Six hours and 42 minutes: This is the average amount of time Internet users around the world spent online each day last year, according to a HootSuite report.
Here are some more figures:
- The average time spent on the website is less than 15 seconds;
- The average attention span of internet users was just 8 seconds in 2018;
- Almost 2.75 million blog posts are published every day on WordPress alone;
- In 2019, YouTube users uploaded 400 hours of new video every minute of every day;
- In 2020, Instagram users upload more than 100 million photos and videos per day.
As you can see, users judge most of the information they see on the Internet at first glance. The choice is endless, so why stay longer? A quick look, and they’re gone. Except when they see something really worth it.
Initially, all information was published to be consumed. But some pieces end up skipping. And content creators around the world are constantly looking for ways to stand out from the crowd and make their production stand out. But how?
The answer is simple: to capture the attention of your audience, you must become a content creation and management guru.
Become an expert
First of all, become an expert in a field. Never write or talk about things you don’t know. Misinforming people is bad and they won’t forgive it.
If you’re not an expert yet, share your experience on the path to becoming an expert. Whatever level you’re at right now, stick with it and only show what you know.
The same applies to any type of creative content: images, performances. If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all or show how you learned to do it, not how you do it.
You can also use the experience of other people. Solicit feedback and interviews from professionals, cite authoritative sources.
Learn to write well
Most of the content on the Internet is in written form. Articles, blog posts, reviews, eBooks – creating all of these requires excellent writing skills.
There are very few (if any) types of content that do not involve writing. Even if you’re posting photos or short videos with no dialogue, you should at least be able to provide decent descriptions.
Don’t worry if you’re not Shakespeare yet: writing skills can be practiced. Students, for example, have a good chance to improve their academic essay writing: if you can master a critical analysis essay, writing a quality blog post won’t be a problem.
be passionate
This is almost as important as the first point. Content production is a creative business and there is no way you can do it mechanically, like a robot, and be successful.
Even if you are working on someone else’s project and not your own, you should at least have some feelings about it.
Sometimes genuine passion can even make up for a certain lack of experience, but this will only be true for your personal jobs.
Create different types of content.
Excellent writing skills alone will not make you an expert content creator. Most people are visual learners and if they see a lot of letters and nothing else, they can be scared.
Another thing is that you can’t always produce the same type of content if you don’t work as a team. Even if you are, it is better to learn how to create web content. Sometimes you can’t outsource, but it’s still important to be able to make your posts and articles visually appealing.
Know your audience
No matter how good you are at production, your parts may not hit the mark without proper guidance. You should definitely know who you’re working for.
For marketers, it is essential to learn everything about the target audience. But even if you’re working on your own project, take some time to think about who you want to communicate with. What do they want from you? In what way? Tip for bloggers: “people like me” are also a target audience!
Record your ideas
Keep track of all your ideas. Write down everything that comes to mind. Even if the proposal doesn’t look promising right now, it can turn into something good when you think about it.
Don’t Forget Content Plans
Professionals never produce content in a chaotic way. The plan is mandatory. Create a chart and enter all the important information there: day and time your content should be published, types of content, ideas, etc.
If you have a momentary inspiration, just post an unplanned piece or try to fit it into the plan later.
To end
Creating and managing content may seem like an easy task. But producing high-quality work is actually not easy at all. It requires a lot of skills, passion and experience.
But if you really want to become a guru in this field, work hard. Eventually, you’ll learn how to create and publish pieces that will be worth 100% of your audience’s time.
Categories: How to
Source: HIS Education