The problem most entrepreneurs face while building a personal brand is trying to post content on every platform consistently while also avoiding burnout.
You're supposed to be "omnipresent", but there's so many freakin' platforms out there nowadays, how can you possibly show up on all of them?
Some people have tried to solve this by using "repurposing". Where you create ONE piece of content (like a podcast) and then slice it up and post pieces of it to every other platform.
The problem with this is that it's not true omnipresence. It's just uni-presence, but copy + pasted to other platforms.
Side note: if you're a podcaster and your singular goal is to grow your podcast, then this can work. Otherwise you just look like you're not trying.
So how do you create native content consistently, across multiple platforms, in a way that doesn't lead to burnout?
Native repurposing.
Instead of trying to post original content consistently on every platform (nearly impossible).
Or creating one piece of content and copying it 100 ways (feels low effort).
You create content occasionally on each platform and then crosspost it natively to the others.
Native repurposing means that when you crosspost, the content is tweaked and reimagined as necessary to feel native to each platform.
This way, my ideas become the basis for all my content, but they show up in different formats across all my channels.
This is V1 of my content operating system. The reason I’m calling it V1 is because I know it will evolve and improve over time.
As of writing this letter, I don’t currently have my own podcast, and I’m not producing long form YouTube videos. That will likely change in the future, and at that time I will update this system to show you how I’m weaving those into the system.
You also don’t have to build this all at once. When I started creating content consistently, it was just one platform. Then I added in another one. And another one. And slow started building out this entire system.
So don’t feel like you have to start with everything. Use this as a guideline, and start with what resonates with you. Then build over time.
Alright, let’s get into the step-by-step:
Before we get into the weeds, I have to stress the importance of good ideation.
Good content doesn’t come from fancy editing, nice video, or wearing funny clothes to grab peoples’ attention. Good content comes from good ideas.
Being a thought leader in today’s day and age is really simple:
The problem is most people do a lot of #2, and very little of #1.
Actually having interesting, unique, and original ideas is an art. It’s a skill that needs to be developed. It requires taking time to read, journal, meditate, and think. It requires… whaddya know… creative space.
If you’re constantly stuck in the weeds of day-to-day taskwork and never taking time to just be creative, don’t expect to be able to come up with great ideas on a regular basis.
So first and foremost, give yourself the time and space to be creative and come up with good ideas. That is the essential foundation if you want any of this to work.
Pro tip: if you struggle with getting into creative flow, I highly recommend using an app like Brain.fm to make it easier. In fact, I’m using it as I’m writing this letter right now.
Twitter (X) and Threads are not only great platforms for building your audience and networking with other people, but they’re really great for just spitting out unfiltered ideas and testing them with real people.
These platforms are like my journal. Whenever I have an interesting thought or idea, I just throw it on Twitter. See what it looks like here.
Sometimes I have a bunch of thoughts in one day. Some days nothing comes to me. But the more I get in the habit of sharing these thoughts, the more they come to me.
I use Hypefury to help me schedule out my tweets, so if I get a bunch of ideas all at once, I just plug them in there and it spreads them out throughout the day/week.
Another really great way to get ideas out of your head and into the world ****is with podcasts, interviews, and live streams.
I say yes to almost every podcast or interview request that comes in simply for this reason. For one, it doesn’t hurt to network with new people and reach new audiences, even if they’re small.
But in addition, the more I teach my frameworks and ideas, the better they become. I solidify my internal ideas by processing them externally.
Plus, I record every interview so that I can turn it into video content later (more on that in a minute).
If you don’t have people reaching out for podcast interviews yet, you can always have a friend, team member, or spouse ask you questions and record yourself giving your response.
Or go live on any social media platform and just share your ideas.
I write a weekly newsletter (hey, welcome) sharing some of my best thoughts, tips, and advice.
The nice thing about posting ideas on Twitter is that you get instant feedback on what people are resonating with and not.
Take your better ideas (or the ones that are getting the most reach and engagement) and turn them into longer-form threads and even a newsletter.
A newsletter is a great way to take just one simple idea and flesh it out into a full blown framework that someone else can use to get a result.
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📣 Everything above is the extent of where probably 90% of my content originates from. Everything else from here on out is now native repurposing. So let’s look at how that works:
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My short form videos come from two places:
For #1, I do a batch shoot day at least once a month (sometimes twice) where I shoot all of the scripted videos so they’re ready to go.
For #2, I have my desk and webcam set up so I can record high-quality 4K video of every call, interview, podcast, and live stream. Here’s a list of the gear I use to do that if you’re interested.
Then each video gets posted to 3 platforms: TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
This is pretty simple. The best tweets get made into designed quote cards for Instagram, and sometimes Facebook and LinkedIn.
Longer threads or newsletter ideas get turned into carousels for Instagram.
At the very simplest, you can simply take screenshots of tweets and threads and post them on IG.
If you want to get more advanced, you can go and redesigned these into beautiful-looking quotes and carousels.
But either way, using this tactic lets your ideas get much further reach across platforms with much less effort.
Facebook and LinkedIn are two other platforms I use regularly and are really good for networking and connecting with potential collaborations or clients.
Longer threads and newsletter ideas can be made into long form text posts for Facebook and LinkedIn.
Usually I add a photo or a doodle to them to make them more interesting and stand out more in the feed.
These doodles also sometimes get shared to Instagram.
This all might sound a little complicated, but it’s actually much simpler than the alternatives.
I write tweets as often as ideas come to me.
I write a newsletter once a week.
And I get on interviews and calls when they come up.
Almost everything else gets natively repurposed from that content.
But to be totally fair, if you’re doing all the repurposing yourself, it can be a lot for one person to handle, unless it’s your full time job.
Which is why I always recommend starting with one platform, and building from there.
As you build, add people to your team who can help you organize, repurpose, and crosspost content.
I have a team of creatives who help me run this entire strategy, because it allows me to focus on ideation, while they take care of most of the day-to-day task work of production.
That way I can truly be a creative visionary while simultaneously running multiple companies, and all of this happens in the background.
(Btw, if you’re an entrepreneur who wants to work with my team, you can learn more here)
If you have questions, feel free to hit reply and ask. I read every response.
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