How to stand out from the noise

I’ve heard some rumblings and grumblings lately about just how crowded the content universe is becoming.

Here are two common complaints:

#1 – It’s harder to stand out and get your content noticed. 

“My social media content just doesn’t work the way it used to.” ← I have had both major brands and freelancers tell me this. 

#2 – It’s harder to find quality content.

At the same time, I’ve also had folks observe that finding quality content is getting harder. There was already a lot of noise out there and now AI generated content is making it even more difficult to sift through a sea of crap to find the good stuff. 

So to recap: It’s harder to get a result from your standard content, AND it’s harder to find quality content. 

🛎️ Ding ding ding! Do you see an opportunity here? 

I sure do. To me, it signals that better, deeper, more human content is more important than ever. 

My take is this:
 
Those who dedicate themselves to creating meaningful communications will stand out even more.

While I don’t love the situation, I truly believe the leaders who use this moment to dig in and do more meaningful work can set themselves apart and make an extraordinary impact.

Exciting stuff. But this also raises the bar for you. It means you can’t phone it in.

In fact, the more noise and meaningless content that exists, the more important it is to communicate with humanity, empathy, thoughtfulness, vulnerability, and uniqueness. 

To me, this means doing less of the stuff that doesn’t matter (think: crappy social media posts or quick, thoughtless content for content’s sake) and more of the work that has real potential for impact and remarkability. 

Meaningful work means you take the risk by sharing your ideas with intention and thoughtfulness.

What exactly “meaningful work” translates to in practical terms is slightly different for everyone. It might mean you write a book. Maybe you start a newsletter for people who are willing to opt in, for people who actually want to hear from you and care what you have to say. It might mean you give a keynote or TedX style speech. Or give a webinar, workshop, seminar, or presentation. Or start a podcast. (Like I did! It’s fun!)

But… The tactic itself is less important than the way you approach it. 

Point is: Communicate the stuff that has potential for your audience to learn and benefit from. 

And, bring your best effort (and your uniqueness) to the process.

When you sit down to write, bring yourself to the process. Don’t phone it in. Don’t try to game the system. Don’t seek out as many short cuts as you can find.

And yes, it’s hard work. Embrace it! 

Think hard about what you really want to say… consider your audience and empathize with them as much as possible… get vulnerable and show people who you are; tell stories and let your guard down… show up regularly and with consideration and intention… consider whether your work is effective and strive to get better at it, time and again… collaborate and get support to make your work even better and the process more fun.

Every time you wrestle with this stuff, you build those storytelling muscles. You dig deeper, you learn more about yourself and the process, you get better. 

This is ultimately where the growth and progress and meaningful change happens. So don’t skip it. 

This is your chance to make a difference. I know you can do it.