Back around 2010 or so - everyone said "Content is King" - to rank on Google, to be found - and for people to join your community and BUY - you needed to crank out content! 

Then a shift came around 2016/2017 where you could successfully run an online business leveraging paid advertising (particularly with Facebook ads).

Now in 2021 we're seeing a swing back to the Content Creation is Queen movement - and there are a couple of reasons for this.

1. Paid ads are ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE in terms of costs. Those who built their businesses by running ads to sell (which I've done myself!) found that advertising costs started to exceed revenue costs. This was further compounded earlier this year when the Apple iOS gave people the option to opt-out of targeted advertising.

I kept my ad preferences "on" because I wanted to see what was going on.

What I saw was that every few posts on my FB feed I was seeing ads.

This has FAST turned me away from Facebook even as a casual user - if I wanted to be shown non-stop ads I'd watch the shopping channels!

Some who have built 7-figure businesses using ads are continuing to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at ads... and it's not working.

Ever heard that phrase "when the tide goes out, you'll see who's not wearing pants"?

We're reaching that moment and there are going to be a LOT of people desperately trying to hang on to their modesty!

2. For longevity and SHOWING that you really DO know your shit - there's really no better way than doing this via blogging or vlogging.

Anyone can caption a meme. Post a photo of a vase of flowers. Voice an opinion upon an 'accepted trend'.

But when it comes to displaying VISIONARY LEADERSHIP? We're seeing people caught without their pants on! 

Because whilst you can follow a formula and/or use templates (I do for IG for example - haven't got an arty bone in my body! ) - you can't fake writing.

You can't fake being able to put across your thoughts either verbally with video or by the medium of writing.

... and NO... a 20 second sound-byte on TikTok/Stories/Flavour of the Month is NOT the same as truly showing up and giving content.

My audience tends to be an older demographic - 45 plus generally (sorry ladies... we really ARE getting that old! ). We were brought up with books and documentaries and so I believe - have longer attention spans and prefer to take information in, weigh it up and pass judgement.

Many modern Social Media platforms are designed to be addictive so you'll continue with the Endless Scroll of Doom [tm] - which isn't beneficial for your mental health or growing your business! 

Plus, who the hell wants to tot up all the hours/days/weeks spent idly scrolling through Social Media?

For me and my audience - we were around LONG before the advent of SM - and whilst we use it - and run our businesses ONLINE - we're not getting sucked into the endless scroll. 

CONTENT CREATION IS QUEEN

A few years ago you had a choice to grow your audience and your business either FAST (with ads) - or slower (Organic Content Creation).

Now - unless you can afford to throw more money at ads than you are going to get back then you really need to look at creating evergreen content which will have a long-term organic impact on your website/business.

Evergreen means that it's going to stay there on the platform. Be it a blog which stays on your website or a video which will remain on YouTube - both of which will be indexed with Google and whilst you likely won't be 'front page', there will be a cumulative effect - and the more visitors you get with a low bounce-rate (how long they stay on the page before leaving), the higher you're going to rank on Google and so it's self-perpetuating.

SM content disappears into the ether in a matter of minutes.

So if you're in this online business game because you GENUINELY see it as your future - then you need to get on with creating some content.

CHOOSE TO BE A LEADER, not a follower!