Whether you work for marketing team or want to create content for your personal brand, you will need to follow these 9 habits to become a great content creator:
- Constantly read about industry news
In order to create great content, you will need to know exactly what resonates with your target audience at the current moment. This will involve not just lots of reading and research, but also scouring different internet sources about your industry’s latest trends and news.
You can also ask co-workers and friends on their latest reads as well as set up an RSS feed for relevant industry blogs. Through this strategy, you will develop a deeper understanding of your target audience wants and needs, giving you a head start against your competitors.
- Write, write, write
Writing is much like a muscle—you must exercise it daily to avoid losing its strength. This especially rings true for content creators who create blogs and other written content. Successful content creators write regularly, even when they may not be in the mood for writing.
With just 20 to 30 minutes of jotting down some thoughts or free-writing about your day, you can come up with some ideas for your next blog post or webinar video. If you’re having trouble writing, ask yourself some questions about what you read about the latest industry trends and go from there.
- Identify your target audience
Every industry has its own audience. And, as this blog on Hubspot puts it, content professionals are at the mercy of these target consumers.
Successful content creators know just how to identify and study the behavior of their industry’s audience and ensure their content reflects their wants. When identifying your audience, be sure to look for their age, gender, location, family size, and socio-economic status—all play a huge role in the kind of content you will create.
Once you identify these key characteristics, ask yourself what they want that you’re not giving them. Always try to be a problem solver or industry expert, rather than just a commentator. This helps your audience look to you for any issues they may have.
- Find your personal voice among the masses
It’s important to remember that you are not the only content creator on the Internet. Countless other creators around the world are offering their advice, opinions, and expertise for your industry.
Now, you shouldn’t feel discouraged from playing the game. Rather, you should identify methods to separate you from other creators in your industry. What makes you different? What do you bring to the table that others aren’t?
Finding and establishing your personal voice becomes a major factor in your success. Your audience may read your blog or watch your videos, but your personality helps cement yourself as unique from the rest. And this can encourage them to come back for more.
There are several ways you can do this in your content, such as adding personal (but relevant) stories or opinions about a product. Of course, your workplace may not allow you to write informal content but you can learn to blend your personality with the content you create for your organization.
- Share and engage other creator’s content
It’s not enough to create content, you should also share other creator’s posts and videos onto your social channels and pages. Be sure to engage with the content you’re reposting—just sharing it doesn’t do much in setting you apart from other creators.
When you engage, you make the content unique to you and your page. It becomes valuable when you add a thought or opinion that makes your audience think or reply back. It can even catch the attention of the original poster, which boost up your content’s reach.
- Review analytics daily
Monitor your analytics daily, no excuses! By checking how your content is performing with your audience, you can find new opportunities for fresh and creative content ideas.
Review which topics and content are doing well with your audience (the more engagement, the better!) and tailor your future content around similar ideas. You can also observe which content your audience didn’t like as much and optimize it for higher engagement.
- Focus on effective project management
Efficiency and productivity are super important to content creation. Without a proper map to manage the amount of content you’re creating, it can be quite chaotic, leading to inconsistency and/or poor quality work. Successful content creators use a platform or a method to keep all their to-do’s in check.
Using management platforms is one way you can provide some relief with the different projects and tasks you will need to do when developing your content. Here, you can distribute, comment, collaborate and share content across different locations as well as delegate the things that needs to be done.
- Keep a consistent brand message
Your company’s brand message should be unique and consistent throughout every content you put out. It may be difficult at first, but it’s important for the following reasons:
- It strengthens your overall brand
- It builds audience trust and familiarity
- It reinforces positive experiences
Brand consistency should also be applied to design, fonts, and colors as well.
- Question the status quo
When you’re a content creator, always remain curious. Try questioning the status quo in your industry. This can encourage you to see problems in your industry that aren’t being addressed as much or at all, and help you come up with new solutions. Critical thinkers are a much needed trait in content creation, and allows you to go a long way.
Content creators often get pressured to constantly push out content, even if it’s not the best. Quantity, however, does not equal quality. It’s important to know that good content creation all starts with certain key habits. By implementing these habits into your content creation routine, you’ll be on your way to producing the kind of content that will not only represent your brand but will also resonate with your target audience.