You're not a media company... yet!

You hear so many people tweet out saying, "Every company is a media company."

Those tweets aren't wrong; they just lack the context of most brands' situations.

The truth is, most brands don't produce enough content to be a media company.

And even if the brands had enough content, most don't have the systems to publish the content.

Have no fear - today, I will help you build a system to be a content machine.

We will start small today, and over time you can scale up!

Step 1: Pick one or two platforms/mediums to create content

When people hear the "wisdom" about building a media company, their minds jump to the biggest names like Forbes, Morning Brew, Verge, and others.

The issue is that those companies have been scaling for years, and they also aren't selling a DTC product which is your primary business, so you can't compare them to yourself.

But people do compare, or they create unrealistic expectations for their brand.

Starting out, your brand cannot be everywhere.

It is just too dang hard, and honestly, less is more when you start creating content.

This brings me to step 1, pick one or two platforms you feel comfortable creating content on, and you know your ideal customers are at.

Don't pick a platform because some Twitter guru told you to - pick them because you know you can create your best content for that medium and platform.

Step 2: Create a weekly posting schedule

Come up with a simple posting schedule with your team (maybe that is just you for now).

Make this a priority and commit to this schedule. 

If you can't commit to this schedule or creating, any advice later in this newsletter is worthless.

Pick an amount of content you know that you can easily hit each week.

You need to pick a platform and medium you like the most because when creating gets hard, you don't want to build on a platform you despise.

Step 3: Research

Pick four brands that you look up to that do a great job creating content on your chosen platform.

For one week, look at all of their content, past and present, and write down why you liked their videos or photos.

Start to understand why you are attracted to the brand's content on a deeper level.

As you watch their content, find ways to take similar concepts and remix them for your brand.

Step 4: Start to create content

You researched and have taken notes. Now it is time for you to hit record.

Start to create content based on your schedule for two months.

Be consistent in creating the content. 

Over time, you will learn what is working and what is not working. Be analytical with your content just as you were with the brands that inspired you.

Ask yourself where you can improve or determine what the customers resonated with.

Each brand will have a different customer response, so there is no one-size-fits-all plan for content.

Step 5: Build out the same system for paid media

Lastly, you want to repeat all of these steps when you do this for paid media.

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) is sometimes an excellent indicator for static ads, but this metric is not always helpful for a video ad.

For video ads, I look at three metrics.

3-second watch timeAverage View DurationClick Through Rate

Use these metrics to look at your ads and create better videos and photos.

Start to test different concepts or re-edit videos to improve the metrics and conversion.

Step 6: Add new channels and platforms

Not every company situation is the same, but a clear indicator of when you are ready to expand platforms is when you have locked down:

The brand's storyThe brand voiceWhat resonates with the customer

You might be thinking to yourself, "I already know this from the business plan I put together."

Plans are great, but once you start posting and testing creative, you will see that the story or voice might have to change.

Once you find a lot of success, you can easily translate your story and voice to a new channel.

Bonus step: Organize your photo and video files

The more organized your files are, the better off when you scale.

If your files are on your phone's camera roll and an outside team asked for videos, you're screwed.

Save your future-self time by being organized.