Today is the first Friday of the month, which means that it is once again time to consider one of the 12 “gifts” that you can lavish upon yourself to improve your tennis life. For August, the gift that we are focusing on is creating tennis content. It is something that I strongly advocate that people give a try.
Dedicated readers of this blog are likely aware that the 12 “gifts” were shamelessly adapted to tennis based on a career development talk once I did for Women in Cyber Security (WiCyS) webinar. In the original context, creating content is a great mechanism to develop a personal brand identity while benefitting the industry. You know what? The benefits when the context is tennis are exactly the same.
The sad state of the tennis industry is that there isn’t nearly as much tennis content as there should be, particularly on social media platforms. The TikTok platform is booming because the algorithms used by the service are really good at figuring out what people are interested in. I have intentionally tried to convince TikTok that I am into tennis so that I will see all the tennis related content on that platform. You know what it gives me instead? Pickleball. It’s maddening.
The simple fact of the matter is there isn’t enough tennis related content on that (and many other) platforms to generate the critical mass that convinces the algorithm that tennis is a separate category. That means that companies who want to use the power of social media to market directly to tennis players really don’t have that as a demographic option on many platforms. It is a terrible omen for tennis.
Our sport desperately needs more content creators. Anything that we can throw out there into the ecosystem can only help.
I also feel compelled to highlight that I have derived tremendous benefit from writing this blog. The writing exploration process has been tremendously beneficial in helping me sort through my own thoughts and feelings about various topics in and around the tennis industry. It has also accelerated opportunities for me to get involved in the tennis ecosystem that align with my interest and skills.
On New Year’s Eve in 2019, I set a personal goal to write a page a day about tennis. I have now carried on that streak for well over two and a half years. The simple fact of the matter is that I enjoy the writing process. Don’t worry, you probably won’t fall as hard down that slippery slope as I did.
I firmly believe that everyone should consider giving tennis content creation a try. There is a chance that you might find genuine enjoyment. In any case, the tennis ecosystem desperately needs people to put stuff out there. It benefits us all and it may even benefit you personally.
I read your posts daily! keep it up!