Content marketing may not be an entirely new concept, but it is still not one that is used as much as it deserves. Being a content creator is an important job – you build content that will increase brand awareness and sales.
Being good at it is very important too. You have to be aware of the strategies that work. And that’s why you’re reading this.
We want to show you how you can be a fantastic content creator and it won’t even require the use of difficult maths!
Simply follow the steps we are going to outline for you and you will be well on your way to being the kind of social media content creator that companies would throw punches over.
What Are The Benefits Of Content Creation?
If you’re just starting out as a content creator, you may not be aware of all the benefits of content creation just yet.
Well, they are – in a nutshell – as follows:
With good content, you can change the way a brand or company is seen by its audience. A company can gain authority in its niche or industry. A brand can gain a lot of credibility and become very popular.
If you are a good content creator, you can grow the brand’s audience and reach people who will trust and like the brand you represent.
You will be able to share your knowledge with the world as well as help sell services and products with content that is of high quality and value.
Without further ado, let’s get into discussing what you’re here for – how content creators can be awesome.
How To Be A Great Content Creator
As someone who aspires to be a great creator of reliable and informative content, you will also know that having a plan is the foundation of a good strategy.
That way you can create meaningful content that doesn’t bore your audience but entertains them.
Great content in the digital marketing world will have them coming back for more – that’s the job of content creators. Give people valuable content and see the improvement of a brand’s reputation and popularity.
Step 1 – Establish Your Topic
The last thing you need is to be guessing about the kind of content you should be creating for social media. Without knowing the kind of content that will be meaningful – and successful – you can’t start pouring your everything into it.
So, obviously, your first step is to determine the topic of your social media content and the type of content you’ll be creating.
There are a number of ways for you to come up with topic ideas and types. You have to research the kind of brand and company you will be creating content for. That way, you know you’re giving them quality content.
Also, consider visiting other blogs in your niche or industry. What are they talking about? Take a look at the content they’re sharing and how well it’s received by their audience.
Check out the kind of Facebook Groups where your audience is likely to hang out. What are the people who hang out there are problems and issues? What are they sharing?
You could also take a look at industry magazines if you need ideas on what people would actually pay to read about. The headlines on the cover are usually the most popular content. Google your niche or industry to see what the internet is sharing and talking about.
After you’ve created a list of topics after doing this, you will likely have many ideas.
Keep in mind that your top goal is to serve your audience. You should not focus on content that will be fun to write, but content your audience wants to read. A content creator is all about sharing content that resonates with his or her audience.
Test Your Topics
You will want to find out which of your topics are the best ideas. To do that, create a variety of kinds of content and see how your audience reacts. For example, you can create a comparison blog, a how-to blog and a story-based blog.
See which is most warmly accepted by your audience. Perhaps they’ll like all of your content, perhaps none of it.
Chances are, the reaction will be a little mixed because taste differs. However, the content that performs very poorly is the kind of content you may want to avoid making in the future.
Don’t limit yourself to just blogs though. You can use social media as well. In fact, we recommend that you have a social media marketing plan to use along with your content creation. Check out our blog for more on how to make the most of social media in your digital marketing strategies.
How To Determine What Works
There are a handful of ways content creators try to establish which content to stick with. Here are some suggestions:
- Views
- Shares
- Conversions
- Engagement
The content that performed the best in all these categories is your best bet.
Set Your Goals
Once you have determined what you’ll create, you will have to set goals for yourself and your content. As a content creator, setting up this step will make your work much easier to keep track of.
With a clear set of goals, you will know what you should be working towards as well.
When you know what you want to achieve, you will know how to create content for that purpose.
Here are a few examples of the kind of goals you may have for your content:
- Increasing credibility and improving authority in your niche and/or industry
- Promoting services or products in an entertaining manner
- Driving traffic to your blogs and websites
- Engaging with your audience
- Creating lasting relationships with your audience
Your company may have other, more unique goals so don’t take this as an all-inclusive example. Build your content strategy around what your client needs. Take time to examine the specific needs and goals and work with that.
Step 2 – Choose Your Mediums
Right, now you need to know exactly what mediums you will be using for your content creation. It can be a bit difficult to know where to start because of how quickly trends change. Blogging used to be ‘all the rage’ and then video became a popular content creation tool.
We suggest that you focus on starting with blogging and social media.
Once you have that under control, you can move on to video content and perhaps even a podcast or two. You can even create a unique YouTube channel for your brand.
Of course, with every new medium that you use, you have to create an in-depth content marketing strategy. Just make sure that digital media is part of that strategy – you need to grab attention.
Repurpose Content
When you have found your medium (or mediums) you can start creating a repurposing strategy. This kind of content creation plan should be used by any content creators worth their salt.
What is it? Well, this strategy allows you to share your digital content across all your platforms. This way, your content is much more powerful. You will also be able to increase your reach and grow your target audience.
Just make sure that your content has the same goal and quality wherever you share it.
Determine Your Content Frequency
If you’ve read any of our other guides, you will know that we believe consistency is super important. With that said, you need to have a plan for when you will be sharing the content you’ve worked so hard on.
You need to be consistent so your brand’s credibility and reliability will become obvious to your audience. Share a blog post or tweet when it will be seen and get better results.
This will breed trust and loyalty – very important to content creators. However, the consistency that your brand needs is something that only you can determine.
It is important to consider the following when you want to establish your content frequency:
Your Schedule
You do not want to be forced to sit and come up with content that has to be shared in the next few minutes. And you don’t want to have to give up your free time to create something awesome. Have a schedule that is not unrealistic and stick to it.
Your Audience
It is of utmost importance for content creators to know when their audience will be seeing their content. You want to share your content whenever your audience is active so they see it first, before it is drowned in the online noise.
Also, think about how often they would want to read about content in your niche/industry.
Your Goals
Keep the goals that you’ve previously determined in mind when you decide the frequency you’ll be sharing your content at. If you want to grow a bigger audience, you need to show people that you’re consistent.
They need to see that you will give them content as and how they need it. This will help achieve your goals easier.
Have A Good Flow
When you are able to create a good flow for your content, you are making it easier for yourself to create great content.
You may plan to create free-form content but you should still have some form of flow to enhance your audience’s experience.
This will also save you a lot of time. For a good content creator, having flow is a great way to be more focused when creating content.
We suggest you create an outline that you can follow when you are making new content.
This should be used in all your content in one way or another. Also create a checklist so that you can make sure you don’t miss anything. This can go a long way to preventing any future headaches.
You can also consider creating a template so you always have some structure to follow and keep your formats universal across your content.
Have a content bank so that you don’t have to spend too much time doing research when you create something new. Again, this is something that will save you a lot of time.
Step 3 – Get Some Feedback
How will you know if your content is actually what your audience wants? Well, you ask them! Of course, it would be a bit weird if you just ask ‘does this content work for you?’, but it will be better than not knowing.
Knowing what works is easier if you ask the people who the content is supposed to be entertaining and informing.
You can have direct conversations with your audience. Good content creators know this is truly the best way to go.
Getting feedback straight from ‘the horse’s mouth’ has a lot of value. You can ask your audience what they like and what they would like to see more of. This way, it is also possible to determine what kind of content to avoid.
Use polls on Facebook and Twitter (or wherever else you can) to see how your audience is feeling about your content. You can keep it light and interesting without even making it seem like you’re doing research.
Surveys are also great ways to gather information but can be harder to get people involved with. Ask your audience what they want to see in your blog post or Facebook post.
Don’t be aloof when it comes to interacting with your audience. If you talk to them regularly, you’ll have a better understanding of them. You will also be able to get a clearer idea of what they want and need.
Have A Content Creation Plan
As any content creator will know, planning is the key to success. Well, that and consistency, of course.
By now you have put together a great foundation for your content creation mission. There’s just one thing you need to do to pull it all together and wow your audience: create a content creation plan.
With a proper plan, you can achieve all your goals and save yourself from worrying about whether your content is being shared when it should be. And you’ll be able to come up with quality content that will rock your clients.
We highly recommend that you use SocialPlanner for this purpose.
It is a fantastic tool that will help you plan out all your future content. On top of that, this planning tool helps you to find trending content. You can share this content on all your social media platforms with just a few clicks too.
Thanks to the convenient and easy-to-use drop-and-drag calendar, you can plan your content ahead and know it will reach your audience at the perfect time. No more stressing about being awake or active when your audience is.
Conclusion
There you have it – the best ways to be a brilliant content creator. Build content that is of high quality and speaks to your target audience. The rest requires dedication and determination, but if you follow our guide here, you’re well on your way to being a content creating superstar!
For even more guidance and advice, check out some of our other articles – you’ll learn a lot about content creation.
Now go out there and create rockstar content that will blow the socks off your clients and have their audience in awe.