What are the Best Practices for Content Creation
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Creating content can help boost your brand and attract hiring managers and recruiters, but it is important to understand the best practices to strategize effectively. Find your niche, determine how to provide value, pinpoint your consistency strategy, and build engagement.?
It pays to learn the best ways to produce and push out content.?
A strong content creation strategy can help position you as a thought leader, score a new job, build an audience, attract buyers for a side business, and more.?
Knowing how to do it, and identifying best practices before you begin, is key.
“One of the first things that you should think of is how the content will resonate with your audience,” said content creation and social media expert Brianna Seaberg. “Make sure that the content you are creating is unique in some way. It [should] tell a story in a way that only you can tell. What sets great content apart is that you're providing somebody with something that they maybe have never seen before, or heard about before.”
Also, think about how to make your content authentic and creative, Seaberg said.?
“Whenever I'm ideating creative content, I think about what story I can tell and what perspective I? can spin on this. A lot of people overthink and they're like, ‘I have to mention all of these things, or make it super long and complex.’ But sometimes the best content is the content that basically is very simple, very straightforward and to the point.”
Finding your niche is also a good starting point, but it is important to remember that you don’t have to stick to the first one you choose, said content marketer and content creator Jayde Powell.
“I think as we evolve as creators, our niches evolve as well,” Powell said. “You can define a niche, but I don't know any creators that haven't evolved over time. What we create is based on our inherent experiences and how we view the world. So that will change over time.”
Determine How to Provide Value With Your Content Creation
Always consider how your content can be beneficial and provide value to others.?
“I sit down and say, what is something [about this topic] that hasn't been talked about?” Seaberg said. “For example, if it's content on personal branding, maybe some people don't know how to start their personal brand. Put that unique spin on it.
“Also, thinking about how you can provide value to the most people possible is important. You could go very niche and provide information that will only benefit a small group of people, but what I also do is think, if somebody seeing this content is 75 or 15 years old, how can I reach this broad audience and help all of those people with the value that I bring in my content?”?
Analyze your audience and the kind of advice that can apply to several experiences, backgrounds, or perspectives, Seaberg said.?
Identify Your Audience and Tailor Your Content Creation to Them?
Also, analyze your content and who is engaging with it to help better tailor your posts to your audience.
“[Identify] who's commenting, who's messaging you or interested in hearing more about what you were speaking about in your content,” Seaberg said. “Look at that engagement and how people are interacting as a community.”
Make personalized content as well, Seaberg said. It should fit the audience you want to target.
Don’t be afraid to try different content creation types as you do, Powell said.?
“I love to take the ‘throw things at the wall and see what works’ approach,” Powell said. “Focus on the message, because your message is something that will always come out of your values and what you believe as a brand, whether you're a personal brand or a brand that sells goods, products, or services.
“Once you latch onto that and let that be your guiding star, then you can create all types of content. And what will make it quality is the fact that you're keeping your audience top of mind, and adapting it to make sure that it can reach new audiences as well. The only way to determine [your content will] adapt to new audiences is by creating all different types of content. You can figure out what works best for you and stick with that, but also not be afraid to maneuver and change things as you develop your strategy.”
Be Consistent With Your Content Creation
Consistency is also an essential ingredient of content creation. However, consistent posting can be a challenge.
Creating content when you feel inspired helps, Powell said.?
“When I approach my content creation process, I think about if I actually want to create content,” Powell said. “I'm a big believer in not creating when you don't actually want to because I think content creators deal with a lot of burnout.?
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“And oftentimes that leads to creative burnout, which is the inability to ideate, create, especially when you need to the most. I've suffered from extreme burnout and creative blocks, and [that helps].”
Powell also suggested collaborating with other creators to generate content ideas, and expand your creative process.?
Also, establish a consistent pattern that makes sense for you.?
“I think people confuse consistency with cadence,” Powell said. “And I think the distinction is important because cadence is how often you will create content or publish content. But consistency is establishing a cadence that makes sense for you and your audience.?
“Consistency should also revolve around when you want to create because it doesn't make sense to publish something every day if you don't actually have the energy or time to do that.”
Focus more on the quality of your content, Powell said.
“If you are publishing content that isn't very high quality, that is when you [will] start seeing dips in engagement,” Powell said. “You [will] lose your audience because you are not focusing on publishing quality content. You are just pumping out content on a consistent basis. [Post content] based on what you feel like is a reasonable timeframe for you or reasonable goals for you.”
Seaberg suggested setting a reminder on your phone like, ‘Post LinkedIn post at 9 a.m. to help with your consistency.?
Prepping your content beforehand can be an asset too, Seaberg said. Create all elements of your post — your caption, photo, video, etc. — and save it in your drafts so it is ready to publish.?
“If I am out or don't have access to my computer or my content at the time to be consistent and post, I can just go in my drafts and send it off and log out of the app,” Seaberg said. “Make sure that the content is ready to go because if it is not, you could be prepping it for hours and then that consistent time or day you've been posting may not happen.”
Use Your Content Creation to Build Engagement
Interact with your audience to help build your engagement.
“Even if people are just commenting their thoughts or insight or say something random like, ‘Love this,’ I always try to respond,” Seaberg said. “That definitely builds a community, and two, it makes the audience feel like you are listening, you want to engage with them, and you want to hear what they say.
“The next time you post content, they'll have more of a reason to want to comment because they are like, ‘That comment she sent back after I commented last time was great and now we've connected on the sidelines, and it's an amazing chat.’”?
Provide an in-depth response if someone asks a question, and say more than ‘thank you’? if someone says something like ‘Love this!’
“[Instead], say ‘Thank you so much, it really means a lot,” Seaberg said. “Let me know what other kind of content you'd like to see.”?
Engage with other posts too.?
Seaberg said she spends 30 to 45 minutes leaving comments and engaging with other people’s posts before she posts. She has noticed that people tend to engage with her content more when she does that first.?
Finally, think about these best practices as you create content, Powell said.?
“Creating content can be very complicated to some people, but it doesn't have to be,” Powell said. “Everyone has access to creating content on any platform. Go step by step, like ‘OK, this is the audience. This is how I want to engage with people. This is the type of content I should be making.’?
“You can really break it down into simple steps, fine line that process, and define your personal brand. It is really important to include all these things when you are thinking of your content because if you follow this kind of structure and tips, you'll be able to get more exposure on your posts or connect with more people that are like-minded.”?
Taking all aspects into account can help you create the best content you can consistently, and can launch your career or business, Powell said.
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What are the Best Practices for Content Creation