Information for this blog post was obtained from Hootsuite.com, SocialMediaExaminer.com, SocialMediaToday.com
Introduction
Confronting creative block and procrastination is a hard hill to overcome. Almost everyone has this problem; if you don’t have to experience this, I wish I were you. When creating content for any platform, a block on creativity and what to post can occur. This can seem like a monster of a problem for you to triumph over, whether you are thinking of posting content on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, or for a blog. Thinking up content is challenging, and finding ways to overcome this block is an important skill to possess, especially when creating content for these social media platforms, which is a part of your job or could be one day. I have summarized a list of activities I believe will be the most helpful in overcoming this herculean task of understanding how to persevere above the creative block.
Get Organized
Research Competitors
Think Polarity, Take Risks, and Learn from Them
Experiencing the Creative Block
Everyone has had the moment of staring at an assignment, watching the cursor on their screen blink in and out, stressed from a time limit because they procrastinated on their work until the night before it was due. They are angry at themselves for dreading doing the work they should have started days ago and after all that is piled onto each other. They are still trying to figure out what the content they will create will be about.
Starting is the worst part. Committing yourself to a specific idea and staying on track is also an issue, but once you have an idea and the ball starts rolling, you can have a general idea of where it will end up. Getting the ball to start moving, now there’s that monster I mentioned earlier.
Currently, I am still trying to come up with the magic cure-all for this drawback of trying to be a creative content creator. I do not think anyone will, but they are coming close with all the new technology in the past 30 years that has appeared on the market. Google, ChatGPT, and new artificial intelligence technology help by giving people jumping-off points, but what if we didn’t have access to all this new tech? What is a different way to approach the problem of creative block?
Get Organized
Having a plan when starting any project is helpful. Formulating the next steps you are going to take or the content you are going to post ahead of time gives you wiggle room to correct mistakes as they occur; being able to have time to pivot your strategy if you see something is not being well received is also crucial.
Having time to create other content and be creative is also not something to sneeze at. Some marketing departments have a whole team of people who can allocate duties and must only focus on one thing. On the other hand, if the whole marketing department is made up of one person, that one person has to handle an entire company by themselves, and having an organized system helps tremendously.
A content calendar with posts scheduled that will be released weeks or even months in the future should be able to soothe some worries about missing your upload schedule. A content calendar allows you to have the freedom to perfect the details of your content by granting you the agency to accomplish new and innovative content.
Research Competitors
When you are about to take a test, you research or study the material given to you. This also applies once you realize that other competitors in the field are doing well and may have some tips you can pick up from reviewing their content posted. Study the materials you have access to, and research competitors that are doing well.
Checking analytics after you post your content is a major part of understanding what does well and what does not. Finding out why is the hard part. Instead of starting from zero and using A/B Testing on your own content as you post, which does work, you will still have to use some elements as you find your brand’s niche in the market.
Understanding that others have come before and done close to the same tests just for their content instead of yours, see if you can catch what caused a company’s marketing strategy to take off. Now, do not take this as a way to copy another company's strategy; see what the algorithm is and what the general public considers popular right now.
Think Polarity, Take Risks and Learn from Them
Think outside the box and take a few risks. As long as you learn from them, you will be ok in the end. Different or wild attracts people. Whether that is good or bad, crazy content still draws the eye. It has been said that any publicity is good publicity. Since we are most likely working with a customer or company that wants to have a high standard of ethical practices, good crazy is what we wish for this scenario—looking at content from a new perspective and trying unconventional ways of making it.
If your scheduled informational content is getting repetitive and losing some of its initial momentum, throw in a trend that is populating social media with a mix of information to spice up how your content is viewed. Take a risk and post something a little out there. A video of an employee dancing to a viral trend on Instagram when the standard content normally posted is informational on your page will draw the consumer’s eye to the rest of your brand because it is out of the norm.
Take the Nutter Butter campaign that is taking place on TikTok right now. Their content draws eyes because of how wacky and slightly creepy it is. Still, it is making people think and discuss Nutter Butter, which means the marketing department was thinking of polarity when creating it. They took the risk of being seen as weird so people would hopefully start to discuss, “What is happening over at Nutter Butter?” Which seems to be working. Be creative with your post. If you learn something from it, you have gained valuable intel on what choices to make next.
To learn more about experiencing creative or writer's block, look at my colleague Holly's post about the same subject here! https://www.thesmmu.com/post/tips-for-combatting-stubborn-writer-s-block
Resources
Hutchinson, A. (2024, January 3). 5 tips to help maximize your tiktok marketing approach in 2024. Social Media Today. https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-tips-help-maximize-tiktok-marketing-approach-2024/703612/
Rapuch, J. (2024, January 10). Creative block is inevitable-here’s how our Social Team beats it. Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-overcome-creative-block-on-social-media/
Stelzner, M. (2022, August 25). Creating viral content for Instagram and TikTok. Social Media Examiner. https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/creating-viral-content-for-instagram-and-tiktok/
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