What is a Content Creator Anyway?

 

What is a content creator? Great question. If you have never worked with one before, it's also a question that certainly deserves an answer.

A content creator is responsible for the contribution of information and creation of copy for both offline (traditional) media and most especially to digital media. A content creator can be tasked with bringing any of the following to life:

• Blog posts - both short and long form

• Email newsletters

• Social media update copy (one of my favourites!)

• Video scripts

• eBooks

• White papers, slide decks, corporate presentations

• ...and more!

   

  And why would you need a content creator? There are many reasons, but here is a look of what I consider to be the four most compelling.  

  Good Content Should Be at the Heart of Your Brand

  
  A major component of your brand is, of course, your web design, images, fonts and colours. But what makes people take action is content.
  
  Think of visual marketing as a first impression and of the impression that lasts as content marketing. Telling your brand's story is what creates loyalty (people buy from people, remember?) and you need to use words to tell the story of your brand.
  
  Visuals don't send the message in full. If I simply placed an image of me on my laptop on my page, will that help people understand what I am actually doing?
  
  It's a simplified example I know, but the fact that words are essential is important to convey. 

  Great Content Connects You With Your Target Audience On a Meaningful Level
  

  Whatever you do, or whatever niche your brand operates in, your website acts as the shopfront for your brand and has only one job - inform and educate the right people about what you do and then connect your company to them. There are lots of things that help to accomplish this, but content is involved in every aspect.

  Here's a look at some ways content can help build lasting relationships with your target audience:

• Each blog post can be considered a personal story, so while you’re teaching your readers, you’re also connecting with them.

• If you write about something they struggle with, or a pain point they experience, and demonstrate that you understand, your audience are far more likely to relate and respond to what you have to offer.

• Great content enables you to use your brand voice to share what’s special about your offerings and just what it is that makes you different.

   

  When I go to someone's website, I can't bear it if there's just a collection of photos there with no real information whatsoever.
  
  I understand that some people want to demonstrate their abilities in photography and design, and they're great abilities, but there's one problem. There's also something else you're working to please when you write to impress the reader first: search engines.
  
  There's a lot more going into writing a blog post than you might think. It's important to make sure a blog post not only informs, educates and/or entertains your audience but that the keywords used, the headlines and subheadings and even the length of sentences and paragraphs are what is termed by some as SEO friendly. 

  A good content creator makes use of carefully selected keywords for each piece, but does so in a way that is still pleasing to the human eye. It's a delicate balance that takes skill and experience to achieve, but that is just what the best content creators do.
  
  

  Content Can Take Your Audience on a Journey

  
  Let’s say you’re looking for a wedding photographer
  
  You find one in your Google search that sounds interesting, and head to his homepage. But all it features is a slideshow of images. Nothing else. What do you do next? What step do you take? How do you know whether this is the person you should contact? The images are pretty, but there is nothing that speaks to their process, their experience or even their reasons for being in business.
  
  In this example, the likelihood is, because you don’t know anything about them other than that they can point a camera in the right direction you’re more than likely leave his website and move on to the next name in the list Google gave you.
  
  The solution - take your audience on a journey. This photographer should be using content to tell them who he is, what he does, why he does it, and why choosing the right, in this case wedding photographer, is so important to their event overall. And that can be applied to individuals and businesses of all kinds.