Content creators are very important in the marketing world. Their job is to create educational or entertaining (sometimes both) material that caters to a target audience’s challenges and interests. This content can come in many forms – images, ebooks, blogs, videos and even infographics. This guide will focus on the content creator and how you can be one that delivers high-quality content and always leave your clients satisfied and happy.
How To Become A Superstar Social Media Content Creator
You can be a strong content creator who is seen as a leader in their industry, but it takes time, discipline and effort. Use the guidelines that we share here with you to reach your full potential.
Be Current And Stay Current
To give the most informative and accurate information in your content, you have to be up-to-date and knowledgeable about every aspect of your industry. You have to know everything that is going on, not only the information that you feel is relevant to you.
A good content creator must know when things are changing or shifting in their industry, and when new information is available.
Any new innovations, trends, opportunities and possible threats have to be on your radar at all times. The more you know, the better you will be at your job. You have to stay on top of things because change happens often and quickly.
That’s why a good content creator knows to stay current is vital. Ongoing education is one way to make sure you know everything you need to. Reading other people in the industry’s content is also important to have knowledge about everything currently happening.
Remain curious about all topics related to your industry and you’ll always be in the know.
Write Regularly
The more content you create, the more traffic you’ll be able to attract. Companies who blog more than a dozen times a month get about three times more traffic than companies that only blog about four times a month.
As you write often, you will also become better at writing and hone your skills. If you want to be a superstar content creator, you have to write, write, write. Make time and don’t neglect your content creation. Be committed.
Talk About Your Customers, Not Yourself
Avoid getting into talking about yourself and what you know. You are sharing your knowledge, but you have to do it in a way that doesn’t sound like you’re bragging or showing off. You lose the audience when you start talking only about yourself. Instead, talk about your customers and audience.
This way, you can demonstrate that you can solve your social media audience’s needs and meet their challenges because you understand them. A rule in writing novels is ‘show, don’t tell’.
You can use that rule while you’re a content creator as well. Show your audience your knowledge don’t tell them “I can do this!”.
Keyword Research Is Important To Content Creators
Being a content creator who does not use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is like giving people pasta without sauce. Your content will be better if you know the keywords that are relevant in your industry and social media platform.
To make your content appealing to your audience, you have to know what it is they are searching and talking about. Keywords are an important element in any content marketing strategy.
Do research about industry keywords regularly and use them when you’re creating your content. There are few things as disheartening as putting your everything into your content only to see it fail to reach people. Also, keep in mind that social media platforms have different requirements for keeping your audience happy.
Understand Your Audience
You need to know your audience if you want to talk to them. Put yourself in their shoes. If you want to understand your audience, you need to think like them, live like them. Good content creators know how their audience thinks and operates.
You have to know what motivates them, what frustrates them and what leaves them feeling satisfied. You need to understand your audience’s social activities, relationships and education. A lot more goes into being a content creator than many people realise.
Find Your Voice As A Content Creator
A lot of the content being created these days is all about getting as much written and published as possible. Content calendars are scheduled and quotas must be met. Because of that, many content creators are losing their voice as they try to keep the content flowing.
Don’t become like that. Find your voice in your writing and keep it.
You will entertain and draw in more people if you have a clear and interesting voice. Don’t be afraid to let your personality show, as long as you keep it appropriate, of course.
Share your knowledge in a more natural way, this will have better results than language that is stiff and seems forced. This will lead to you having the best content possible.
Hone Your Writing Skills
If you’re not a professional writer but rather one that is a content creator purely out of passion, you may have to improve your writing. You have to work hard so that you become so good that no one even notices that you’re not a professional copywriter.
There are many quick reads that can help you improve your writing without studying for hours.
As you spend time being a content creator and writing, you will learn to avoid all the common mistakes such as badly flowing content and awkward phrasing. Practice your writing – no one is born able to create content that rocks.
Great Content Creators Share Examples
If you want your audience to really get a feel for what you’re trying to tell them, examples are great for getting the message across. When you give examples you also make your content a whole lot more relatable and real for your readers.
If you’re writing about the difference between two types of painting brushes, giving examples of how they work and what their brush strokes look like on a canvas is a good idea. This way, your reader knows why one is better for them than the other.
Examples pull in readers and make them feel much more involved.
Knowing how important good content is, is half the battle. If you know how to create the kind of content that people want to read, you’re well on your way to being a great content creator.
However, for some platforms, there are specific ways to do things. We’ll take a look at the best practices for the popular social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram. With our guidance, you will be able to create killer content and be a superstar content creator in no time.
How To Be A Great Social Media Content Creator On Instagram
Instagram is a giant in the social media world and no digital marketing plan would be complete without including the image-sharing platform.
For many years now, Instagram has been dominant in the social media industry and that isn’t something that is likely to change anytime soon. So, you need to know how to create content that will win over your audience on this network.
Creating and sharing the right kind of content will improve your skill and reputation as a content creator. What you need to know is: share the right stuff and you’ll attract many new followers while staying connected to your current following.
Get Verified
The first step in creating content that people will want to get their hands on is to get verified on Instagram. People tend to easier trust and follow a social media account that is verified. This may take a while but as soon as you can, make sure that the account that you’re sharing content from is a verified one.
This will go a long way towards building a good relationship with your audience. Having a complete bio and sharing high-quality stories will set you off in the right direction towards getting verified.
Your Content Must Be Visually Pleasing
Instagram is very much built on image-sharing so it goes without saying that sharing content that grabs attention visually works well on this platform. Your content should make use of calm and soothing colours when your focus is on a light topic.
When you’re getting more serious, use warm colours. Be creative and use images that will draw people’s eyes. Social media is all about standing out, after all.
Use Instagram Stories
There are many reasons why Instagram Stories are valuable. There are twice as many of them posted on Instagram as there is on Snapchat. That’s because these stories reach many more people on the platform, which makes them a successful way to create better brand reach and awareness.
More people will buy from a brand when they’ve seen it mentioned on Instagram or noticed their followers and friends talking about it.
Another useful perk of using Instagram Stories is that you can share as many as you like without users feeling like you’re being spammy.
These stories are very rarely seen as intrusive (unless you’re sharing content that is inherently annoying, of course).
This form of content doesn’t exist for too long, so you don’t need to have it polished to perfection. As a content creator, you can prepare less and publish more content and Instagram users will still like it. People like to see a brand’s ‘in the moment’ stories.
Make sure that you’re sharing quality, even if it’s not as well-formatted as your normal content. For a more in-depth discussion on how to use Instagram Stories in creating content, check out our guide on using Instagram Stories as a marketing tool.
Plan Your Content
This is one of the first steps and also one of the most important. Without a clear plan of what you’ll share on Instagram (and any social media platform), you can’t plan how you’ll use it to gain followers.
As a content creator, you should know that there are different types of content on Instagram and they all work for different reasons. Make use of visuals, text and video content.
Remember, you don’t want to share random content because you’ll attract random users that way. You don’t want random followers, but a loyal Instagram following that appreciates your niche and brand.
To get the right people to follow you, you need to share content that they can care about. In most cases, media content will have to be entertaining as well as informative and engaging.
Consistency Is Key For Content Creators
This is something that we constantly talk about. Accounts that often share high-quality content has a higher social media following. Post at the very least once a day. If possible, post even more if you have enough good content to share. By increasing your posting frequency can double your followers.
More posts also see you getting more likes and better engagement rates.
Of course, that is something you want for your Instagram account. Also, with Instagram’s algorithmic timeline, consistency will help get your posts in front of more eyes.
If you’re getting more likes and engagement, you might also have your posts at the top of the feeds of your followers.
Instagram Hashtags
Instagram is one of the social media platforms where hashtags make the most impact. Using the right hashtags can get your content shared with more people and reaching a wider audience. Also, Instagram users seem to love hashtags and use them all the time.
Consider adding a location hashtag to your posts, this seems to increase the engagement on them.
You can use up 30 hashtags on a single post but stick to about nine at the most. You don’t want to clutter your posts so much that the point of the content is missed.
To have the most relevant and quality hashtags accompanying your content, you can make use of free tools such as AutoHash and Display Purpose. You have to make sure you use the right hashtags to get the most from them and grow a loyal following.
It will help increase your following greatly. Having hashtags that can be associated exclusively with your brand is ideal. Combine it with the trending hashtags and you’ll be reaching many more new users.
Focus on hashtags that will resonate with your target audience.
We have a great guide on how to grow your Instagram following, feel free to head over there and learn more. We just love sharing knowledge that will make the lives of content creators easier.
Be A Super Social Media Content Creator On Facebook
As another giant in the social media world, we can’t leave Facebook off this list. Content creators know that this is a very popular social media network and that not using it would be the same as shooting yourself in the foot. With almost 3 billion users actively using Facebook and its associated apps, it offers a wide audience to brands.
Globally, more than 2.5 million people are using Facebook every month, a 10% increase year-over-year. As you can tell, you want to be on this platform. So, let’s discuss how you can create great content on this platform and enhance your strategy.
Share Content That Is Interesting To Your Audience
An important part of developing a great page on Facebook is being so interesting that people will want to engage with. More engagement leads to a more loyal following and fanbase.
You want to really entertain and hook social media users with your content, that is the biggest full time job of a content creator. It is true on all platforms, but Facebook users can be pretty fussy, so you’ll have to try harder here. Add valuable information to your content and you’ll build stronger relationships with your audience.
Use Page Insights
For this, use the Page Insights of your brand to learn when to share content. There is a lot of data at your disposal from your insights. You can find out when followers and fans are online and the most active. This can give you a better idea of when is the best time to post on Facebook. Use the information to determine when you will get the most engagement and reach.
Schedule your posts for the best times determined by the information you’ve learned from your data about social media. Keep an eye on how successful your content is by studying your Page Insights. You’ll be able to see when you get the most attention from users.
Have Variety In Your Content
It is always a good idea to have different content on offer so you can please and entertain more people. The same principle is true on Facebook. You should be sharing video content (which do SUPERBLY well on Facebook), images, blog posts and even press releases.
End Your Posts With Questions
Content creators know that people like to feel personally involved in the content they read and watch. What better way to do that than to end your posts with a question.
Social media users like the idea of being involved with the accounts they follow and other users.
Ask people to get involved in your content and see them engaging with your account. Of course, the questions should be relevant to your posts.
Allow Users To Write On Your Wall
This may seem like an obvious thing, but you should allow people to write on your wall and share feedback and experiences.
The whole point of having a Facebook account is to reach out to your fans, so let them connect with you on your wall.
Do Not Post Too Often
As a content creator, you will know the importance of balance and avoiding overkill. Don’t post too much on your client’s Facebook account – this is often the number one reason why people unfollow friends and brands.
Make every post worth their time and don’t flood their feed.
Use Contests Sparingly
There’s nothing quite like a contest to get things started on social media, but make them feel special. If you’ve got a contest going every other week, people won’t be as interested.
For example, have something special about your brand that is only available at a certain time and then limit the availability. Have an x amount of products available only when spring comes around and only through a contest. If your contests are unique, you’ll get better results from them.
You’ll need to plan this well and thoroughly.
Be Interesting
To a content creator, this should go without saying. Being interesting is what keeps social media content alive.
When on Facebook, create content that you know will draw people. If you’re running out of ideas, check out what the competition is doing. As always, we don’t want to say you should steal their ideas. Simply learn from them and do better.
If your competition is sharing themed content, look at how you can use that idea and improve on it. We mentioned this point right at the beginning of this Facebook discussion and it’s important enough to mention at the conclusion.
Nobody likes a boring Facebook page so don’t have one.
There are many ways to create an interesting Facebook presence, you just have to spend some time getting creative about it.
Have Success As A Social Media Content Creator On Twitter
Twitter is a great platform to engage with your brand’s audience. It is also an important place for a content creator to show off their skills.
According to statistics, about 50% of marketers think of Twitter as the best place to engage with their customers.
To be a content creator who can do their best on any platform, you need to nail doing so on Twitter.
Verification
As with Instagram, getting verified on Twitter should be your first priority. Research from the University of Southern California and Indiana University indicated that up to 15% of Twitter accounts are fake – they are actually bots.
With that said, getting verified is a little tricky right now as Twitter has put verification on hold. As soon as it’s back on, work hard to get verified. For help with this, be sure to check out our insightful guide on how to get verified on Twitter.
But for now, let’s look at how you can be a great content creator on this popular social media platform.
Tweet, Tweet Again And Then Tweet Some More
Twitter calls for a more aggressive approach to marketing strategy and content creation. You should be tweeting about three to seven times a day to have the best results. This will get your account the best engagement.
Many brands go as far as tweeting up to 20 times a day. In this case, it depends on your brand and marketing ideas. When in doubt, tweet.
Twitter is a very active space and the more content you’re sharing the better. It is a fast-paced social media site, so do your best to keep up.
You have to make sure that the content you share is high-quality though. For the best results, have a balance between quality and quantity.
Also, you should have a plan when you’re tweeting. Don’t aimlessly tweet six times in a row or you could risk getting unfollowed. Unless you’re creating a thread, you should tweet once every few hours and that’s it.
Flooding followers with tweets won’t win you any likes or followers.
Use A Social Media Scheduler
A great content creator knows that irregular social media activity alienates fans from a brand. We suggest that you make use of a good social media scheduler, like SocialPlanner.
Timing Is Everything
Getting the timing right on Twitter is incredibly important. Ideally, you should post when your target audience is up and getting ready for work.
Depending on where your audience is based, you will have to schedule the tweets ahead. Between 8 am and 10 am is a good start.
You can also send out a tweet or two at 12 pm when users are likely having lunch.
Then you can tweet again between 6 pm and 9 pm when people are probably at home and relaxing. We suggest that you save all your best content for the weekends. This is when users are most active and likely to share and like your tweets.
Content Creators And Hashtags
On Twitter, hashtags are the best way to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible. On top of that, they serve as a form of SEO on the platform. Tweets that have hashtags get more engagement than those without.
Be a smart content creator though, don’t just dump a bunch of hashtags and think that is enough. Choose hashtags that are relevant to your brand and will reach your target tweeps.
Create hashtags that are exclusive to your brand and use them constantly. This will give you a boost in brand awareness really quickly.
Be Creative With Retweeting and Tagging
One of the best ways to show followers that you are real is to keep things organic. This will result in more followers and users.
Don’t despair, content creator. We’re not trying to make your work harder or pile it mile-high. If plan wisely, you need only to tweet as much as your marketing strategy suggests.
All you need to focus on is engaging with your followers and audience. Make sure you retweet any relevant posts and tag people or brands that complement your brand.
Become A Super Social Media Content Creator On Pinterest
Pinterest has the potential to be a great digital marketing tool and is the fourth most popular social media platform in America, ranking ahead of giants such as Twitter and LinkedIn.
Naturally, you need to know your way around this platform if you’re going to be a successful content creator.
Have A Social Media Content Strategy
If you want to create good content, you need a good content creation strategy. It’s one of the first things you learn as a content creator. When creating content for Pinterest, you need good content to attract people and keep them interested.
If they can’t find anything unique or interesting on your account, users will not hang around.
We suggest that you connect with engaged users as soon as possible. You need to put everything into those first few months because that is the ‘make or break’ period on Pinterest.
Seasonal Content Should Be Planned Ahead
As with all marketing, you need to plan ahead, creating content for special vacations and dates before they arrive. People who use Pinterest are planners and they like to plan ahead. You should plan your content about a month or 45 days ahead.
This way, you can have great content ready even before people know they want to search for it.
Well-planned content sees an impressive holiday boost and Promoted Pins that correspond with holidays can see an increase in sales of up to more than 20%. We know this thanks to Pinterest’s Seasonal Insights.
Make use of this feature, it will save you a lot of time.
Captivate Your Audience
Visuals are super important on a platform such as Pinterest. Almost all users value images much more than text. However, this doesn’t mean you should neglect your copy. But you need to focus equally on all fronts of your content, giving just a bit more attention to visuals.
Keep in mind that more than 80% of Pinterest users are on their mobiles when they use the platform. Your content needs to be optimised for mobile use or it will be ignored. Make sure that your content is descriptive.
The key to good marketing is creativity and it is obvious on Pinterest. You can get people hooked with good storytelling.
Content Creators Are Consistent
Yet again we are going on about consistency. It really is very important. For the best results, you should aim to pin something at least once a day. Of course, be careful to not overdo things and pin too much in a 24 hour period.
Also, do research about when your target audience is online and active. You want to share Pins when you’re likely to reach more users.
For even more tips on how to nail Pinterest marketing, take a look at our comprehensive guide.
Pro Tip
Content creators know that they can’t always get to everything and how important a scheduling tool is. For this purpose, you can make use of SocialPlanner. With this handy tool, you can find and post entertaining and trending content very easily.
It allows you to easily find top-performing content whatever your niche, topic or keyword. You will also be able to plan your content’s publishing schedule with just a few clicks.
Your content will be published on multiple social media platforms, as you desire. Clearly, SocialPlanner is great at making the job of a content creator is a little bit easier.
Conclusion
Now you know what it takes to be an awesome content creator on social media. There are many more platforms out there that content creators need to master, but the ones we discussed here are the most important and biggest networks.
Remember this is a full time job, so remain committed for the best results.
Once you have succeeded with them, you’ll have no trouble with the others. All we can say to you now is Good Luck!