When it comes to marketing of any sort, content and more specifically content creation play a big role. But while the average person seems to know about driving traffic, what exactly is content creation?
Why is content creation so very important? Well in this post, I will share what I believe are the three most valuable assets one could have in business and how content is developed using those assets.
DISCLAIMER – This article may include affiliate links to offers that upon making a purchase, will result in my making a commission. This will in no way result in your purchase costing you more, but will reward me in a way that I can continue to serve you with more relevant articles like this one.
What Is Content Creation & What Is Its Purpose?
photo compliments of Unsplash
Content is the information that you share with the public through various mediums or platforms which we shall get into as we go along.
Because the world is so information-driven, content is usually structured in a number of ways.
Content creation would be the way that an individual seeks to create and deliver his information (content) through the many channels that can be used as a vehicle to distribute the said content.
We live in an age of information. Everybody wants information some for education and some for entertainment.
People have problems and so seek relevant information to solve their many issues.
When creators, such as yourself and me take the time to respond to those many inquiries, we provide the answers to the many problems in the way of solutions which is often called our content.
So content creation is when we take information and package it to be distributed to the masses in a meaningful way that provides value and will address the problem by suggesting and offering solutions.
Content creation can be served in a number of ways and here are some content creation ideas for your consideration:
- Blog posts
- Newspaper articles
- Ads ( TV, Radio, Video, etc.)
- Documentaries
- Social Media Posts
- Poster Boards
- Vlogs
- Reels
There may be other examples of content creation, but these are some of the more popular ones.
And so much more, but I believe you get the point. You may already be a content creator and not realize it.
The average person spends around 7 hours consuming content daily
Content Marketing vs Creating Content
Content marketing (as described in an article I found on MailChimp’s blog) is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media.
Do take some time to read the article that I linked to as it will help you to understand the relevance between the creation of content and using that same content in your marketing efforts.
Content marketing is distinct from traditional advertising in that it centers on creating valuable content that is relevant and useful to consumers with the objective of driving audience engagement, with the intent of subsequently converting those audiences into buyers.
Here is a cool infographic from Demand Metric that shares some valuable insights on content marketing and the whole world of creating content for business.
Why Creating Content / Content Marketing Is Necessary & Works
- Content marketing can keep the reader’s attention as I hope I am doing with you as you read this article here.
- Content marketing improves brand loyalty.
- Content when done right generates leads.
- And coming out of those leads, content can increase sales.
The Benefits Of Creating Content For Use In Content marketing
Online Visibility
A content strategy can help you attract more customers and website visitors, especially when people are constantly looking for solutions to their pain points.
Providing educational and informative content about a topic you’re interested in will help you gain more visibility online. Your website, social media pages, email marketing, and blog all have the potential to help your business grow.
Lead Generation
Content marketing is an excellent way to create leads because it brings in the right people who need your product or service.
You can increase your leads when you use content marketing to drive traffic to your website or specific offer.
It’s important for any business to educate its customers and make them feel comfortable with it. Customers will feel more comfortable with your brand if you educate them on it.
To generate more leads and develop meaningful relationships with potential customers, you must use content marketing.
Increase Loyalty
Loyalty is very important in marketing and business because if your customers are loyal, they will make repeat purchases and that means more profit for you.
Offering content that informs consumers can help them begin to build trust with your brand and see you as a thought leader.
Improve Authority
Content development is the ideal way to increase authority and become a thought leader in your industry.
Content helps you build trust and establish yourself as the most authoritative expert. It additionally positions your brand as the most trusted on a particular topic.
79% of content marketers use content marketing to generate high-quality leads
The Role Of Social Media In Content Marketing
Social networks are all about connecting and sharing information. They are a great place to share your expertise, and personal stories and ask for help when needed.
So you can appreciate the value social media plays when it comes to content marketing and content creativity.
Everyone has a voice and many want to get their message out to the world.
They do it using content creation. The content creation process will differ depending on how the creator goes about collecting and distributing the collected information to be shared.
So you can now understand how social media can play such a vital role in the entire process.
If you would welcome a detailed way of learning the foundation of marketing and how to use Facebook organic marketing to attract leads to yourself and offers, establish your brand, etc, then check this out.
Some content creators will use content to drive business for their brands and so content can be used to collect leads for one’s business.
The idea here then is to develop content that leads one to opt-in to get more information on a given topic area. This is more found being done with blogs.
Another popular way that some entrepreneurs use to attract leads to their business is by forming what is called a content creation agency.
Content creation agencies are companies that are committed to helping brands create persuasive, informative, and educational content for a range of different purposes
photo credit: Malte Helmhold (Unsplash)
Content creation forms a very big component in our marketing efforts and that is why creating great content is so necessary to attract the type of audience that we need to obtain success in our business ventures.
So then to sum up this section, we can say that content creation is first the process of developing topic ideas that appeal to your buying audience.
Content is then created around those ideas in various forms as we saw in the list above and made available to your audience.
Creating content is important because you are providing free and useful targeted information to individuals who are seeking what you provide, all the while attracting new clients and retaining already existing ones.
Next, we shall look at content creation planning and how to start content creation.
Also, we shall look at the best content creation tools so you can see that this will be a fairly large area of discussion.
How To Start Going About Being A Content Creator & Earning Money From Doing So
So I have elected to share a video here with you by Jade Beason that goes into the various aspects of the craft that content creators face when starting out and I hope this can serve as a guide.
The 3 Essential Content Components Required To Generate Leads & Sales
When it comes to the creation of content, I have discovered that among the most popular form, Video content ranks highest.
This is followed by Blog content creation and Social Media content.
So how did I arrive at these 3 components or what is so special about them when it comes to your business? After all, that is what we are really discussing here.
The role of content in building your online business.
Let’s start with Video as this style of creating content has been growing at a truly rapid rate and has become the number one format chosen by many content creators worldwide.
1. Video Content
Video content is what is being used by most big companies and marketers to quickly establish their brand and authority.
Content is king and it is through your content that interest in your offers is generated and this leads to engagement in your content and later sales.
With human attention and retention being what it is, video more readily and easily captivates audiences and so it is the medium of choice used to attract clients to what vendors want to be publicized.
Since videos have become a great way for business owners to market their businesses to potential clients,…
And with the rise of smartphones, video content creation has become easier and cheaper than ever before.
Video marketing is now an essential part of any successful business strategy.
There are a lot of different ways to create a video, but you can use YouTube as your video content creator tool of choice.
It is free to upload videos, they have millions of users, and the search function makes it easy to find a topic or niche that you want to cover. The bottom line is that people love videos.
When creating a video, you want to make sure you are thinking about your audience and your content before shooting.
If you are an online business owner, then you are definitely aware of how critical it is to also create a content marketing plan.
You need to think about what your target audience wants before you start your video content marketing shoot. This will help you create a good video, which is the foundation of any great content.
So video is one of those components any smart business owner will not overlook when it comes to creating content to build their brand and drive more traffic to their offers.
2. Blog Content
When it comes to creating content for public consumption, blogging is and will always be a popular choice for most online marketers as it is just another form of creating content.
Blogging serves to deliver content by way of articles, exclusively to persons looking for solutions to challenges they may be facing in life and the content spans multiple topic areas.
The content of the articles is meant to provide tips, guides, answers to questions, or other types of educational material.
Most blogging platforms host and provide web space to authors, where they can write their articles and publish them on the web.
Blogs are usually written in a conversational manner, using simple language and lots of examples.
They are generally short in length and are meant to be read and enjoyed by a wide audience.
Many blogs are built as online diaries, and these types of blogs will often include personal details and reflections about the writer’s life.
These articles are searched for and found through search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
They create revenue for the bloggers creating such content based on product recommendations found in the said articles.
photo credit: Visme
3. Social Media Platforms
Social media has always been a popular and viable source for marketers and business owners looking for customers to support their businesses.
Because of its wide popularity, social media has been the place where people gather to interact with family and friends living far from home or from immediate physical contact.
Facebook because of its global popularity and reach is one of the most used social media platforms used by brands and influencers to generate leads and sales.
As such it is one of the chief platforms where content is shared daily often leading to hundreds if not thousands of dollars in sales.
However, most people don’t realize that they have the power to create their own content and make money off it.
If you are looking for a way to get more traffic to your website and increase your sales, then you need to start by learning how to create content that speaks to your ideal audience.
Content Is Also Created Around These 3 Other Categories
When it comes to creating content, it is important to note that besides the 3 components mentioned in the creation process, three (3) categories often do the trick when it comes to leads and then sales.
According to this major YouTube influencer, Vanessa Lau, the following 3 content categories are:-
- Educational Content.
- Inspirational Content.
- Promotional Content.
The following video by Vanessa Lau explains in greater detail the above 3 categories and the role they play in shaping your brand’s or business’s success story.
Let’s Sum Up
When it comes to creating content as shown in the video above by Vanessa Lau, once you break it down as she did using her matrix style you will also never run out of content ideas.
The name of the game essentially is giving your audience what they want and in return, as you create the content that serves them and their unique needs, you as the content creator will get what you want.
It becomes a win-win for everyone in the final analysis when done correctly. Content plays a huge role in one’s business and should be given careful attention and focus.
As you can also see, social media plays a very integral part and if you consider the layout these days, social media content marketing is here to stay.
Players like FaceBook, Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn are just a few of the platforms where a brand’s unique message can be seen, shared, and heard.
If you haven’t done so already, make it a part of your business strategy to create a YouTube channel. You already know what rewards videos can bring to your brand.
5 Last Tips As We Wrap Up
And finally, follow these 5 tips that will help you in starting your content marketing campaign. In keeping it stupid simple here are the steps.
- Identify your audience. Know who you are targeting and with the right research, determine where they are likely to be hanging out and then go get them.
As you create the type of content to attract your ideal audience, remember to craft your content to fit in with the specific social media platform you are fishing in.
2. The right formatting of posts has to be taken into account so that whatever you do is seen to be well done as this will also cause your audience to see you as someone to pay attention to. 
3. Distribution. You will next have to decide how you obviously plan to go about getting the word out. Will you be using mobile, or blog post articles? What about forums or even podcasts?
How you go about distributing your content is going to be critical to your success so don’t mess this one up. Think carefully and strategically as you embark on this one.
4. Scheduling. One of the best ways to keep on top of things is to have your own schedule. This ensures you do things at a set time, each time. People take note and would visit just when they know you are there. Keeping a schedule helps you to be organized.
5. Consistency. The other key practice that will keep you on point is consistency. Even when you don’t feel like it, it pays to keep churning out the relevant content at the same time each day till it becomes like second nature. Develop a plan and be prepared to execute it daily without fail.
Final Thoughts | Conclusion
Creating content is a must as is content marketing. When you sum everything up, one point becomes crystal clear. The goal is to stand out so you can draw people to your brand, and your offer and rack up sales & profit.
The best tools or components to include in your content-creating process due to the reach and visibility provided are Video, Blogs to get your articles seen in as wide a range as possible through search engines like Google and of course, we can’t forget the chief distribution chain of content which is Social Media.
I have sought to explore all (3) areas for your consideration and as exhibited in Vanessa Lau’s video, we also would need to understand that content can be Educational as people across the globe are searching for answers to their pain points.
Content has to be Inspirational as in giving people something to aspire to and to feel good about namely themselves. and last but not least content has to be Promotional.
After all the idea is to build your business through your brand and get more people coming to your offers and securing more sales and making more money.
More importantly, though, the more people’s problems you can help solve through your content, the more authority you’ll create and the more money you’ll end up making.
Hope you enjoyed this article and do return soon for more. Thank you.
