An introvert’s content marketing strategy in 2023

[00:00:00] Misbah: So about seven years ago, I started paying attention to what makes content creators successful and what are the personality traits that they have. And thankfully, I’ve gotten to kind of be around one and work in a startup fashion for several years with a few of these creators. And so it’s given me a lot of context as to how they lean into their personality types.

It’s like if you’re an extrovert, you have an advantage when it comes to making videos and. Maybe speaking publicly, one of the things I wanted to do is focus on content strategy for introverts. And the reason that I’m doing this is because I myself identify as an introvert. I know that I’ve done certain things like podcasting or making YouTube videos even that make me seem like I’m an extrovert.

But really at my core, I’m an introvert. So one of the things I wanted to do, because I do think that the content strategy has to be different than it is for people who are even slightly more. Extroverted because they can just produce a lot more volume in a lot of different platforms. And so we really have to think about, okay, where is it most advantageous for us to create?

Because I’ll be honest with you, I had to prepare. For this video, I really wanted to not look like shit, right? So I trimmed my nails, touched up my beard a little bit, put some chapstick on. But you gotta think about some of these things versus if you’re an extrovert, you record and you have this like vlog feel.

That’s just fun to watch. And we all have that friend who would be really fun to watch, maybe in those formats. But as introverts, it can feel sometimes like. There’s not really many content platforms that are advantageous to me, but I would disagree, and I wanted to point out what I personally would think is the most effective way to spend your time as an introvert, whether you’re a business owner or solo.

Preneur or a content creator, whatever, you need to kind of prioritize your time when it comes to content creation. So the point is you basically want something that there’s not a lot of barriers to entry for you mentally to get up and do. And I think writing. Is one of those things for me personally that I really enjoy, I think a lot of other introverts do as well.

You don’t have to be on camera for that. You can do it on your own time. You can really kind of be in your head a little bit. But the next one is podcasting. The reason I think that introverts make great podcasters is because of the curiosity and the. Desire to connect one-on-one and to listen, and if you have a desire to understand with whoever you’re talking to and whatever you’re talking about, there’s just this magic in terms of what you can pull out of some people in that one-on-one format.

So I realize in groups I maybe not. The best, but in a one-on-one format in a podcast with some people. I’ve really gotten to connect, I feel like in a really cool way. Podcasts are probably the best place to spend your time as an introvert is because you can breathe life. Into your writing. So if you have blog posts that you really enjoy, or Instagram posts where you micro blog or whatever tweets that you really like to do, you can basically bring that word for word if you wanted, or just the main ideas into an audio format.

Now all of a sudden, you’re on Apple, you’re on Spotify, and you’re on something that’s actually building up a catalog with content that you already enjoy making. So it’s almost like you’re writing for your own show. That’s just on a podcast. What I would say in the beginning especially is do not add video if you are an introvert, because you are gonna feel too much pressure to even record.

If that is something you have to think about, you can definitely add video down the line and get yourself on YouTube. That’s something I highly recommend, but to just get yourself started to get the momentum going. There’s something beautiful about audio only. Podcasts and then also you can double it up by basically transcribing whatever podcast you have and some of the ideas you’re talking about.

And depending on how fleshed out that idea is, you either re-edit, rewrite, and have something to go off of. When you are publishing a blog post or a caption for an Instagram post or a tweet or something, an idea that even you wanna make into a video, I think that extra round of practice with getting to podcast about it before you jump on video and talk about it, is huge for introverts.

It gives us kind of this sense of maybe preparation or a dry run or practice run of some sort, so you can easily get bullet points. Once you talk something out nowadays, and so I would recommend podcasting being the place where things start, your ideas start, and then usually you now have a first draft.

And so if you’re a writer, you know how hard that is to even come up with like a first draft is the hardest thing. So instead of staring at a blank page, you’ve got something, you talked out and you’re like, oh yeah. That was pretty good. What I said, it looks me pretty damn good on paper. Let me just cut this part out, that part out and you have a sound bite.

Now, to go off of another thing, I will say that if you do want to get involved with video, let’s say short form video and things of that nature, one way that I would recommend doing this or even long form video, right, but short form, I say to start just because it’s a little. Easier to dive into and maybe you wanna play that Instagram game just like everybody else.

I know that I do. So one thing you could do with your audio only sound bite, that’s 15 or 30 seconds. If you put it into Descript, for example, it’s a software you now can layer on top of that. Any video that you take with your phone, right? And it doesn’t have to be of your face like selfie style. It totally can be of things that you are, my keyboard, my mouse, this golf ball, just like things that are related to.

That 15 seconds, that’s all you have to create clips for. Maybe it’s one clip, maybe it’s five clips, but now you have something where you can get into the video game without showing your face and using your voice. I have talked to even several extroverts where they just feel like podcasting gives them the sense of like being able to show up in your pajamas, being able to.

Be a little bit more free than you would be if you’re on video, because no matter who you are, we have this sense, this subconscious sense of like, oh, I’m being filmed, I’m being observed. And it takes time to kind of shed that. And even then, you’re still aware of it to some degree, versus when I talk into a microphone, it just feels a little bit more intimate, similar to me, you being kind of over my shoulder while I’m kind of writing things down in my notebook.

For example. So there’s something about it that I think it gives an introvert a huge advantage to being able to do solo episodes right? And being able to control and strategize kind of those concepts. But then also being able to do guest episodes with extroverts who will carry the conversation for you.

They will create more content and more sound bites. And more ideas for you because you are giving them the opportunity to do, you’re asking them the question, you’re setting them up, you are giving them the platform to do that. For example, on Spotify, there’s almost this album or show like feel that a podcast has, that’s.

It’s almost encouraged for you to be like, look, this is what I’m doing. This is what I wanna talk about and how I want to do it. Versus just being like, oh, this is the key word that I’m gonna discuss for today, and title it that way just because I heard that’s what you’re supposed to do. I know some of my friends who are extroverts, like they really might enjoy the idea of 3 million followers on Instagram and the millions on YouTube, and I would too, right?

But there’s something about it where it would be cool to have less but quality and kind of be a little under the radar. I don’t know if all introverts feel that way, but I know me. I don’t want to attract too much attention. And podcasting is the kind of thing where your friends and family, they don’t, they’re not gonna hear about it.

Nobody’s gonna find it or hear it that doesn’t really want to listen to it. Like YouTube, it can be served to you on a homepage and you could leave a bad comment, whatever. But podcasts, you really have to seek it out. And if you are listening, like I have tons of other stories on how it attracts the highest quality consumers in terms of content.

That’s just something to keep in mind as you are considering, Hey, I only have one hour to create content today, or maybe even for the next couple of days. Where do I spend my time? I think getting yourself a nice microphone, figuring out. Workflow where you can record, edit, publish is great because especially if you do solo, you can publish up to three times per week and get yourself to a hundred, 200 episodes.

And nowadays it’s not really about just having this guest interview format, which I know for me, I really enjoy connecting with people and doing it in doses that way I remember doing like, Three to five interviews in a week sometimes, and I just felt kind of burnout from it. And so I think like one to two per week is pretty good for me.

But I also like the idea of being able to control it a little more by being able to do a solo episode. Yes, it’s a little bit harder maybe to be entertaining or. To record even, or it’s not as popular at first, but again, long term I found it to attract quality people where to me, it’s still worth it.

There’s also this call to action thing that I find with podcasting that’s super like unmatched in terms of people going over to your website or going over to a landing page for an email list or whatever you’ve got going on. People take action who, who listen to podcasts, so it’s a good place. To be there.

And nowadays with editing software, you can cut out your ums and uhs. You can shorten word gaps. If you talk slow, there are things that you can lean into and really let your curiosity shine as an introvert, the stuff you think about in your head, basically. Being able to put it out there in a way that supports your content strategy.

So if you have any questions, make sure to drop a comment. I appreciate you hanging out. Make sure to like this video and subscribe. Check out all the links in the description below to check out more stuff. I appreciate you hanging out and I will see you next time.