Learning from Others

Part of finding ideas is learning from others. 0:00 Think about the people you subscribe to now, 0:03 people that you read on a daily basis, 0:05 people you follow on Facebook and Twitter. 0:07 What are they creating and how can you be inspired by that? 0:10 Those are the obvious first places to start when you're looking for inspiration 0:13 and learning from others. 0:17 But take it a step further—who are they following? 0:19 Most sites still have a blog roll, 0:23 or you can go out to Twitter and see who they're following. 0:25 Go out and look at that content—a step beyond, because if the people 0:28 who are inspiring you—go look at the content that is inspiring them, 0:32 and I promise you it's going to inspire you even more. 0:36 Now for me, I consume a lot of different content. We've already talked about that. 0:39 But take, for example, Chase Jarvis. 0:44 He's a photographer and director in Seattle. 0:46 He inspires me every single day. 0:48 Now I don't go shoot ski videos, but he shoots them, 0:50 and then he shows behind the scenes. 0:54 He shares photos on Instagram. 0:56 I'm constantly inspired by him and his work. 0:58 And he's very open in sharing the people who inspire him, 1:01 so I'm constantly getting a lot of new content from different people. 1:04 Another place I go on a regular basis is out to Vimeo. 1:08 What's great about Vimeo, as opposed to other video sharing sites, 1:11 is the people I follow, I can see when they like a video. 1:14 So everyday I go out, and I have a feed of videos that people who inspire me 1:18 have clicked on the like button and that they're enjoying. 1:22 I'm always discovering something new, whether it's a travel video 1:24 or an instructional video—that's what inspires me. 1:27 Now finally, as you're out there don't just be consuming this. 1:32 Really be paying attention—listen, watch, and observe. 1:36 Every morning I'm out on Twitter looking at what people are sharing. 1:41 Sometimes it's the same old, same old. 1:45 But every once in awhile something really breaks through, 1:47 and I would miss it if I wasn't paying attention. 1:49 One of the most crucial parts of content marketing, of blogging, 1:52 of social media in general is listening. 1:56 Pay attention to those people out there. 2:00 Pay attention to the networks that you like. 2:02 Pay attention to the topics you're interested in, because you never know 2:04 when something's going to spark an idea in your head. 2:07 And that's going to be the next piece of great content you create. 2:09