874: The Simple Hack to Making Your Content Live and Work Longer

0:00Imagine this. It's 30 days from now and your podcast is live. Your voice is out in the world and you're building an audience that chooses to tune in every week. That's not just possible. It's waiting for you inside of the podcast lab and enrollment is officially open at teachmetopodcast.com. This is my step-by-step program that walks you through how to plan, produce, publish, promote, and profit from your show, even if you're starting from scratch. Whether you've got a big brand, a small business, or just a powerful story to tell, your podcast could become the most impactful part of your week and your most scalable content channel yet.

0:39So if you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. Go to teachmetopodcast.com to enroll in the podcast lab today. You can get started for as little as$39 today. Let's make your podcast dream real at teachmetopodcast.com. That's teachmetopodcast.com.

1:02Introducing your new Dell PC powered by the Intel Core Ultra Processor. It helps you handle a lot, even when your holiday to-do list gets to be a lot. Because it's built with an all-day battery, plus powerful AI features that help you do it all with ease, from editing images, to drafting emails, to summarizing large documents, to multitasking. So you can organize your holiday shopping and make custom holiday decor and search for great holiday deals and respond to holiday requests and customer questions and customers requesting custom things and plan the perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet.

1:39Luckily, you can get a PC that helps you do it all faster so you can get it all done. That's the power of a Dell PC with Intel Inside, backed by Dell's price match guarantee. Get yours today at dell.com slash deals. Terms and conditions apply. See dell.com for details.

2:01On these posts that live and die within 24 to 48 hours, we're not actually connecting them to true results. They're not really tied to an ROI and they're not really making the impact that they have the potential to make. They're not reaching the people that we're creating for and they're sure as heck not getting people results that they can write home about. I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven-figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town Minnesota with my family.

2:41Here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain. Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered.

3:21This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Have you ever felt like you're constantly creating? Like you're pouring your ideas, your energy, your creativity into something only to post it once, cross your fingers, and then move on to the next thing? Creating is the part that feels natural for most of us. It's a fun part, but promoting that actual creation, that's where a lot of us freeze. To me, promotion feels more vulnerable. So we do what we've always done. We make something new. We stay busy. We stay in motion. But what if the real power isn't in making more content, but in letting what you've already made breathe a little longer?

3:58Like what if you're sitting on a gold mine and you just need to learn how to mine for that gold in your own business? What if the magic isn't in more content, but more intention behind how it's created and shared? In today's episode, I am walking you through a simple mindset shift that changed everything for me. If you're feeling burnt out, if you're tired of feeding the algorithm or wondering why your content doesn't seem to carry the weight that it should, this episode is for you. Let me be honest. We're tired out there. We're struggling to keep up. We're not spending our time in the places that it should be spent.

4:33And so in today's episode, we'll explore what it looks like to shift from short-term content bursts to long-term strategic sharing. I'm talking about ways to make your creations live longer, reach further, and work harder without requiring more from you every single day. And yes, I'm also touching on a platform that I've been teaching for over eight years, one that I've helped over 25 ,000 people just like you use in their business to create content systems that actually last, systems that work for them and lengthen the shelf life of their content from moments to months. If you want to learn about this system and spoiler, it's about Pinterest.

5:11I want for you to save your seat for my free masterclass. It's called create once traffic for months. And I'm going to show you how to lengthen the lifespan of your content and change the way that you create forever. Head to teachmetopin.com. That's teachmetopin.com. Save your seat for this free masterclass. It will absolutely transform the way that you look at and use Pinterest, and it'll also change the way that you're creating your content and letting it live on. So if you are someone who is ready to get off the content hamster wheel and start building a business where your work keeps working, even while you rest and live your life, this is your permission slip.

5:49Let's dive on in. Let me take you back to a time in my life where literally everything changed for me. It might not shock you that it was when I became a mom and that journey just to get to that day took quite a long time. It took us three years. I experienced two back-to-back pregnancy losses. And in that three-year season of waiting, I worked to build a business that could run while I rested. Because in that season of loss, I had recognized that while I had built an incredibly successful business, that business only worked if I was working. The only way to actually earn more was to work more and I was burnt out.

6:32And so I had promised myself, I will find a different way to do things. And in that waiting season, I started building the business that you now see today. Now, when I became a mom, my schedule completely changed. I felt like my time literally evaporated and for the best reason possible. My windows for content creation shrunk to nap time or feeding breaks or that rare quiet moment. And I realized that I couldn't and I didn't frankly want to keep up the way that I used to. I have been on the internet for over a decade. I have posted thousands upon thousands of posts. And so when I finally became a mom and one, social media felt so trivial when such a big life change was happening, but two, my time felt so sacred and precious and limited, I had to pause my usual content routine.

7:25I had to say, it's okay if I don't post every day. I had to eliminate that urgent pressure that I had to show up constantly. And here's what was so interesting to me is I got to see what I had been preaching about in practice. Nothing fell apart. In fact, my business kept moving. As I slowed down, my business stayed consistent. My traffic stayed steady. Why? Because of the content that I had created before. The blog posts, the podcast episode, the pins on Pinterest, those pieces kept delivering even when I slowed down and rested. I had built out this library of work that was working even when I wasn't.

8:07And that experience alone shifted everything that I think and that I thought I knew about content creation. Now, I used to create just to stay in the game, like chasing whatever the algorithm needed. I have discovered in therapy that I am the person that if I can see the game and understand the game, I will set out to win the game. But now I understand that the true content strategy isn't just about playing the game. It's not just about volume and longevity and beating the algorithms. It's about being prolific and being purposeful. Now, most of us are working for our content when our content should be working for us.

8:47And so the first point that I want to make is that the content hamster wheel is so real, and it is created to keep us stuck, to keep us addicted, to keep us constantly creating an emotion. We have gotten into this habit, and I would call it a terrible one, where we create something, we post it once and then we move on to the next creation. But that constant churn, all it's doing is leaving us feeling burnt out and empty. And let me just tell you that it doesn't have to be that way. Now, I was literally talking to a friend hours ago and I was laughing because at the beginning of the year, we were in a group text thread.

9:27There's a few entrepreneurs and we were talking about like, okay, when it comes to content this year, these are some of my goals. And this friend that I was talking to, her goal was I'm going to post three times a day on social. And you know, it was so funny on our little voice memo exchange today. She goes, I haven't even posted in three weeks. And I realized that like we are setting ourselves up for failure, but we're also not connecting our hard work to results, which makes it hard to stay consistent. And it makes it hard for us to want to even show up. Get this 53 % of small business owners spend one to 10 hours per week on marketing.

10:03Another 25 % of entrepreneurs spend over 11 hours. There is also a stat that marketing takes around 20 hours a week for most small businesses. Those are hours that are spent mostly on creating, not the promotion of the creation. And oftentimes those hours cannot be tied to a long-term return. Like the ROI on that time spent does not match the effort, the time, and the energy going into it. And so when we think about the way that the system is, the way that the algorithms are created, it's to keep us going back for more, but it's also created to have us constantly feeling like we need to be creating.

10:44And so if you feel burnt out by the hamster wheel, I first just want to say you are not alone. And second, I want to say that there is a different way and a better way that allows you to step off and actually see a true return on the time that you're spending in your creating. So the next thing that we need to talk about is something that I think we don't think about often. And guess what? The reason why we don't think about it often is because we don't have time to think about it. We are pouring hours into content that disappears in minutes, if not in moments. I have spent literal hours like planning, filming, editing, captioning, all of the different things to post a single Instagram reel.

11:30If I asked you like, raise your hand, if you have ever done this, I would bet that everybody's hands are up. Like how many of us have spent so much time? We're like, this is the post. This is it. And then we post it and it falls flat. Like it literally sinks into the feed in under a day. It doesn't get traction. It doesn't provide any real results. And like, all we do is feel like crap. We feel like crap about ourselves. It is so discouraging when that happens. It's like we go in with the purest of intentions. We have a brilliant idea. We're creating from our heart. We're thinking this is going to help someone, or this is going to be it, or this is going to move the needle.

12:06And then the algorithm swoops in and buries it before it even has a chance to reach the people that we are creating our content for. Get this stat. I was like so floored. The average Instagram reel takes three to five hours to create and it has a shelf life of 24 to 48 hours. Like that is a shorter shelf life than a ripe avocado. Three to five hours to create and it lives for one to two days tops. This is a stat from later media in 2023. So here's what I feel like we are missing in our process. We're building sandcastles at high tide. That is essentially what it comes down to. The tides of social media wash our content away faster than we can hit publish.

12:52And so here's my question for you. What would it look like if you stopped building for literally just a moment and created a new way of thinking about the creation process and we started building with more permanence in mind? I'm talking about your work lasting months, not minutes, not moments, months. What would that look like? Because we have gotten so used to this churn and burn cycle and we've gotten somehow okay with spending precious hours into content that expires within a day that we haven't even thought long term. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury, banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money.

13:41Okay. I remember in the early days of my entrepreneurship journey, clients would literally mail me checks and then I would have to drive all the way to the bank to deposit them. It took me literal years to make things go digital and I am ashamed to admit I still have a filing cabinet with paper contracts because I'm way too afraid to throw them away. But that's the beauty of growth, right? You learn what systems serve you and which ones hold you back. Mercury is one of those systems that just works. Where traditional banking websites and apps are clunky and hard to use, Mercury is meticulously designed to make doing just about anything with your money feel effortless.

14:18And the best part is it flexes to fit all types of businesses. Ready to see what powerful banking can do for your business? Visit mercury.com to apply in minutes. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. For important details, check the show notes. You know, I only share stuff I'm genuinely obsessed with. And so when I kept seeing Bowling Branch sheets all over Instagram. I was like, okay, are these actually worth the hype? Drew and I have been using their sheets and duvets for over a year now. And honestly, our bedroom feels like a completely different space. The moment you touch these sheets, you'll get it.

14:55They're incredibly soft to start, but they literally get softer every time you wash them. They're made from 100 % organic cotton. So they're super durable and they're breathable, which is perfect for piling on cozy layers without turning into a furnace at 2am. This is hands down the best bedding I've slept on and I'm so genuinely excited for you to try it. Start building your sanctuary of comfort this fall with Bowl & Branch. For a limited time, get 20 % off your first set of sheets plus free shipping at bowlandbranch.com slash golddigger. That's bowlandbranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D branch.com slash golddigger to save 20 % and unlock free shipping.

15:35Exclusions apply. And it's really interesting. I follow this one creator. Her name is Vanessa Lau and she was on the podcast and she took a year long sabbatical. Like she like shut down her business and took a year long sabbatical. And I remember when she came back, she had been a really incredible YouTube creator. She still is. And I remember something in her comeback video where she talked about how this is all like a beast. And the minute you stop feeding the beast, the minute you stop getting the rewards, like you have to constantly be showing up. And I would argue that YouTube is better than platforms like Instagram or TikTok, because at least YouTube has more of like the long form content going for it.

16:14But even in that, she talked about how the returns just quickly and drastically just cut down the second she stopped posting. She stopped getting her videos featured. They stopped recommending her content. It's like this whole system is built to just keep us stuck in this place of constantly creating and consuming and creating and consuming. And again, I sometimes think that that is because it keeps us so busy that we can't stop to just think and think about like, what is a different way? Is there a different way? Is there a better way? And I'm here to tell you that there absolutely is. So here's my question for you.

16:51My question is, what would it feel like to have your work work for you? What would it feel like to know that your business is working while you rest, while you live life, while you pursue other things? Now, I have literally been creating long form content for years. You might not know this, but literally the first place that I started creating was on a free WordPress blog. Over the years, I have published thousands of blog posts. And what most of you might not know is that when I started my business, I blogged Monday through Friday, every single day for years. I didn't miss a single day. I was that consistent.

17:35Now between my blog with thousands of posts and my podcast with hundreds of episodes, I have built this body of work that is so deep, that is searchable, that has been created intentionally and that is valuable. And what's so interesting to me, and a lot of times we don't even realize this is a possibility, is that even when I look at the monthly downloads for my podcast every single month, there is about half of the downloads that come from our new episodes. And about half of our monthly downloads come from past episodes, meaning episodes that I recorded months, even years ago, are still working for me and they're still helping you.

18:17Like I regularly get messages from people saying they discovered me from a blog that I wrote three years ago, or a podcast episode that they binged on a road trip that they just found. And what's more is that most of those pieces aren't just educational or inspirational. They convert, meaning they invite people to take the next step, whether that's to subscribe to the show or join my email list or sign up for a masterclass or enroll in a program or download a freebie. They're not dead ends in my business. They're doorways. And what I think that we fail to see is that in our content creation process and in the way that we focus on creating content specifically for social media, those posts are often dead ends.

18:59Sure. You might have a call to action in it to tag someone or to share the post or to comment something, but most of those kind start and end with the consumption of it. They're not necessarily creating a true experience for someone. They're not leading someone to a result or a quick win or to their next step. They are dead ends. And so we're spending all this time on these posts that live and die within 24 to 48 hours. We're not actually connecting them to true results. They're not really tied to an ROI. and they're not really making the impact that they have the potential to make. They're not reaching the people that we're creating for and they're sure as heck not getting people results that they can write home about.

19:43So this is the key difference between flash in the pan content and evergreen content. One burns out super fast and the other one builds a lasting business foundation. And when I look at what a lot of small business owners are doing and the studies around where our time is going, we are so fixated on the quick dopamine hits and the flash in the pan content that we're missing out on this whole type of content that can actually work while we rest, that can actually be serving people for months, if not years to come. And so if I were somebody that were starting a new business, or if I were like, dude, I cannot keep up the way that this business is going, this is not sustainable, I would start asking myself the question, how do I create a lasting business foundation?

20:34If I want to be in business a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, I need to make sure that the foundation is strong and steady and that every precious hour of my non-renewable time is going into places that are tied to a real result. Like take for instance, the story I told at the beginning of this episode, When all of a sudden I become a mom and my time evaporates, I am looking at time as my currency in a whole new way. I have been treating time as my currency for a very long time, but I feel like becoming a mom challenged me of like, hey, you've got an hour and a half window during nap time.

21:10Where is that going? And what result is that bringing? I started tying all of my efforts to actual things that move the needle. And that has changed my business. That is when not only did my business scale, but I actually felt freedom in my business. I felt like I could trust that I could take my foot off of the gas pedal and my business would continue to run. Like my business can run without me. Can yours? Like that's a serious question. So how do we start to think about evergreen content? So for me, basically anything that I create, especially when it comes to this podcast and my blog, anything long form content, I think about a couple of different key factors.

21:54So one, I think that it is relevant. So people that are seeing it today, it is relevant to them. They need this content. It's interesting and it's informative, but I'm also writing or recording it from the standpoint that if somebody finds this exact episode or this blog post months or years from now, what I'm talking about in it is still going to make sense. It's still valuable. It is still serving. And so evergreen content is the only way that I create because I don't just want content that lives and dies within 24 hours. I want content that will reach people, inspire people, educate people, and serve people for months and even years to come.

22:37So how do we do this and why does this matter? So I want to talk about what I am calling the quiet powerhouse. There is a platform that could quietly be sending traffic, and by traffic, I mean real humans, real eyeballs to your content, to your work, to your website, even to your social media or your podcast or your YouTube channel while you are logged off. It is Pinterest. Now, I have been teaching Pinterest marketing for over eight years. I have helped over 25 ,000 entrepreneurs learn how to use Pinterest, not just for pinning pretty things and their dream outfits and their favorite places to go on holiday.

23:18I'm talking about using Pinterest strategically and how to leverage it to give their content a longer lifespan and to help their content be evergreen, meaning it is living on and driving real results in the future. So Pinterest is this incredible platform. Most people use it as a place for inspiration. And heck, I love Pinterest. The other day I was talking to some friends and we were just talking about how social media can very quickly trigger you or put you in a funk or make you feel less than or make you question your everything, whether it's your parenting style or the way your business is going or the hair color that you're choosing.

23:55And my friend goes, you know what? Pinterest has never made me feel like that. Pinterest is a safe place for me to go on and scroll and enjoy. And I was like, you know what? You are so right about that. I don't think I've ever doom scrolled on Pinterest. But beyond that, Pinterest is a search engine. And so a lot of people treat Pinterest as their inspiration boards, or they treat it as a piece of social media, right? I think that visually, a lot of times, if you go to somebody's website, you'll see the little Facebook icon, the Instagram icon, the Pinterest icon, and we just naturally group all of those things together.

24:30And so we look at Pinterest as a form of social media, but Pinterest is a visual search engine and Pinterest is the quiet powerhouse behind sending 10 to 15 ,000 visitors to my work, meaning off of the platform and onto the places and pages that I own on the World Wide Web. I am talking about my blog, my website, my sales pages, my lead magnets, my podcast, my Instagram. 10 to 15 ,000 people are landing on those places that I designate every single month from Pinterest. And the cool thing is, is it's not just sending people to the content that I just released yesterday. It's sending people to content I created months ago.

25:17So get this stat. This will absolutely change your mindset when it comes to Pinterest. So we just talked about how most social media has a 24-hour lifespan, right? Pinterest pins typically get half of their total engagement in the first 13 months, meaning the half-life of a pin on Pinterest is 13 months. That is over one year for a single pin. Now, if you compare that to the 24-hour lifespan of a reel or a post on social, it should become clear to you which one gives your content more room to live and breathe. Now, beyond just the longer lifespan of a pin on Pinterest, what is incredible is that you can create multiple pins for a single piece of content.

26:12Why does this matter? There is no limit to the amount of pins I could create to promote that one piece of content. So let me ask you this, what is easier? Creating one piece of content, whether it's spending two to three hours on a reel or recording a podcast episode or writing a blog post or recording a YouTube video, what's easier? The actual creation of that content or just creating some new assets to promote that content. I can literally create 10, 15, even 20 pins in about 20 minutes. And so when you start to think about the average lifespan of just one pin being over 13 months and you think, okay, it takes me about two minutes to create a graphic for that.