19 — Content Creation for Creation Business
“Instagram or it didn’t happen.”
I like that phrase. It’s bitchy, pithy, obnoxious and when it comes to business, true. Scroll past if you do not make a living through photography. For those of us who feed our families with our work, it’s incumbent upon us to suit up and play ball.
Resentment
One of the biggest hindrances to fulfillment and success in creative business is resentment. If you’re unsatisfied or failing to bring in dollars, consider the extent to which resentment plays a role. Running a business in 2023 means being a content creator for your business, or paying one. Content is synonymous with marketing; content invites the viewer into your world. Resenting the process of bringing an audience to your work is entitled; shed it for a happier and wealthier creative business.
Utility
When my IG post went viral last year, I googled “what to do when your post goes viral.” What were some options? One of them was to sell a digital product at a discounted rate, but mine wasn’t ready and I refused to force it. Another suggestion was to do a Q&A, welcoming new faces. That was a fantastic idea. It was an idea full of utility. I love posts and lists which have genuine practical application. That Q&A ended up being some of my best writing on creative practice to date.
Express Yourself
The mindset required for content creation is the same one for creative business: refuse to whine*, customize, individualize, work much harder than you think you’ll have to at the onset, enjoy, and express yourself. Here are a few other ways to think of content creation other than low-vibration grunt work. If you’re gritting your teeth and baring it through content creation, consider the fact (fact) that your audience can feel it. Duplicity (inside I feel this but outside I present this) is what makes people hate Instagram. Express yourself.
Mindset Shift
Content Creation can also be thought of as:
A personal journal
Love letters to your audience
A catalog that documents your process in chronological order
An ode to something that you want memorialized
A gift for the viewer to rest, escape, relate, relax, be encouraged
A gallery that people walk into and experience
An announcement or PSA you think the world needs to hear
Supplies List
Phone tripod with overhead capability
Ring light/studio light
Surfaces to photograph objects and products on: large black or white pasteboard, faux wood square, fabric
Applicable apps — my favorites: Vixer, Unfold, 8mm, Captions
Grit
Action List
View Reels actively: save music, examples and templates you love
Create a folder named Product Photography on your desktop and create stock images for your business
Save images you view others posting as examples to emulate
Video record everything (everything)
Content Creation Ideas
Time lapse of you at work
Time lapse of your desk
Overhead ASMR of your hands working
Audio interview over images (images can pan)
Creative origin story
How to / How I do something
Unboxing a product
Personal memory (trip, milestone, etc)
Creative process start to finish
Types of Viewer Response
How do you want your viewer to feel? What do you want them to do? As a viewer, being informed or educated is boring. Anyone can do that. Being charmed or inspired is better. Creating content which is relatable enough for the viewer to share is a good aim. Content which invites them toward deeper devotion to their craft is also good (by example, not through sermonizing or lecturing — beware of lecturing). Content is works about your work. Show them what you love. There is nothing more entertaining and enlivening than being in the presence of someone enraptured by their personal passion.
Copy and Be Completely Unique
Utilize template thinking to design content. When viewing the content of others, examine what template they used. In this sense, you are copying their form, but not their content. View this reel as an example. It uses three scenes. Scene 1: video of photographer making an image. Scene 2: Still of the photograph. Scene 3: The photograph framed and hung in a space. Voila! Content. Copy templates you see and combine them to make new forms.
The Goal of Content
During OPEN HOURS members tell me wonderful stories. How the photograph of their grandparents is the genesis of their work. How their studio is a part of revitalizing their town’s Main Street. “That would make a great content piece,” I say. The stories we tell are indicators of what we find important. Listen to the words you speak and take notes. Shed the idea that making money and cultivating and audience is gross; develop your money story. Content is by design a revelation of one’s self. Show yourself to the world and it will do the same back.
*On whining vs. complaining. Complaining = I’m working hard and want to bitch about it in good company. Whining = I have failed to work hard and want to be pitied and soothed.
Images by Mark Cohen