Key ideas
- Innovation doesn’t just happen when you’re on the job—it can be the key to how you find one!
- You can use social media platforms like LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram in unconventional ways with incredible results!
Job searching can be difficult and discouraging. We may come across a job description that resonates with us or find a company whose core values align with ours, but competition is stiff. How do you make sure your résumé stands out from the rest?
One way is by approaching your job search and how you network differently.
One of the most unconventional strategies I always talk about is your name. When you’re networking, you’re trying to find a commonality between you and the other person. One way to do that is with your name. I guarantee you if you search ‘Todd, Google’ you’ll find a bunch of folks named Todd that work at Google. I used to reach out to everyone named Jonathan at Google. I’d say, ‘Hey, my name is Jonathan. I saw your name is Jonathan, too, and I’d like to connect.’ And it worked.
Jonathan’s mission is to turn underdogs into winners. He started Wonsulting a year ago when he realized that people from non-targeted and non-traditional backgrounds had difficulty being hired at their dream companies. He created strategies that helped them get hired, sometimes without even applying.
Someone from a non-targeted or non-traditional background attended a school where companies won’t partner with the universities to recruit their students. Companies typically focus on Ivy League or top-tier schools because they have all the candidates there that they could possibly recruit and hire.
Right now, the power is in the hands of the job seeker. There was a girl who was a student at UC-Irvine. She made a Spotify ‘résumé’ and posted it on LinkedIn, and it went viral. Spotify hired her. Literally, on the spot.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t deal with self-rejection or imposter syndrome in some way, but there are little (but effective) things you can do to overcome them. When you apply for a job and don’t hear back, many people focus on the lack of response, which compounds imposter syndrome. You should shift our focus to the responses you did get, and understand that there are millions of people on LinkedIn; why only focus on the one that didn’t respond? Reach out to more!
Another strategy to fight against imposter syndrome: Look at what your five closest friends are doing, because they reflect who you really are. They’re going to push you and encourage you to do the things that you don’t think you can do.
Jonathan’s strategies have been so effective that he now has roughly a million followers combined across LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram and reaches over 30 million people a month. Be sure to give his episode a listen and check him out on social!
Jonathan Javier
Jonathan is the CEO and founder of Wonsulting.
Links and important mentions
- Jonathan Javier on LinkedIn
- Jonathan Javier on Instagram
- Jonathan Javier on TikTok
- Wonsulting on TikTok
- Wonsulting
Stream episode 27 now, or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform below.
Episode transcript
Note: This transcript may contain some minor wording and formatting errors. Apologies in advance!
Todd Nienkerk: Welcome to The Future of Content. I’m your host, Todd Nienkerk. Every episode, we explore content—its creation, management, and distribution by talking with people who make content possible. Our goal is to learn from diverse perspectives and industries to become better creators. The Future of Content is brought to you by Four Kitchens. We build digital content experiences for ambitious organizations.
Today, I’m joined by Jonathan Javier, the founder and CEO of Wonsulting, and we’re here to talk about self-promotion and creating self-promotional content. Welcome to The Future of Content, Jonathan!
Jonathan Javier: Thanks for having me, Todd. I really appreciate it and I’m excited!
Todd Nienkerk: Likewise, likewise. So for those who don’t know what Wonsulting is, what is the elevator pitch? What do you do?
Jonathan Javier: Wonsulting, its mission is to turn underdogs into winners. So, Wonsulting started about a year ago, and it was actually when I was working in corporate, and I realized that so many different people, especially folks from non-targeted and non-traditional backgrounds, were trying to get into these companies but couldn’t get in. So I decided to start a company which would help bridge that gap between these underdogs and tu\r\n \them into winners. So basically, helping them get into their dream companies like the Googles, the Deloittes, the Goldman Sachs of the world and making it in ways where sometimes you can get in without even applying. So that’s kind of the elevator pitch.
Todd Nienkerk: So when you say non-traditional, non-target backgrounds, what do you mean by that?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so, especially those people who go to schools where companies will not partner with the universities to recruit their students. So for example, from the non-target school side, let’s say that, because I went to UC-Riverside, and a big Top 10 company would not directly recruit from UC-Riverside, but they would recruit directly from, let’s say, an Ivy League school because they have all the candidates there that they could possibly recruit and hire. So that’s the non-target side. And the non-traditional side are those people who come from first-generation backgrounds, from minority backgrounds, who are trying to get into these companies. So those are the gists of both of those fields.
Todd Nienkerk: Got it, okay. When did you discover that you had a knack for helping people get into jobs that might otherwise be inaccessible to them?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so when I was in college, it was so interesting because my dream company was to work in a big tech company. But the thing was, I was trying so hard to get in and I was never able to get in initially, but I was helping every other person get in, and I realized, I was like, oh, maybe that’s my goal. Maybe my goal is to get other people their dreams, and that’s my dream.
Todd Nienkerk: And when you say you help people get into these jobs, like, what tactically are you doing? You’re helping them work on their résumés and things like that, is that the gist of it?
Jonathan Javier: Exactly, résumé revisions, and I did it all for free, too. Résumé revisions, job search strategies specifically utilizing social media, especially with LinkedIn, and they’re very unconventional strategies. Like, I share a bunch, Todd, on TikTok and Instagram and I’ve grown to almost 1 million followers combined on my platforms just by sharing these unconventional strategies.
Todd Nienkerk: What’s an example of an unconventional strategy that you might share on one of these channels?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so one of the most unconventional strategies that I always talk about is your name. The thing is, when you’re networking you’re trying to find a commonality between you and the other person. So the way I found a commonality was with my name, Jonathan. I guarantee you if you search ‘Todd Google,’ you’ll find a bunch of folks that are named Todd at Google, and I used to reach out to all of those people that were named Jonathan at Google.
I’d say, “Hey, my name is Jonathan, I saw your name is Jonathan, too. I’d love to connect.”
Todd Nienkerk: You’re kidding.
Jonathan Javier: And it works. Everyone thinks it’s silly and ridiculous, but in fact when you try it out, it’ll work. And if you have a unique name, just say you have a unique name. Nobody is ever going to do that. Be the one percent. That’s what I tell people all the time.
Todd Nienkerk: That’s fascinating! So really, it’s— one tactic is finding something even as superficial as a name in common, and that just launches the conversation.
Jonathan Javier: Exactly, right? Because people try to make networking extremely complicated, where it’s like, okay, I have to go network with people from my university or organizations, which is a great strategy. But imagine you go to a non-target school or some school that doesn’t have alumni. You’ve got to find other commonalities, and that’s how I actually found them, by doing those different strategies.
Todd Nienkerk: Wow. So when you’re helping somebody with their résumé, and you’re helping them promote themselves on LinkedIn and other social platforms to be attractive for recruiters and companies that are looking to hire, that involves a lot of self-promotion, right? It involves people talking about themselves in ways that maybe a lot of people aren’t comfortable doing. Have you found generally that there’s a hurdle that people have to overcome when being self-promotional in that way?
Jonathan Javier: 100 percent. I think a lot of people don’t like making content because they’re scared of repercussions or people giving constructive feedback based on their content. And why I say that is because I used to feel that same way. What happens is, when you post content into the world, everyone’s going to see it, right? But the thing is, in our minds, and this is from my perspective, our minds are intertwined in regards to, like, “Oh shoot, like, what happens if someone disagrees with me?” When in reality, when I make content now, I know that someone will disagree with me. But do I look at the 99—do I look at the one comment where people disagree with me or the 99 comments from people who support me? That’s the most important part.
So, that’s why I tell people who are trying to make content, it’s okay if someone disagrees with you. You’re starting a conversation with people and you’re sharing your story, which needs to be exemplified, and hopefully more people can do it, especially in social media.
Todd Nienkerk: So in your opinion, the biggest hurdle that people have to overcome with regards to being self-promotional is simply that one percent effect of one nasty comment out of a hundred discouraging you from ever even starting.
Jonathan Javier: Exactly. That self-rejection part. And another thing too, as well, is not focusing on the engagement you get.
I know a lot of people will be like, “Oh, Jonathan, my post only got 10 likes. I saw this other person get 1,000.” What does it matter? I mean maybe if you’re promoting a specific product, okay. But the thing is, you cannot compare yourself to other people who are also making content. That is the most important aspect of it, because that will make you exhibit imposter syndrome which will de-motivate you to stop posting, you know?
Todd Nienkerk: Let’s talk about imposter syndrome because that shows up in some really interesting ways, all over the place, right?
So I think the interpretation of imposter syndrome that a lot of us run into has to do with, usually their job. Like, “I don’t know if I can work on that project because I’ve never worked on a project like that before. I need the experience in order to do the work,” all of that, and that kind of feeds into this narrative of like, “I shouldn’t be here, I don’t deserve this,” all of that. But when you’re— If we back up a moment, you’re not even in the job yet, right? And you’re starting to exhibit imposter syndrome. What are some tactics to like, work around that or push through that?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, I think that self-rejection and impostor syndrome is exhibited in everything, right? The thing is, it’s all about the confidence that you exhibit and the people you also associate with. I think what happens is, we will always try to, whenever we’re going to be doing something new, we ask for outside perspectives, and that influences us whether or not to do it.
So I remember early in my career when I was trying to make content, people were like, “Oh, Jonathan, you post too much.” Right? And then after I associated with people who were always making content, and they were like, “Jonathan, I loved your post today. This is my post,” like we shared similar values and similar content, you know?
So it’s very important. To get over that imposter syndrome by your five closest friends. They truly do reflect who you are. They’re going to keep pushing you to keep making content. And another thing as well is your habits. I post every day, Todd. I post on every platform, every single day. People always ask me, “Jonathan, how do you make 50 pieces of content every day?” It’s not that hard. You just have to think about it and just post. Post to bring reality to the world.
Todd Nienkerk: Let’s break that down a little bit. So what does that actually look like? You said 50 pieces; is that a real number, 50 pieces of content a day?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah.
Todd Nienkerk: Okay, I’m just curious. So for all the other content creators out there whose heads might be exploding, like, let’s break that down. Like, where do you start? You wake up in the morning, you’re going to produce 50 pieces of content. What does that look like?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so I actually pre-schedule a lot of my posts. So I’ll think about what my topic of the day is and I’ll specifically post it on my platforms. But the thing is, the mistake that people make is they make entirely different content for each platform. Content can be cross-postable, you know? So for example, I’ll go to TikTok, I’ll make a TikTok, which I’ve already made, probably in the past Sunday. I’ll make like 40 TikToks in a day, on a Sunday, right, for the whole week. And then what’ll happen is, I’ll post it on Instagram. I’ll post it on Instagram, then I’ll share it on my Instagram story. Then what I’ll do is I’ll go on LinkedIn. I’ll put my Instagram link into my LinkedIn, you see? So there’s always different pieces of content that you can cross-post on multiple platforms. Because what I think of all the time is like, if one platform is gone, what else do I have? That’s something I help a lot of people think of when they’re making content.
Todd Nienkerk: And that’s a genuine concern. I mean, this has happened to people, like Vine and all these others, right? That’s a real thing that happens.
Jonathan Javier: Exactly, right? I remember I used to be super big on LinkedIn. So I had about 70,000 followers on LinkedIn, like, and I got them in about a year, and one day, LinkedIn shut down for like 30 minutes. Only 30 minutes, right, but that made me think. I was like, if LinkedIn is gone, what else do I have? Where’s my reach? So that’s when I went to Instagram and started making content and then I grew to 163,000 followers in about three months. Which is pretty crazy. On TikTok I have about 645,000 now in about five months, and I just got verified about two weeks ago, which is really cool. It’s all about making content.
Todd Nienkerk: You mentioned a moment ago that content is cross-postable. And I think that’s something worth digging into a little bit because I am not a, you know, marketing and promotion aren’t the waters I tend to swim in very much, and as a result, my layperson’s perspective is that, “Well, if you’re doing a LinkedIn thing, it should be optimized for a LinkedIn audience. If you’re doing a whatever thing, it should be… ” So my intuition is you should be creating separate content for separate platforms, but it sounds like you’re saying, “No you don’t.”
Is that because different people just hang out on different platforms and so the Instagram people probably won’t see what’s on LinkedIn, and vice versa?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, that’s what you have to think of. So what I used to think of was like, “Oh, I think everyone saw my content.” So for LinkedIn, for example, maybe I’ll get 10,000 views on a post. Which is like, okay. But the thing is, I have about 100,000 followers, so only 10 percent of people saw it. If you post at the same time on different platforms, then people know, oh, Jonathan posted on every platform right now, let me go check out all this different content. So if they miss it on one platform they’re going to get it on another. So that’s what I always try to think of when I make content. I don’t think, “Oh shoot, these people are going to see the content again.” If the content is valuable, they’ll enjoy it.
Todd Nienkerk: So it sounds like a key part of your recruitment/job search strategy is producing content on social media channels—LinkedIn, Instagram, Snap, etc. What other aspects of content creation or editing do you do? You mentioned résumé optimization and maybe LinkedIn profiles, things like that? That’s also included?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so we do a lot of services through Wonsulting: résumé revisions, job search strategy, LinkedIn profile revisions, interview prep, all those different ones. So, yeah, we usually promote it on our different channels. And give discounts of course, too.
Todd Nienkerk: This may be kind of a naïve question, but— So, I’m an employer, and we receive and review résumés. Part of me wonders, how long do you think we’re going to be doing this? How long do you think the résumé is going to be a thing that we use as opposed to, I don’t know, whatever might come next?
Jonathan Javier: Personally, I think it’s going to be— It’s not going to be— The weight of it is not going to be as important as it is now, in the future, for sure. The reason why is a lot of these different platforms are changing the landscape. So for example, TikTok just released something in regards to hiring folks specifically from their platform, with video résumés, with video content, right? Because now, the power is in the hands of the job seeker. It’s not always in the power of the recruiter or the hiring manager. A job seeker, for example, there’s a girl who is a student at UC-Irvine, I forgot her name, but she made a Spotify résumé and she posted it on LinkedIn, and everyone was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s so amazing,” and it went viral. Spotify hired her. Literally on the spot. I think the reason they hired her, too— I mean her talent was amazing, but the thing is, it’s also a great PR move.
Todd Nienkerk: Of course you hire the person that made an innovative use of your own platform. Who better to hire?
Jonathan Javier: Exactly. Imagine they rejected her. What kind of scene would that be? That would be a terrible PR thing. So what I’m saying is, the power is in the job seekers. The résumé is not always the thing that’s going to get you through the door. There’s a networking aspect as well.
Todd Nienkerk: Fascinating. Since we’re talking about employers and hiring managers and all of that, what are some of the major mistakes that you see them making, or like, preconceptions that need to be shed, or something like that?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so I think that a lot of people mistake the difference between a recruiter and a hiring manager. The hiring manager is going to be your manager. It’s going to be the person that you’re going to be reporting to. And the recruiter is sourcing for the hiring manager, because obviously there’s probably thousands of applicants. The recruiter sources for the hiring manager, which allows the hiring manager to find those qualified candidates.
So a mistake that people make is that they’ll reach out to the recruiter expecting the recruiter to go view their résumé, etc. When in fact you could, but imagine how many messages a recruiter gets every day. Probably hundreds, right? So you have to think about who the other decision maker is on that team to reach out to, and that is the hiring manager and the hiring team, right? So you’ve got to think of that. And another thing as well, is people focus on the folks that do not respond. That is an error because that’s what exhibits imposter syndrome. Because you’ll be like, “Todd didn’t respond to me. I feel so bad about my day.” Look at all the other people who responded. There’s millions of people on LinkedIn. Don’t focus on the one person who doesn’t respond. Go reach out to more.
Todd Nienkerk: Let’s take a short break and when we return we’ll talk with Jonathan about creating compelling social media content.
[BREAK]
Todd Nienkerk: Welcome back to The Future of Content. Our guest today is Jonathan Javier, CEO and founder of Wonsulting.
So where we left off, we were talking about social media. You have, let’s talk some numbers. You have some impressive social media numbers. What are they? Wow us.
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so I’m about to hit almost, I think I’m almost at a million followers combined across all my different platforms and now having a reach of over 30 million per month, is amazing.
Todd Nienkerk: Wow. And that’s like, impressions?
Jonathan Javier: Impressions, yeah. A lot of the impressions and views.
Todd Nienkerk: Wow. Fantastic. So, what are the key platforms for job seekers these days? I assume that you’re targeting— What’s interesting about what you’re doing is, you’re having to approach this from two sides. Because you’re having to promote yourself and your business and your business is helping people promote themselves. So it seems to me like the content you’re producing is not only necessary for you to market your services, but it is a working proof of concept of the services you provide. Is that true?
Jonathan Javier: 100 percent. I personally think, and not to toot our own horns at Wonsulting, I think we set a lot of the trends that happen. Especially on different platforms. So for example, on Instagram and LinkedIn, we started doing memes every Friday. Everyone does memes now, that we know. So yeah, it’s like you said, it’s a proof of concept but it also just shows that a lot of the strategies do work.
Todd Nienkerk: Got it. So what are some of the popular platforms now and what differentiates them?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so, let’s just dive into three of them, which I usually use: LinkedIn, Instagram, and of course TikTok.
LinkedIn is a great platform to share your story and I think a lot of the stories do really well, especially on LinkedIn. Because a lot of people are trying to empathize in regards to other people’s stories. So what I do all the time is I post a lot of stories on there in regards to my own career or how I’ve helped someone. So it’s really good for textual-based content for people to actually read.
If you want video content or actual visuals, video content, you go to TIkTok, right? The attention spans of people, especially those in my generation for millenials and lower, which is Gen Z, such a short span of time. TikTok gives you that short span of time, in less than 15 seconds, to find something that you’re really interested in. I think TikTok is also the avenue if you’re trying to go for virality. Because for example, like, I have a blog about this, too, we hit 500k in about four months and now we’re at about 650k, right? The virality on that platform is insane. So definitely check out TikTok if you want to go viral.
And then Instagram too, as well. I mean, Instagram growth for me has been crazy. I grew to 163k in about three months and that was mostly just from repurposing my content from TikToks, from LinkedIn, onto Instagram. And another thing, too, as well, because LinkedIn was my biggest platform, I would always comment and say, “Follow me on Instagram.” So people would then go to my Instagram, so I moved everyone from LinkedIn to Instagram. So all those different things combined is what’s helped all of the social media growth and hopefully for listeners too, as well.
Todd Nienkerk: Got it. So what makes a successful Instagram post versus TikTok versus LinkedIn? When you think about those different platforms, what are you thinking about in terms of what do you want to get out of them? What would be a good result for you?
Jonathan Javier: TikTok is the hook. The first three seconds are the most important. If I look at a video and I make an educated decision on whether or not to keep watching it in the first three seconds, if I don’t like it, I’m going to scroll past. If I do, I’ll keep watching. TikTok is all about watch time, I think. So you have to make sure you have that hook in the beginning. So I’d save that part for TikTok.
For Instagram, for example, I think that a lot of people make different posts on Instagram. I personally post a lot of different videos on there and I put a lot in the description in regards to what that content entails. So people will read it, etc., and be able to digest that information. So I think that part of Instagram does extremely well.
And then for LinkedIn, like we said before, like, talking about stories. And it doesn’t have to be a story that happened like yesterday. It could be a story that happened five years ago. You could be like, “Five years ago I graduated from this school and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, however, this happened.” Whatever, right? So it’s kind of empathizing with your audience, right? Because if your audience can be like, “Wait, that happened to me, too,” they’re going to engage with it and be like, “This happened to me, too,” or, “Great story!”
So I’d say those three things on those three platforms are what helps it grow in scale.
Todd Nienkerk: What are some things that you tried that have not worked?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so TikTok, for example. Longform videos, they’re usually not that good. They’re usually not that good if it’s standalone. I think that 60 seconds, especially with having someone’s attention span, is significantly long unless it keeps providing you value. So that’s why, for me, I don’t really do that many longform videos on TikTok. Another thing, too, as well, is, for example on Instagram, or actually, every platform, you have to identify what your niche is. That’s probably a buzzword that a lot of people hear—identify your niche, right? But the thing is, you really do. Because, like for example, Todd, the reason why you’d follow me is probably because of job search, correct? But would you follow me if I was posting in regards to like, I don’t know, let’s just say clothing? Probably not, right? Like, imagine you have two different niches and people are like, “Wait, I don’t follow this person to look at clothing.” See what I mean? That’s why when you’re trying to build your platform, you identify your niche, then you see, like, whether or not to incorporate other niches into it or not.
So I changed my Instagram from being just job search to also being my personal life, you know? So it’s that mix of different things which allows you to grow.
Todd Nienkerk: And does that allow you to grow because people start to identify with you more personally and therefore are— Is that why that works?
Jonathan Javier: Exactly. I think they get a glimpse of what your life consists of and it then has them feel like, “Oh wow, I’m kind of a part of Todd’s life; I’m a part of Jonathan’s life.” That’s why I think that, like, a lot of people, for example, like, will have sometimes two separate accounts—one for business and one for personal. What I say all the time is, whenever you post something, make sure that you’d want everybody to see it, not just a specific secluded niche.
Todd Nienkerk: Are there any emerging trends that you’re seeing in the social media space that you feel are either particularly good or particularly worrisome?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, I think a lot of people are incorporating an influencer strategy into their companies. I think a lot of people are hiring influencers to promote their products. I get hit up all the time for influencer sponsored posts, etc., which is good and bad. So you’ve got to just make sure like— For me, I don’t accept every sponsored post, because like, why would I post about macaroni and cheese when all of my followers are job search, you know what I mean? Unless I incorporate it in somehow, mix it. I don’t know how I would do that, you know what I mean? That’s one thing.
Things that are bad on social media? Oh, LinkedIn for example. I’m telling you, Todd, last year I would post some great strategies, how to get a job. Those don’t do well anymore. It’s weird, they don’t do well. I think what does really well is, like I said, the stories, the empathy. Things that people can empathize with and be like, “I feel you.”
So that can be good and bad considering that people want to empathize with each other, but also like, it’s always good to, like, share strategies to help people, you know?
Todd Nienkerk: Yeah. Hmm. I’ve noticed on LinkedIn that there are a few people that I used to work with in the digital agency space—web design, development, app design, things like that—who have shifted more into a professional consulting kind of capacity, and this might be helping people with their agencies or, you know, or just tech jobs in general, or whatever it is. And I’ve seen them try all kinds of different things, you know. I’ve seen like, the really emoji-heavy posts and I’ve seen, like, the things that, you know, have like a line and then they do a lot of line breaks so then you have to like, expand it to read more. Those always struck me as a little gimmicky.
What tactics have you seen, or what fads have you seen come and gone, that you felt were effective, or not very effective?
Jonathan Javier: It’s funny that you mention the line thing. A lot of people do that. And they’ll spread out their things like I can’t read it or something.
Todd Nienkerk: Yeah, it’s like three words per line, and I guess it’s supposed to read like a poem? I don’t know.
Jonathan Javier: Exactly. Yeah. I know exactly what you’re talking about, Todd. And a lot of those stories are fake. I think what a lot of the, like, yeah— I remember there was someone who kept posting this story and I saw it three times, and I was like, wait, did all of you interview this person, or was it just this person, right? So I think the saturation, especially for LinkedIn, is that some people will just copy each other’s posts and just post it as their own content, which is fine, but the thing is, if we keep seeing the same story, we’re going to be like, who actually did it, you know what I mean? So that part. I think that LinkedIn, for example, pictures used to not do well. I think pictures do really well now. Because it just shows kind of your side of personal things and just visually. I think that they’re pushing out more. That’s just from my perspective. But yeah, a lot of these different platforms—a little side note—a lot of them are pushing out creators, right? Like Instagram just, I believe that they’re pushing something huge on the creator side. LinkedIn, they just did creator mode, which is kind of like, I mean, it’s whatever, honestly. They can improve on it soon.
Todd Nienkerk: What does that mean?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, so they identify you as a content creator. And so, for example, for LinkedIn, it’s kind of very super new. But it’s basically like hashtags you identify with that are part of your niche and then also it just showcases at the top of your live. Which is, super, like, it’s not defined yet.
But for TikTok, for example, for creators, you can see the analytics side in regards to your content. You can join a creator marketplace where people can promote through you and pay you based off that. There’s all these different integrations, especially with the creator side and influencers.
Todd Nienkerk: I see. So it sounds like what’s happening is these platforms have realized that they have created an opportunity, a workflow, and that they’re getting cut out of it because all of this stuff is happening you know, back channel or like, off the platform, right? So they want to identify the people who are monetizable and then build the platform that allows them to directly negotiate with advertisers or to better promote their content or etc., right? Is that what’s going on?
Jonathan Javier: Exactly. Like, for example, let’s say State Farm. Do you know who does State Farm, who does the advertising for State Farm, like the people who usually are in the ads? Chris Paul. Chris Paul is usually in every ad. So now, like, I like Chris Paul, so I like State Farm, right? Same thing with different companies, you know? Like Sprite, like maybe, like LeBron James. Sorry, I’m a basketball fan. Well, LeBron James always does Sprite commercials. I think it’s Sprite or 7-Up, one of the two. But I’ll be like, oh shoot, I like Sprint and 7-Up now, because if LeBron likes it, that means 7-Up and Sprite is good.
Todd Nienkerk: Right. Advertising! It works.
Jonathan Javier: Advertising for the win!
Todd Nienkerk: Well, let’s leave with this one: Where do you see the future of self-promotional content headed?
Jonathan Javier: Yeah, I think that from my experience and just from seeing it, especially on platforms, a lot of people are opening up more to posting content. The reason why I think it is, is because a lot of people, for example, during these times especially, don’t have much to do. So they just post, and they’re influenced by their friends to post because since their friends post, they should post too, as well. So I see a lot more people making content on LinkedIn. It’s a little bit more saturated than before, because there weren’t as many active users. But now, there’s a huge ton of active users. Not only on LinkedIn, but also TikTok, right? TikTok, before, it would be so easy to get a million followers. You could have one video that blows up and you could have a million followers, just because it’s viral. But now, since the market’s so saturated, it slowly gets there. You’ve got to make more content. So I think the future is, people are going to keep making content. I think there’s going to be a lot more collaboration between content creators. Like, for example, doing stitches, doing remixes, collaborating. If you notice, a lot of the content creators who make content also comment on other content creators’ content. They’re all friends.
Todd Nienkerk: Right. Well, thank you so much, Jonathan, for joining us today. How can our listeners contact you or learn more about what you do or seek your help?
Jonathan Javier: Of course! Well, Todd, thank you so much for having me. Hopefully this was insightful. I would say reach out to me on Instagram, actually: @Jonathanwordsofwisdom. Definitely reach out to me, say you found me from this podcast. Or you can reach out to us at hello@wonsulting.com, and our website is wonsulting.com. We have a ton of different services and hopefully we can turn all of you from underdogs into winners.
Todd Nienkerk: Thank you, Jonathan. It’s been a true pleasure.
Well, I’d love to hear from you, yes you, dear listener. What do you want to learn about the future of content? Feel free to send show ideas, suggestions, or examples of the content you create. You can email me at future@fourkitchens.com. We’re also on Twitter: @focpodcast.
To learn more about Four Kitchens and how we can help you create, manage, and distribute your digital content, visit fourkitchens.com.
And finally, make sure to subscribe to The Future of Content so you don’t miss any new episodes. Until next time, keep creating content.
Making the web a better place to teach, learn, and advocate starts here...
When you subscribe to our newsletter!