You’ve probably heard the term “content creator” floating around, and if you have, you might be wondering how you can become one yourself. In essence, content creators are simply people who create and upload “content” to the internet; that might be YouTube videos, social media posts, or blogs, for example, but it broadly refers to any type of online information.
Becoming a content creator is a long and arduous road, but if you pay attention to these 10 tips, you should hopefully make that journey significantly easier on yourself. Let’s get started!
1. Don’t try to “become a content creator”
Counter intuitively, the first and most important thing you must do if you want to become a content creator is to not actively try to become one.
This means that you shouldn’t be creating content just for the sake of it; rather, you should be thinking about what you personally have to say and how you want to express it, then creating content based on that.
If you constantly chase trends and only create content to achieve success, you’re likely to be disappointed in the long run.
2. Make sure you’re adequately funded
If you’re going to give up your current job to try and make it as a YouTuber, a blogger, or a podcaster, then you need to ensure that you have adequate funding. The best way to do this is to dip into savings or leftover wages from your previous job, or, indeed, not to give up your main job in the first place.
If you do take the plunge, however, you may find that you need to take advantage of services like loans for people on benefits, which you might need to claim while you’re working on your next big content break.
3. Pay attention to other content creators
When you’ve identified the kind of content you want to create, the next step is to look at how others in that niche are creating content. Don’t copy them; they have their own inimitable style, and copying them might lead to short-term success, but it won’t be fulfilling in the long term.
Rather, use their strategies and approach as a kind of guide for yourself. Think about how they’re doing things, and then think about how you could be doing things differently.
4. Start creating
When you begin, your content is not likely to be good. Achieving perfection is nigh-on impossible, but when you’re first starting out, you may find that you aren’t proud of what you create. The important thing, however, is simply to keep creating. Keep on making videos, writing blogs, or posting tweets, and hone your craft.
If you keep practising, you’ll improve; unless you’re not paying attention at all, improving is an inevitable consequence of just keeping on doing what you’re doing.
5. Find your niche
Don’t try to hit those big million-strong demographics. Instead of doing that, look for the smaller audiences that absolutely adore what you’re doing and make them your core audience. Remember that content creation is all about style and approach; if you have a core fanbase, they’ll love you for what you’re doing, rather than any flash-in-the-pan trend you happen to hit upon.
Finding a niche means you’ll have a devoted audience that should go with you even if you want to do something more off-the-wall in future.
6. Don’t obsess over analytics
While it’s certainly true that you should pay attention to analytics if you want to know what’s working for you, the fact is that analytics won’t tell you the whole story. If you happen to have a video on YouTube blow up and go viral, for instance, you don’t know whether that’s because people love you specifically or because you just happened to hit a trend at the right time.
That wouldn’t be a replicable success, so analytics wouldn’t help you in that instance. Check your numbers, but don’t obsess over them.
7. Network with other creators
Building a network of creators is a good idea for a number of reasons. First, it helps you to share knowledge and talk to one another about what’s working and what isn’t (because after all, many social media algorithms are pretty impenetrable, right?).
Second, you’ll have creators to collaborate with, which is a surefire way to increase your engagement and get more people interested in your content. There are plenty of other reasons why building a network is important, so be sure to talk to as many other creators as you can.
8. Take risks
Many advice articles and columns out there will tell you to “stick to what you know” as a content creator. We’re here to tell you the opposite. It might be scary, but you need to take creative risks. If you don’t, you’ll never hit upon that next big success and elevate your channel to the next level.
You can keep creating in safety if you want, but if you really want things to take off and you want to gain a new audience, make that weird idea that’s been sitting in the back of your head. It could be “the one”.
9. Be consistent
Content creators have a standard to which they must adhere at all times. Whether it’s the creative and informational standard of your actual content or the consistency of your posting schedule, you need to make sure that you’re reliable as a creator.
Your core fanbase wants to see you putting out great content on a regular basis, and while they’ll certainly understand if you need to take a little time off, you shouldn’t disappear for too long or you might be forgotten amidst the neverending flow of content creators online.
10. Love what you do
If you don’t love the content you’re creating, it’s going to become obvious to the people who do love it very quickly indeed. Not loving your content and the process of creating it is a sign that you might be burnt out or becoming jaded, which means you should take a step back.
Obviously, you’re not going to adore your job every second of every minute, because nobody does. However, if you can’t take a step back and see the big picture of your overall content creator journey, then some self-reflection is definitely needed.
Main image: Photo by Jenny Ueberberg on Unsplash
