What is content creation? Content is a raw information that is packaged in a strategic way to convey a message and propagate a philosophy, ideology or system.
Content creation is a very powerful tool in today’s world used to inspire new ways of thinking and more importantly to trigger people to take action.
We are in the digital world, every single picture, text and video you put out there is a content to the world.
Why is content creation very important?
- It helps you to create connection with people: when you share contents around and about yourself ( that is human content), around what you believe in or around your thought.
You have the ability to create a connection with people in your audience.
You need to know that the content your audience reads from your page can determine if they will create a connection with you or not.
- Content creation helps to create influence, with the things you are saying and sharing.
You are able to influence your audience to take action. Especially when you have a compelling call to action.
And I know some of you will ask “what a call to action is” A call to action CTA for short is what you want people to do after they are done watching your content or consuming your content as a whole.
- Content creation helps you create likability: when you create original contents that are relatable, people will like you.
No one loves fake, people can smell a fake and no one loves a fake life because we know that we are not perfect.
So when you come out with your content, come in your originality, show up the way you are, and trust me people will love you.
- Content creation helps you to build trust, when you post your contents consistently, when you write consistently, you are able to build trust with people because consistency builds trust, it aids in trust building.
- Content creation encourages patronage with your brand and business.
If you have a compelling call to action, people can buy from you because you been able to connect with them.
Because they now know you, like you and they now trust you already.
So when you ask them to buy, they all will be willing to buy from you.
- Content creation also helps you to fill your funnel with relevant content. Your sales funnel is the channel that gets strangers / clients to know you and like you before they buy from you
But I need you to know that your sales funnel should channel people into your sales system, especially online.
So it does not matter whether you are selling something online or offline; your content should be tied to your funnel.
TYPES OF CONTENTS
So when it comes to contents, there are different types of contents
- Contents that get you known: these are contents that establish you as an authority. When you start to share this type of content to people, people sees you as an authority and they say” okay, this is the niche that this person is playing in”.
This type of authority building content is where you share quotes, statistics, stories e.t.c
For example; share contents of how much your industry is worth in the next 5-6-10 years.
You can also share statistics of the number of women who do certain things to the number of men who do certain things.
You can also share examples or stories of people and interviews e.t.c
- Contents that get you loved: these are more deeper kind of contents e.g checklist, worksheets, guides etc
You get loved because you have put together a certain kind or type of content that solves real problem for people and helps people get quick wins.
- Contents that get you trusted: once you publish a book for example, people will start seeing you as an authority. People start seeing you as someone who knows exactly what they are talking about.
Nature of Contents
So when we talk about natures of contents, we are talking about various forms that your content can take.
- Text form of content: when using text as a form of content, you have to make sure that its error free and very clear.
So when writing your sales copy on your website copy or a welcome email etc. you have to ensure that it is error free and your message has to be clear.
- Pictures: are another form of content. When using picture as a form of content, your pictures has to be of quality, and must have the capacity to move people’s emotion. So yes you can post pictures as a content.
- Audio: your contents can come in the form of podcast, voice notes, you can record them and upload. E.g affirmations.
- Videos: with video contents, you can get more engagement when you post a 1 to 2 minutes video where you are sharing story or something interesting.
With video contents, you tend to touch people at more receptors, meaning that they are able to see you, feel you and touch you.
- Live Videos: are amazing and this get much more engagements when you go live on social media.
Here people give you real time feedback on your content, you are able to engage more, call your audience by their names, ask them questions and get feedbacks from them real time.’
Its so powerful when you run live videos
Finally different natures and forms of contents, I need you to know that all these are the 5 nature of content and format that your content can come in.
Content Pillars
Content pillars are secret hacks you can use create content ideas that helps you never to lack what to write or post.
There are different angles you can take to create a content pillar for your business, that will give you content ideas you can create for your business.
- Industry News: these are upcoming things that are happening in your industry. So start sharing industrial news and information’s consistently.
You can start by sharing somethings that are happening in your industry.
Search on Google, follow giants in your industry, follow the media and new channels.
Once you have acquired them, then post them on your social media page, in this way you become the go to kind of person.
Statistics: here you research on relevant industrial statistic and share. These statistics must be figures and numbers relevant to your industry. E.g in my niche I can create a content with these statistics ( there are 2.4 billion active users on instagram every month, out of which 12.6 million active instagram users are from Nigeria; so how can you use this information to grow your business? With this i now have a content idea and I can create a content out of it to post on my page.
If you can create contents that has statistics on your page, it will help build your brand authority online.
- Behind the scenes: so what is the bts ( behind the scenes ) of your business? Can you share them to the public to grab their attention.
This allows your audience relate with you and know what it looks like when you are running your business.
What are those things that happens in your business when you are building your brand that others may not know?
Record yourself doing what you are doing as the behind the scenes of your business.
This is another example of what a content pillar looks like
- Do it yourself: type of content. Here you share hot tips that your audience can implement to get quick results.
For examples, you noticed a mistake that majority of your audience are making, then you simply go out there and share hot tips on 3 things they can do to get xyz results etc
Another way to go about this is by creating do it yourself type of content, where you teach people what to do.
Here you teach people the process of doing something, it could be a product base or service based or digital based.
This way you win their heart because you are helping them; as long as they are able to get the quick results by learning from you.
- Offer type of content: this type of content is where you inform your audience of some offers that you have going on.
It could be a free download kind of offer, or buy one get one free, a bonus offer etc.
Its is a way to sell out rightly but packaging it in form of a promo.
I need you to know that it is very important to have offers in your content pillars where you are actually selling your product.
- Reviews and Testimonials: type of content. This type of content makes your prospects feel like they are getting a bargain e.g a testimonial of my experience or other people’s experiences.
- Trending Stories: type of content, if you have things that are happening in your industry, you can share stories around it.
You need to learn how to follow trending stories that relate to your brand and ride on it.
But keep in mind that it is not all trends that you must follow because some of them can hurt your brand.
So be careful and stay away from sensitive things e.g religion or political issues
Always tell a story about trending things that is related to your brand and tire it down with an offer.
- Quotes: search for quotes in your business niche with the right keywords.
You can go on google and search for quotes for your business brand e.g quotes for food business or real estate business depending the business niche you are in;
Or you can search for quotes on money, personal development etc and post but remember to reference the authors of these quotes
- Jokes: as a content. Here you can share relatable jokes every now and then. Find a way to tire it to your offer
e.g you can make jokes about business success and tie it down to your business
But I need you to note that no matter the content you re sharing, they all must be related to your business brand and niche.
So use these 9 pillars to create a content calendar for your daily and weekly contents.
ELEMENTS OF A GREAT CONTENT
These are content check list.
There are 3 things your contents must have before you can say; yes my content makes sense.
- Hook: A great content must have a hook. This can be an attention grabbing tittle, picture etc
It must hook people, so do your best to hook people with anything that you are sharing.
Whatever they will see first has to be hooking and has to grab their attention
- Story: always tie a story into your content, it could be yours story or some else story.
A story is an important part to having a great content because people will always forget numbers but they will always remember a great story and how you make them feel.
So always tell a story in your content, always tie a story around your content
- Call To Action: you must add a call to action, cta any time you are sharing or posting your content.
You must tell your audience exactly what to do after they have consumed, listened, watched or read your content.
example of a CTA you can give is; like this post or comment on this post or follow this page or for them to click on a link
Doing this will help you build engagement on your post and cause people to take action on your content. This is exactly what you need to do every day with your content.
So remember, in all contents you put out there, your content must entertain people, your content must inspire people, it must educate your audience
Educate your audience about your product, your services and about your industry. So what are those questions about your industry that they need answers to?
You need to provide answers for them, you can do a FAQ type of content that you noticed that worries a lot of your audience.
You want to educate them about it, by sharing your experiences or someone else experiences; then direct them to where they can get the answer or you answer them directly.
So what are the major ways that you can deliver your contents?
I like to call it content platforms. These are places you should pay your attention to when you are sharing your contents.
So they question here is where should you focus your energy on? You need to stay where your customers are
Share your contents in relevant places where people are likely to see it, and are likely to interact with it.
- Email list: learn to build rappo with your audience through emails. Your email should be primary.
Build rappor by sending your audience regular emails, share your contents with them along side your offers
- Social Media: choose a platform and stay very consistent there. It could be facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitter, linkedin or youtube or snapchat. Or all of them
- Website: this is like your home office online, this is where your audience and visitor go to do their research about you and your business. A website helps you build credibility and authority and helps you sell online through automation.
A website is your online office / shop or store that runs your business actively to sell 24/7 even when you are at sleep, they internet does not sleep, so have a strategic and warm website for your business brand, it could be a branded website or ecommerce website
Always put your audience in mind when creating your content. Be customer centric. Think of their fears, needs, pains, aspirations and be clear on your objective before putting out contents
Pay a close attention to what your audience like the most, research on giants in your niche and look out for contents ideas from their comment section. Then look out for their contents with the highest engagement, repurpose them and share.
Also I need you to know that no two thought leaders have same audience.
So I need you to set a rule that says; “I will write / speak to one person. This is my idea customer and he/she is who I need to focus my energy and time on whenever I need to sell or create content. I am talking to him/her in my content and she knows herself. She is able to relate and can send me a message through DM or click on the link on my bio or take any call to action am giving per time.”
So this is what you need to do each time that you are writing, speak to that one person, I call it the power of one. Always speak to just that one person that you are called to serve.
Ask yourself, what type of story can you tell to facilitate this kind of idea for your brand, the philosophy you want people to think and feel about your brand?
What kind of story can you start telling that is related to your brand as a whole?
General Rules For Content Creation
When you are writing your contents, there are some rules you need to keep in mind.
- Pay attention to what you are writing: you need to learn how to write with your brand in mind. Every single content you put out there either makes your brand or breaks your brand.
Because the internet never forgets, so pay attention to what you are writing.
- Edit thoroughly: I am guilty on several occasion on this but we can only get better
But here is what you need to do, you need to be mindful of your grammar and spelling errors.
Be it an email, text, video etc. remove grammer and spelling errors from your content before posting
- Don’t say too much: try not to say too much. Be consistent and give room for continuity.
Instead of 7 points, give 3 points and continue in a next post. Then ask people to read your next post for more information.
Because the attention spam of people is very low less than 5 seconds. So don’t post long posts on platforms that don’t have a culture for long form contents but if it’s a video content on YouTube please by all means do
- Keep It Silly Simple: (I like to call this KISS) your content should not be too deep. It should be simple.
Make your grammer understandable and simple. Try to be simple as much as you possibly can because a confused prospect will not buy, they will not take action.
So keep it silly simple. (so when writing contents or creating one, ensure you kiss your content) lol
- Utilize White Spaces: paragraph your thoughts accordingly. Always give space in your write up by spacing your writing.
Allow your paragraph to breath.
COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID: there are 3 common mistakes you need to avoid especially if you want to make money online.
- Unrelated Content: do not share unrelated contents.
Stop sharing unrelated content on your profile rather share contents that are tied to your brand.
Also share contents about yourself to build connection with your audience.
- Not Funneling: not sending traffic to your funnel is bad.
Every content you share out there should be to lead people into your funnel.
Make it a no brainer for them to enter your funnel because you are offering them something more than sale at the back end of your funnel.
- Going In-depth: do not share indepth content with people, if you do, you leave people with the idea of “oh let me go and implement first”
You can share the how to and why on your social media page but don’t go in-depth.
The moment you give in-depth of how things are done you start breeding your prospects to get used to getting free things from you and they will not buy free you
That is why I need you to know that not everyone puts out their best content out there for free.
All thought leader can tell you the how and why but will not go in-depth. And that is why their information is generic.
My Assignment for you is
- 1. Highlight the different pillars you can build your content on
- 2. Create a content calendar highlighting the 5 core nature of content for your business
That is all for now, so as an online entrepreneur or business owner, take all these and go crush your business goals through content marketing.
If you need assistance or my help in implementing all these into your business to save you time, energy and resources, comment the word “ Done For ME” and my team will reach out to you or send me a DM, you can also use the link on my bio through my website and book a one on one strategic consultation section with me.
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