In this day an age as a content creator there are all sorts of apps and avenues in which you can channel your creative juices. As content creator becomes a more accepted job route for many there are still nuances and unknowns that color each experience. It would take some serious finger work for me to delve into that topic so I won't do it here, but what I will do is touch upon the overwhelmingness of creating for so many platforms.
I'm sure if you're on any kind of social media you've come across fellow content creators saying to create multiple streams of revenue whether it be because of the unstableness of a platform or because it's good to have several security blankets. What most of them don't address is the extra mental bandwidth you need to manage several platforms on whatever consistent basis you create. This just holds extra weight if you're like me with multiple mental health issues or of you're just a person already crunched for time.
Take for example streaming on Twitch. Streaming for several days in a row for upwards of four plus hours with lights, camera, focusing on the game/topic at hand, addressing/interacting with viewers, and being conscious of any tech issues, bad actors, things outside the stream can all take a significant toll on ones mental. Often after the stream is turned off that's when the exhaustion kicks in, and you're ready to slump over and ignore the rest of the world. For many it doesn't stop there as there are after stream things to address; maybe a viewer wanted to have an off stream discussion, or you have to tend to part-time/fulltime work related emails, maybe there's a piece of tech or a program that wasn't working on stream that you need address before your next broadcast the list goes on.
Now add to that someone telling you, well you need to start thinking about creating on a secondary platform so that should streaming not be possible for whatever reason you have something to fall back on. For a lot of streamers they fall back to doing YouTube. Therein, now you have to figure out what kind of content you're going to post there. It's easy to just download and slap your twitch VODs on there but that's not really going to do your content justice now is it?
It is however, a start but that's where most people stop because no one really gives advice on how to proceed. So now in addition to making sure you stay consistent in streaming you now have to navigate how to yourself up for success (whatever that means to you) on this whole other platform with no real direction.
It becomes a whole ass spaghetti bowl if you will.
That's just the tip of the iceberg given that maybe you have a fulltime or part-time job on the side, maybe you handle most of the duties in your household or maybe you want to try one of the other millions of content home apps like TikTok or Instagram.
This overwhelming avalanche of avenues.
Currently for me I run this here Blog, I stream, and I'm trying to dabble in YouTube. So that's three attempts at having multiple streams of revenue. When I started picking the up I was faced with that overwhelming rush of trying to figure things out as mentioned. On top of my struggles with mental health I found it challenging to balance how often I did each thing as well as not being happy with the products I was producing. It started to quickly feel like I was not cut out for this content creation thing because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to produce and whatever I did produce I wasn't happy with.
Recently though, I have come to find planning out you content when you are managing multiple platforms is a Godsend. I am still not prefect at it and learning as I go, but it has lifted a lot of weight off of my mental.
Now when I say planning this includes A) knowing what content you intend to put out, B) How much content you want to put out at a time, and C) setting deadlines for these things.
The most prominent example I can give you is with my blog. I decided I'm only going to do two posts a month. Why? Because cobbling together a coherent blog post takes a lot of time and effort especially if it's something that requires research or pulling statistics or interviewing other parties. Also because quality over quantity. I would much rather have length discussion, streams of conscious posts that make people think or have a moment of enjoyment than rapid fire miscellaneous posts about every random thought or topic I come across.
Going further into it, by only posting two blog posts a month my community knows exactly when and what to expect, and for me it takes the stress of not knowing what to post when the time comes. I can more easily create engaging posts ahead of time as well and continue to alter them up until the publication date. Also should something befall me like a deep depressive episode or another health emergency I can create a back log buffer of sorts that I can push out until I am caught up or clear to resume creating again.
Of course when it comes to creating content for something like YouTube you also have to take into account how long it takes you (or your partner(s)) to review then edit the content. Not to mention maybe doing several edits and picking which to use, but that all comes down to the type of content you're posting to the site anyway. A 20 minute recording could still take 2 or more hours to actually edit. So be realistic with how many videos you think you can pump out. I think the worst you can do is overshoot and underperform. Better to pop out one video a week than break you back and fingers trying to do 2 or more a week.
There is again nuance there depending on how much time you are allocating to other things such as a job or other platform you are producing content for, and even proficiency with editing software etc.
It comes down to setting your consistency in accordance with your goals.
Look at your primary platform and how much time you dedicate to it. How much of it can you cut back on and still feel productive about it?
Consider your secondary platform options and what content you would be investing into it. Does it fit into the extra time you've deducted from elsewhere? Are you comfortable with whatever work flow you'll have as you find your footing on said platform?
As I said earlier there's no one magical trick to make it easy, but there are tips that can help make bridging the gap easier. I am by no means an expert, still finding my own footing and brand in the content creation world, so please take this with a teaspoon of your favorite seasoning and alter it to taste.
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