How To Create Content Without Struggle
I was struggling to create content for my audience because I wanted to be unique. I wanted to ensure that my audience gets loads of value from each post of mine.
In my quest for such, I will go about spending long hours doing research in order to post the best of content. However, this was taking hours to produce just a piece of content. And so soon I was about to give up because I could feel the toil weighing me down.
So I nearly quit putting out content. In fact, I have gone a number of months without putting out content with the excuse that I have not gotten time to research on what to post.
But then, one day in the course of the period that I wasn’t creating content, I was on phone with my elder brother. I saw myself giving some sort of advice. And the words that changed my perception were words that came out of my own mouth.
As soon as those words dropped out of my mouth, I could literally taste the sweetness of those words and I was moved to start over again.
“If it was just knowledge people were seeking from your content, they could just go to Google to search for it”.
It is rather the experience you’ve got around the knowledge you have that they are ready to listen to and also pay for. That is usually what will make you unique as a content creator. Someone will follow your content just because of the way you express yourself and not necessarily the knowledge they get from your content.
People can “google” knowledge but they cannot “google” experience that is why they need you to share with them your experiences.” Read my post on “Somethings are not googleable“.
Can you also see the revelation of this thought that formed into words and flowed out of my own mouth?
Well, for a few days after that moment I kept pondering on this and then I came to appreciate one lesson that Gary Vaynerchuk, the content machine himself, has been preaching for long “Document over create”.
So let me help you to understand this as well. There are 3 main types of content you can put out there.
The first type of content is:
- Something you create all by yourself. For example, if you are a novelist, and have crafted a novel. That is exercising your own creativity. You can come up with your own stories, paintings, designs, etc with inspiration from within yourself.
2. The second type of content you can put out there is what I call curated content. So, with this, you don’t create the content by yourself, you rather push out what other people have already said or created. As a content creator, you can put these sorts of contents out but with your own twist.
So for instance, I do sometimes post some personal branding quotes which are by famous personalities on Instagram. But I don’t just post them and leave them as such. I add my personal twist to the quote, that is the way I understand it or what the quote speaks to my conscious mind. I usually add this as the caption to that post. Hence, this is one way you can get content to put out there.
3. The last but not the least type of content you can put out there is about documenting. So with these, you are not sitting down to create from scratch and you are not picking what others have created and modifying it. You are rather putting together what you have experienced before or what you are currently experiencing as content for your audience.
So this could mean, capturing bits of your day to day activities or a summary of them. Gary Vee as he is popularly known, the preacher of this style goes out of his way to document by videoing his entire day and sharing it with his audience in a series of videos he calls DailyVee.
However, that is not the only way you can go about documenting your experiences.
What are you doing or what do you do. You can tell your audience about what you have been up to and how you do what you do. This is way easier to put together because it is part of you. You don’t need to sit down by your computer researching for hours to get the information.
Tell them the story of your life, what inspires you, what you hate and the plans you have etc.
If you have chosen a niche as a content creator or even for the purpose of your business or personal brand, you can share your experiences with your audience.
The next time, you have a creative block or writers’ block meaning you face the issue of not knowing what to post, ask yourself these questions to get you back on your feet.
1. Is there any experience I can share with these people that I am yet to?
2. Have I told them all about what I do?
3. Have I shared the lessons I learned from just this past week already?
4. What about the plans I have, can I share them with my audience?
So, these questions will basically reveal to you some things that you can posts.
The challenge that you may face is about relevancy. Worrying about whether the experience you have is relevant to the content you want to be putting out.
Let me state emphatically and I want you to open your ears to hear this well and your eyes to see, feel these words as your figures scroll over these words.
The people you are communicating to want to buy into you as a person and they will only buy from you when they know your story and feel your pain as well. Once, your audience can relate to your experience they won’t think twice about buying from you.
Again, people buy into personalities before they buy into the products or services they offer. So, I ask you again why are you scared of sharing your experiences with your audience?
Do you think they will know your weak points and hence not patronize you again? No, by being authentic and revealing your true experiences, they will believe you the more, and then you will be able to convert them into your SUPERFANS. The worst that can happen is that some people will stop following you but then you will get to attract only the right audience. This should be your end goal; the right audience then grooming them into superfans.
Also, if you are still stuck on what content to create or put out there then rethink the type of content you are already creating. I have already discussed 3 main types of content that you can put out there.
So, if you are not creating your own content, you can start now. However, it is usually the most challenging one to come by. Otherwise, you can curate content from people who inspire you and share those with your audience.
Better still you can document your own experiences or personal journey through whatever you are into.
Go and create more content, for that is what will draw more eyes to you and your brand. This is absolutely free, hence what are you waiting for.
If after all this, you still are struggling to put out content, then I am ready to help you. Join the IKrate Community and get all the secrets that I have discovered when it comes to content creation and internet marketing.
Ehoneah Obed: Pharmacist, Software Engineer, Health Informatics Student.
Inspiring tech enthusiasts and future healthcare innovators. Sharing insights on software engineering, health informatics, and motivating young minds in technology and healthcare.