Since publishing industry became prevalent and demand for capacity of content increased, content creation and finding the perfect content to publish became a serious challenge.
Publishing industry in Europe after the invention of the printing press went ahead to publish The Bible on mass and it wasn’t in low demand. But after a short period of time, relying on existing classical literature was not sustainable. The need for new content increased and content creation itself became a specialized profession.
Chief editors would find the right content to publish, which was mostly done by the writers hired by the publisher. but eventually free-lancing content creators increased, after receiving the content order they would write an article based on their personal style and preference. Thus it is safe to assume that publishing companies were the pioneers of content creation.
Content Creation In The Age of Electronics Media:
After books and newspaper came the invention of television and radio. Now content creation was being distributed in voice and moving pictures.
Contemporary analysts came to the conclusion that content creation needs to be taken seriously. Norman Angel, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Jean Baudrillard and Erving Goffman were such theorists.
But till the invention of the web and social media, the struggle for content creation was not so prevailing. Content creation is so universal right now that there are dedicated college classes for it.
But with cheapening of digital gadgets such as phones and personal computers, content creation has become widely available. Which brings with itself new problems.
With the increase in content creators and magnitude of available content:
what should you do for people to seek out your content?
If you are thinking of becoming a content creator or are already one this will be the most important question for you in the road ahead. We seek to help and teach you to make useful and valuable content in today’s saturated market, in hopes of increasing your audience.
What Are the Traits of Content Creation As A Profession?
As it was mentioned at the beginning of this article, content creation can vary from the publisher of centuries old books to an Instagram blogger.
But other than its broad definition, in today’s term it is referred to a social media content creator.
There are organizations such as content creation companies and agencies that have made the process faster and cheaper.
These companies with regards to their staff and abilities are either limited to specialized content or cover a whole range of topics for social media pages and websites.
A Few Key Questions In Content Creation
No-one can claim they have a full concept of content creation that they can cover and teach. With that in mind, our lessons cover a wide range of extensive topics of digital content creation that can answer most of your questions regarding the topic. We will bring up some of the common questions in the hopes of understanding how we can answer your questions and needs.
Importance of Scheduling Your Content
If you are planning to follow the path of content creation professionally, we highly recommend you take scheduling very seriously.
It doesn’t matter if whether you have a Twitter or Instagram account, a website or a blog that you use for your work or person; it is important to plan ahead days or weeks as what you will be publishing. It doesn’t need to cover everything about the content, just take heed of the notes below:
- Publishing Date
- Content’s Topic (Recommended to use a few key words)
- Content’s Format (Text? Video? Voice?)
- Content’s Framework (Advertisement Report? Blog? Article? Infographic? Podcast? Sponsored content? Index? Checklist?)
- Targeted Media (Website? Twitter? Weblog? Instagram? LinkedIn? etc….)
This is what is referred to in content strategy as the content production program or content calendar.
Coming Up With Ideas For Content Creation
To answer this question that “Where can I get the idea of content production?” You need to understand your customers and their needs. And produce content that meets these needs.
But it is easier said than done. You might go for days or weeks struggling to come up with ideas. In others words, facing “writer’s block.”
Creating content and making money from it
Sometimes monetizing content is very indirect.
For example, consider a company that provides content in its field of activity on its website. This content can educate the audience or potential customer and turn them – in the short or long term – into a real customer. In addition, this form of content supply can help branding and become financial benefits in the future.
But there are other ways to generate income from content that are simpler and have a shorter process. Selling content, attracting advertisements, influence in the form of influencer marketing and cooperation in sales (affiliate marketing) are among these options.
Content In Text Format
Textual content is one the most important branches of content creation. Even if you want your content be in voice or video,
strengthening your writing skills and word placement can help you in the long run. To answer “where should I start in content creating?”
To which we answer in writing.
Content Creation By Phone
The first point that we must separate is content creation with phone or content for phones. Defiantly usage of smartphones have increased
so did contents targeting them. Which in turn means it should be your top priority.
-Focus on creating specialized content for phone based apps such as Instagram.
-Make sure your web based content is easily accessible to phones with sufficient quality.
But creating content for phone is another story. It is highly recommended to create your content on a personal computer or a laptop for
increased quality. Many creators use desktop to create their content. There are many tools for doing so, such as: Photoshop, Aftereffect, Premiere,
just to name a few. Using desktop will give your content a more professionalized look that satisfy your audience.
You might ask why there are so many widely used phone apps for creating content? Wouldn’t they be cheaper or even free due to subscription
prices of desktop apps? Other than having access to aftereffect tools, you need to chop up your content in several phone apps to get the
desired results. Which makes the process complicated and tedious. In conclusion, desktop is the best go-to tool for content creation.
Creating Content For Instagram
One of the most frequently asked questions is whether our lessons can apply to content creation for Instagram. In truth, our lessons are
a generalization of content creation. And it does not solely focus on Instagram. We haven’t yet to cover specialized lessons to help with
Instagram’s algorithm.
But we do believe content creation is more or less the same on every platform. And anyone who understands the basics of content creation
can find their way. Thus, we suggest that you follow our general points for content creation even if you have limited yourself to Instagram.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Lessons in SEO and content creation can be see as two factors that complete each other. Due to amount of content that is available on the
internet, it is important to be at the top of the search engine’s(Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc…) algorithm. For that reason, it is needed to
spend some time learning about search engine optimization. We do have some lessons available that covers SEO. But before you head to
those, let us cover some points:
-Each search engine has their own algorithm. If your content is accepted to be in Google’s first search page, it doesn’t mean it will be the
same for other search engines. But since Google controls 92% of the internet searches, it is key to put Google at the forefront of your
standards.
-SEO’s biggest use is for written content. With that in mind, those who are writing content need to put SEO at their priority. That does not
mean you do not need SEO if you are making a video or a podcast. Writing a caption for your video can boost it up in the algorithm.
Writing a summary of your podcast can also help a lot.
-At the moment, SEO is significant to some platforms. Such as YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. But not yet for platforms such as Instagram.
So, relying on Google for your content in Instagram doesn’t make much sense; Instagram’s explore section is much more important.
That gives you the ability to delay your SEO research if you are focusing on Instagram only. But we always highly recommend to have a
website alongside your social media page.
– Contrary to what is stated in many content creating and SEO training courses, we emphasize SEO’s importance is smaller compared to
content’s quality and format. You should not sacrifice audience satisfaction for search engine optimization.
Cost of Content Creation
Cost of content creation will vary depending on its quality. As we have put in hours and having to purchase a few books and articles for
our lessons, with at least 2000 to 3000 words, we have spent hundred of dollars for each. In this case, we recommend read the notes
below if you want hire a content creator to order a content:
-Don’t be fooled by low prices. A low price usually means the content will be also lower in quality.
At the same time, be skeptical of higher prices, as high price doesn’t always equals to high quality.
-Keep originality a priority. Most freelance content creators are merely mix and matching other contents with a very few small detail changes.
Not only this sort of orders will not help you grow and stand out, it will also brings you trouble from your dissatisfied audience.
-In textual content(whether it’s for a website, Instagram’s caption or a thread on twitter….) make sure to pay attention to spelling and
Grammar. As a rule, people who will pay attention to these will charge more. But hiring people who make the writing is in full
order will pay out in the long run.
-Always put a specific date on your order. “cost of content creation” and “being on time” find meaning together. If a content creator is
charging less than their peers but delivers your order late, it means you have lost audiences and potential markets.
Content Creation And Personal Branding
Some people are becoming content creators in order to build a personal brand for themselves.
Content creation is definitely a tool to help out in creating a personal brand. But personal branding does not starts with content creation.
Thus, if you want to learn about personal branding through content creation, our recommendation to you is to study our personal branding
lessons first. After you have learned the important levels of personal branding( understanding self, understanding the environment, description
of the brand), then for better communicating with your audience, move to lessons about content creation.
Introducing a Few Books About Content Creation
Books about content creation aren’t few in numbers. But unfortunately, most of them are written from a market point of view with
profiting in mind. We recommend you these few books below that are most suitable for starters.
-They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
-Managing Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi
-Content Strategy For The Web by Christina Halvorsen
There is another book that is not directly related to content creation and we have not included it in the content creation course.
But it can improve your view on engaging with your audience.
-Hooked by Nir Eyal
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