Dear Content Creators, being original is overrated.

6 min readSep 2, 2020

“A strong, consistent personal brand can be a powerful way to stand out and allow others to easily recognize you across various sites and social media.”

The purpose of this article is to alleviate the fear of not being original enough.

This is for the people considering starting their content creation career such as Twitch streamers, Podcasters and YouTubers.

The fear of reinventing the wheel

Recently I was listening to a YouTube video. And Ali Abdaal and Sara Dietschy had a very interesting conversation on having creative ideas around the 42:55 mark inspiring this blog post. The short 2 minute segment greatly alleviated one of my fears as a content creator. What I took from it is that nobody has an original idea. Remix culture is internet culture and all content is a remix of someone else’s content in some shape or form.

It seems when Ali first started, he feared he would be recreating content that’s already out there but he realised that people do this all the time and are still successful.

“There is no such thing as an original idea”

I have seen this discussed numerous times in videos around content creation, self-help and creativity because it is a genuine fear in the current climate where the barrier to entry in content creation is miniscule. So are you considering setting up a YouTube channel or a Twitch stream? Then this might resonate with you.

Every time your inner voice ask you things such as:

What’s special about me?
Am I worth listening to?
Am I just redoing the same thing that’s already out there.
What’s original about what I want to do?

Understand that there are people who think these things but overcome them to become successful all the same. To put it another way, I’ll paraphrase Chris Do — a famous designer/thinker — in another video:

Everything we do in some form is copying what we’ve learned from other people and hopefully we can add a little to it to progress the idea forward.

The idea isn’t ever original. You are original.

Influencers are not popular because of their content

Ali’s YouTube channel isn’t unique in the slightest but he has 930,000 followers (at the time of writing) and all he does is a mixture of productivity and life hack videos. There’s nothing unique about his content. But for some reason I watch his videos religiously (I’m not stanning or fanboying here).

What makes him and many other influencers (such as Matt D’Avella, Better Ideas etc etc) who literally regurgitate common, basic ideas is them being themselves. And this is completely fine. No, these guys are not majorly charismatic, good looking or super funny. They are literally the pure version of themselves and that resonates with their audiences.

You don’t need original content to stand out, you just need to be YOU.

If you want to create content, it doesn’t have to be original or unique. YOU have to be unique and that’s very easy. Think about it. Is there another person who grew up in your town, raised by your parents, likes the same TV shows, works the exact same job, plays the same games and has the same diet as you AND has over a million followers on their channel or social media platform? No (unless you have a very successful YouTuber twin).

Then you have right there, your niche.

“Have a weird catchphrase? Whatever it is that makes you, ‘you’, can be a great starting point for your personal branding.”

You do not have to be an “interesting” person who lives a cool lifestyle. You just have to find a way to reach people who will appreciate your way of explaining, doing and giving your opinion on things.

7 steps to creating your own personal brand as an influencer

If you’re still not getting it, put aside 10 minutes of your time to follow these 7 steps to building your personal brand.

Did I say steps? I mean write, so write down:

A topic area you’re really interested in.
What you have in common with people most likely to watch you
TV shows, music lyrics or something pop culture related you love referencing e.g. I love making Lord of the Rings references
Any nicknames, things you’re known for or characteristics people tease you about
The symptoms of your upbringing e.g. Do you have a distinct accent? Do people in your home town operate a certain way?
How you would go about making yourself laugh if you had a 5 minute deadline
Any random quirks you may have and haven’t already written down e.g. Do you dip your fries in your milkshake? Are you a pineapple on pizza fan?

Everything you’ve just written down represents who you are. That’s your personal brand. No one else has the same combination of characteristics as you in your topic area. It’s borderline impossible.

“Every streamer has a unique combination of looks, style, skills and personality. This is your personal image.”

How to season your content with your personal brand

Whether you’re streaming on Twitch or YouTubing a book review, your personal brand is the seasoning. Sprinkle every piece of content with what makes you unique and it will birth a life of its own. Big time influencers do this already and here are two examples.

In the comment section of Matt D’Avella’s videos, it is a common joke how he doesn’t miss an opportunity to show off his biceps. In his recent video he says “I wash my biceps’’ instead of “I showered”. This is a clever way to spice up your content with your humor and little distinct quirks.

I watch Ali Abdaal quite often and I’ve noticed he has been slowly adding small references to his hobbies. For example, he name drops his favourite books and anime series likes Hunter X Hunter. As an audience member I’m also aware he’s a fantasy book fan and obviously he’s a doctor which is a key element of the angle he takes with his content.

Summary

Overall, once you solidify what makes you tick (i.e. what makes you unique as a person) you can add a distinct edge to your content regardless of how unoriginal you think it is. Because you are what makes the content new and refreshing.

Below are affiliate links, if you were to clickthrough and purchase the services I would get a small commission. I would only link services that are related to the article in question and tailored to the audience most likely to read it.

If you’re thinking about setting up a Twitch channel, a Podcast or YouTube channel Placeit has the biggest collection of design assets, a logo generator and social media content creation features for the price of one takeaway a month ($10). If you are also looking for a Photoshop alternative, Canva is a great in-browser option.