What's the greatest lesson you've learned as a content creator?

Ford James · 2024-06-07T10:27:57.543Z

Creating content is very much a trial and error task until you learn what works for your audience, personality, and niche. The online landscape is constantly changing too, so what worked a few years ago may not return the same results today. Few people have it completely sussed. Whether you're in the early days of your journey or you're a seasoned pro, tell us about the greatest lesson you've learned in any aspect of content creation? Up to 15 of the most detailed and thoughtful learnings can win $2 each....

Gaypengwing 6/7/2024, 5:46:24 PM

ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR CONTENT AND DON’T CUT CORNERS WHEN EXPORTING

Horror and Cats 6/8/2024, 8:05:05 AM

Gaypengwing

I just realized your profile image is a Jill Valentine cosplay. Excellent.

Gaypengwing 6/8/2024, 1:12:44 PM

Horror and Cats

Thank you! 🥰

Horror and Cats 6/7/2024, 10:25:59 PM

No matter how thorough, factual, or completely innocuous a video is, when you get over a certain level of views, SOMEONE is going to try to hurt your feelings in the comments.

They are really bad at it, and easy to ignore, but I’ve found at roughly 1,200 views of long form content, someone is going to tell you that there’s cat hair on your shirt, your lighting is bad, the gamma on your gameplay is too high, or just some racist/bigoted wild stuff which is totally unsolicited.

Popularity/success makes you a target, no matter what you do, so you had better have thick skin.

greybill 6/12/2024, 6:40:31 PM

Horror and Cats

Your not famous on the internet until someone hates you for no reason.

Some dude on Twitter.

Horror and Cats 6/11/2024, 9:08:49 PM

greybill

Exactly lol

FUN INC 6/13/2024, 8:13:41 AM

greybill

Hey Mom...I think I made it! :D

avrona 6/9/2024, 1:22:18 PM

Asking for advice online is often a lost cause and will often boil down to just hitting your head against the wall. After almost 11 years now, looking everywhere I can for any advice about why my channel is still so relatively small after so long, it's clear that the way advice is dealt online regarding content creation really needs to change. Because a lot of those people either don't want to help or don't know how to help. Channels are often too unique in very specific situations, and no one, apart from yourself, knows the full extent of the situation the channel is in. And people, when they fail to find an obvious solution, can quickly get annoyed. I lost count of the amount of subreddits, Discord servers, etc. I was banned from by mods on a power-trip because they refuse to dig any deeper to find the true reasons why my channel might be struggling with growth. So do yourself a favour and lower your expectations when it comes to finding meaningful support online, as it usually doesn't exist. And don't get me started on all the fake growth gurus trying to take advantage of ambitious smaller creators with paid services.

This one comment I saw under a video made about me sums it up really well:

The thing is, usually you ask people for advice when you've exhausted your options. When you do ask for advice, there is a high chance that you'll get advice you've already tried. if the person giving advice fails to find a solution to the problem, they get frustrated. When that happens, they either disengage and avoid you or attack your character. The more often that happens to you with different people, the less patience you have for insults or attacks.

Sturmer 6/9/2024, 1:48:07 PM

Always perform Ctrl+A (select all) and Ctrl+C(copy) before submitting anything to the internet, be it a post for a social network or a video description. I have had so many times when I lost data due to technical issues.

Ideally, you should craft your text content in Google Docs or something similar with automatic save.

Toretto 70 6/9/2024, 5:37:15 PM

First time I started to be a content creator is nervous, bacause I was introvert person before and never socialize. Finally I dared to try new things and slowly I became a humble person and like make friend with people from various countries. The lesson I learned is " You won't be able to became whatever you want if you don't start from now"

BeyondBelief 6/10/2024, 11:39:47 AM

Have fun and be yourself.
Don't get caught up in the numbers.
Growth doesn't happen overnight.
Create short-form content and post in as many places as you can.
Find your niche.
Diverify your content.
Backup your content.

CelestialFlea 6/10/2024, 12:42:21 PM

Honestly, I've learned a lot of lessons but I think the most important one I've learned; is that there's a time and place for scripted content and it's something I just can't do without sounding like a borg drone.

Viewers prefer a more natural tone and unless you're REALLY good, it'll be obvious when something is scripted. By all means plan your content, have some basic bullet points that you want to cover for some reference.

Having ADHD I struggle sometimes to put my thoughts into words and having to multitask with a complex game. So I find recording voice overs afterwards is really helpful as it lets me focus on one task and think about what I might say afterwards. Granted it's not always entertaining, but it does help with consistency.

LegendaryJL 6/11/2024, 4:20:53 PM

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from being a creator it has to be not feel jealous of everyone else's success and stay in your own lane.

I've watched many creator friends play the same game to be on the trends knowing that they don't really enjoy it deep inside them. This is one of the magical things about content creation is that you can make a name for yourself playing any kind of game as a content creator/streamer.

You have to trust the process in this and enjoy the journey, I'd like to pass this advise onto anyone that hopefully can have a similarity from this.

greybill 6/11/2024, 9:08:16 PM

The Curse of Aspiration

Dilemma: Publish a piece of work in an imperfect state or nothing at all.

Have the draft sitting there. Complete, but not. Something is missing. It’s the feeling that it’s truly done. Have you spent enough time on it? Is it good enough?

Quality over quantity.

I try to live by that. I would always prefer to make one truly good thing instead of a lot of mediocre ones. Problem is there is limited time. Getting truly good at anything requires time. And practice of course. Lots of it, which leads back to the time problem.

Knowledge adds another layer.

The more you know about something the more you worry about it. The details of which you know exist are becoming a problem just because you know they are there. You could do something with them, couldn’t you?

Example: Someone who never made a movie before and never read a thing about film theory. He will not think about details such as camera perspective or colors. He will not think much about lighting or costumes. Nor the background, music, or frames per second.
He has just the idea, does it, and is done with it.

But the more you know about what you could do, the more you start to think about if you should. If you don’t stop yourself, you can get dragged down by the simple sum of possibilities and get done nothing at all.

It’s a curse and a blessing at once. Because the more you learn, the more you see the details and hidden gems in works of art. You see all the slight nuances that make a thing beautiful. Eventually, you want your own work to have these. The aspiration to create something unique. It has set in.

So… How do you finish the thing you just worked on? Despite it surely not being perfect.

How do you make the draft a done thing? You could stop worrying about the fact if it’s perfect. If it’s complete even. You could define the goal of the piece new:
Was the goal to create something perfect from the start? Isn’t that too ambitious all along? Doomed to fail. Does not everything has some flaw to it? Some typo, some hairline, some wrong color in frame 25? Hell, nature makes mistakes too. On purpose even.

Isn’t that little imperfection the thing that makes it unipue?

L

Laser-Bicep 6/12/2024, 10:05:14 AM

You may care about your craft and you are entitled to present it the way you wish but there are definite rules and principles you can follow in the following areas that may increase your audience if that is what you want.

For example with music

The presentation of your video matters as much as the music you are creating. People are used to HD , they are used to good camera shots and decent editing. You have to invest in a decent camera and audio. Learn the video editing software

Length, which platform you present your music on will have success in the way you present it. for example shorter form of your content is preferable on Instagram or thread or people will probably just wipe right past it as they may be already swiping. You may introduce more length on a youtube based platform.

Audience engagement and growth. Respond and reach out to your audience and other creators. Repost something of another creator and they may do the same for you. Comment back to people who comment on your videos.

those are just a few tips

FUN INC 6/13/2024, 8:18:50 AM

Here are 5 things that I think are really important.

Consistency of approach - try to stream at the same time, run your content (I FC on set days for EVE online) and have the same regime when cretaing
Get a routine - this helps take stressors away
Do you & be yourself - being a chameleon works for some people - but it is exhausting flip flopping - so dont do it - just be yourself - you have to be comfortable in your own skin.
Always have a plan - stick to it!
Grow & embrace criticism - people are going to criticise. Let them. But read that criticism and look to improve. If it is not fair / inaccurately levelled criticism, park it and move on.

EveOnlineTutorials 6/13/2024, 7:22:40 PM

I learned some very harsh lessons, very early

Keep your mouth shut with things that don't concern you
Don't use your platform to take sides in arguments
Don't assume you are the best "creator" in a category
Make content that you feel represents you and don't follow others
Don't let comments affect you
Do not get into arguments on your video comments or even respond to trolls

I learned a lot of these things very slowly and suffered from it. I would be twice the size I am now YouTube-wise if I had been less pig-headed and heeded the warnings of others.

Just a few things I learned along the way, sometimes you just have to hope you matured enough to fix the damage you caused.

Lanah Tyra 6/13/2024, 8:25:02 PM

At the end of the day, you can only count on yourself.

It's fine to have creator friends, or prominent members of your community who feel like you've known for ages. Or even to ask real life family and friends to support your content. But never take it for granted, and don't assume that these people will stand by your side always.

Many times did I find myself without any support, people who were still there the day before have suddenly disappeared, because it was not easy times, or not a moment where I would give something. It was times where for a change I needed something, and no matter how small it was, how easy it would have been for someone to help even just by landing an ear or sharing a video... they all disappeared.

There are a handful of people who I know I can count on, but even then I don't really ask for any kind of help anymore, because those few will help without asking.

So for your own sanity, best to approach everything with the thought of having to deal with it alone, and if someone does jump in to help you on the way, it will feel nice and make it a lot easier to see who are those around you who truly care.

Limal 6/14/2024, 11:02:05 PM

always create a value for yuor audience

When the audience knows that your content will help, entertain or inspire them, they are more likely to stay engaged and loyal. By focusing on what my audience needed and valued, I was able to create a more meaningful and impactful connection with them.

However, I must add that my streaming is currently very limited, as I now dedicate most of my free time to my family.

L

Lynicx 6/15/2024, 11:18:31 AM

I learnt to be myself and have fun doing it

this is the most important thing because people like you for you not an act yo put on in front of a camera this is also very mentally exhausting to do and eventually burns you out to be a content creator you need to have fun as well if you don't like what your doing then you are less likely to do it.

Makster 6/16/2024, 4:22:26 PM

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8SFpLGPSO0

I am a big fan of streaks

TheGreatestBanana12 6/16/2024, 10:28:53 PM

Some things that I learned was everyone has their own journey and that you shouldn't compare yourself to others, so be yourself don't be someone else. another thing I learned which eventually help was that to try not focus on viewership numbers as that can lead to negative feelings and that can then also show in your content if you let it get to you to much which in turn could make viewers not watch you. It is important to just be yourself and have fun.

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