In this article…
- What Is a Content Creator?
- Ideation Best Practices for Content Creators
- Tips to Become a Successful Content Creator
Content creation is a key aspect of any marketing strategy. Any marketing team needs to employ content creators to formally execute tactics to reach their digital media goals. Goals can be geared towards interest attracted to content on your company’s website, which can give it more exposure. In this article, we will review what a content creator is, the different types of content creators and how you can become a successful content creator.
Related: How to Make Content Interactive
What Is a Content Creator?
A content creator is someone who contributes information to a media platform. Today, many pieces of content are created and published on a website, blog, or a separate digital medium. Content produced by a content creator focuses on engaging with a specific target audience and is usually assigned by the company or individual that the content creator works for. Some examples of content creators include local and national media outlets, colleges and universities; companies; usually in the advertising and marketing industry, government; and users.
Let’s take a took at the different types of content creators.
Social Media Content Creators
Social media content creators solely create content to be posted on social media channels. There are multiple facets to consider when creating content for a social media campaign such as text, design and the posting of content. This is why social media content companies use micro-content to help delegate tasks based on which social media channel they’re posting on. Also, different target audiences often use different social media channels, so you can be mindful when choosing to create content for a specific platform.
The different types of content that social media content curators produce include:
- Inspirational quotes
- Call-to-action (CTA)
- Going behind the scenes
- Repurposing blog posts
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Funny posts
- Prizes and promotions
- Client testimonials
- Going back in time (e.g. Throwback Thursday)
- Industry case studies
- Business tips
- Latest industry news
- Promotional videos
- Infographics
- GIFs
Web Content Creators
Web content creators engage in different types of content marketing that can later get repurposed onto their website. Your company can generate more leads and boost the probability of signing clients with influential content that links with their business goals.
Let’s dive into a few elements that a web content creator works on a day-to-day basis:
- Blogs: Blogging is a very successful avenue for small businesses to take in bolstering its content marketing strategy. Writing content for the web helps improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and increases the chances for your company to be searched on the web. Inbound content can also enhance the exposure of your advertising, and ads can be placed within content displayed on your webpage.
- Case studies: Case studies are the primary source of optimal blog post content. This can consist of how a client helped you become successful. It can also be an opportunity to showcase a specific feature for a client’s product or service. It can also shape the mission of a company by how they can benefit the day-to-day lives of buyers. A real-life application of a product or service can help a customer understand how and why they should use it. Internal reporting of stats can help reinforce your message if it’s relevant to your target audience.
- EBooks: This is another piece of long-form content that presents value to your audience about current industry challenges. This is not the opportunity to sell, but it’s information you provide that can assist a business in solving their problems. In other words, you’re giving concise information at no cost. This is a prime example of a win-win situation.
- White papers: White papers have similarities to eBooks. However, white papers are loaded with information and focus on details. If you’re generating content for a B2B company, then this is an option to strongly consider to establish a larger foothold in an industry. B2B companies can present industry data they’ve compiled and other valuable information to attract leads.
- Checklists: Checklists can help companies produce step-by-step instructions for their customers about a specific process. This is user-friendly content that is approachable and can resonate with their audience. For example, if your company is a seasonal business with different usages of a product during peak season, then giving actionable tips can be helpful for customers to improve their lives. Some examples include seasonally appropriate checklists for HVAC companies, holiday stores, spring cleaning, or the parks and recreation service.
- Interviews: A web content creator needs to know the full story about a business they’re marketing for. The ideal way to get the best answer is to think like a journalist and ask pointed questions about interesting topics related to the industry. For instance, an interview with a B2B marketing expert can gain a lot of insight as to what sort of challenges they may face. Their responses can conceive meaningful content that can attract your desired viewers.
- Podcasts: Podcasts can fall under the umbrella of interviews, but it’s another way to get open-ended responses from your clients about their expertise. A web content creator can host the podcast and ask the client questions in addition to compiling the audio, writing a transcription of key points taken, and publish each episode on their website. The web content creator can also write a separate piece of article content that ties into current news about the industry, which can increase interest from external stakeholders.
Ideation Best Practices for Content Creators
Your success as a content creator depends on the goals set out by your client. It’s key for you to generate thoughtful ideas for content that will inspire your audience to interact with the business. Follow these tips to assist you in producing new content ideas:
- Get to know the company: You can use a business assessment to enhance your understanding of what the company does, what type of impact they want to leave on their customers, and the story they want to tell. As a digital storyteller, this information is vital for building and sustaining a successful content strategy.
- Identify what makes the business stand out: Be sure to schedule an in-person meeting to review the business assessment and find out why a business is a strong player in their market. A SWOT analysis is another tool to consider, so you can get a full overview of the scope of your company’s business.
- Understand their content goals: Your day-to-day role is to create content that provides value to the intended audience. Therefore, you’ll need to understand how to leverage the platform the content is being published on, so you can write a story that attracts viewers who use it regularly.
Image via Pixabay by pixelcreatures.
Tips to Become a Successful Content Creator
Here are steps that you can take daily to nurture your growth as a content creator:
1. Stay abreast about current industry news for your clients
You can discover new ideas based on news and trends in your clients’ industry. This requires intensive research on marketing news about brands, potential wins, and controversy that a company encountered from a recent marketing campaign they launched. By understanding news, you can associate your content with events that impacted your clients’ industry.
A cool trick to help stay up-to-date with current news is to use Google Alerts or Feedly to organize all alerts in one place. This saves you time on research, and you can sort it based on the feedback you get from others on the ideal places to search marketing news.
2. Write consistently
One of the only ways you can improve your content creation skills is by repetition. Daily writing is key for your development in telling high-quality stories, and it serves as a benefit to your clients’ audience. When you do this, do not focus on word count, but hone in on getting down thoughts in your head onto paper to streamline your creative process.
After, look back and see if anything meaningful was noteworthy from what you wrote. If so, then you can formulate your thoughts as to how you can upgrade your storytelling ability.
3. Know your target audience
It is important to understand your target audience. The more information the company provides, the easier it is for you to focus on content that drives sales to their business. A SWOT analysis is a valuable tool for companies to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; and it provides a guideline for you to work from.
During your research of the company and its reach on social media, you can begin to determine who uses their product and identify problems they can solve. Audiences that you can write for may vary based on their age, location, and the salary they earn at their current job.
4. Create a unique style for your clients’ brand
Each brand has its way of interacting with their audience. For example, the age of your clients’ target audience can determine what type of content you’re writing, and for which channel. However, you still need to be thoughtful about the platform you’re writing on. It takes time to create an authentic relationship with your audience. Therefore, producing a specific style for the channels your audience utilizes can build a bridge between the content guidelines of your client and how you tell a story about the expansion of a brand.
5. Interact with influencers and leverage relevant content
Social media is a great place to find content to repurpose, but it’s most valuable to your target audience if you’re speaking about the news that your client is an expert in. For example, breaking news can be a great opportunity for your client to give a thoughtful opinion for your audiences to latch onto. It’s also practical to comment on influencers’ posts to get an industry conversation going.
6. Understand what KPIs you’re trying to meet
Lead generation is a large challenge for all marketers, but your content’s success is dependent on how you optimize it. Therefore, make sure to understand which metrics you want to measure and find out what expectations your client has. You’ll have a better chance of magnifying your campaign if you tailor strategies to reach these metrics.
Some important KPIs you can use to calculate marketing success include:
- Visitors to a social media post
- Visitors that typed the URL into their browser
- Visitors that clicked on the link for the content’s search result
- People who gave their contact information through the website’s submission
7. Get to know other content creators
Listen to other content creators and see how they gained their skills and optimized their content. They may be working with a client in a different industry or striving to only generate organic traffic. Regardless, you can start researching influential content creators and discover some tricks that you can learn and apply. An informational interview can help you discover how they started and the common challenges they face.
8. Purpose solutions to industry problems
Demonstrate the importance of the content you’re creating and why it’s valuable information for your audience to possess. Each piece of content should address a need in the market that hasn’t been addressed yet. Observations from your client must leave a lesson for your clients’ audience and potentially lead to them purchasing their product.
9. Continue to ask questions
Content creators are never satisfied with the status quo. Their internal curiosity about the world leads them to question current content circulated on different channels and motivates them to produce new solutions. Thinking about alternative viewpoints on industry topics shows what reactions the public may have, and how you can tailor content to your client’s advantage. Implementing healthy habits for content ideation has unlimited potential for success.
