“Introverts don’t shout at the world, they listen!” -Jayne Thompson.
The day I learned the word “introvert”, I finally understood myself completely. I had spent my entire day reading, researching, and taking every test on introversion. Finally, I understood why I don't fit in with most of my friends, why I enjoy my own company most of the time, and there is nothing wrong with me.
I grew up in a "culture of personality" where everything is designed to cater to extroverts. For example, we were always encouraged and rewarded for working together, speaking up, or asking questions in schools. Likewise, we were promoted and rewarded for marketing ourselves with outgoing personalities at workplaces. Sometimes, we had to pretend to be extroverts in order to fit into the system.
Technology and this digital age have empowered introverts to thrive and connect with everyone on their own terms. This is becoming a golden age for us to connect, share, and help others with different communication options while living in our own quiet mind, choosing our own terms. This is why introverts are thriving in content creation. The unique characteristics of introversion help us capture our audience with authentic and insightful content.
I recently had a very interesting session with Francesco Ciulla about introverts and content creations. During this session, one of the questions that came up was, being an introvert makes us better at content creation or not. So let's dive into some of the unique strengths that help introverts excel in content creation.
Introverts are good listeners
We introverts always prefer to listen more than talk. We only voice our opinion when it's necessary. But, unfortunately, most of the time, most people never truly listen anymore. Instead, they wait to react immediately or voice their opinion.
When we listen to our audience deeply, we can genuinely understand their needs and problems. As a result, we'll be more empathetic and closer to their minds. This helps us customize our content with different perspectives providing multiple solutions for their problems.
The same way you listen in real life, start listening to conversations on the internet. Find the social media platforms, forums, content platforms where your relevant topics are popular and observe the discussions. This could be Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, or any other platform that you frequently visit. And use your superpowers of listening and observing skills to notice the things that others might not notice.
Once you patiently listen and understand each perspective, you can develop a solution for these problems and share. When your audience realizes that you listen to them and provide solutions for their problems, they start trusting you.
Introverts get straight to the point
We introverts hate small talk so much and unnecessary details. So we always find ways to authentically communicate and hold attention throughout the stories that we share.
In today's world, everyone has a very short attention span. Reading through long paragraphs or listening to endless details will quickly discourage someone from reading our articles or listening to our podcasts.
Use this superpower to structure your content with creative yet straightforward language that your audience will not have to spend much time to get to the important points and a summary of your message that you want to communicate.
Introverts love helping others
Since we are deep listeners and more empathetic, we tend to help others. This makes us want to share our knowledge with others and help them genuinely.
Professionally or personally, you can create authentic and valuable content for your audience to share your knowledge and help them rather than providing redundant content for the sake of content creation.
For us, it's not about clickbait. It's about the real value that we add to our content to help someone!
Don't be shy or scared to share your thoughts if you think that you can help someone with even a small word. Your readers will appreciate your support. But think twice whether you are adding real value to your content. If you really want to help, the value matters.
Introverts don't want to be in the spotlight
As introverts, we never care about being in the spotlight. Instead, we give credit to our teams or shift the attention to our work.
So when we create content, we never shift the focus to ourselves. This helps us win the trust of our audience and make them listen to us.
Be more mindful when you are creating content. Always think about the purpose and the audience when you are creating content. The more you understand your audience and the purpose, the easier it is to shift the focus and truly serve the purpose of their needs.
If you use storytelling as your content strategy, avoid gold plating and be authentic. Shift the focus of your story for your audience's need rather than highlighting yourself or the product too much.
Introverts take time to react
As introverts, we like to process information before reacting to anything asap. So we usually don't react to any comments quickly without processing the data and having a solid answer. This helps us to win our audience's trust in our knowledge.
Also, this quality is beneficial when dealing with critics and negativity. We can take time to process our feeling and thoughts carefully and decide whether to react or not.
Introvert or not, sometimes you can be very sensitive, but when you come across negativity and trolls, it's better to avoid engagement and not take it personally.
Introverts enjoy solitude
Without great solitude, no serious work is possible - Pablo Picasso
For us introverts, solitude is the source of our energy and quality work!
We get our most creative ideas, think deeply, and be our authentic selves when we are alone and away from the noisy world.
It's important to listen to your readers and understand them, but when you create and present your content, you need to have your own opinion and be authentic to win their trust.
This means understanding yourself, what you believe in, what you stand for. This is the time we can use to understand ourselves, connect with our minds, and find our authentic voice.
Dedicate this time in your calendar for deep thinking and content creation so that you will start using this time as a habit. It will help you avoid procrastination and be consistent with your content creations.
Photo by Clark Tibbs from Unsplash.
Technology has empowered us introverts and facilitated new communication platforms to thrive with our unique strengths. Now it's time for us to understand our strengths, leverage them to create better content, and thrive as content creators!
I hope this post helps you understand your own strengths and how to use them to create better content. If you have any more things to add to these qualities, I would love to hear from you 😊