Hi Jean,

This is a good point. Content creation is something I talk about a lot here in the IC, but I tend to do so more in a loose sense, rather than offering specific steps and instructions. I guess this is because it tends to vary so dramatically from artist to artist. But I'll see if I can't put something more concrete together.

But until then, these are my thoughts on creating non-commercial content...

Keep in mind that this is very flexible, and more an attempt to create a checklist for those who don't instinctively know what to do.

1. Try to keep an email schedule that consists of at least 3 non commercial pieces of content per 1 promotional piece of content. You may email more than once per piece of content though (I typically email only once for the non commercial content, with a follow up to those who didn't open, but I usually email 3 - 4 times on the promotional pieces.

2. As far as the subject matter of the content goes... once again, this comes back to the USP. What is your unique selling proposition? Once you know what that is, you can isolate passions, interests, activities, and accomplishments in your own life that pertain to that USP. Then you can share your experiences and insights on those topics with blog posts, videos, free music, and social posts. For example, if my USP is that I'm a "former major label recording artist who reemerged as a DIY alt country singer songwriter and indie music advocate" then I would just live my life with the goal of being a leader for others who are interested in these themes, and I would be making note of, and sharing relevant experiences and insights. Whether that is helping a local farmer who was sick, bale hay, or whether that was speaking at a music conference about independent music, or whether it was performing or recording a new song (all actual events in my recent life). Any and all of those things would be worthy of capturing in some digestible medium such as a blog post, video, or social post.

Typically, I share my content on my site and then share the link to that site with a few teaser sentences on social.

3. If you feel up to it, you can also fill out your social feeds with more regular content by finding smaller scope and shareable content. This could be a quote or news story that is relevant to our USP, or just a fun quick pic.

But again, there is a lot of flexibility here.

Hi Jean,

I've done many conferences over the years, mostly online, and mostly behind pay walls. However, I've been a guest on dozens of podcasts over the years and you shouldn't have too hard of a time finding those interviews if you just search my name in the podcast aggregators. 

I have the opposite experience when sharing 3rd party content. Normally it gets much more traction then my own. This is because when you share a story or URL that FB has already determined is popular, then the post that shares that URL starts off in a favorable position, algorithmicly speaking. But there are always exceptions and it has a lot to do with the source story. Perhaps your location could be a factor as well. But to my mind, it really doesn't matter. With this approach it is just about filling up the feed and staying engaged with the die hard fans. It's not essential.

Cheers. 

I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't read into the insights. You should. And you should strive to post the best content you can. I just don't see the same results you do, when it comes to my won track record and those of campaigns I've worked on. Sharing popular news stories tends to get higher than average engagement. But as I say, it depends on the source. But I was saying that in general, I would not worry about posting a few things that don't get massive engagement, if you are searching for ideas of what to post about.

However, it is always best to get the most engagement possible, and posting frequently is better than posting less frequently. So the best case scenario is posting whatever your audience responds to, as frequently as you can handle.

My suggestion was in response to the notion of it being difficult to come up with content to post and little more.

Yep, always trial an error. My pleasure and good luck with it.