When it Comes to Content, Are You the Captain or the Cargo?
When it comes to creating content for your firm, you’re either the captain steering the ship, or you’re the cargo being carried where someone else wants you to go.
How and what you communicate determines your audience, your perspective—your entire firm’s trajectory. It’s the flag you drive into the ground to declare your intentions. It’s the engine that propels your company forward.
In other words: The content you publish is one of the biggest factors in setting the direction your firm will go for the next 10, 20, 40, 100 years.
Which is why I’m always surprised to see so many advisors abdicate their role as captain of their “ship” to other entities that force them to say things they don’t actually believe or don’t care about.
In this article, I want to look at the two most common ways advisors lose control of their content:
By using canned content
By feeding the algorithm on social media
The S.S. Canned Content
Advisors who publish canned content inadvertently allow their firm to be the cargo on someone else’s ship. As a result, they’re being taken where someone else thinks it should go. They’re building the online reputation, SEO, and presence that someone else thinks an advisor would want.
I’ve heard countless RIAs say that they started their firm because they wanted to create a firm that was all their own, where they could serve the clients how they wanted, operate how they wanted, and speak how they wanted. Then they go and hire a canned content service to write their blogs, emails and social media posts.
It probably doesn’t feel like a big deal at first. Canned content checks a box, allows you to update your site, gives you something to share with your list…
But as any captain will tell you, if the ship’s wheel is just one degree off course early in the journey, you will end up hundreds of miles from where you want to be in the end.
The Algorithm Express
I was on LinkedIn the other day when I happened upon a video from a financial services guy who posts a lot. At the beginning of it, he said, “I posted about this topic the other day and saw an increase in engagement, so I thought I’d post a little more about it.”
I had seen his earlier post, too, and when I saw it, I thought, “This is pretty far off topic for him.” He was talking about a social issue that had nothing to do with his area of expertise, and now that the algorithm awarded him for it, he decided to double-down and go even further down the path.
I don’t really care about the topic he was talking about—it didn’t offend me or anything and I’m all for people sharing what they care about.
It was his opening line that threw me for a loop. This topic has nothing to do with my core competency, but it got me a little bit of that sweet engagement action, so I’m gonna talk about it even more.
It might seem like no big deal, but this person decided in that moment to let an algorithm tell him how he was going to run his business, what he should talk about, and what is valuable.
In reality, there are only two people who can tell you those things: you and your client.
By reacting to the algorithm rather than his clients, this guy took a backseat in his own business.
In other words, he was no longer the captain.
So what are you supposed to do? Say it with me…
Be the Captain
I said it at the beginning of this article, and I’m going to say it again because I believe it is so important:
How and what you communicate determines your audience, your perspective—your entire firm’s trajectory. It’s the flag you drive into the ground to declare your intentions. It’s the engine that propels your company forward.
Don’t get me wrong, canned content and algorithm-feeding will get you somewhere. But it won’t be where you want to go.
Being the Captain Requires a Commitment
The most attractive feature of canned content is that it’s done for you—you don’t have to spend any time thinking about it, planning it, researching it, or writing it. As someone who writes thousands of words every week, I understand the appeal. But the tradeoff is not worth it. By letting someone else speak for you, you give up your most powerful differentiation tool.
If you want to be the captain, then you’re going to have to be involved in creating your content to some extent. There’s just no way around it. You don’t have to write every word, but you’ll need to help think through the content and make sure they get your perspective right.
Are You the Captain or the Cargo?
The trajectory of your firm is up to you. Are you behind the wheel or along for the ride?
