Letter to the exhausted Creative

Talkin' to the content machine...

If you’ve been burned out creating content I wanted to offer you this: It’s not you. It’s them: The system is broken.

At the very foundation of sharing stories is this structure: we have something to say, so we find a way to say it. Sometimes that’s a photograph, or a video, a letter, email, a book, or even a long and winding caption. We figure out how we want to tell that story by mentally holding it, looking at all the different sides of it and asking: “what is the best way to share this?”  

But it’s backwards now. We’re pressured to create and share super frequently and in predetermined creative containers, according to the algorithm’s flavour of the moment.We’re mushing the message around the (specific, repeated) container we’re given to create in. That’s why it’s so exhausting. 

Well, that and the sheer volume of content we’re meant to be creating. 

It’s all come from a good place, we’ve wanted to serve our audiences well, and create valuable stuff that helps us reach the right people. And some creators are thriving on places like TikTok or Facebook or Instagram, but this isn’t for them… 

This is for the people who just felt creatively bankrupt and a bit bamboozled by it all, but still want to find ways to show up. 

For a time there, in order to see the most growth and reach, we were encouraged to post 3x a day grid posts, 10 x daily stories, and at least 1 or 2 lives a week, plus 2 reels per week as well. Now, the goals have shifted to reels and video creation which can be just as time consuming and creatively draining.

Even for a small team, that’s a heckofalotta creative energy they’re asking for never mind if it’s just 1 person in a small business trying to post content online. Impossible. What kind of quality content can you produce for that?

And why? 

Oh that’s right, because:

#wevaluecreators

Except that they don’t. It’s been a long time since Meta looked at their platform from the perspective of a creator. Anyone who knows anything about being creative knows what they were asking for, is too much and pushing quantity over quality isn’t really what we’re about as creatives, right?

Yes, there is something to be said for showing up imperfectly and sharing from our heart, and the messy behind the scenes etc, but that feels like a different issue. That’s still showing up with something to say, even if we’re uncomfortable or scared. What I’m talking about here is more the pressure to create for the sake of creating and finding a message after that fact.

Keeping the focus on churning out the content, regardless of message or quality.

Since Facebook bought Instagram it’s only felt like it’s about keeping people as addicted and dependent on their platform for as long as possible…

This is proven by the fact they’re bringing in new ways to keep people addicted through the use of gems and other currencies. (Create a certain amount and you’ll get X amount of coins/gems/dollars or whatever.)

But, because we have a heart to share with the people in our world, we’ve been trying our best to keep up with it all anyway. We’ve been spending hours creating videos that don’t really feel or sound like us because #gotstaposterryday.

Replicable. Repetitive. Rushed.

In order to keep up with the amount of content being asked of us we’ve dumbed it down and tried to put a lot of it on repeat. (Again, not our fault, we were trying to adapt and adjust.)

And so, as we’ve had to find ways to keep up with the amount of content being asked of us we’ve dumbed it down. 

Sound bite content has meant we have to get the point across in a nano second so the best way to do it is dance and point. Now I feel like I’m being educated by The Wiggles or something as people dance around and point to things and tell me ‘5 Tips to Grow Your Email List’ while performing some kind of pre-school cabaret. 

In Instagram’s early days, uniqueness and originality was everything. People would copy, of course, that happens everywhere, but the focus was really about curating your creative style and following a curiosity about what you wanted to say, or what you could see from your windows (sometimes literally) as you looked out about the world and sharing from that. 

Originality in content was cherished and slow.

Now it is encouraged to be “replicable” and rushed. 

From trending music and seeing the same damn voice-overs again…and…again…and again. We’ve turned social media and our storytelling into a digital groundhog day. 

Repetition. Regurgitation. Homogenisation. That’s all kind of the antithesis of creativity right?

All of this means we’re stuck in a weird vortex where we hear insane amounts of hyperactive messages on repeat, without really saying much.

What can we do now?

Maybe some of us just feel like we need the permission to go back to what creativity and content is meant to be about. We’re all dehydrated from cheap, way too-sugary, giddy sips of nothingness, our little creative hearts might need some time to lean into creating just for the sake of it and slowly, intentionally starting with the story first.

If it helps, feel free to claim this as your “permission slip” if you need it. I’m writing it, but I’m still going to read it and take it as the permission I need too.

If we start with our story, and then choose the way we share it, and create less often, maybe our messaging will be louder, more memorable, and have more of an impact on the people we’re wanting to reach? What do you think?