Get a clear vision for your content if you want to grow

Hey folks👋🏽

We’ve got some great content today, so there’s no time to waste — I’m jumping right in. Here’s what we’ve got this week:

💌 In today’s email:

• 🔓 Joy Ofodu unlocks her journey from comedy content creator to creator CEO
• 📱 Mitra recommends metrics you should be tracking on social media
• 📣 What’s happening in social: A lemon speeds up to replace a clock (this is not a riddle), Twitter Blue gets even more perks, and there’s much ado about a gold checkmark.
• +All our latest content from the blog

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next Friday!

Warmly, 

Tami & the Buffer team

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🔓 Creators Unlocked: Joy Ofodu

Today, we’re unlocking Joy Ofodu’s creator journey from creating comedy content to her goals for her platform. We talk about everything from navigating the creator world as a Black woman to what it looks like to have a clear vision for your content from the start.

Joy also takes us behind the scenes of what it takes to run a successful creator business, from the tools to the people that make it all happen.

Q: I love that you see yourself as a CEO and creator. What type of content do you create, and who do you create it for?

Joy Ofodu is my company name and we’re an influential media company I like to say that I deliver laughter to global audiences, but my business produces Inclusive Entertainment and Creative Services.

Q: On top of creating content consistently and engaging your 100k+ audience across different platforms, you’re actively running a business. How do you manage all that?

I’m still very heavily involved in my content creation, so the show that I’m currently working on, Dating Unsettled, is 100% me, from recording to tracking analytics once it’s uploaded. But I do have a team that supports me behind the scenes.

My executive assistant, Donnita Shaw, helps me monitor my schedule, book events and voiceover work, and interface with clients. None of my partnerships would be possible at this scale without her. Then on some of my longer video projects, I work with a consultant Isaac, on launches. I got mentions in the New York Times and Refinery29 that wouldn’t have happened without him.

Q: How do you make money as a creator, and what's the largest contributor revenue in terms of everything that you offer in your business at the moment?

I make money as the creator through the ways that I mentioned: voiceovers, video production, and IP writing. I also do speaking engagements where someone wants me to be the host or a panelist at a webinar or physically at an event. Then the last would be creator or grant programs, so actually raising non-equity-based funding for my business.

The most significant revenue driver at the moment that I can discuss is sponsored content or brand partnerships. Those are the ones that you can publicly see on my Instagram or my TikTok or on LinkedIn. I can drive, for example, $7,000 for a sponsored post and usage rights.

Q: How do you decide who to work with when it comes to sponsored content? Is there ever any conflict with creativity for you?

I like working with companies and organizations and people who believe in what I believe in. So we both hold our audiences in the same regard and believe in empowering underrepresented people. I like to see these things in practice before they reach out to me is important – just working with me doesn't mean that you support black or women-owned businesses.

Once you reach a certain point as a creator, there’ll always be people who want to work with you, but you can’t accept everything – otherwise, your brand becomes too diluted. For me, I use a rubric of: does it feel right? Is this client or partner going to shine on my account? Do I have enough energy or even real estate on my account to dedicate to this campaign?

Q: What advice would you give creators thinking of expanding their content creation? What should they be investing in?

• One: You should always seek to improve your technical setup as a creator. The more you know about lighting and audio and post-production editing, the better. That's something that you can and should always invest in improving, whether it’s 100 people following you or 100,000.
• Two: If you’re hiring, make sure you have a clear vision. Invest in a brand strategist to help you articulate your vision if you have to, but don’t make the mistake of bringing someone in so early that you don’t have one yet. For me, I had a clear vision as a creator before I started gaining traction on social media.
• Three: Hire out whatever’s beyond your capability but you know will improve your work. There are tasks that, if I continued shouldering all of them, I would burn out. The second I felt like I was dropping the ball, I knew I needed to bring in someone who could tackle them at 100%.

 💡Learn our top tips to get the most out of Buffer

We run live demos and Q&A sessions every other week. You won’t want to miss the tips and tricks up our sleeves for getting the most out of your Buffer accounts. Register for our next one (and click here if you’re in the APAC region).

👇🏽 The latest from the blog

• What is a UGC Creator and How to Become One in 2023 (ft. Advice from Experts): If you’ve been wondering what it takes to be a UGC creator and how to get started, this article is for you. Speaking to people on either side of this unique brand-creator relationship, this guide will answer your questions and put you on the right track.

• Ask Buffer: How Do I Create a Social Media Series for TikTok and Instagram?: Creating a social media series is a great way to generate more content. In this article, Umber details how to create one for your Instagram and TikTok accounts and provides examples from creators.
• 7 Winning Video Marketing Strategies You Can Implement in 2023: To get the most out of your video marketing efforts, you need to implement the right strategies. In this article, Ankit Vora shares seven winning video marketing strategies that you can implement in 2023 to get the most out of your efforts.

📱 Social Tip of The Week from Mitra, Buffer’s Social Media Manager 

There are so many metrics that you could track on social media, but these are the four we recommend you pay attention to: 

1️⃣ Engagement rate

2️⃣ Follower growth

3️⃣ Conversion rate

4️⃣ Impressions

These metrics will help you understand what kind of content your audience wants to see, how to get higher engagement with your content, and how to grow your follower count. 

🤳 What's Happening in Social

• 🍋 Bytedance-owned app, Lemon8, is rising up the App Store charts in the wake of news of a possible TikTok ban — are you a user?
• 👀 Elon Musk says that as of April 15, only tweets from Twitter Blue subscribers will be recommended in the main (For You) feed.
• 🥇 Speaking of Twitter, news of the $1000 gold checkmark has Twitter users up in arms. Matt Navarra weighs the cost-benefit in his latest newsletter. 

Thanks for reading! 💟

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