my work that I really like essentially the most. I would not say I used to be notably impressed, I’ve simply at all times consumed and created content material. It is simply how we sort of outline it at this time that has modified.

I began my profession in social media in 2013, across the time when social media entrepreneurs had 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 had been working with. And content material creation was at all times a part of the work – copywriting, images, throwing pictures and textual content collectively to make it look good.

Over time, as Instagram turned very talked-about, I used to be a part of the early customers creating life-style content material for the platform. Then I shifted focus to Twitter, the place I used to be doing extra advertising 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 really like Canva – I do the whole lot with it. Why get specialised coaching to make use of Adobe Photoshop when there’s a simple instrument proper there?

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

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

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

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

Q: Do you have got favorites among the many totally different social media platforms?

My favourite platform relies on my headspace. Generally I am very Twitter-focused; different instances, I am very Instagram-focused. It simply relies on the place I’m mentally and creatively. However I discover that sure features 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 at all times need folks to know what they get in the event that they work with me. Then there’s Instagram which permits me to be just a little extra artistic. And I really 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 comparable platforms like Clubhouse or Twitter Areas?

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

We additionally thought of Clubhouse and even TikTok Dwell, 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 persons 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 grow to be like networking alternatives and potential paid alternatives down the road.

Q: You’ve a really distinct voice that feels true to you. What recommendation would you give creators who could also be fearful about exhibiting up authentically on-line?

It’s a must 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 may need to rethink that.

I’m a giant believer in exhibiting up as your full self in all areas, however relying on what these areas seem like, it’s possible you’ll not be capable to do this to start with. It’s a matter of testing the waters, doing what makes you’re feeling comfy, and increasing that with time.

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

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

Primarily, I’m at all times searching for attention-grabbing, well timed conversations and pairing that with related subjects that can interact my viewers. I at all times need creators, influencers, and types to truly get the perception that they want from the conversations.

Q: How do you discover or are you engaged on discovering a steadiness 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 steadiness. Sarcastically, my new boundaries had been a giant purpose for my profession change as a result of I truly stopped being a full-time social media marketer in 2021. I finished doing social media advertising for a lot of causes however one among them was that I used to be spending approach an excessive amount of time on social media. I nonetheless do advertising full-time however stepping again from the social media facet means my time spent on it’s not as aggressive.

I now take naps in the course of the day, which helps me refresh and disconnect. I’m additionally extra intentional about protecting my telephone away whereas I sleep so I’m not checking it continually (it used to sleep beneath my pillow with me).

One of many issues I’ve performed not too long ago is flip off Story replies on my Instagram as a result of my pals and my group will reply to my tales all day lengthy. And since I need 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 have seen that you simply suppose social media creators ought to be being attentive to?

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 give attention to influencers.

Shoppers aren’t essentially attempting to be influenced anymore – I believe they need to see what creators are engaged on. Some folks may grow to be influencers, however merely creating on social media will assist creators achieve 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 totally 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 belongings off digital platforms like books or TV sequence.

Q: You are not like a standard content material creator, however you hit most of the markers – numerous followers, numerous engagement, and a really engaged group. So what challenges have you ever confronted in your personal distinctive expertise as a creator up to now?

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 work out the field I match into. Completely different folks understand my on-line presence in numerous methods.

One other problem is that I’m continually educating manufacturers that need 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 data, expertise, and entry to my technique muscle.

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

One, work out the place your strengths lie as a result of that can enable you to find out what you possibly can and can’t monetize. Two, know your distinctive promoting proposition – what makes you stand out from different creators. Three, establish one thing that doesn’t really feel like work to you so you’re feeling good doing it persistently. And 4, suppose past the standard concepts of monetization.

You’ll have a model pay you to put up about them or whitelist your content material. However if you wish to strategy content material creation like a enterprise proprietor, decide what negotiations you possibly can construct from a model partnership. Perhaps that appears like being paid to go to an occasion after which make content material about it. Or sharing your newest mission or product with my electronic mail record. It is simply determining what is smart 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 a giant believer that it’s best to 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 it’s important to, possibly that house is not meant for you. And when you don’t really feel comfy leaping in headfirst along with your full character on show, take your time to check the waters. You possibly can at all times broaden your authenticity with time.
• Assume past conventional concepts for what might be monetized: Content material monetization is not the purview of manufacturers – creators can take the facility for themselves. Should you get your first model deal and their finances isn’t fairly what you’re on the lookout 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 – give attention to constructing an viewers out of what you care about and your viewers will discover you: It’s like Jayde stated – influencers are making approach for passionate creators. Individuals 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 information, and it’s the way forward for content material creation. Think about what distinctive experience you have got, be it making a particular sort of cookie or an encyclopedic information of bands from the ‘80s. No matter it’s, there’s seemingly 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.