Which Long-Form Content Platform is Right for You?

Kirsten 0:04

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

Hello, fabulous TPT seller, welcome to another episode of the creative teacher podcast, I wanted to speak to those of you who might be active on your TPT store. And you might be active on social media. But you also kind of want to dive even deeper into other avenues and set yourself up as a thought leader. One really great way to do this is through content marketing. So today's topic is all about which long form content platform is right for you. We are going to talk about what content marketing is the pros and cons of content marketing. And we're going to kind of take a look side by side of the three common types of content that you could be utilizing as far as long form content. So we're going to be looking at the pros and cons of blogs, podcasts and video shows on YouTube.

So let's go ahead and talk about content marketing. What is content marketing? Content marketing is when you create and share valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract your ideal teacher customer. Instead of pitching your TPT resources or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your ideal teach your customer to help them solve their problems. The majority of marketers out there are using content marketing. So it's something that a lot of marketers already do.

Here are some reasons to use content marketing. The first reason is that it's a really great way to connect with and reach your ideal teacher audience. The second way is that it helps build trust with your ideal teacher customer. It improves conversions when it is time to sell and buy. Everyone loves getting tips and strategies and advice. And the content that you send is just a way to connect and be a thought leader and send information based on what your niche is. With that you'll be able to improve conversions when you do pitch a TPT resource, and it improves conversions because they are knowing and liking and trusting you when you're giving information about your specific niche, then as you relate it to your resources, when it's time to buy and sell, you get higher conversion rates in general. So ultimately, it's kind of like you're giving out information without expecting anything in return. And at the same time, you're growing your audience. And eventually, when it is time to pitch that resource, they're going to be more likely than not to buy just because they're a little bit of warmer audience. And they might trust you with the advice and tips and strategies that you've been giving to them all this time.

So next, let's talk about the pros and cons of content marketing. Believe it or not, there are some of both just based on my experience doing blogs and podcasts personally. But as far as content marketing, the pros would be that it increases your organic search traffic. So when you have a blog, or a podcast or a YouTube channel, this blog that you have can you know you have people that are sent over to your website, the more traffic you get to those specific sites, the more it's going to end up on the search results. And people are just typing in a specific keyword or topic. And it's more likely that depending on like how well you optimize your blog and your website, the content that you have is going to end up on the search results higher up on the search results just depending on what content you give out. But people could be typing in that specific information, it's going to end up more in the search results. It's just a really great way to share long form content because it can last over time. Over You know, months years people could be searching in exactly what you were sharing. Five years ago, seven years ago. They can also watch your video or listen to your podcast episode or read your blog on that specific topic. It establishes trust authority and expertise. When you're getting yourself out there and sharing information about your niche. You're establishing trust especially Usually, when you can be consistent with it, maybe monthly, or every two weeks every week, you'll get higher conversion rates. So when you do again, like I explained earlier, when you do pitch a resource, ultimately you'll have those higher conversion rates because people are knowing and trusting you they're following along with you, they might be really looking forward to your weekly content. So this is just a really great way to overall expand your brand awareness. The last pro is that your audience will likely stick around longer, they're less likely to just unfollow you know, you can't really unfollow somebody, you can just stop listening or shop reading a blog or listening to a podcast or watching a YouTube show. But when you're consistently are constantly turning out quality content, they're likely going to stick around longer than just your typical Instagram post or Facebook post that they see on their home feed

the cons of content marketing, number one, it can be taking a while to see results, you may not see something instantaneously. So don't definitely don't expect that it does take some time. And that time will vary from business to business, it can be definitely an investment. So this is the second reason, you might have to put in some startup costs, maybe getting a microphone, if you want to do a podcast, you might have to purchase a website domain, there are some upfront costs, but you can still get scrappy and do this all for a minimal cost, it does not have to be super expensive. You don't have to immediately hire out anybody if you don't have that in your budget. But it's definitely something you can get scrappy with. The third reason that it could be a con is that it just can be hard to brainstorm content ideas, if it's not your thing to like, think of a bunch of ideas, if you're not the best at coming up with, you know, content ideas related to your resources, this could be a little time consuming. So maybe also you're a full time teacher or you just don't have enough time to create your resources and work on your product listings. And also market with content marketing, giving out consistent weekly content, that could just be really hard to maintain consistency, you know, just don't have enough time. So it can be hard to be consistent at it. Especially if you're really purposeful or you're just kind of it's hard for you to come up with ideas it could accumulate. And that's just one of the major cons there.

All right, so let's dive a little bit deeper into content marketing and kind of split off into the three major types of long form content that I mentioned, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube video shows, we're going to talk about the pros and cons of each of these. So hopefully, by the end of this episode, if you're not already launching some type of consistent long form content, you will have decided which one would be best for you.

So let's talk about the pros of blogs. One of the pros for blogs is that it is really easy to get started. Very, very easy to start getting blogs up. It gives a reason for ideal teacher customers to visit your website, it's a great way to establish yourself as an expert. It allows for flexibility. It's also great if you're a strong and creative writer, you can easily set up a template from maybe utilizing Squarespace or Wordpress. And it's just a really easy way to get started to write a blog, as long as you have some content and you've got a website and you can add your thoughts, write it down, publish it, and voila, you've got your blog, just add some photos in there. There are millions of blogs out there, blogs have been around for a while. So you're definitely not alone in starting a blog. It is never too late to start a blog, I will say that the cons for blogs are that it could be time consuming, it might be hard. If writing does not come naturally to you. It could also take some time to see results could require some consistency out there. And it could be some potential technical issues like maybe your website might go down for a little bit, some type of maintenance thing. So are there are some cons to that. Typically minor cons for the most part, if you have the time and you love to write and you're not in it for quick and easy wins because you will not see like hundreds and hundreds of views and the first blog post that you publish. If you're in it for the long haul, a blog could be really great for you.

With podcasts, the pros are that it is very convenient for your audience to consume. They can consume it in the car, they can go on, you know listen to it on the way to work while they're running while they're walking pretty much anywhere. They can just put it in their earbuds and listen, it's really great. And it's also easy to get started. I will say it's not as easy as just starting up a blog. Blogs would probably be a little bit more easier, but podcasts are still typically easy. To get started, it's a great way to establish yourself as an expert. It's allows for flexibility perfect if you love to talk, but you don't want to show your face, and it can also help you grow your audience. Another pro is that like, especially depending on your ideal teacher, customer podcast can be just a really great way for your audience to really tune in to you and listen to what you have to say each week or however often you want to publish your podcast episodes. The cons are that it can be very time consuming. When you're editing and you're recording your podcast episodes, there are some could be some accessibility issues. So maybe not everybody in your audience might have access to Spotify, or certain podcast platforms, they may be hard of hearing. But luckily now there are transcripts available, especially that's really great feature that I think is really helpful to have those transcripts to help those that are hard of hearing or deaf. So that's really great. It could also be hard, if speaking does not come naturally to you. And it could be costly, could require consistency. And there might be potential technical issues. Remember podcasts and blogs and vlogs. While you can be as scrappy as possible, there are some required upfront costs, so you do have to keep that in mind.

Lastly, we are going to talk about the pros and cons of YouTube video shows. This is something where people might host it on their own website. But for the most part, I see video shows on YouTube mostly. But the pros with this is that you can really build relationships with your audience because they can actually see and hear you. Even if you have the role. Or you know, maybe it's not, you know, it's not you're not showing your face for a lot of the video, it's still a really great way for people to find you. I mean, I found a really great Facebook ads, video show, he posts all these different episodes about Facebook ads, and I just found it by searching on YouTube. And so if you're looking for information and looking for advice, YouTube is another great platform to look for thing. So there is definitely a market depending on what your niche is. Visibility can increase at a faster rate, especially if you're using a platform like YouTube to promote your content, you can drive traffic to your website or your TPT store, it can always link that video with your specific resource related or opt in related to the topic that you're talking about. It's just a really great way to drive traffic to your website and ultimately to your TPT store. You can also get a personal interaction with listeners and viewers. And it's also perfect for those who love to be on camera and show their face. The cons with the vlog or YouTube channel is that it can be very time consuming to create the videos, lots of production going on. Of course, it doesn't have to be super, like intense or anything like that.

So as far as you know, what is the most to least time consuming? I would say definitely YouTube is probably the most next would be podcasts. And then the least time consuming as far as like getting it done is blogs. So that's why it's really great to you know, if you happen to have a YouTube show or a podcast, it's always great to just repurpose it, put it on the blog as well. That's what I do for my social studies teacher podcast. Some cons also with YouTube channels that there could be of course, technical issues, you're at the mercy of YouTube, they could decide to take out the sound from your video or just completely shut down your channel at any moment. So you don't have as much control as you'd like. And sometimes production and investment costs could be a little bit expensive. You need it, you know, camera lighting, all that kind of stuff. And there could be maybe there's not as much effect on SEO, maybe people aren't searching for your content as much as you would help, even with giving it time. And this can also you know, especially if you don't have your own website to promote your videos on. So those are the pros and cons for blogs, podcasts and vlogs.

I will quickly share my story about like where I'm at now and how I started. In 2020. I launched my blog for the southern teach. And the very first blog that I did was all about organizing your classroom library. Very different than you know the type of content I produce now for my you know, for my business, but it was a great start. I started that's the main thing and I still have that blog post up there. And I used to post every other week and then I went to maybe when my second son was born like between my second and third kid I was kind of posting a little infrequently. And it wasn't until I launched my social studies teacher podcast that I went and made sure to like I had a podcast episode, I have a blog post that goes along with it. And I'm at that point, because I've had, you know, a nice backlog of blog posts, that I can actually kind of repurpose that and turn it into a podcast episode. So I've done it where I already have a blog post. So I create a podcast episode based on that connect them together, everybody's happy. Sometimes, I had a podcast episode that was originally on my creative teacher podcast. And I've moved it over to my social studies teacher podcast. So I have that audio content. And all I have to do is turn it into a blog post. So I've done it both ways. A lot of shifting around, you know, keep it you know, there's hope that's a long story, a whole other story to talk about. But I will say that it is really nice to be able to have like a backlog of content. So if you are really you know, you're like, I'm just gonna start off with low hanging fruit, I can do a blog, it's really easy to get started. And eventually, over time, if you want to start a YouTube channel, or you want to start a podcast to go along with your blog, you by all means do not feel obligated to come up with completely new podcast episodes, you can easily take what you already have from your blog and turn it into a podcast episode. If you've got a social media posts that did really well turn it into a podcast episode, I've done that as well. So there's a lot of really great tips. As far as like repurposing, maybe I'll do an episode on that.

But I will say that, you know, number one, definitely start with what you feel it could be easier for you. Definitely start with just one and then move on to something else. When you feel like you can handle that. So those are my best tips. I'm a proponent of you do what works best for you. And if you feel like like you're all in for YouTube, and you're like, I got this, I don't need the blog. I don't need the podcast. That's awesome. So I am just hoping that this episode gets you thinking about what would possibly be best for you if you'd like to talk and you don't want to show your face. Definitely podcasts. If you love to write and you do not want to deal with anything extra, you're like, so overwhelmed, or you just you just want to keep things simple. Definitely go with a blog. But if you can handle it and you love to show your face and you love to do like all kinds of video content, then definitely doing a YouTube channel might be a really great start. But the main thing is you do what works best for you and what you think that you would enjoy the most I should say. All right, well, this episode is wrapped up and we are all done. But I'm so glad that you are listening and I am excited to share with you next week's topic. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.

Thanks for listening to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also follow me on Instagram at the southern teach dot designs. Have an amazing day.