Content Creation – what’s it all about?

More information for those considering launching a post retirement career.

Why is content creation important?

Content creation is the ultimate inbound marketing practice. When you create content, you’re providing free and valuable information to your audience, attracting potential customers to your website, and retaining existing customers through quality engagement.

Content equals business growth. Let’s look at the types of content you can create and develop your content strategy.

Content Creation Ideas

1.         Blogs

A blog post is one type of content creation (the kind you’re consuming right now). Blogs can educate, entertain, and inspire your audience through the written word. When someone types a query in Google, the posts that pop up are usually blog posts.

Content Creation Ideas for Blogs

Blogging is worth the time and effort, and 56% of marketers say that blogging is their most effective content strategy.

But it can be tough to narrow your focus and start writing. In addition to opinion pieces and product announcement posts, these are some proven ideas for blog content creation.

Answer a Question

If you need help deciding which question to answer first, start with questions from beginners. These can create a foundation you can use to continue growing your blog.

Another way to use questions as a starting point is to think about the questions you had when you were a beginner. Even questions from your recent experience can help someone else in your industry.

Once you’ve figured out the right questions, write a complete answer. You might want to skim over the details, but this is where you can add the most value for your readers.

People are often shy about asking questions because they don’t want to sound foolish. Anticipating and answering their questions can help you earn their trust. It can also improve your search engine results.

Compare and Contrast Solutions to a Problem

Another way that you can serve your readers is by helping them make a decision. There are answers online, but it can sometimes feel like too many answers.

If you are an expert in your niche, you can share your expert opinion and help buyers who want to make an informed purchase simultaneously.

As you choose what you’re going to compare, make sure that the products have more similarities than differences. For example, you would want to avoid comparing a project management tool with email marketing software.

When writing compare and contrast blogs for a product or service, be as open and transparent as possible. List all the possible positives and negatives you can think of. Then, get into detail about how you came to those decisions.

Teaching is very effective content creation tool.

Some of the most popular blogs are educational. If you want to use your blog as a teaching tool, there are a few things you’ll want to think about.

As you choose a topic, it’s wise to start small. So, instead of covering a broad topic, choose a niche topic that people in your industry might be asking about

For example, write about website design basics instead of how to design an automotive dealership’s home page.

As you start writing how-to blogs, there are a few things to remember:

Use short sentences and paragraphs and create a clear structure. This will make your instructions easier to follow.

Avoid jargon and technical terms if you can, and use examples to make new information easier to understand.

These tips should help your readers learn and bring you more traffic and interest in your educational content.

Daily, Monthly, or Weekly Series

Writing a series of posts can be helpful for your readers, and it can help you grow your blog. A series will usually run for a set period. You can choose to publish the series daily, on a set day every week or month.

A series can generate content that you can easily repurpose for other channels. For example, if you run a blog about social media, you could turn a blog series about Instagram Reels into a podcast, eBook, or video.

This strategy makes it simple to explore a particular topic fully. It’s helpful in building internal and external links and establishing you as a thought leader.

Quizzes and Surveys

Blog surveys are a great way to collect feedback from your audience. This can help with more than website traffic. Responses from quizzes and surveys can also help you:

For an effective quiz or survey, define your goals before creating. Keeping your quizzes short and offering incentives can improve response rates.

Curated Content for Target Audiences

Curated content is content from other brands or people you share with your social media accounts.

Examples of curated content are: Sharing a link to a blog post, creating a roundup of quoted advice from industry experts, or even simply sharing someone else’s social media post.

That’s a simple definition of curated content, but there’s a lot more to it.

Just like a museum curator’s role is to choose the most important artifacts and artwork to display, your role as a content curator is to select only the best content to share with your audience.

If you want to help curate your content, check out this helpful list of tools.

2.         Podcasts

Podcasts are like listening to the radio. But anyone can make and broadcast a podcast. Professional and beginner podcast hosts compete for the same listening time.

But they also have a big audience, and 28% of Americans 12 years old and up listen to podcasts weekly.

Podcasts are extra interesting to listen to when the audience likes the host and wants to learn something from them. Keep reading for more podcast content creation ideas.

Content Creation Ideas for Podcasts

Generally, a great podcast will center on a great idea and then expand on that topic with the listener and expert feedback. Storytelling podcasts are popular, and so are educational podcasts.

If you are launching your first podcast, be sure to post with a consistent schedule. Following the same structure for every episode is also a good idea.

Other than that, it’s about being your authentic self.

Thought Leadership

This type of podcast content centers on your professional experience. Be sure to include case studies and other real-life scenarios in this content.

Remember that your audience listens for different reasons and often has different industry experience levels. For outstanding content creation offer insights for a range of listeners and share advice you think your listeners could apply themselves.