Jayde Powell on Displaying 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 high 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 focus on 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 components of my work that I like essentially the most. I would not say I used to be significantly impressed, I’ve simply at all times consumed and created content material. It is simply how we type of outline it at the moment 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 special 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 at all times a part of the work – copywriting, images, throwing photographs and textual content collectively to make it look good.

Over time, as Instagram grew to become very fashionable, 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 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 every thing 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 cellphone, Descript for transcribing audio and including captions, and ezgif, which is nice for shortly creating and sharing GIFs. I exploit 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 purpose 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 purpose is to discover my metropolis, Atlanta, and construct group there. Lastly, I am very massive on saying no to issues in order that I do not grow to be careworn. So prioritizing pleasure is my fundamental focus it doesn’t matter what I am doing.

Q: Do you’ve got favorites among the many completely different social media platforms?

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

For instance, LinkedIn is an area the place I really feel like I’m actively difficult individuals 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 individuals to know what they get in the event that they work with me. Then there’s Instagram which permits me to be a little bit 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 comparable platforms like Clubhouse or Twitter Areas?

That’s the humorous factor – once I had the thought for #CreatorTeaTalk, it was purported 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 concept 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-about 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 trade. And these individuals 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 feel if it is a area the place individuals 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 will have a really distinct voice that feels true to you. What recommendation would you give creators who could also be nervous 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 exterior 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 just publish fairly persistently on high of working #CreatorTeaTalk bi-weekly, what does your inventive 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 matters creators already focus on.

Primarily, I’m at all times searching for attention-grabbing, well timed conversations and pairing that with related matters that may interact my viewers. I at all times 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 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. Paradoxically, my new boundaries have been an enormous motive 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 one in every 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 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 preserving my cellphone away whereas I sleep so I’m not checking it continually (it used to sleep below 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 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 tendencies and developments you’ve got observed that you just suppose social media creators must be being attentive to?

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

Shoppers aren’t essentially making an attempt to be influenced anymore – I feel they wish to see what creators are engaged on. Some individuals would possibly grow to be 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 individuals 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 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 to this point?

Being a non-traditional content material creator is definitely one of many tougher 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. Totally different individuals understand my on-line presence in several methods.

One other problem is that I’m continually educating manufacturers that wish to work with me that after 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 seeking 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 may assist you to to find out what you may 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 persistently. And 4, suppose past the normal concepts of monetization.

You will have a model pay you to put up about them or whitelist your content material. However if you wish to method content material creation like a enterprise proprietor, decide what negotiations you may 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 undertaking or product with my e mail checklist. It is simply determining what is sensible for you and the partnership that you just’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 need to, possibly that area is not meant for you. And should you don’t really feel comfy leaping in headfirst along with your full character on show, take your time to check the waters. You may at all times develop your authenticity with time.
• Assume past conventional concepts for what may be monetized: Content material monetization is not the purview of manufacturers – creators can take the ability for themselves. For those who get your first model deal and their price range 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 impartial of different individuals’s (or manufacturers’) cash. Whether or not that’s a e-newsletter individuals pay to subscribe to, or
• Occasions are altering – concentrate on constructing an viewers out of what you care about and your viewers will discover you: It’s like Jayde mentioned – influencers are making method 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’ve got, be it making a particular kind of cookie or an encyclopedic information of bands from the ‘80s. Whatever it is, there’s doubtless an viewers on the market, able to pay attention.

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