What is “Value” When it Comes to Creating Content
Every time I sit down to write a blog posts (or my newsletter, or a LinkedIn post) I mull over whether what I’m writing is actually worth sharing.
In other words… is it valuable?
This idea of “giving value” has become quite the hot topic / overused phrase over on LinkedIn.
So some smart pals and I decided to dive into this question of What is Value on a LinkedIn live last week.
And while the intention for this conversation was to come in with a light agenda for a more free-form conversation, I couldn’t help but prepare a few things I wanted to share. (I’m working on my overachieving nature…OK!?)
Which led me to ask myself… how DO I decide whether something is worth sharing.
I realized there are three boxes I need something to check before I hit share.
1) Is it important?
2) Do I have a point of view?
3) Could it help one person?
It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
In fact, I’ll steal my friend Mel’s words who wrote up her takeaways from the event with ⚡️ lighting speed ⚡️
So many people (especially new creators) get overwhelmed with the want to help EVERYONE.
They rack their brains, trying to find that super unique point of view, and when they can’t find one, they decide not to share.
Those three questions are all it takes, IMO. If it’s important to you, you have a perspective, and you think it can help one person (even if that person is you, sometimes!) share away.
Someone will be reading or listening.
Someone will find value.
I’ll also call out what is NOT on my checklist:
- Do I have all the answers? (LOL – if you haven’t noticed, my posts and emails are a lot of personal sharing and ideas, but rarely am I like this is exactly what you should do!!!)
- Do I have a completely fresh take on brand new topic? (people need to hear things from different people in different ways — maybe the way I communicate about something that matters to me will be how someone needed to receive it)
- Do I think most people will like it? (I heard a quote recently that “what other people will like is an unknowable thing to you.” And I try to remind myself that being likeable isn’t the goal… and that’s hard, because this people pleaser LOVES to be liked.
Do I still get caught up on whether what I have to say is “valuable” – all the time! But I’m getting better at moving through it. And in the meantime, I’ll be here producing content and doing my best to share information that is important to me.
