SEO: Sucking Enthusiasm Out of sharing ideas

Why sharing content isn’t as easy as it seems.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve decided to hop off the hamster wheel for a moment. Not because of intense sadness, nor for the glee of the holidays.

I just grew tired of pretending.

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Usually, I’m not one to complain about algorithms or new social media platforms. That’s because I don’t want to transform into a get-off-my-lawn kinda person when the world around me changes. But, admittedly, I started to indulge in liking some Negative Nancy-type threads about how posting to Instagram feels like screaming into the abyss lately.

In reality, all the social media platforms feel like screaming into the abyss. Even the gratification I usually feel posting on my favorite platform, Miss Pinterest, feels futile.

But why does it feel this way?

For non-content creators, there’s this powerful strategy that helps get your content to the right audience. It’s a strategy called SEO: Search Engine Optimization. 

There are experts that can explain this much better than me, but in essence, it’s all about crafting and optimizing content that’s helpful, entertaining, and inspiring. SEO encourages purposeful writing – writing answers to questions someone’s seeking, implementing keywords that folks are searching, etc. 

However, in this style of writing, it really eliminates the writer’s narrative voice (with exception to food writers, in my opinion. We all know to scroll past the writer’s life story to get to the actual recipe).

Now, why would SEO strategies discourage a writer’s narrative voice?

What’s implied is a harsh reality: 

Readers don’t care.

When you are searching for answers to your problems, people are not looking to learn more about a person’s story. Maybe even folks are not looking to understand the context of why you’re doing what you’re doing nowadays. Especially not on a blog.

Readers want quick answers to their inquiries.

Death to old school blogging.

With that being said, social media used to be a refuge from this. As a creator, you got the chance to show a peek behind the curtain, to get to follow the story of creation. 

For my niche, I tend to share raw footage, the reasons why I do certain projects, and more on social media. I’d figure out my project and share on IG, working out the kinks to create a finished product. Then, I’d withdraw most of the personal narrative voice from it, and transform it into a how-to guide that shows up on the blog.

Thus, blogging ain’t dead, it just lacks the narrative voice.

Likewise, SEO has been a phenomenon on social media platforms for a while now, but it feels that it’s dominating the landscape more than ever. Moreover, on social media, SEO has an additional twist.

Social media SEO likes controversy. Yes – he/she/they is a messy queen who lives for drama. So, to drive engagement, you probably will benefit from pissing people off with a hot take or doing a project so wrong that people are forced to call you an idiot several different ways in the comments.

Strategies for successful social media reach mirror what we bloggers implement:

• Don’t make it about you.
• Use trending audio, keywords, and holiday moments.
• Share educational, inspirational, controversial, or helpful content.
• Be an expert in your niche.

Y’all – I have a few confessions to make.

• I find it hard to not make my content about me because, well, I’m doing the work for me and my home.
• I don’t celebrate all of the holidays, especially not the most profitable ones, so I don’t make content based on those moments.
• I do make educational content, but I’m not a person who makes hot takes. I certainly don’t enjoy pissing people off on purpose.
• I don’t consider myself an expert at much in my entire life. I see myself as a student first in all things.

Essentially, SEO has been Sucking Enthusiasm Out of my work.

This entire year, I’ve been ignoring these personal truths. It’s been nagging at my gut and nipping at my heart. I’ve felt like an imposter at times, especially with the expert thing. In honesty, I have held true to not doing the holiday things and avoiding the controversial takes, but there are consequences to that.

In totality, I think the consequence of how I conduct myself is the feeling of screaming into the abyss.

Because I don’t follow all the trends and don’t adhere to all the SEO tips, I don’t reach as many people.

But, the real question at the bottom of it all is, why do I want to reach people? Why have I put in hours of studying, purchased many courses, and scrutinized hundreds of pieces of my own content?

To be continued…

Sincerely,

Felicia.

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Content creators: Why do you want to reach people? Non-creators: How do you discover content that you like? Let me know if you feel compelled.