Psychology
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Shawn Buttner: [00:00:00] Ever feel like your best ideas get ignored? You spend hours crafting content, but instead of engagement, you get silence. Worse, when people scroll past your work a few times, they start to build a habit of skipping it entirely. And if you don't fix this habit, your audience just Your audience won't just scroll past by today.
They'll forget you exist tomorrow. So, how do you stop the scroll, create content that people actually care about, and build an audience that people and build an audience that sees themselves in the work you make? The answer, simply, is psychology. Both yours and your audience's. So, what we're going to learn today in this episode of Creators That, One, how audience [00:01:00] psychology determines whether people stop scrolling or keep scrolling past you.
And two, the three mindsets every creator needs to beat or risk staying stuck. Because great content starts with you. Let's dive in. Welcome to Creators that Crush, the show that helps you move from crushed to crushing it as a creator. I'm your host, Shawn Buttner, a certified high performance coach and fellow creator, here to help you figure out the difference between a crushed and crushing it creator.
Now, before we jump in, this episode was kicked off by Alright, let's jump in. So this week I was on a walk, like I do, listening to podcasts, trying to get ideas for this show, and people I can highlight that are creators that are [00:02:00] crushing it out there. And I started listening to an episode of Creator Science, which is hosted by Jay Klaus.
So shout out to Jay, um, he's a great example of what we'll cover in today's episode. Um, Jay had a guest, Kate Boy, um, Jay had a guest, Caitlin Boyon, Boyon, I'm totally butchering that name, my apologies, Caitlin. Um, and they shared how she thinks through content creation using the example of a chocolate covered almond.
Now, If you think of your content as the almond, the chocolate around it that makes it so irresistible that people can't help but take some of the chocolate covered almonds out of the dish every time they walk by is consumer psychology. Right? If I could add a drumroll sound, I'd do that just now. But, um, and it's [00:03:00] Consumer psychology used for good and not evil, right?
Because compelling content requires you to understand the psychology of your audience. And you need a punchy psychology yourself to be the best you so your content resonates with your folks. The people that your show, your content, your books are right for. So, we're going to start with Asking the question, why do creators need to know consumer psychology to make compelling content?
Well, without knowing how to get people to see, your audience can never be. And no audience means you don't have the impact you have, er, that means you don't have impact in the world by changing and transforming the lives of your audience members. Or does it mean that you can provide for your family if Content creation is your career, or for yourself for [00:04:00] the satisfaction of knowing that people are reacting and resonating with your ideas, your work, your personality, you know, we pour our heart and soul into the things that we make and try to do the best job we possibly can.
And it's nice to know that people appreciate it or understand it, or sometimes they hate it, but most of the time, you know, like most. Creators have such a heart of service, and so we want that feedback. So how do we get people to see our works? First, it's integrity, right? You have to deliver what you say and help people with a generous spirit consistently, right?
And this is done by the promise payoff loop, meaning that and I hope I'm I'm doing a better job. With Creators that Crush, but you say you're going to deliver something and then you deliver it, right? And [00:05:00] you want to do that for each big idea in your content. That could be a chapter in your book. It could be a section of your YouTube video or podcast.
It could be the post that you do on social media. And, you know, consistently Promising that you're going to help someone and then paying off and delivering high value is the easiest and most straightforward way to build trust with an audience. Um, and so Jay and Caitlin talk how incredibly important it is for you to have your hook dialed in, right?
Uh, so promise payoff could be the hook. And if you're curious, like what makes a good hook, uh, my podcast coach, uh, at grow the show recently had me take a look at episode four of that show too.[00:06:00]
And so if you're looking for something tactical around the hook, uh, for some homework with my podcast coach at grow the show. He talks about the five minute hook, where you have to, for each episode of a podcast since that's what he focuses on, but you can think of it as for each piece of content that you're creating, you need to deliver the idea for the piece, you have to introduce the creator and why that creator or the person who made the work is the one to talk through this idea for you as, you know, Social proof, credentials, expertise, all that kind of good stuff.
You have to deliver the episode idea and what listeners get out of listening to the idea. Hopefully I did that very clearly with this episode. And you also want to spark curiosity and relatability. So, it's kind of a three point structure that Kevin talks about in that episode, which I'll have linked in the show notes [00:07:00] below.
So you can go check that out if you're like, Ah, I really want to work on hooks. Um, Evan Carmichael also talks about, like, YouTube hooks. I mean, there's a million people that do, but, um, nailing that gets your work at least seen, right? The other thing that they talked about in that J. Klaus Creator Science episode was that you have to end effectively.
And this is taking advantage of the recency effect. Meaning the thing that you last feel and remember about a piece of work sticks with you. So if you can stick a strong beginning and a strong ending, you'll have what I like to call, or what I heard at one point, I don't know who to credit this to, um, content that haunts you.
As creators, we want content that haunts you every day because it shifted how you thought, or felt, or saw the world. And how do you get content that haunts you then? [00:08:00] Well, you have to teach people how to think about themselves, their relationships, and the world. And so, some examples of content that haunts me to this day, right?
I think about, anytime relationships come up, the Love Languages book. Because it classifies different kinds of relationships and what people are seeking in them, right? Words of affection, it's um, acts of service, quality time, um, appreciation, and I think I'm forgetting one, right? But I know that anytime there are people that I, friends or family that are having relationship problems, I think of this book because not only is it identifying how people love, you know, their love language.
help you identify how to show them [00:09:00] love. It also gives you an idea on how they'll probably show you love unless you have a conversation. And so, it's impactful, right? I can't unsee that. And, but, whatever you think about the book, uh, I think that core idea is very, very helpful. Second thing that haunts me, literally, is the movie The Sixth Sense.
Still, to this day, if someone says, I see dead people. You know what you're referencing, especially if you're older, maybe if you're younger you don't know, uh, I see dead people. You know the hook at the end of that movie that blew everyone's mind when that movie came out, um, and it sticks with you. And Thirdly, third example, the chocolate covered almond, right?
The reason why this episode was created is I was thinking about Jay and Caitlin's episode together. And so I was thinking, how could I filter that through the Creators That Crush lens? And so [00:10:00] That's why that stuck and that's why I've been thinking about this particular episode on psychology. And then finally, one of my mentors did a training on how to make a great episode.
An episode was how he used content, so chapter, YouTube video, podcast, all that kind of stuff. And it's to end with a fridge quote or memorable metaphor. Which I will do at the end of this section here to illustrate that. So, that's how you make content that haunts. But what happens when you consistently hook people with good value and end strongly, right?
This is the ultimate win for a creator. This is what creators that crush do all the time. It's utilizing the psychology of the halo effect. And, uh, essentially People start to associate you with good [00:11:00] things. Now this is like basic brand building. So if you scroll on Instagram and you see a post from Shawn and you're like, hey, that was really insightful.
Hey, like this is helping me Feel better or work more effectively as a creator. Cool. The next time you see something from me, whether it's on social media or an email or shows up on your podcast app, you're like, oh, it's Shawn. That's super cool. I'm gonna listen to what he has to say. I'm like, oh, my head, my mind was blown about the talk about psychology today.
Let me continue, you know? And so You get to a point, and this is, if you notice any big creator, right? They have this halo effect working for them, where if a Hormozy, or Huberman, or, um, you name it. Big podcaster, big YouTuber, big business person, you see, hey, they said something. There's a certain amount of people that will just [00:12:00] automatically buy the book.
Watch the three hour podcast because they trust the person and they know that they deliver value with character and heart. Um, from the episode of creator science that Jay and Caitlin were on, uh, Jay talked about this is the trigger craving habit reward or payoff type framework, right? So, the C. Posts, it's a trigger for them.
They're like, Oh, I want to hear what this guy has to say. That's the craving They now have a habit of doing this and that and then they are rewarded with the good content and the cycle continues and so You become the trigger for a habit in these folks So for the next piece of content, this is my challenge to you today come up with With at least [00:13:00] one fridge quote to end your content and for this section, the fridge quote is become the trigger you want to get into that halo effect thing with your audience and become the trigger.
That's how you do it. Become the trigger. All right, become the trigger. I'll say it one more time. Um, okay, moving on. So that those are. Okay, so that's two psychological, um, two psychological ideas that, okay, so that's two psychological ideas to coat your content almond with chocolate, which is the promise payoff loop and the recency effect and, um, the halo effect.
So. [00:14:00] Edit. Alright, so the three concepts we just covered were the promise payoff loop to start and get people hooked into your content. The second is the recency effect. So to end strongly. And then those build the halo effect for your content, which gives you instant credibility with people so that they will consume by and love you forever as long as you continue to deliver value.
So become the trigger.
That's why creators need to create a punchy psychology for themselves, right? And they do this through the three mindsets, because your psychology is filtered through everything at it. Your psychology [00:15:00] is imbued in everything you create. And you can think of it like washing clothes in water, and your mindsets and emotions are dyes.
And dyes can be great when you have a specific colored shirt, you want to write a very sad song, you put blue dye into the water, you have a blue shirt. Awesome, but it's trouble when your intentions get warped by the color of the water. You want to do a bright, yellow, uplifting piece of content, or a yellow shirt, and it comes out brown because you're dumping all of these other emotions into it.
So what causes unemotional dying? These are the three mindsets to look out for as a creator. It's fear. And the One example I'll share with you today on that is, if you've ever felt you've needed to tone down or change content because you're worried for getting hate for saying it. Because it's too political, it's too [00:16:00] edgy, it's too strongly worded.
Uh, these, that's just fear coming out and preventing you from following your instinct as a creator. And not all instincts should be followed, but, um, We can talk about that later. Second is imposter syndrome. You feel like Second, edit, edit. Second is imposter syndrome. Have you ever copied someone else's like format, style, or strategy at the expense of your voice, your perspective, your values, or your reasoning?
Or have you ever wondered, should you post at all because you're copying others? Well, if somebody does this and posts on every platform imaginable and created, even MySpace, then I should too. Then you're not, again, [00:17:00] allowing your
Then, you know, that imposter syndrome is preventing your unique voice from showing up in your work, which is naked. It's much harder to create high quality work. And then perfectionism. Have you ever delayed releasing content because you knew you were missing the one thing? And if you launch or hit publish and people found out that you'd get rekt, you'd feel shame or a whole bunch of other feelings that go into why people are perfectionist, or perfectionists.
Again, it all comes down to fear. Um, these three mindsets generally hold creators back that I've seen in my career as a coach, um, and they have you holding back, changing your voice or ideas or doubting yourself, which then shows up in how in the things that you make. So how do creators keep the water [00:18:00] clean or with the color that they intend?
They develop these three mindsets. You need a courageous mindset to battle the fear mindset, and you can do this by asking yourself. And when you find yourself and catch yourself holding back, ask yourself the question. What would happen if I was more bold with my idea or more bold with my content and just play that thought experiment?
You know, what would you gain if you were more bold with this idea? A lot of times, you You'll find either you're doing it just to say the thing, and like, you're being, you think you're being courageous, but you're just angry about something and you want it out in the world. And you're like, oh, maybe, like, what do I have to gain from this?
Like, it just pisses people off. It's not worth it. Or you're like, no, this is a principle I'm going to stand on, [00:19:00] and the right people will be attracted to it, and the wrong people will be repelled by it. And that's a good thing. Um, second mindset. Um, I call it the poster mindset. So I was thinking like imposter would be the opposite of imposter.
You just drop the M. That's poster. It's actually poster. But what was really funny about that is if you look up the definition of poster it's someone that puts up a outward facing piece of art or notices. And so, if you feel doubt in yourself that you don't belong because you're copying other people's stuff, or you've lost your voice, you gotta remember the difference between an imposter and a poster.
And that's the publish button. And in particular, who hits the publish button. [00:20:00] It's imposter by the way. You overcome imposter syndrome by doing and getting out in the world and seeing what happens. So remember just if you feel like you're an imposter keep publishing, keep creating, keep, and I'm cheering you out here, and this is also for me.
I've recently become a lot more perfectionist in my business, and I've been working through it myself, so it's top of mind. But publish, get out there. Nothing Is going to kill people unless you're a doctor being extra careful. There's special training for that. So anyways, hit the publish button, um, to battle.
Thirdly, third mindset to battle perfectionism, adopt incremental mindset, right? You have to think of your published work as an advancement of your thinking. And something you will revisit and refine and find new angles as you. Go forward [00:21:00] and that helps you battle perfectionism because the work is never really done.
You could work on one piece You know one article or one book forever, or you can continue to develop the idea and you come up with future versions or side Bonus books or whatever it is. So your published work is an advancement of your thinking So now you might be thinking to yourself, how do you develop these three mindsets, right?
So if those are examples of how it kind of looks, um, I'll say there's the three word exercise in the previous episode, which I'll link in the show notes, which is to help you define and live into your highest ideals, which if you're living into your highest ideals, you're going to tend to be more courageous.
You're going to, um, push through any fear you have. Um, You're going to be okay with making mistakes, as long as it doesn't violate your values, which [00:22:00] is why I brought that up. And we won't go into that exercise right now, because I did that in the last episode. Um, Two, all three can also be developed if you ask yourself this one question, so here's the new thing, if you were listening last week, is that you need to understand who in your life.
Needs you to show up with excellence. Is it the audience for your speech or for that piece of content that you're writing? Is it your family needing you to show up so you can earn the cash that feeds everyone and keeps your home together? Is it your friends and coworkers in just needing a cool level headed person out there in a world that's really chaotic and upsetting, right?
We become the better, best version of ourselves generally in service to other people, which is why I love this question and why I put it here for you. So [00:23:00] if you want to feel like you belong, you want to feel like you are advancing your knowledge or you want to feel like you're being more bold, you'll do that because of your audience, your family, your friends and your coworkers.
And then finally, like work with a coach. You know, we are terrible at figuring out our own psychology, so, um, talking with someone that has a process, uh, is generally really helpful. But to end this section with a fringe quote, because I'm gonna, um, embody that habit this episode for sure, and hopefully going forward, is to be bold, publish, and improve each time.
Now. Great creators don't go it alone, and even the best have blind spots. And that's where coaching comes in. I help creators like you gain clarity, confidence, I help creators like you gain [00:24:00] clarity, confidence, and momentum using the High Performance Coaching Framework so you can create with more joy, growth, and impact.
You want to see how it works? Let's co create your personalized creator strategy plan in a free strategy session. In one call, we'll uncover five habits that can help you break through what's ever holding you back or whatever you're struggling with. So, I only have ten spots open this month. A couple of them have already been taken, and they go fast.
So, grab yours now at ShawnButler. com backslash apply before they're gone. And link is in the show notes. Alright, so let's put this into action, right? Assuming that you're a creator and want, and a creator that wants to crush it. Um, take a look at your last five pieces of content. Are they just plain straight up almonds or are they [00:25:00] chocolate covered almonds?
DM me at ShawnButler on Blue Sky. Or find me on YouTube and tell me one thing you're changing about your content this week and I'll feature my favorite responses in next episode. So great content starts with you before you go and create your next piece of content. Ask yourself, will my audience see themselves in this?
And remember, become the trigger and be bold, publish and approve each time. Keep creating. Keep connecting and I'll see you all in the next episode.