SBM 081 : Unique Content and The Membership Hustle with Andrew and Pete

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The Content Creation Process (and Why You Would Need to Master It)

It’s no secret that the entire World Wide Web is made out of content. From the blogs you read to the videos you share, content is always the King of the Internet; no matter how cliche that sounds. This is also means that most of your online strategies for the business rests a lot on the content that you create and publish.

But what exactly is the content creation process and why is it necessary for you to get the hang of it ASAP? To answer those questions, there are a few things that you have to know of first.

Why Create Original Content at All?

There’s this notion that content creation is either overwhelming or intimidating a task to handle. After all, you are creating something that will be heavily scrutinized by the public and whose treatment by its audience will ultimately affect your success online.

That pressure alone is enough to scare a lot of people off from creating highly engaging and unique content. However, there is some benefit to be had in investing in unique content creation. Here are a few reasons:

• 1. Establishing CredibilityHere’s one thing you have to understand about consumers today. They are not that so easy to convince to be loyal to your brand as they were in the past. No amount of flashy marketing will ever be enough to compel someone nowadays to part with their hard-earned cash for something that you have to offer.However, you can make convincing people easier for you by earning their trust first. Earning trust, in return, will require you to provide them with valuable information I.e. information that they can use in whatever practical purpose they have in mind. The more consistent you are in providing value to people through your content, the more credible you are in their sight and this will make them trust your brand more.
• 2. Response to ChangeIt’s no secret that industries always change from year to year. The slightest of changes like the climate to big ones like in legislature are bound to affect your market in one way or another. A strategy content creators use, then, is to push content that tackles with such changes to get their name across any market.Let’s say, for example, that Google does another major algorithm change in 2018. The most advantageous response you can do here is to learn all that you can about the changes in the algorithm and then produce content that tackles key issues regarding that change like how businesses should adjust to the changes or even predict its effects on the market. It’s a bit like journalism, really; making sure that you are the first to publish content on something new will make your brand all the more valuable in the market.
• 3. Search Engine OptimizationContent Creation and SEO are two things that go hand in hand. How visible your content to audiences, in fact, will be determined by the search engine bots based on the algorithms programmed into them. For instance, if the algorithm currently dictates that list-type articles are the standard then the search engine bots would scour the internet for content that matches that standard. The more your content matches what the search engine bots are looking for in response to a query, the higher it’s rankings will be in the results page.Of course, this has its downside. If that algorithm is changed, you will find that all of your content created in the past standard would drop in ranking severely. This does not mean that your content is worthless, though, which leads us to the next point.
• 4. Repurpose PotentialThe most seasoned content creators out there can tell you that there is more than one way to use content. Say, for example, that you have created an article on the best cleaning solutions for marble tabletops. That counts as one form of the subject but you can potentially say the same thing in other different ways.From that article, you can create a video using the article as a script, you can create a blog that details each entry of that article, and you can even create recipe-type articles based on that same content. You can even create an entire podcast where you and several other men talk about how you clean each of your kitchens and bathrooms. The possibilities from that single article are potentially endless and you might be surprised how many content creators out there have made a sizeable library of work talking about the same things over and over again; differently, of course.
• 5. Increasing ConversionsUltimately, content is there to help you compel people to do one of the most important things for your online venture: part with their money. However, they can’t do this if they don’t trust you or find what you offer to not be particularly valuable. Worse, they might not even know that you existed since you’re not ranking that well in the search engine results.Content, well-created content at that, is designed to make you visible to the search engine and compelling to audiences. This will eventually increase traffic coming to your webpages which, in turn, increases the chances of your audiences converting into paying customers. Once they think of you as a provider of valuable content, then they would hesitate less in consuming everything else that you have to offer; especially the ones that require a monetary transaction.

The Pillars of Content Creation

So how do you go about creating unique content for your online campaigns? The process can vastly differ from one content type to another but it would generally follow the same flow and cover the same aspects. As a matter of fact, content creation can be divided into five key pillars.

• 1. PlanningOf course, you can’t create content if you don’t establish what content you should create. Planning what content to create and publish will require you to do several things:
  • A. Identify the Target Market – This is self-explanatory. You have to know who you are targeting and what topics they resonate with the most.
  • B. Identify Your Goals – What do you expect to achieve from your content marketing? Do you want people to discover your brand or do you want to retarget old audiences? Are you there to drive sales and traffic or simply build a community around your brand? Whatever your goals are, it has be defined as clearly as possible here.
  • C. Identify the Platform and Tools – Where should you want your content to be published? Keep in mind some sites are exclusive to one form of content. YouTube, for example, is great for video content while Instagram is great for images.
• 2. Production/CreationThis is arguably where the bulk of the content creation process lies. Once you have identified your market, goals, and platform, you should now identify the kind of topics you want to talk about. Whatever topics you choose, it should be relevant to your target market or, at least, something that they possess a considerable knowledge of. This is also where your keyword research comes into play as search engine bots will be looking for key phrases in ranking your content in the results page.You should also identify what your content is supposed to do. Does it want to inform or entertain? Does it want to convert or simply inspire? The goal it has will affect the overall tone you will use for the content. You should also keep in mind that there are other ways to source your content like crowdfunding or curating from your own archive of content but, for the best results, it would be best that you opt for creating unique content every time.
• 3. OptimizationOnce content has been created, it should then go through several quality checks to make sure that it passes SEO standards and even basic reading requirements. The first thing you would have to make sure is that every thing that you have included in the content is 100% true and factual. There might be some readers out there who might look into your facts and figures and check if they are true. Also, keep in mind that errors in fact can be damaging to your credibility but only if you do it more than once.Next, what should be checked is the basic structure of the content. Does it follow a narrative from start to end? Does everything in the content prove or disprove a certain issue? Does each paragraph follow the basic subject-verb agreement rules? Can the reader or viewer go through each part without getting confused? These are just some of the things that had to be checked at this point of the process.

  This is also why you need to hire an expert editor to check the quality of your content as their work goes hand in hand with that of your creators. You can even do it yourself only if you have the time and skills to meet the demands of an editor’s work. Either way, the point here is to make sure that there is one last line of quality assurance on your part before that content is going to be published.

• 4. MarketingAside from creating your content, you should also generate enough interest for it. Think of it as something like what videogame developers due prior to releasing their game or when movie studios release trailer after trailer before the movie’s release date. The goal here is to identify whether or not there is interest for your content before you go about releasing it to the public.Now, there are multiple ways that you can do this. The most common one is through social media where you post updates regarding the upcoming content. Another effective method is through e-mail where you send an email notifying those who subscribed to you that something is released or about to be released. This should be easier than traditional marketing as, in both cases, you are already targeting people who have an experience already with your brand. This means that they are less hesitant on consuming whatever you are offering to them.
• 5. Measuring ResultsOnce the content has been published, the next thing to do is to measure how it is faring in the market. What a lot of creators miss out on is directly engaging with their audience through the content they posted. For instance, that post will generate a lot of potential interaction from audiences who want some issue to be clarified further or wanting to correct you on something that they think is false. Either way, this provides you with an opportunity to interact with your audience even further drives traffic to your site as well as the relevance of your posts.After a few days, you must then take note of the actual level of engagement that your post generates from the likes and shares and, of course, the comments. You should also take note of any issues that your audience have pointed out with your work as well as what subjects in that content they resonated with the most. This will give you an idea as to what other types of content you want to publish later on to ensure the same results or better.

To Wrap Things Up

There is a certain art to content creation. You can’t just approach this aspect of advertising with a purely mechanical frame of mind. It will require you to be not only knowledgeable of certain topics but also passionate about them. This passion is the one final element that will convert your thoughts into words or video which will then form the base of whatever content you have in mind.

Do it right and you will not just produce content that is well thought of and highly engaging but all those at a (hopefully) consistent basis.

What other challenges in content creation have you faced? What content type do you think is the most effective right now? Let us know in the comments section below!

ANDREW AND PETE IN ACTION

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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Part 2: Multiple Income Streams