[00:00:00] Hi there, travel creators. I'm Laura and you are listening to the last episode of the travel creator podcast's very first season. How crazy is that? I have thought about doing this podcast for an entire year, and now I've been working on it for months and to finally be at the end of the first season is really awesome.
I have genuinely had so much fun putting this together, and I hope it has been helpful for you. That's the entire point. I don't just want there to be more noise out there. In this last episode, this season, I am sharing what I wish travel creators didn't do when trying to organize their content and do all the content things.
Yep. I am spilling that information. We are going to be talking about all those things. The first thing I wish travel creators didn't do is write their content ideas down in a bunch of different places. It's [00:01:00] tempting. I know it is. I used to be that person. I used to be that content developer. Especially when you're like a creative person, creativity comes when creativity comes.
And sometimes you're like waiting for the barista. Other times you're actually in an appropriate place to take a note. So having a solid system has been a game changer for me, honestly. But if you write down your content in a bunch of different places, you are just creating a bigger mess that you're gonna have to clean up sometime. But if you have one single place where all of your content can live, it's going to make finding your good ideas easier. And then when you see all of your ideas next to each other, you'll likely be inspired to create even more good ideas. That's something I've noticed happening to me and If you were to add someone to your content team, like if someone was going to come in and manage your content in any capacity, they're going to need a system or a place to go to do their work to help you.[00:02:00] If you are listening to this and you're like, oh shit, I do not have one of those, that's okay.
I have an entire episode dedicated to how you can create a content organization system. I think in every episode of this podcast I mentioned episode 2 but it is episode 2 so cue that one up right after this one, but also don't feel like you have to when you're creating this system, go backwards and write down every single piece of content you have ever created to add it to this system.
You certainly can, and that would be like the next level. But just moving forward, because that's the direction we're going, keep track of your content all in one place. All right, another thing I wish travel creators wouldn't do is focus on trendy content. Mm hmm, but don't hear what I'm not saying trendy content can be awesome. It is fun, and it can be useful to grow online, but your Instagram pages should be a billboard of evergreen [00:03:00] content. Meaning that any time If somebody comes to one of your pages on social media, they can learn something, or something about you, or your niche, or what they can get out of your page, and what if they come and the first thing they see is a trend that is three months old? What kind of first impression is that going to give them? Trendy content is useful, but trendy shouldn't be your everything. Also, wish travel creators wouldn't only share about their experiences on social media. I talk about this in episode 5, but you don't actually own your social media content.
Yeah, and nobody's gonna tell you that, but Here I am, and I will. In that episode, I talk about why that matters and what you can do about it. Basically, social media is rented space, and an email list, moving that content into a place of the internet you own, moving your community into a place of the internet you own, is something you own.
So like, putting in an email list. I've got a lot of [00:04:00] resources all about all of that in episode 5 that you can queue up to. In essence, what I mean is travel creators shouldn't only rely on social media as the only place to grow. I feel like we often think that's the number one place I should go and create content for, but I have seen this happen to several travel creators.
They wake up one day and their Instagram is gone. I have heard this time and time again. Or, do you remember that one day in October, like 2021, when Facebook and Instagram went black? Yeah, that can happen, but I don't want that to happen to you, or if it did happen, if these tech platforms were like, uh, this is just, I don't know, if they just like didn't do their thing one day, and you didn't have an email list, you would be stuck.
So email marketing is the travel creator's insurance. You can start right now for free. So go ahead and start collecting the email addresses of the people in your community now, whether you're thinking about creating a newsletter, [00:05:00] Anytime soon or not. It's good to have those contacts so you can reach out to your audience if something were to happen and you need to rebuild your community.
So I would get brainstorming on creating a lead magnet to grow your email list. I know it doesn't sound the cutest, like email marketing is like, bleh. But I love it. And it is a great place to connect with your audience on a deeper level and I wish, I think it's slept on in the travel I really do.
and especially if you have something to sell, selling via email converts way higher than selling on social media. I actually saw a stat today from Amy Porterfield and it said “60 percent of people subscribe to brands' emails or newsletters. But only 30 percent follow those brands on social media.” Just let that sink in.
Email marketing is the future. Back to my list here, I also wish travel creators would [00:06:00] stop trying to grow without being really clear on who they are talking to in their content. This is understated. You are a travel creator, but what kind of travel creator are you? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever really dug in there? Are you a budget friendly travel creator who is prepared to show off your favorite hostels? Or are you a luxury travel creator who shows beachfront accommodations? If you are, I wanna know. I wanna know. I, side note, To keep me motivated, I have a sticky note above, one of my workplaces that says beachfront accommodation underlined that keeps me going, but okay. You are not just creating travel content. Because the way that you speak to a budget traveler about a destination you're creating a guide for or a piece of content about is very different from the way you would create that piece of content or talk to a luxury traveler. All of this [00:07:00] clarity comes from knowing your creator business through the foundation of your brand. Even if you don't have a business per se, you're here listening to this. So you're probably committed to taking your content seriously as a travel creator and treating it like a business whether it is official or not.
Getting clear on your brand will help you hone in on who you should be talking to and how to talk about them. Let me know if you want more information on branding because I might pull in some experts next season on this very topic, but it is essential for your creator journey. And even if you have questions about this now, I can shoot you some great resources that are free that you can binge to learn more about what the heck a brand is and why the heck you do need it, even if you're just posting on Instagram.
Well, if you made it this far in the episode, or even in the season, thank you. Seriously, thank you [00:08:00] so much. That is amazing! And I appreciate it. If you liked anything that you heard, giving this show a rating, or leaving a little review on Apple Podcasts would be extra amazing and extra helpful. But before you go, I want to know, what did you like learning about?
What do you want to know more about? What questions do you still have? I want this to be helpful for you, and understanding what you want to learn is one of the ways that I can do that, so go ahead. Shoot me a message on the gram @travelcontentwriting, or if you really want to, you can reach my inbox by emailing laura at travelcontentwriting.com. Alright, that is it for season one. Thanks for listening, happy creating, and I will see you soon.
