It’s 2022. Everyone at some point has considered to be a content creator. You know, that person on YouTube or TikTok, creating engaging videos for people to watch and gaining thousands of likes and views, thus obtaining free sponsors for their stuff. Plus, you must know at least one person in your life who is an influencer, or a content creator.
And as you watch them do their fun stuff, gaining views and likes, there’s a voice in the back of your head telling you:
“I can also do that, right?”
Well, as a content creator, let me tell you; with the right guidance, it is possible for everyone to create content. Regardless of how fancy or complicated it looks, ultimately you only need 5 basic steps in order to become a content creator.
- PLAN
Whatever you want to do, especially for a creative project, you need to plan first. A well-planned project is a half-done project.
Firstly, pick a niche. What do you like to talk about? What are the fields that you are passionate about? Or, what are the skills you are excellent at that you can teach people about it online?
If you’re having problems deciding what your niche is, ponder upon these questions to best gauge your hobbies and interests.
- What is the first thing that you want to do, when you know you have spare time?
- What would you do if you didn’t have to work and somehow your television won’t work either to kill your time?
- When you’re not doing it, what activity do you look forward to doing?
- What professional knowledge do you have that could help solve an issue or fill a market gap?
- What motivates you to pursue an interest?
Another approach of finding your niche, is to just simply look into your everyday life.
- Your room or house: simply look through your possessions in there to see if any of them inspire you.
- Your day-to-day routine: consider what you do on a regular basis and see what comes to mind.
- Blogs you like to read: do you browse similar topics on those blogs?
- Amazon, eBay, and other e-commerce sites: look at the popular products and categories, or look at your order history.
Secondly, pick what kind of content you want to post. And no, it’s not just about a video of you talking to the camera. Content creation is a wide spectrum, and is accessible to everyone; even the shy-camera guys, the scripted guy, the fancy editing guy, just to name some.
You can make your content in text, audio or video form. The length of those contents could vary, and there will always be demand for any length of any content. For example, a 1000-word article would entice avid readers, but not the teens who would prefer watching 15 seconds videos. Additionally, you can choose to be anonymous if you want; use a stage name, or animate yourself in the video.
Let me share with you the content that I personally follow on TikTok. Just look at the diversity.
- Josh Terry – He shares perspectives about personal growth that you will never have heard before. How does he do it? By reading scripts off camera. That’s it. He currently has 1.1 million followers and I’m among the fans of his delivery.
- Bentellect – He reads off (mostly Twitter) memes and laughs. Really, that’s all he does. Some might find it annoying, but I found myself to be very entertained by him.
- Julian de Medeiros – Think a philosophy professor does not have a place on TikTok? Wrong! 400,000 followers of him await as he uncovers movies, celebrities and other components of our daily lives from the philosophical perspective. He does not do that much either; he attached a relevant clip, and then just talked about it.
This is just on TikTok. Imagine what more type of content can you generate and add into the diversity.
And thirdly, pick where you want to post your content. Optimally, the platform should suit your type of content that you’ve chosen before. For example, if you want to make lengthy videos, then YouTube might be an ideal place. Unless, if you’re willing to break that long content into smaller content, then you can consider TikTok as well. Again, whether it’s just one or several platforms, feel free to choose.
- CREATE ACCOUNT
Now that the platforms are decided as well, it’s time to make your account on those platforms.
“But I already have accounts on those platforms.”
Yes, the accounts you use to keep in touch with your friends. The accounts that you follow your favourite celebs to keep up with. But I’m talking about setting up a brand-new account, just for you to create content.
“Why the hassle? I can already use my existing accounts, right?”
Creating this separate account has many advantages. It acts as a boundary between your private and public life as you use those accounts separately. It will be very good for your mental health. And I could go on about the significant professional advantages, but I know not everyone is content creating for professional reasons, so I’ll leave it at that.
- START CREATING
Remember that well-planned is half-done? Now it’s time to get the other half done.
Get your camera or microphone, or open the Word document, and start creating! Then you’ll be on your way to glory!
…or so you thought.
In the harsh reality, there will be a lot of possibilities that may happen once you start to create.
- You might be blank. Could be due to nervousness, could also be no reason at all, which feels worse.
- On the other hand, you might have many ideas. Too many ideas. But you might blank on how to put it into words, let alone to make the content.
- You will, definitely, for sure, feel awkward. Especially if you choose to talk in front of a camera. And you will begin to wonder how people actually do this for a living.
- With all of the hurdles, you will actually complete one content. But then you might have the urge to toss it in the trash & start all over again, until it’s ✨perfect✨
It’s a normal phase of starting out as a content creator. You have been only consuming content this whole time, it’s normal that when it’s your turn to make one, you will be hyper aware of all the little things that make it not perfect. But trust me, those little things, the audience won’t even notice it anyway. Even if they do, they won’t care that much, and would still perfectly absorb your content as you intended to.
Learn to look past the imperfections (or the perception of imperfections), and not overthink about them. As long as your content is decent & complete enough, you’re good to go.
- START POSTING
Now that you have completed content, it’s time to post it!
This could be the most nervous and exciting part at the same time.
Starting with posting one content, you might feel excited watching the number of views go up one by one, even if it is still under 50 views. Then, you will start to feel euphoric, wanting to post more and more, every single day.
When you feel that, remember to bring yourself to reality. You are a human, with your own capability and responsibility. Especially if you’re just starting, of course you should not make up a huge standard of yourself, such as making & posting every single day.
Post whatever content you are comfortable with, at the pace that you are comfortable with. Realistically. Take account of what your commitments are in real life, and how much free time do you actually have to make & publish content. I suggest publishing one content per week; a pace that most people can pick up.
- GAIN MOMENTUM
After the first few months of making and posting, you will get the momentum on:
- How to effectively turn ideas into drafts, and drafts into publishable content.
- What exactly is your niche.
- What kind of content do you actually enjoy doing.
- Realistically, how can you be consistent in publishing (for example, 2 times a week).
Even after a few months after these months, you might want to change your mind.
It’s okay. Change whatever you want to change. This is your time of experimenting, to get to know what is best for you. This is the time where you are actually a content creator.
So there you go, how to be a content creator in 5 simple steps.
I hope you will enjoy your journey and learn more valuable things as a content creator. Because it’s so much more than just making videos, gaining views, and having sponsors.
When you content create, you curate. I.e., while you may not necessarily be an expert yourself in your niche, you play a huge role in curating the knowledge of the niche to your audience, so people can better digest them. That is really, what content creation is about.
All the best!