How to create great online content
You've probably noticed how time consuming online content creation feels. I'll let you in on a secret. When I started writing this post, I was writing on a slightly different topic. As I wrote, I soon realized that my post had grown too big to fit into one blog post. In total, three different posts had emerged and this was one of them.
This often happens when you’re in the “zone” of content creation, because good content naturally branches to other ideas. In the past, I might have simply stopped fleshing out those branches.
Now, I’ve learned to see the many possibilities embedded in a single piece of content. Designing content with these possibilities in mind makes the content creation process much easier, and it even improves the quality of our content.
What is online content?
Online content is any piece of writing, video or sound that can be shared. It can be a tweet, a blog post, a pdf, an image, a gif, a video, an infographic or a slide show. It can have loads of marketing benefits, but it can also just flop. So I want to write about how to improve your chances of reaping the rewards of those marketing benefits.
First of all, please don’t think of writing online content as a literary exercise (like I did). Online content lives on the internet, which is a very different place than a library. Whereas the library encourages a kind of sacred bond between a reader and a text, the internet is like a noisy playground where rowdy children (the readers) are set free to play with an assortment of toys: soccer balls, frisbees, baseballs, squirt guns and dolls (the content).
The way we interact with online content is less like calmly reading or passively consuming and more like playing. Online content is meant to be praised, made fun of, added to, subtracted from, argued for, argued against, passed around, commented on and soon forgotten. When we read, we scan, we click, we share, we compare, we get distracted and move on quickly. All in a matter of seconds!
Internet readers want very specific takeaways. That's why reading the headlines is sometimes enough to warrant a share. And when you successfully frame and target those specific takeaways, internet readers become passionate, hungry and insatiable. They claim ownership of your content and use it for their own purposes, which is great. Let them have at it.
How to create great online content
Once you've reconciled the fact that online content is its own beast, you'll start to design it accordingly. The key takeaway here is that good content is shareable and it can be easily manipulated.
First of all, you'll want to get rid of your platonic vision for the perfect blog post. Let down your guard and remember this.
Lesson One: Perfection is the enemy of the good
This is a lesson my writing coach bestowed on me for pitching, but it applies to creating online content as well. I’m not saying that you should publish content with misspellings and a sloppy format. What I am saying is that at a certain point, you should stop nitpicking and publish. Base your approach not on an ideal, but on your own experiments of trial and error.
This applies to the way you convey information as well. It’s ok to let down your guard and explain things by showing your challenges, flaws and processes of improvement. These “imperfections” create story-arcs because we learn by doing.
Your content should be:
human
relatable
casual
inviting
fun
enjoyable
But not necessarily perfect. A perfectly written text can be daunting to others. It can leave them speechless with nothing to add or say. They’ll just stare in awe at it. That dynamic may work for literature and art, but not for online content.
Lesson Two: Great content starts with a specific goal
If you don't have a specific goal in mind, your content will not produce a specific takeaway worthy of getting shared. You need to choose the effect your content will create in the world.
Ask yourself:
Who will read your content?
What will make them want to share it?
Where will they share it?
What will they takeaway from it?
Will this expose them to your brand for the first time?
Will this give you credibility?
Will this encourage them to buy?
Will this content spark conversations?
Will this content educate?
Will this content persuade?
These questions help you define your audience, your purpose and your specific takeaway. Choose your main goals and stick with them.
Once you've mastered the art of the single takeaway, you'll notice how easily it becomes to generate and finish a piece of online content. If you're taking too long to write something, try to narrow its scope, it's intended impact and target a specific audience.
Lesson Three: Great content is designed to be repurposed
When you create a piece of content, no matter which channel or media platform you start with, you should start to think of ways to adapt it to more content of different media, size and channel. This is where more time saving comes in. Good online content is easily adaptable into other formats.
List out all of the channels you produce content for. You probably have a number of social media channels that you use for content promotion. If you have a Youtube or Vimeo channel, consider developing your popular posts into a video. Your website can serve as the site for multiple forms of repurposed content including blog posts, guides, ebooks, white papers and case studies. Meanwhile, your email marketing can serve as another channel for highlighting exclusive elements of your content.
Consider the following factors for repurposing content:
length
voice
exclusivity
expertise
Length: Medium-sized content like blogs can be broken down into bite-sized pieces for social media, or they can form chapters of a longer content series such as an e-book or educational video series.
Voice: You might have slightly different audiences on your different channels. Perhaps LinkedIn is where you communicate with other professionals in the same industry, while most of your customers find you through Instagram. As you repurpose your content, adjust the headlines or comments to match your specific audience before linking or syndicating your particular text.
Exclusivity: When you write a blog post, you might be aiming to raise brand awareness audience that will be attracted by an SEO search. In that case, you can cover the basics of a topic, while luring your audience towards more related, but more exclusive gated or email-only content on your site or through your mailing list. By building out your exclusive content for select audiences, you'll help them feel part of an "insiders-only" club.
Expertise: One content topic can be told numerous ways. Sometimes we're talking to an audience of experts, while other times, we're educating an audience unfamiliar with our topic. Think of repurposing your main content idea into different blog posts for readers at different levels of expertise on that topic.
Never make a "one size fits all" piece of content
Keep it targeted and don't worry about making it perfect. You'll waste too much time!
By fanning the fire in these different ways, you'll soon discover endless possibilities for your content.
Break down your ideas into smaller pieces for social media posts and let the excess become another blog post. Then, find out places your content can expand for greater depth and exclusivity. This helps you create content of higher perceived value without making it a daunting task.
