5 things to have in mind when creating content

If you create content to connect with people, then these insight and principles might be of use to you

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I am always interested to learn more when it comes to creating content.

Content creation enables communication, and communication for me is one of the most exciting things because it enables us to connect with people, as well as connect people with the thing we’re most passionate about.

Content creation is a beautiful process. It brings together different disciplines. I think of the art of discovering designs, sounds, and colours that resonate with people but also the science of creating a plan, utilising trends, and understanding audience habits.

At recent Stronger Network Facebook lives I’ve been asking content creators what kinds of things they have been learning and what tips they could offer anyone who might also be engaging in the content creating process. This is what some of our guests said:

This year, I started really intentionally saying, Okay, I'm going to figure out, figure my message and figure out what I'm trying to do on this, not just for the sake of like, just putting myself out there for the sake of, as you said, leading people to the Lord, helping people grow in their passion and their purpose. And just being a light in a place where there's so many different forces that are kind of fighting for our attention – Isaac Tendo

When it comes to creating engaging content, firstly you need to understand who your audience is so that you know what it is that they’re looking for – Taku Sahanga

I think a lot of creators are now realising that it's more quality over quantity. At some point, there used to be this whole, you need to be posting, you know, three times a day, seven days a week to get ahead of the algorithm so that, you know, you were the one that was popping up first, when everybody, you know, gets onto these social media platforms. However, I think that as time has progressed, it, a lot of joy and passion has been lost by this consistent grind. Whereas people are wanting to regain all of that passion by doing something, maybe not all the time, but consistently – Kimberley Stewart

Content creation maybe something you’re thinking about, whether on a professional level or as a personal pursuit. If so, I came across a helpful grid that can help your content creation process (and forgive me if you’re reading this and this is yours, I have read, watched and listened to a lot of things and can’t quite remember where this is from). These five questions can help anyone hone their creation process:

Is it shareable?
Is it meme-able?
Is it accessible?
Is it relateable?
Is it topical?

1.Is it shareable?

It’s great if people like your post. That’s stage one of the engagement process. It shows some intention or connection, but the connection can be passive at this stage; it’s easy to click a like button and scroll on. Deeper levels of engagement might include comments on the post, saving the post, or sharing the post.

From one of those Facebook lives, Taku Sahanga said that we need to go about:

Creating content that is shareable. So is it something that they want to pass on to a friend or, you know, so for example, like Mother's Day has just happened and I created a piece for Mother's Day which caused people to want to share it with their friends and mothers. Or maybe a bible verse or something that's encouraging, and people think, ‘Oh, wow, I want to share this with the friend.’

Asking yourself whether your content is shareable is a helpful question and one that will inform your design and planning process. How easy are we making it for people to share that post, tweet or video with others?

2. Is it meme-able?

I’m not sure this is even a word, but you get the point. Can your post be turned into a meme? Just in case you don’t know what a ‘meme’ is, a meme is ‘an amusing or interesting item or genre of items that is spread widely on line especially through social media’ according to Mirriam-Webster dictionary.

You probably have a favourite meme of all time, or even a meme that has caught your attention this week. Memes seem to be a part of life.

Can you create content that might jump on a current meme? Or can you create some content that addresses a common theme in your niche that can be turned into a meme? The point of something being meme-able is that it gets shared easily which means it gets in front of more people, which is a good thing if you’re really passionate about getting your message out to people.

3.Is it accessible?

The answer to this depends on your niche and the community of people you’re trying to connect with.

For example, your audience might predominantly be present on Instagram, or Twitter, or another social platform. Or maybe they are a podcast listener, or youtube viewer. By placing your content in the place that your audience spend most of their time, you immediately reduce the friction between them and that content. It becomes accessible.

Accessibility might also mean whether the content is aimed at the appropriate level for the majority of your audience.

4.Is it relatable?

Again, the answer to this will depend on your niche, but can your audience relate to your video, your post, or your tweet. Does it speak into the needs of your community. Does it add value to your community?

This is where engaging with your community and the analytics is important because we need to know whether the content connects with people. Ask your followers what they think about it. What can you determine from the analytics. Lean into that feedback process and let it inform the creation process.

5.Is it topical?

When everyone is talking about a particular topic, or some hashtag is trending, there is an opportunity to jump on an existing movement of content which will carry your content to a potentially larger audience. It also shows that you’re offering content that is current and live, rather than out of date and detached, which means you’re offering value to your community.

So for example, at the Jubilee Weekend the other week, lots of content was being created. Hashtags were trending. Memes were being shared. It was a great opportunity to create some content that was topical.

Then there is of course planned topical content and spontaneous topical content. The Jubilee weekend was planned, it didn’t take anyone by surprise which meant we all had an opportunity in advance to think about how we could create some content that was topical. There are other events that are currently unforeseen but when they arise will create an opportunity to offer something that will enable you to be present and engaged with your community.

Hopefully some of these ideas are useful to you. Perhaps they might help you take a step forward for God. I’m sure you have lots of ideas that you have picked up along the way too and I would love to hear about them. Why not comment below on anything here that has resonated above or things that have helped you in the content creation process.