Create with Me: Lessons from the Digital Frontlines
Introducing "Create with Me: Lessons from the Digital Frontlines," a captivating podcast hosted by Roxanne Teti, an esteemed expert in the digital media industry. Notably, she has held senior positions at tech giants like Meta Platforms and Snap, spearheading content strategy, and deal making.
Join Roxanne Teti and a diverse, global lineup of industry professionals as they demystify, disrupt, and redefine the creator economy in 2025. Together we will explore the intersection between innovative technology, immersive media, entertainment, pop culture, and its relationship to and with the global creator economy and budding content ecosystems.
Tune in and discover your digital destiny...
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Create with Me: Lessons from the Digital Frontlines
Digital Renaissance: Navigating the New Creator Economy
Welcome to a raw, unfiltered exploration of the digital renaissance reshaping our world right now. The global pandemic didn't just disrupt our lives—it accelerated a technological revolution that transformed how we communicate, work, and express ourselves. As someone deeply embedded in this transformation, I'm pulling back the curtain on what's really happening in digital spaces and why it matters to everyone, not just "content creators."
Forget what you've heard about saturated markets or the death of podcasting. The digital advertising industry is projected to triple by 2029, approaching $300 billion globally. Yet I've watched countless businesses waste enormous budgets on ineffective digital strategies because they fundamentally misunderstand how today's audiences engage with content. Today's internet users can spot inauthenticity instantly—they're not interested in transparent product placement or environments saturated with obvious advertising.
This podcast exists to demystify digital evolution while encouraging you to find your authentic voice in an increasingly noisy world. We'll explore how emerging technologies like AR, VR, and XR are blending with our physical experiences, how traditional media now relies on social engagement metrics for content decisions, and why comparison culture is the greatest threat to genuine creativity. Whether you're running a business, starting a creative project, or simply trying to understand this changing landscape, this journey is about connecting real-world experiences with digital opportunities. Join me in this renaissance period where new voices and perspectives aren't just welcome—they're essential to what comes next.
What digital challenges are you facing right now? Share your thoughts and questions—this is meant to be a two-way conversation where we create understanding together.
I want to re-welcome you to my podcast. It's called Create With Me Lessons from the Digital Frontlines, and I'm here to discuss all things digital, and I don't just mean social media. Covid-19 exacerbated the technological industrial revolution and the way we communicate with each other, educate our children. The world got smaller because of technology, but it also got larger and more isolating. It exposed a tremendous amount of domestic and civil unrest and violence. It exposed a tremendous amount of the underlying implicit and explicit inequalities and the perils of racism.
Speaker 1:Mental health actually came to the forefront of these conversations, which was a stigma before. A stigma like, as in mental health, like you have a therapist, you're no. Like we needed to discuss mental health resources and we still do so. Yes, it affected a lot of things, like work from home. Dynamics blurred the boundaries of normal work-life balance. I mean, I was taking calls at like 6.30 am all the way up to like 9.30 pm for years it was a nappy nap. So, anyway, what happens when you have a lot of change in a small amount of time? It results in a period of transition, transformation and the opportunity for new voices to be heard and expressed. But just so you know, it's not all bad, this transition, transformation period that we're entering. As I said before, the theme of this, like my branding, is this piece of artwork that's Elizabethan pop art theme and it all means to me this a renaissance period is occurring, it's on the rise, it's already sort of happening.
Speaker 1:It happened during COVID. A lot of celebrities and public figures went live during the pandemic on Instagram Live or Facebook Live or TikTok or something. They started using social media, not because they're being paid to, because they wanted to, because they had nothing else to do and their identity was thwarteded, but a lot of those folks actually started to podcast too. From that experience they saw some traction on the live formats in other places and they started to podcast. And now there's an entire multitude of podcast networks and agencies out there that work with a lot of different folks on their podcasts and represent them as actual public figures in that space. Essentially, a Hollywood ecosystem of podcasters or just like newer companies of podcasters came from COVID-19 because the restriction of not being in a studio led to what Content creation via what Podcast formats? And now there's a whole segmentation of an industry that did not completely exist in its entirety before Now.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people have been telling me why are you doing this stupid podcast? You look stupid doing a podcast. Podcast era is over. Podcasting was a trend, right. It's not that easy, though, because I have a personality. It's hard for me to just read things when you have a personality because you're a personality.
Speaker 1:The digital advertising global industry industries estimated to triple by like 2028, 29, like, rounding out around maybe like over $300 billion. It's just not going away, and that's why I emphasize the ability to recreate your own definition of what it means to create or redefine what it means to be a creator, because being a creator doesn't mean just being an influencer, like 20 years ago. The motivation or the inspiration for me with this podcast is to create awareness towards the digital realm, the digital ecosystems out there, because there's so many of them right now. Ok, so I want to create some awareness.
Speaker 1:First of all, I've never seen so many SMB, even enterprise level companies struggle with understanding how to use digital advertising to their advantage. They have no strategy and then they call like a big consulting firm and they waste, like I want to say, almost six figures of eight figures of money a year hiring a consulting firm that doesn't understand their brand because maybe they don't the companies and they get little ROI on hiring these consultants to just run ads all day long using a pixel they don't even understand how to use. No one does, apparently, both the consultants and the actual. You know the business and it's just like such a. It's such a sad thing to see lack of click-through rates, loss of funds in their budgets every year and then they just say, f this, I'm not doing this anymore, when really their content mix is like 95% ads and the wrong type of ads. Today People hate bullshit. Today, by the way, on the internet they're like they're not into that shit anymore, like you can't like product place something like you did on like a commercial television. This is not like Mr Pillow. On the internet People know bullshit when they see it. So, yes, you can't have like 100%, like 90% ads everywhere. It's like a cringe for people. You want to have like some organic content, some traction. Then you can start to maybe convert that into an ad and then have better click-through rates. Affiliate programs, brand ambassadors, brand ambassadors, brand sponsorships what have you? The list goes on and on about diversifying your monetization, revenue streams, but we'll get into the M word in another episode with a host. But that's one of my favorite things is monetization.
Speaker 1:There's just a misconception with digital media at large. There's an adverse reaction or a resistance to utilizing the emerging technologies out there which, honestly, some of them have already existed for a very long time. You need to discover your authentic voice first before you jump on in. You don't want to chase a trend first. That can come later on with your consistency and your publishing cadence. But definitely trust me on this one.
Speaker 1:If you're doing this for the wrong reasons, like chasing trends or wanting to go viral, you're looking at a 15 second of fame bullshit version of reality. Okay, it's not a business, it's not fruitful, it's not sustainable, you'll lack retention and you'll create attrition to your accounts. Bad idea, most people try to do that, even big businesses, by the way. Let's create a viral moment Like let's go viral with that take. It's like let's not. It's not realistic and it's silly. It doesn't create retention and if I had a following, a giant following, it would create more attritionrition. Don't buy robots. It looks stupid optically and there's no conversion to sale. Everyone still looks at social media's algorithms a lot or seo search words, because it shows you what's trending. If, like ariana grande comes out with a music video, you're gonna see seo is like top high on the youtube search for that, because that means it's like everyone's like into it, right? Everyone keeps searching for the music video, whatever.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, digital store friends will approach, immersive media will approach and innovative technologies will approach in future episodes. But I just wanted to say that if we don't get with the times that are happening, we're not going to be in the times. We will be left behind, like AR, vr, xr, mr, all of the R's of the world. You got VR, virtual reality, vr, mr, mixed reality, xr, extended reality I'm smiling if you're watching, because they all end in reality, which is what Our lives. So then we have what I are in real life. So the R is reality.
Speaker 1:So you need to go out into the public, into the world, into experience anything, even if it's just like nature, human beings, your friends, your families, even like ass's, just like nature, human beings, your friends, your families, even like assholes, like who cares. Go out there, experience the real world. Take that information back to the virtual and digital realms of our world today and make it happen, because we need the intel to make the digital realm successful. Real world, digital world. You need the real world to be successful in the digital realm. It's like the matrix, okay, and Hollywood's looking at engagement rates.
Speaker 1:I mean, they ship characters constantly based on engagement rates. Take Grey's Anatomy. They ship characters and extend relationships based on engagement rates, based on micro communities, niche communities, highly engaged communities on TikToks, and they look at that and they're like, holy crap, this FYP, like this particular micro community, is super stoked about this relationship. Let's keep the character on longer with the relationship because, clearly, clearly, the engagement rates are very high for this particular community that loves this particular couple on this huge show. So we're talking about broadcast television utilizing little social media to figure out what the writer room is going to do and the showrunner is going to do and how they're going to pivot some of the storylines to include that character longer, because there's going to be more engagement, more retention, etc. So we are looking at the fandom, we're looking at crossing barriers between our real realities and this screen.
Speaker 1:Here we're on messy mode. All right, here we go. It's my time, it's my show, it's my life. I'm self-producing, I'm self-creating. We're creating with you. We're leaving it out. So that's why I'm here to share my knowledge, and digital is a language. I I mean zeros and ones, and we all know that language is knowledge and knowledge is power. Might as well be informed, so that's why I decided to do this.
Speaker 1:It's not been easy. Listen, I go through what everyone else goes through the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of not belonging, even in a community of family, friends, cohorts, colleagues, etc. That you once identified with. You're taking a risk, but a lot of people do have the potential to actually create, and I don't mean just create content, I mean create at large, like innovate. You could be an entrepreneur, you could create something new. So as we move forward into 2025, keep it in mind.
Speaker 1:If you can't overcome fear in this process, it's going to be real tough, because you're going to be met with fear every time you do it, no matter how much you think you've gotten over fear. As I said before supply and demand, economics, economies of scale, guess what you can't fuel the pipes of a platform without the content to supply it. You have to set your appetite to create first, and I think a lot of people have the appetite to express themselves. However, people have been scared to speak up and talk. People will happen, opinions happen left and right, and notifications and destruction and all this stuff. If you start to listen to every little thing, you cannot focus on the objectives of finding your authentic voice. It's very, very important to creativity because it's your anchor, it's your passion, your authentic voice yes, it's going to change over time. Once people start to convince you you are a piece of s*** and you suck, or you're a liar or whatever the f*** they make up about you, you will crumble because you're like am I, am I, am I? No, you're not. If you know who you are and I know who I am, at least this journey has been tough. But listen, I am positive about the future.
Speaker 1:Comparison culture and doom scrolling are the worst. If you find yourself getting depressed while you doom scroll and you start to compare yourself to other people, please stop. Just turn the phone off, take a walk, go outside, do whatever. Just get away from it, because it's going to be a passing feeling. But if you let it take over your day, you're going to look up and be like six o'clock at night and it's like you started this journey at 10 am.
Speaker 1:Doom scrolling and comparing. That can't work today and you want to feel bad for yourself. You want to hate yourself. Keep doom scrolling with comparison culture. It's a mess. Have the discipline to turn that off. But I invite you to drown out the noise. Okay, drown out the noise. Find your authentic voice. Shut it down. Focus Okay, because at the end of the day, we have to use digital to our advantage and if we don't, we will be left behind, and that would suck. Okay. So if you think you're too good, you're not. If you think you're too small, you're not. Everyone's voice actually does matter, and even the content creator definition has evolved over time. Again, doesn't matter if you work for a big company, small company, or you're just an individual content creator or a public figure. You have to go through this journey on purpose to develop that confidence that you're going to need when things get crazy around the world and you start to get you know, swayed by others' opinions.
Speaker 1:There's a saturated market, as they say. That's another bullying comment I got. Well, guess what? Saturation is the core to evolution. Platforms come and go, algorithms change. If people say it's too saturated, you tell them this Great, thank you, real estate on the internet. If they think it's saturated, what does that mean? The elitist takeover. No, nothing is ever too saturated and if it is, it evolves. New platforms will be born from saturation. It's evolution.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be stuck like one of those Darwinism, like animals that died out. I don't want to be stuck in the ancient era of nothingness. Of course it's going to evolve if it's saturated, so stay on top of it. That's even better, for you are going through this elizabethan, true renaissance period of time. It's transitional, it's transformative. People will want to hear what you have to say. There is an appetite to create, an appetite for new voices to be heard.
Speaker 1:Creativity is everywhere. It's in business, it's in storytelling. You cannot have a content strategy without having a brand identity. This will definitely be your discovery era, your business 101 time period here. Okay, you got to go through this journey first and you have to commit to it, which is the next episode. Which are my takeaways? Start today, don't wait for the future. Hit the publish button. I'm going to do it today. Hit that publish button when you're ready. Okay, I'm creating with you. This is a two-way dialogue, a two-way narrative. I want a feedback loop. We're helping each other. Again, we are a community of content creators inspired by innovation and encouraged by teamwork. Go to creatorpopcastcom. You can submit inquiries there. My blog is there, as well as other things. I'll just drop it in the links. Before there was nothing, there was always a possibility of something.
