There are many benefits to why you should get your voice heard. Personally, my favorite is the potential impact you could have on the lives of so many others. Imagine, you have a skill, idea, experience, knowledge, talent, passion, expertise, information, or hobby that could help another human being, if not more. The best way to start making an impact is by providing value to the public.
Another benefit of why you should get your voice heard is that you could potentially turn your expertise, skill or passion into a payday. How cool would that be to have an online presence where you are providing valuable information about an area that you are passionate about and at the same time, make money. For me, that is what I’m going after and the point of this new podcast series that I’ve started this year. I’m making daily steps towards putting a lot of valuable information out to the masses so they can learn, grow and open their eyes to the opportunities they may not even be aware of. For you, it could be something that you have experienced. For an example – say you have a hobby in looking up ailments on WebMD, but what you have found is that many of the things you read don’t necessarily apply to all and some can produce an insecurity to those who also search out their own ailments on WebMD. Now I’m not calling WebMD out, because I too, use WebMD when I have something going on. I’m merely using it as an example. So perhaps you come up with 100 reasons of why people should not use WebMD to diagnose their own medical issues. These reasons could potentially help others follow the proper strategies on figuring out what is wrong with them, along with not providing a false sense of truth when each individual is so different from the next. You also provide them with benefits of using WebMD for a spot check, but not for the final diagnosis. Say, you take this information and you do some videos and place them on channels like Facebook, InstaStories, YouTube, and other outlets – before you know you, you may have an audience who values the helpful information you are providing. These channels, can be monetized. You’ve heard me talk about the people on YouTube making millions, including many children. Well, anyone can start a channel and see incremental payouts based on ads and other income opportunities. Don’t you want a piece of the pie too? I know I do. And all you have to do, is figure the messages that you already have inside your head and run with it. Pretty neat, isn’t it.
One of my online businesses is to partner with people and help them extract the information out of their head and into course and information product form, then we build an entire sales funnel around it and cultivate it so that it has the best chance for monetization and ultimately it becomes an income stream for both of us. I have several Joint Partners that I’m working with this year and the best part is that they all come from all different backgrounds and skillsets.! My Joint Partners have backgrounds from yoga to accounting to coaching to diet and others. So this idea of getting your voice heard, is not a cookie cutter, you have to be in a particular industry sort of model. This applies to everyone including you. And some tell me they have nothing to say, but they are wrong and I can’t wait to prove that to people.
There are three main ways to get your voice heard. Depending on the type of person you are, will determine which way is best for you to begin.
#1 WrittenMany people love to consume content through the written word, typically through blog posts. So if you think you would love to get your message out to the world through a blog, then that is what you can do. There are free sites out there if you don’t already have something set up. Some people may have a WordPress site, SquareSpace, Weebly or Wix site and you can easily add a blog to one of these website builders. However, if you don’t have a website – no worries. You can use a website called Medium.com where their tagline is a place where words matter. Medium is a publishing platform where people can read important, insightful stories on the topics that matter to them, as well as share their own ideas to the world. To read Medium, the membership is a mere $5 per month or $50 per year. However, what is nice is that you can start your own blog on medium free, as they would love to help get your message out to readers on their site…and they have millions. And we spoke about monetization before, Medium even offers you a way to get paid to write stories, just look at their partner program. I personally, love blogging. I am not that great at grammar nor am I that great at writing in general, but nonetheless, I still enjoy putting my thoughts into word format. I think I do write somewhat poetically and my corporate marketing and communications experience has afforded me with the “how” to say things properly, but I certainly don’t pride myself of being the best at copywriting or grammar. So if I can get a blog going, anyone can…because it is all about your message – who cares if you don’t spell something correctly or have a super long run-on sentence. Honestly, there are always going to be haters, but I believe it has nothing to do with you – haters are haters and were probably bullies in grade school. I feel people should never judge others and be respectful of each person’s unique beliefs, skills and efforts. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything, but why show hate, when you can merely show love. Okay, sort of a tangent, but the point is that you just start writing. I have enjoyed writing blog posts and I hope you will too.
#2 AudioSome like more audible channels. I personally, really enjoy listening to audio. I can put my ear buds in and listen while I’m doing housework, working out, or driving. So if you are like me, and enjoy hearing audio messages, then you may like podcasting. Right now, you are hearing my podcast and honestly, it was the easiest thing to get started. I use Anchor.fm which is free (YaY) and you can use your computer or your mobile device. You record directly into the app and hit publish, it is literally that simple. If you need help with designing Podcast cover art, I’d be happy to help you by providing you with a template you can use. Soon, I will be adding some of my favorite templates to the site, but in the meantime just go to my website advancedonlinemarketer.com and shoot me an email using the contact form. Another great thing about anchor is that you can monetize your podcast using sponsors – as you hear my short commercial talking about Anchor.fm, I get a cent or two every time it is played. Sure it is pennies, but other time and as I build an audience, pennies turn into dollars and possibly more! So podcasting is a great way to get your message out there. I am going to talk about podcasting later this week for those who are interested and want some tips. An example of an easy way to record a podcast is in your car while you drive to work – just choose a topic daily and start talking. So look out for some more tips soon.
#3 VideoMany people today are visual learners and they love watching videos of messages. How many of you like to watch hours of funny cat videos? Ha ha, well, so do so many people out there today and why video is so popular. If you are comfortable on camera, then shooting videos is a great way to get your message to the masses. Not to mention all of the free options like Facebook, YouTube, InstaStories and many many more. And with the mobile technology that is available today, your cell phone is fully ready to take high quality videos that are perfect for your channels. Note that each channel requires a different dimension, but you can just start with one channel and grow to use the rest. Another popular one today is live video. Facebook, Instagram and now, even YouTube have a live video feature where you can film yourself live to the world. Me, for 1, am terrible at live video. My first Facebook live, I was sideways and now in the group, I’ve been coined as sideways girl, haha. My second attempt at Facebook live, I was sideways again and on the third try, I did better. But honestly, I am not a fan of FB lives. I’m also not a fan of watching FB lives – which is something I need to work to like because of their popularity. I just feel there are way too many facebook lives going on and I miss a lot of important information from the influences and friends in my FB network. But that is me – right now live video is the rage. I am also not great on camera…one reason is because I literally wear workout clothes and have my hair in a bun on a daily basis – oh the joys of having a remote corporate job from the convenience of my own home office. I also fumble over my words, lose my train of thought and mommy brain tends to show herself more often than I’d like. However, there are so many of you who are naturals on camera – you just have a presence and I say go for it. Video could be your secret sauce.
So which of the three should you do? Well, I can tell you that if you have no preference – I would tell you to do video. Why, you ask? Well, video is a trifecta in my book. What I mean is that video goes a longer way because your videos can go on numerous video channels. Then we can scrape the video and turn them into podcasts. Then we can transcribe the audio and turn them into blog post. A trifecta effect! So one day, I may go that route too. For now, I am sticking with Podcasts and Blog posts. But you have to also consider your comfort level – which one is going to be the easiest habit to get into.
A major consideration in choosing is how does your audience like to receive information. If your target market is fitness, they may like video more than anything else. If your target market are music lovers, they may love audio more. If your target audience are book lovers – I bet blogging is a great way to get in front of them.
You may be wondering what I do. Well, I am not great on the fly, so if I am going to do a podcast, I sound great in practice mode, but the minute I hit record I turn into a blubbering mess – I stumble over my words, I have long awkward pauses, I say And and Um way too much and I lost my train of thought a lot. For me, I need to work on being able to talk on the fly for audio and video. So my method is to write a script first and then record audio for a podcast second, followed by adding the script to a blog post. This works great for me and I’m enjoying it. I also tend to load up on episodes when I can. I may sit on the couch and write several episode scripts in one sitting, then record them all in another. I also schedule episodes on anchor and schedule blog posts on my blog so they automatically publish when I say for them to be published. For instance, this blog post and audio script was developed on Friday January 11th, but it won’t be released until the 13th. My goal is to get really far ahead, meaning I have a month’s worth of content loaded up and scheduled. With my crazy busy life, you never know what will happen and I won’t be able to record audio or write for a week or so at a time. And most importantly, I just started and here I am finishing up week 2 – yay!
So what about you – you ready to get your message heard? Technology has made it easy for you to do so, so now you just need to make it a priority. Happy to help if you need advice or guidance, but my big takeaway would be for you to just start!
You may be wondering what I do. Well, I am not great on the fly, so if I am going to do a podcast, I sound great in practice mode, but the minute I hit record I turn into a blubbering mess – I stumble over my words, I have long awkward pauses, I say And and Um way too much and I lost my train of thought a lot. For me, I need to work on being able to talk on the fly for audio and video. So my method is to write a script first and then record audio for a podcast second, followed by adding the script to a blog post. This works great for me and I’m enjoying it. I also tend to load up on episodes when I can. I may sit on the couch and write several episode scripts in one sitting, then record them all in another. I also schedule episodes on anchor and schedule blog posts on my blog so they automatically publish when I say for them to be published. For instance, this blog post and audio script was developed on Friday January 11th, but it won’t be released until the 13th. My goal is to get really far ahead, meaning I have a month’s worth of content loaded up and scheduled. With my crazy busy life, you never know what will happen and I won’t be able to record audio or write for a week or so at a time. And most importantly, I just started and here I am finishing up week 2 – yay!
So what about you – you ready to get your message heard? Technology has made it easy for you to do so, so now you just need to make it a priority. Happy to help if you need advice or guidance, but my big takeaway would be for you to just start!