Content – the right fuel for digital economy
“Everybody has a story to tell, and creativity is for all. Whether you are a student or the largest enterprise in the world, you create content across every digital device and that makes you a part of global fuel for digital economy.” – Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO
Photo by Agefis on Unsplash
It’s no surprise that one of the best CEOs in the world is giving such a simple yet powerful meaning to creativity and content. Indeed, in every aspect of life we are creating some kind of content, especially when it comes to our professional development.
To get good grades in school we write essays, we draw paintings, we build our view on different things and present them to others. To get a job you have to write an interesting and appealing CV that will catch every HR manager’s eye. To become an influencer, freelancer, or entrepreneur, we use content with the power of social media. How? We tell a story about ourselves, our brand, or the product. We use words, sometimes music or photography, and sometimes we combine them all in one creating one of the most powerful known media, his hinges, the video.
We can agree on one thing – we create content every day, for personal and business needs. And some are extremely visible in the world of the internet, and some are not. That’s why we have to ask ourselves and others the ultimate question: how to make a difference between ok and great content? Well, we can help you with some tips and tricks you could use, but in the end, it all comes to your storytelling ability. Pay attention to the following things, and you’ll be on the right path of becoming an internet celebrity.
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
If we don’t know who our customers and followers are, we’re not going to do well online. For example, selling a luxury car to a five-year-old doesn’t make much sense. Also, we won’t be giving tips about SEO optimization to nurses because they don’t care about it. So, if we want to create valuable content for someone, we have to know who’s that someone. What drives them, what do they like or don’t like, how can we solve their problem or give them something they are searching for a while.
DIG DEEP INTO SOCIAL MEDIA
Scrolling through Pinterest, Instagram, or any other social media platform is the number one thing when it comes to new ideas. Looking at the big brands, we’ll see what’s hot and what’s not. And this can help us in promoting our brand. It doesn’t mean that we have to follow them blindly. We should keep an eye on them and to learn from their successes and mistakes. If the world is talking about staying home, we probably shouldn’t do the opposite.
Photo by Austin h Distel on Unsplas
CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT
We shouldn’t do a simple copy-paste of someone else’s content. That’s a big no-no in a world of digital. First of all, Google will know, and it will punish us somehow. Take time in research and new ideas, and then use our creativity to deliver something appealing and perfect for our customers, readers, and users. After all, the whole point is to be recognizable and unique to get everyone’s attention.
STRONG LINES ARE THE BEST HOOKS
We have to intrigue readers with a few words, and we do that with a headline. We are free to say that headlines are important as much as articles or posts. The same goes for photographers and designers. Strong and intriguing ones are a perfect hook for every true fan of art. That’s why we have to give ourselves enough time to think of a perfect and catchy headline to get more readers or fans to our page, profile, or site.
USE IMAGES AND VIDEOS
Videos are the most powerful in communication with our users or customers. Using videos, we can deliver a lot of information in a short time. Plus, when we use more senses we connect and memorize more data. It’s easier and a lot faster to watch a 2-minute video than to read a short novel on any social media post.
Luckily, there are so many software and apps that can help us to add value to the story we’re telling. Nowadays, you don’t have to be a video or audio expert, nor you have to be the best photographer in the world to create visible content. There are always free and paid tools that can help us get professional work or apps that will help us to fix amateur work if needed.
For example, we can use free platforms like Unsplash or Pixabay, or we could use paid ones like Shutterstock to implement professional photos into our work. Also, to create an interesting post for social media we can use Canva or StoryArt. But we shouldn’t stop there. We can combine text, audio, images, and make interesting vlogs and videos. If we don’t know how to use professional apps and tools, that’s not the problem. Why? Because there is plenty of free video and audio editors out there. The only thing we have to care about when using them is the format of files we’re mixing together. This means that we should use JPG for photos, MP3 for sound, or AVI for video. In case that a file we want to incorporate in our social media story is in some other format, we’ll convert files with free or paid converters like iloveimg, Audio converter, M4P converter, etc.
Photo by Vanilla Bear Films on Unsplash
Using all these tools, apps, and software we are boosting their business and creating our own, at the same time. But, how can we create awesome content, just tools, and apps aren’t enough, right?
These are just some guidelines for creating great content. But in the end, it all comes to the person behind the computer and their ability to tell a story in a way their followers and customers will understand. Fix someone’s problem and give them value, and success shouldn’t be a problem. Use words, audio, video, or images, but connect with those who follow on several different levels. Find a way, and do it. And if you struggle a bit sometimes, it’s not a problem. We all have our ups and downs. Just listen, watch, and monitor. Are you ready to start? Then tell us, what’s your story?
