I got banned from LinkedIn this week.

You can read about my experience here.

It’s pretty terrifying to think about how your livelihood can be pulled out from under you without mercy by an algorithm or unfair report.

It’s reaffirmed the importance of my belief that every creator that builds online needs to have two distinctive communication platforms: 1 that’s ‘rented’ media, and 1 that’s ‘owned’ media.

Rented media essentially refers to social media channels such as LinkedIn, X, YouTube, etc.

Owned media would entail your email list and arguably podcast as well (depending on how you’re syndicating this and driving users to listen).

Going forward, I’ll be reallocating effort and emphasis on building my Newsletter, which was on the backburner a little with this business.

Not any more though.

I’ll be sharing specific strategies around how I plan to grow this in the coming weeks.

HOW TO CREATE TRULY GREAT CONTENT

I just finished recording my 4th episode of Creator Journeys and had a blast recording with Jeremy Horowitz (you can watch the episode here).

I’ve now spoken to four of the biggest content creators I know in the B2B world on LinkedIn & Instagram.

I’m seeing some very clear commonalities on why these individuals are phenomenal creators.

I’ve picked out 7 factors that go into great content that I’ll explain in more depth here.

1: Authenticity

I know, I know, everybody says it.

But it’s TRUE.

Being authentic is about being true to yourself and embracing your unique quirks, mannerisms and beliefs.

It’s about posting the strongest thing you believe in and not giving a damn if some people don’t like it.

Because you’re not meant to be liked by everyone - it’s impossible to be so when you have a strong point of view.

And as we’ll come onto shortly, having strong opinions is the difference between falling flat and consistently going viral.

2. Speak what others are afraid to say

​Adam Robinson said in his podcast with me: “Break the rules people are obeying that don’t need to be obeyed”.

​Phil Graham backed that up, saying “You want to speak what everybody else is afraid to say”.

And it’s so true.

I recently made a post about the Klaviyo agency business model being dead and having limited upside for scale and it took off.

I knew it would take off because I’d had the same conversation with tons of other agency owners behind closed doors but none of them had posted openly about it on social media.

Think about what others are holding back in your industry that you know is true. And speak the truth and reap the rewards.

3. Deeply understand your ICPs pain points

I think too many CEOs and founders get carried away with romantic notions of founder-led content marketing.

While it’s true that there’s an element of intrigue when it comes to posting your financials or telling an inspiring underdog story, the true thing that converts prospects into buyers is by deeply understanding their pain points and learning to articulate this in your copy.

This takes a lot of trial and error to find your voice with but as Chris Walker says, the way to expedite this process is to just be in the trenches and speaking to your customers every day.

Take their problems and let it infuse your messaging. Then go deeper into the problem to connect with your audience when they respond positively.

4. Use contextual storytelling & social proof

Every piece of content performs better if it has a story or contextual piece of social proof relevant to the point you’re trying to make.

This is unsurprising as it brings your ideas and theories to life and validates your expertise.

Plus, humans are just naturally drawn into stories. So lean on your experience as much as possible and try to integrate it into your copy.

5. Prioritise long-form content

Every creator I’ve interviewed has built the strongest connection with their audience through long-form content.

Whether it’s podcasts, articles or sharing insights over newsletters, the recurring theme is that deep, highly detailed content outperforms short-form every day of the week.

As Phil Graham said in his episode with me “Can you remember the last reel you watched? Short-form is like social junk food.”

Think about this when it comes to creating content and maximising efficiency. Long-form takes more time and effort, but it can often be chunked down and lead to greater distribution when the system driving it is well-greased.

6. Examine historical winners and recreate them

Jeremy Horowitz shared a very important point that I think every creator needs to spend more time reflecting on, and that’s simply analysing your historical content and seeing what performed well before doubling down on those topics and media formats to serve your audience better.

We spend so much time trying to create net new insights that leave us feeling mentally drained and frustrated when our content doesn’t perform when often, recreating what performed well in the past is a far more efficient and rewarding endeavour.

Create a spreadsheet of your previous 12 months of posts and look for commonalities behind the best performers. I bet you’ll spot some interesting insights.

7. Create net new knowledge

I’m going to finish on what I believe is the most important of all when it comes to creating content, and that’s this line from Chris Walker:

“And in this game that we have on LinkedIn today, trust, depth, unique perspective, non-obvious insights, that is how you win. It's how you've always won in content”.

Ultimately, how well your content performs will boil down to whether you’re creating net new knowledge in your industry. That’s what people really mean when they say “creating value”.