29: Should You Jump on That New Platform? 3 Questions to Ask Before You Add More to Your Plate

Feeling the pull to jump on the “next big platform” because you saw someone go viral or an expert swears by it? Before you stretch yourself thinner, this episode of The Creative Bodega will help you pause and get strategic. I’m walking you through three key questions to ask before adding any new platform to your plate—so you can avoid burnout, keep your systems solid, and make moves that actually grow your business. If you’ve been tempted by Threads, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Pinterest, this one will help you decide if now’s the right time—or if it’s a “not yet.”

To see the full show notes for this episode, click HERE!

Things I cover inside the episode:
✨ Why a new platform won’t fix a broken content system
✨ How to know if your audience is actually there (and how to find out)
✨ The #1 platform I recommend focusing on before adding anything else
✨ How to make sure new platforms align with your content style and energy
✨ My personal decision-making process before launching this podcast

Resources & Links Mentioned in this Episode:

🎧 The Content Trifecta Episode + Blog Post
How I turn one podcast into a full week of content

💌 Start and Grow Your Email List from Scratch – Join the Waitlist
A simple, stress-free way to build your list even if you’re starting from zero

Connect with me:
🫶🏼 Follow me on Instagram for daily insights
🫶🏼 Join my 321 Create Newsletter for weekly content tips
🫶🏼 Check out The Content Coven Membership

Be sure to hit "Subscribe" or "Follow" so you never miss an episode!

Transcript

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If your current content process for what you've already committed to feels chaotic, it's stressing you out. You feel like you're in reinventing the wheel every week. Adding on a new platform is gonna make that 10 times worse. Like literally. Trust me on this. I'll say it again. A new platform is not gonna fix a broken system. It's just gonna spread you thinner. Welcome to the Creative Bodega, a podcast about content marketing, Instagram growth, and personal branding for female service-based sole entrepreneurs. Who wanna grow their business without letting it take over their lives. I'm your host, EM Connors, and each week I'll share actionable tips, expert advice, and unfiltered truths to help you create engaging content, connect authentically with your audience and turn followers into loyal customers. All without the burnout. If you're ready to simplify your content creation, navigate the ever changing trends and build a business that works for you while staying sane in this crazy season of life, then you're in the right place. Should you jump on to that new platform? Three questions I want you to ask before you add any more onto your plates. We all know. We are busy. We are busy. We don't, you know, most of us don't even have time for what the heck is on our plate right now. So I want you to ask yourself, are you feeling that itch? You know, the one where you saw like somebody go viral on TikTok or an Instagram expert is now swearing by LinkedIn or Threads. That's what I'm hearing all the time now. And now you're thinking. Maybe this is the platform that's finally gonna make my content easier or help me get more eyes on my business or make me more money. I want you to like pause before you stretch yourself any thinner. I want to walk you through three really important questions that I ask myself. That will save you time, energy, and burnout before adding another platform onto your plate. Because chasing that next shiny platform without a plan, it's not a strategy. It's a full on distraction that's gonna make everything else that you're already doing in your business a lot more stressful. So let's talk about what will actually make sense for your brand and how to figure that out. So let's just normalize some things real quick. Okay. Like we've all felt that pull, I mean, I have, I just heard somebody say that like 75% of their sales came from threads, and I'm like, oh really? That's so interesting. Or I have people tell me that I'm crazy, like not to be on LinkedIn. That's the other one I'm hearing 24 7 or video is king. Long form video. You're crazy for not being on YouTube. Trust me. I've heard it all. People have told me all of this unabashedly. They're very happy to tell me what I should be doing, but I always just say, okay, I'll think about it. Because if you're already juggling Instagram and trying to stay consistent there, and you might be sending out a newsletter now. Then maybe you've dipped your toes into podcasting, which high by the way, I heard people, most people don't get past five episodes. And this is episode. What episode is this? 29. Episode 29. So by the way, let's just plug this now. If you need any show notes, the created bodega.com/blog/ 29. So pat myself on the back for that. That's a big deal. But. You know, you're, you're doing these things, but you're not doing'em great. You're juggling in Instagram, trying to stay consistent, sending out a newsletter here or there. Maybe somebody told you you should podcast or somebody told you you should be on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn threads, you guys, you name them. Then suddenly you're like questioning it all and you're like, oh my gosh, I need to do this. I need to get on here. Been there, done that like so, so often. And look, it's not wrong to try something new. I'm not over here like, don't ever try anything new. You crazy people. No, but adding a platform on can be like adding on a new part-time job. So you have to ask yourself. Is this the right move for me right now? And when I try to figure this out, there's three questions that come to mind. Okay? There's three very important questions that I want you to answer, yeses, emphatic yeses to, and that will tell me that you're ready to add on to what you already have on your plate. Okay? And actually, this is not on here, but I'm just gonna say this. I show up on Instagram feed and stories consistently, and I send my newsletter every week. If you are showing up one place consistently, I don't care where it is, but you don't have a newsletter yet. That's what you should be doing. Forget every other platform. Honestly, forget it. Start your email list immediately. Like without a question. What I would, 1000000% put any extra time I had in would be to email. If you have no idea how to get started with making an email list or what type of newsletter format to find, and you love my newsletter, or you love the way I teach, please join me in my next round of Start and grow your email list from scratch. It will literally teach you from start to finish exactly how to do it in just a few weeks. I'll put the link in the show notes. Just join the wait list. Okay. That's, I'm not like making you commit, but get on the wait list so that you can hear about when it comes out next. It might be this fall if I have enough interest. So anyways, so, sorry, I digress. First question you have to ask yourself, as long as you have one platform going steadily and a newsletter or email list, do you have a system that's already working? For what you're currently committed to. So this is your gut check. If your current content process for what you've already committed to feels chaotic, it's stressing you out. You feel like you're in reinventing the wheel every week, adding on a new platform is gonna make that 10 times worse. Like literally, trust me on this, I'll say it again. A new platform is not gonna fix a broken system. It's just gonna spread you thinner. So if you're. A not posting consistently on one platform like Instagram, that's where you should be spending your time and energy figuring out how to make that happen. B, if you are posting consistently on Instagram and it's not yielding you any results, you need to really look into your messaging and the problem you're solving and make sure that it's all very clear how you help people. So that's a messaging problem, for example. When I first launched the Creative Bodega, things felt really aligned for like I I, they felt really aligned. I had Instagram. I love being on Instagram personally as a consumer, and I love showing up on Instagram. I have my batching rhythm down pat. Okay. Then I added my newsletter and I got momentum there, and I came up with a really concrete system, which I teach you, and start and go your email list if you wanna join me. So three years in. I started to think, Hmm, I think I can add something. Three years, right? And I just got so good at what I was doing with those two platforms essentially, that I felt like I could add something on. And so when I really thought about it, I took my audience, I went into my Instagram polls and I went into my newsletter and put polls and I said, where are you? Where are y'all hanging out? Right. Like I, I, I know you're on Instagram, but aside from that, if I were gonna do a YouTube channel, a podcast, or get on Pinterest, which one are you most likely to find me and hang out? And they voted. And Podcast one, and I was so excited because for me, I had to think about what I love. I love talking. I love talking in my stories so much. If I could just do that all day long, I would. So then what made the most sense? Talking more, finding a platform where I could continue talking, but for longer than one minute. You know, or 30 seconds. So a podcast made so much sense, but I had my system, so I had have, have present tense, my system so buttoned up for what I was already doing, showing up on my Instagram feed, showing up on my Instagram stories, and sending a weekly newsletter without fail. That starting a podcast felt like more of like a natural extension of what I was already working for me. So. Before you jump, just really look at your current systems, please with, with a very honest perspective. If it's shaky or draining you or you're feeling burnt out, pause. Right? Fix your foundation first. Your foundation has to be so solid. And then adding on that next platform could be a really great move for you. Um, question number two, is your audience even there? Is your audience there again, I asked mine, where are y'all hanging out? Where do I need to be? And obviously I only gave them options of places that I would consider going. I don't wanna be on threads or Twitter or X, whatever. I don't like to read words. I like to see pretty things. That's what lights me up. I'm the most visual person in the world. I don't wanna read your thoughts to be really honest, so I don't wanna be there. I don't, I don't want to put words out there and I don't, I don't wanna read your words. So for me, threads, it doesn't make sense. So I want you to really think about is your audience there and, and does it excite you? The thought of being there, is it the type of content that you like to make and put out there? Most of us don't actually stop to ask that question. Is my audience even there before jumping onto the next thing? Just because a platform worked for somebody else doesn't mean it's for you. So don't get swept up in the hype please. You need to get swept up in like the alignment, like what feels really aligned with you, where you like hanging out and where your ideal client is. Every platform's gonna have its own energy, right? Its own content style, and its own audience behavior. Tiktoks, not Instagram. LinkedIn's not Pinterest. Twitter's not threads. So before you spend hours learning a new platform or strategy, ask yourself are are my people there? And better than even asking yourself, ask them. Hopefully you have a very engaged audience that will reply to you like I do, which is like the most amazing thing in the world. And if you don't, you should probably join my membership. But that's a story for another day. I really thought about my girl. I thought about my ideal client, and I'm like, she's busy. She's busy, and sitting down and watching a YouTube video and really getting into it, probably not in her wheelhouse at this stage of life. It's not for me. I'm not sitting here watching YouTube videos, but I'll go for a walk and I'll listen to a podcast or I'll do dishes and listen to a podcast. I'm a, I'm a mom. Entrepreneur. I'm a multitasker, so that's what works for me, and I think that's what works for a lot of my ladies. So go where your people are. Okay? Not where the algorithm looks fun, or it's just like the platform flavor of the month, which if you asked me what the flavor of the month was right now, it'd be threads and LinkedIn is what I like. Can't stop hearing about. I don't know about you, but question number three, can you reuse and adapt the content you already have? So this is a huge one and it's where most creators burn out. To be really honest, it's easy to say like, oh, I'm just gonna start a podcast and I'll just repurpose it into these seven things. Oh, really? How? How's that gonna look? How's that gonna work? Let's be honest, there's a difference between tweaking content and reinventing the wheel completely. So, you know, even with this podcast, like a lot of people have said to me, you should be doing video. You should be just, you should just, I love when something starts with that sentence. You should just do your podcasts, like record it with a video and then put that on YouTube. And I'm like. Well, here's the problem with that. Like right now I'm recording my podcast. I have absolutely no makeup on, which is how I prefer to be. The lighting in my office sucks. Like I don't wanna be on video. I don't wanna add that extra layer. And when I think about having to quote unquote get ready to record a podcast, I feel, uh, I feel very resistant to that. And I don't wanna feel resistant to my podcast'cause the way I'm doing it right now. I love, and it feels so light, and it feels fun, and it feels easy, and that's how I wanna keep it. I'm not sitting here saying, I will never, ever, ever record a video podcast. I don't know, maybe I'll change my mind, but right now it's not in the cards. It's not in the cards for me, and it doesn't sound easy. So the way I love to record podcasts, no makeup record anytime I want, and adding in that video element just makes me resentful. So I ended up saying Pass to YouTube, video podcasting. For now. I put my podcast on YouTube, but it's just audio and people listen to it. It's like shocking to be honest, but. I want you to ask yourself, can I copy, paste, tweak this content for a new platform? Or am I gonna need a whole new tech, new platform, whole new energy?'cause that's, that's a whole other thing. You know what I mean? And if it's the second one, maybe it's just a, it's a not yet for you. Right? So those are the three questions. Do you have a system that's already working? If not, start there. Please gut check yourself. Be honest. Start there. Number one, you're on a platform consistently like Instagram, and you feel like you've got things under control and you can add something onto your plate, or you are not even able to post consistently on Instagram, and therefore you need to button up your systems in order to make that happen. Or the third option is you're showing up consistently on a platform like Instagram and you're not getting engagement, you're not growing your community, people aren't talking to you, and that's. That's disheartening and that's a messaging problem, and that's something that I would love to help you with if you wanna come hang out with me in my membership. Question number two is your audience even there, take the time. Poll people. Do the research. Do the research. Mine is not on YouTube. They're going on YouTube to search something real quick to get an answer to something. But even that. They kind of said, not really. Not really there. So if I got on YouTube, who am I gonna be attracting? I'm not really sure. I don't think it's like the busy entrepreneurial, like moms out there that I'm like trying to hang with. You know what I mean? And question number three, can you reuse and adapt the content you already have? That's a really, really big one. And again, that's where most creators are going to burn out if the answer's no. So for me. I have a podcast episode all about what I use, how I use my podcast transcript. I will link that in the show notes. It's called my Content Trifecta, and it is working so well. It just makes me get a huge smile on my face'cause I, I love everything about it. Right now. I am loving everything about podcasting 29 episodes in, and I am loving. How all my content works together at this point. Like my system's good, which is actually why I am kind of like, could I add something else? I know I'm crazy. But, um, yeah, that's what I got. So when I launched this podcast, I was in a really great place. I had the space, I had the ideas. I hired someone to help me figure out the systems and get me up and running. And that was. 10 million times worth it. If the platforms you use to love start to feel like pressure cookers, that's probably your signal. Not maybe to quit. You don't need to quit, but you probably do need to spend some time reevaluating. So that's what I got today. Here's your action steps before you hop onto any new platform because somebody told you to or somebody had success there. Do you have the system that's working already for what you're committed to? Is your audience even there? And can you reuse or adapt the content that you already have to use there? And if you've answered no to any of those, guess what? You are not failing. You're just gonna be strategic and maybe not add something onto your plate at this time. Right? So if this episode hit home, if it any aha moments, shoot me a dm, let me know what platform are you tempted to try, or what platform do you think I should get on next. The two I'm considering are YouTuber, Pinterest, so let me know. Send me a dm. Let me, uh, let me know what you think I should do. Then I'll still think about it for probably 75 million days before I make a decision. Thank you for being here. Your business deserves content that works with you, not against you. Okay? So until next time, keep creating with confidence and ease, my friends. I will talk to you soon. Thanks so much for hanging out with me on the Creative Bodega Podcast. If you love this episode, please be sure to share it with a fellow solopreneur. Who could use a little content creation inspiration. And hey, don't forget to check out the show notes for any resources I mentioned on the episode to help you create content that feels easy and actually gets you results. If you want even more Canva and content tips, head over to my website, the creative bodega.com, or find me on Instagram under the same name. Until next time, keep creating, keep showing up, and most importantly, try and have a little fun with your content. I'll see you on the next episode.