We’ve lived through a pandemic, a whacky U.S. economy, and just a tad of social change. So what if you want to start down a different road with your blog content? Do you need a new blog and new website address? Maybe. Or, can you make a switch with your current blog? I’d like to share how one content creator made the switch. And as Grandma would say, “It’s a doozy.”
One of my favorite YouTubers is Jenna Phipps. Her videos over the past several years have focused on crafting and clothing and crocheting. She’s a twenty-something who was making clothing and crochet that felt young and relevant. This year she switched content and it’s brilliant.
Her first video goes all in with the intro “So, I recently just bought an abandoned house.” Why? “Because it was cheaper than a living house.” Her deadpan delivery is perfect as she stands below a collapsing ceiling. Six months ago the last posts feature sewing and jewelry crafts and then… BANG… content changed.
You may wonder how a crochet vlogger could change to home reno and keep her followers. Apparently crafty people like reno too (and not just the fluffy home decor stuff). A million plus followers are watching Jenna and her boyfriend Nick uncover poor construction, water damage, and do their own demo… and more demo.
I think Jenna is something of a disrupter to the home improvement genre for several reasons.
- She didn’t wait for HGTV to offer a show.
- She’s not flipping the house for resale. She says she plans to live in it.
- She’s created a youthful vibe for home renovation that doesn’t exist on HGTV or the shows like This Old House that feel as though they’re hosted by the same age range as the reporters on 60 Minutes.
- Where many cable renovation shows have prominent product placement, Jenna includes thoughtful disposal and recycling. One of the most astonishing things is that they comment about the high quality of the old lumber in the house and they are shown reusing it in new construction.
Bloggers can learn from Jenna’s content change. It’s smart to take your followers with you as you venture into new content. Posting on an established site or an established social media account means you have a ready-built audience. Sure, you may lose some followers, but it’s easier that starting to build a following from scratch.
How you make a change in content is up to you and what fits with your posting style. A soft landing could entail making posts promoting an exciting future update or slowly changing content over time. A sharp turn may feel like ripping off the proverbial band-aid. Like Jenna, it’s going straight into new content.
FEATURED IMAGE – Created on ChatGPT, 15 August 2024
